Dead Gorgeous (18 page)

Andrew and Raye sat opposite each other. They’d been talking for the last ten minutes but they weren’t back on the easy, friendly footing they were on before.

‘Rainbow, haven’t you ever done something you’ve regretted afterwards?’ Andrew asked.

‘No,’ Raye lied.

‘Then I feel sorry for you,’ said Andrew, standing up. ‘I really like you, but if you don’t know how to forgive then maybe you’re not half the girl you like to
think you are.’

Raye sprang to her feet. ‘Now wait just a – ‘

But before she could let fly with her indignation, Nova tumbled through open French windows, gasping for breath.

‘Nova, what’s the matter?’ Raye ran over to her.

‘It’s Joshua. Mr Jackman,’ Nova gasped, struggling back up onto her feet as she dragged air back into her lungs. ‘He needs our help. He’s in a cave . . . down at
the beach and he’s trapped. He needs our help.’

‘Slow down,’ said Raye. ‘Where is Mr Jackman?’

‘In a cave above the ridge near the old, broken boat,’ Nova explained in a rush. ‘Oh, please hurry. Get Dad to phone for an ambulance. I have to go back.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Andrew told Nova at once.

‘Raye, get help. Quick,’ Nova urged.

As Raye ran from the room to tell her dad, Andrew and Nova raced back to the beach.

Liam knelt down on the ground beside his brother. Joshua’s breathing was erratic and shallow and his skin had lost almost all of its colour. Liam tried to touch his
brother’s forehead but his hand passed right though Joshua’s head. ‘Joshua, hang on. Help is on the way,’ he whispered.

Joshua’s eyelids fluttered open. He looked straight at Liam, but Liam knew he couldn’t be seen. He was no longer solid. The tunnel effect again.

‘Liam . . . you . . .’ Joshua struggled to speak as the words fell out on a mere sigh.

‘Can . . . can you see me?’ asked Liam.

Joshua nodded. The movement of his head was only slight but it was enough. ‘Real. . . ? Not imagining . . .? ’

‘No, you’re not imagining me,’ Liam smiled. ‘You didn’t imagine me in the dining room either. I really was there.’

‘. . . was so afraid . . .’ Joshua’s eyes closed.

‘Josh, wake up. Don’t fall asleep,’ urged Liam.

Joshua opened his eyes reluctantly.

‘Stay with me, Joshua,’ said Liam.

‘T-that’s what I’m t-trying to . . . do . . .’

Liam froze at those words. He stared at Joshua in horror. ‘You stupid fool!’ he snapped. ‘You may be older than me now but I’m still your older brother so listen up. I
don’t want you here, Josh. I’m dead. You’re not. I wasn’t a very good brother.’ Liam paused and thought for a moment. ‘I wasn’t a very good son either. But
I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me. Don’t you understand that? I couldn’t bear it. I just couldn’t.’

‘But I . . .’ Joshua began softly.

‘But nothing! You don’t owe me anything, Josh. And certainly not your life. I don’t want it. And it isn’t yours to give to me anyway.’

‘. . . miss you,’ Joshua breathed.

‘I miss you too, you idiot,’ Liam replied angrily. ‘But if you want to do something for me, go out and have a life. And make the most of it – for both of us.’

‘Dad’s fault . . . shouldn’t have quarrelled . . . with you…’

‘Haven’t you been listening to a single word I just said?’ Liam raged. ‘It wasn’t Dad’s fault. And it wasn’t your fault – and it wasn’t even
my fault. It was an accident. I was unlucky, that’s all.’

Liam stopped abruptly.

It wasn’t Dad’s fault . . .

Where had that come from? Liam had spent so long, maybe for ever, believing exactly that. Blaming Dad, blaming Josh too, if he was honest. But he didn’t any more. His death was just one of
those things. But life went on.

‘Tell Dad it wasn’t his fault,’ Liam said slowly. ‘Tell him, the whole point of life is not how you die, but how you live. Tell Dad I love him very much – and
I’m sorry.’

‘Liam, I . . .’ Joshua closed his eyes and his head lolled to one side.

‘Joshua? JOSHUA . . .’ Liam yelled. ‘Wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP . . .’

‘Andrew, you can’t go up there. It’s too dangerous.’

But Andrew was already searching the cliff face for likely handholds. Much as he wanted to just get going, he knew he had to take his time and work out each move carefully – or
there’d be two people going to the hospital, not one.

Nova grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. ‘You can’t do this. For all we know, there’s another ton of rubble waiting to rain down on the next person brainless enough to go in
there.’

‘Mr Jackman needs help and I can’t do anything from down here,’ Andrew argued.

‘You could get hurt too,’ said Nova unhappily.

‘I won’t. I’ll be careful. Besides, I’m a trained first aider!’

‘This isn’t funny.’

‘I’m not laughing. Mr Jackman might be in shock or worse and with no one to help him he won’t stand a chance.’

‘But Liam’s in—’

‘What about Liam?’ Andrew said quickly.

Nova shook her head. ‘Nothing.’

Andrew studied Nova. What wasn’t she telling him? ‘What’s Liam got to do with this?’

‘Nothing,’ Nova insisted. ‘Can’t we wait for an ambulance and the coastguard?’

‘By the time they arrive and get Mr Jackman out, it may be too late,’ said Andrew. ‘Nova, I’m not being a hero. Believe me, if there were some other way to do this,
I’d be doing it.’

And wasn’t that the truth. He didn’t even like heights much. Without another word, he started up the cliff face. If he paused to think about the stupidity of what he was trying to
do, he’d probably bottle out.

‘What d’you want me to do?’ Nova cried out from below him.

‘Pray,’ Andrew called back.

He breathed deeply to fill his lungs and steady his nerves. Keep climbing, he told himself. He’d be OK if he just thought of this as a climbing wall like the one at his local sports centre
back home. He’d be fine if he took his time – and didn’t look down. OK, now he’d reached the underside of the ridge, but how was he going to get onto it to reach the tunnel
entrance beyond? He could try to swing along beneath it, but Andrew doubted that his arms were strong enough to take his entire weight for anything longer than a few seconds. There was only one
other option. He’d have to climb past the ridge, then hopefully make his way round and then down onto it. He carried on climbing, getting higher and higher, searching all the time for a way
to move across the cliff face so he’d be over the ridge.

‘Where’re you going?’ Nova shouted from below. ‘The ridge is to your right.’

‘I know. Shut up!’ Andrew called back, immediately sorry he’d answered at all when he lost concentration and slipped half a metre. Below him, Nova let out a strangled scream.
‘Focus!’ Andrew hissed to himself.

He had to do this. He edged his slow, careful way along to the cliff face, then worked his way down until he was about two metres above the ridge. Letting himself drop was one of the hardest
things he’d ever had to do. Would the ridge take his weight? Would he even land on it properly? He forced himself to get on with it and let go before he froze completely. The ridge shook
slightly on impact but that was all. And there before him was the tunnel entrance, concealed partly by the ridge and partly by gorse bushes.

Andrew ducked down and crawled in. It grew darker and darker as he went further in. He hadn’t expected that. What if he got lost too? After a couple of metres the tunnel grew larger and
Andrew was able to stand up, but the light coming from outside struggled to reach this far inside the tunnel. As far as Andrew could see, the tunnel carried on straight ahead. Taking a deep breath,
he put his arms out in front of him and started walking.

One minute blended seamlessly into ten, until Andrew lost all track of the time he’d spent underground. He had no idea where he was and was beginning to wonder what on earth he was doing.
After following the slope downwards for several minutes, he was now having to make his way upwards and it was hard work, made especially difficult by the fact that it was in total, inky
darkness.

‘MR JACKMAN? MR JACKMAN?’ Andrew knew full well that he was not just shouting for Mr Jackman’s sake but for his own as well. Nothing but the sound of his own anxious, shallow
breathing was getting to him. The ground was beginning to level out now, but each step grew harder to take.

Deciding enough was enough, Andrew was about to turn round and head back to the beach, when something caught his eye – a strange, sickly yellow light up ahead. He stood still, wondering
what he should do next. Taking a deep breath, he made his way towards the light. If it was nothing, he’d head straight out of this place before he became hopelessly lost – if he
wasn’t already.

A minute later Andrew was not just walking but running. He scooped up the torch on his way past, taking a few more steps before he reached Joshua Jackman, who was still out cold. Andrew kneeled
down, playing the light over Joshua’s face before flashing it around. And what he saw made him wish he hadn’t. The mound of rocky debris before him stretched from floor to ceiling and
looked as if it might slide and cover both him and Joshua at any second.

Andrew placed an ear close to Joshua’s mouth and nose. Joshua was still breathing but it was shallow and erratic. He took hold of his wrist and felt for a pulse. Joshua’s skin was
cool and clammy and the pulse was so weak it was almost impossible to feel. Some soil and rocks from the mound before them slid down over Joshua’s chest. Andrew brushed them off, forcing
himself to bank down the panic firing up inside. He knew you should never move an unconscious person until paramedics or someone who knew what they were doing could check them over first –
unless the unconscious person’s life was in grave danger. Well, if this didn’t qualify, Andrew didn’t know what did. He couldn’t leave Joshua. Any moment now, the pile of
rocks and dirt would slide down to cover him completely. Somehow he had to free Joshua’s legs – just enough to pull him clear.

Andrew carefully removed the dirt and rocks from Joshua’s body, moving slowly so that he didn’t cause a landslide. When he got to the rocks on Joshua’s left leg, another pair
of hands started removing the rocks from Joshua’s right. Starded, Andrew fell backwards in surprise. ‘You!’

‘I thought you could use some help,’ Liam told him grimly.

‘Where did you come from?’ asked Andrew.

‘I came in after you,’ said Liam. ‘We can chat later. That lot is going to go at any second.’

Andrew agreed with a quick nod. Together they worked to free Joshua’s legs. The rumble of rocks being dislodged made them work even faster.

‘We need to pull him clear,’ said Liam, standing up.

‘One of his feet is still trapped,’ Andrew pointed out.

‘The rest of his body will be in the same state if we don’t move him now,’ said Liam.

Each holding Joshua under an arm, Andrew and Liam tugged at his body to free him.

‘Come on! Pull!’ Liam shouted as the bank of rocks and earth before them began to slide . . .

‘Wake up . . .Joshua, please wake up. Wake up.’

Joshua opened his eyes slowly. His head felt as if it were stuffed with cotton wool, but that was nothing compared to the fireworks shooting up and down both his legs. He groaned.

‘Joshua? Thank God you’re all right . . .’

‘Dad?’ Joshua turned his head to see his dad smiling down at him from the bedside. Joshua blinked wearily. Where was Liam? He’d expected to see Liam.

‘You’re going to be all right, son,’ Joshua’s dad smiled.

Joshua looked at his dad through half-closed eyes. His dad looked so tired, old before his time. Myriad silver strands now overwhelmed what was once chestnut-brown hair. What had once been a
lean, wiry frame was now simply too thin. His white shirt and navy-blue trousers hung on him like extra-large clothes on an extra-small hanger.

‘Thank God I didn’t lose you too. I wouldn’t have been able to stand that. Not you too . . .’

Joshua’s gaze moved up to his dad’s eyes, one brown, one blue. He froze in astounded disbelief to see the shimmer of tears.

‘What happened? How . . .?’ Joshua couldn’t say any more. His throat felt as if he’d swallowed a ton of gravel.

‘A boy called Andrew saved your life. Your legs were trapped but he managed to pull you clear. Apparently you stopped breathing but he gave you mouth to mouth as well. They’re
keeping him in overnight for observation.’

Joshua closed his eyes. He was so tired.

‘Josh, I’ve got something to tell you.’

Josh forced himself to open his eyes at the solemn note in his dad’s voice.

‘They found a body buried under the rubble in the tunnel. They think it might be Liam’s body . . .’

Shock, like a lightning jolt, shook Joshua’s body. Even though he’d suspected as much, expected as much, it was still a blow to hear it like that.

‘Where is he . . .?’

‘They’ve brought the body to the hospital for confirmation.’ Joshua’s dad’s voice cracked as he spoke. ‘Liam . . . my boy . . .’

Joshua closed his eyes against the pain and grief on his dad’s face. He knew his face held the same. But at least he’d found Liam. At least Liam could have some peace now. They all
could.

‘When you come out of hospital, I’ll look after you,’ said his dad. ‘You will come home, won’t you, Joshua? Just until you’re better?’

Joshua turned his head away. He needed time to think. He hadn’t lived at home since he was eighteen and had barely spoken to his father in all those years. But Liam said . . .

Had Liam said . . .?

Or was it just a hallucination? Or wishful thinking? Or just a strange dream when he was unconscious in the tunnel? Or maybe . . .just maybe it had been true and he really had seen his
brother?

‘My legs hurt.’ Joshua winced. The fireworks going off in his legs were getting worse. He opened his eyes, just in time to catch the acute disappointment on his dad’s face.

‘I’ll go and get a nurse. Maybe they can give you something for the pain.’