Me. Her. Him - Chapter 71

Background: Angela is shocked when William, an old friend from her past, who she hoped never to see again, comes back into her life, after he applies for a role at her work and successfully secures the job. William’s sudden reappearance puts Angela on edge. She’s terrified he’s discovered her secret, which she needs to protect her family from. William’s convinced Angela knows what happened to his former girlfriend, Caz, who hasn't been seen for twenty years, and that something terrible happened to her. The only person, who can help Angela, is her once best friend, Michelle, but Angela hasn’t seen Michelle for more than a decade. Faced with the threat of William’s return, they know they’ll need to work together to save their future, even if this does mean reopening old wounds, and revisiting a past they'd rather keep buried.

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Present Day

Something’s pressing into my spine, something hard. My eyelids flicker open. As my senses come to, a musty smell enters my nostrils, which reminds me of laundry left in the basket for a few days. There’s a dim light above my head, which begins to give me a headache. My neck aches as I turn my head, and my eyes finding only a grey, plastic looking wall ahead. What?

I try to stand, but fall back. Whatever it is I’m sitting in, it shakes. My body feels heavy, as though I’m not in control of it. The signals my brain keeps trying to send can’t reach their destination, like some computer system failing to load.

‘It’s okay. I’m here.’

A familiar voice reaches my ears. As my eyes dart about the small space, taking everything in, I see Michelle is sitting here as well. Her knees are scrunched into her chest. She looks up at me, her eyes are red. I can see where makeup’s run down her face.

‘Michelle . . . what?’

‘He’ll be back in a minute,’ she murmurs.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard fear in her voice before. I swallow. I never imagined anything worrying Michelle. I always thought of her as being steadfast and strong, able to deal with anything that was thrown her way.

‘Who . . . what’s going on?’ It even hurts to speak.  

I want to close my eyes again, fall back into a deep sleep, where nothing will matter. I fight with every ounce of my energy to keep my eyes open and alert.

‘William, he . . . I tried to take him by surprise, but he, he . . . overpowered me. Everything happened too quickly, I couldn’t stop him. I knew he was going to make contact with you, pretending to be me, I knew. I’m sorry. I failed.’

It’s as she says this that it dawns on me that we’re both sitting in the back of a van. I’ve no idea how long I’ve been passed out. Shit. Paul, Rebecca. They’ll have no idea what’s happened to me. I could’ve been passed out in here for hours. William could’ve driven us right to the other end of the country. Tears begin to well in my eyes, but I force them back, I won’t give William the satisfaction of seeing me cry. If this is to be my end, I’m going to go out fighting.

I can’t bring myself to say anything to Michelle. She promised me she would sort this. She told me pretty much to stay out of her way, saying I would only make a mess of things if I got involved, and she failed. Perhaps if I’d been with her, we wouldn’t have ended up like this.

Michelle looks towards the door of the van. I can tell she doesn’t want to look me in the eye. Then I hear it, the crunch of footsteps on gravel, then there’s a clang, which makes my ears ring, and my headache worse. The door swings open. Moonlight floods in. So it’s still night. William stands there, his face partially blinded by the silver light, but I can see he’s smiling.

‘Now, would you look at this, a nice little reunion,’ he says. ‘Did you know Michelle paid me a little visit with the intention of killing me, Angela? Did you both plan this together? She was going to inject me with a sedative she brought with her, and after that, well, I’m sure I would’ve had no idea what was happening to me. I’m sure she would’ve done everything within her power to make me disappear.’

I can’t bring myself to do anything. I remain frozen where I’m sitting, still trying to make sense of where we are. I can see now, that we’re still on the edge of Hanningfield Reservoir, in pretty much the same location where I came to meet Michelle. Is my car still here? I try to fumble around in my pockets for my keys, a surge of hope pushing through me, but they’re not here. Of course, William will have taken them. The water’s rippling in the breeze, which soon snakes up my bare arms. An hour might not have even passed, since William knocked me out. I look at Michelle, who’s staring intently into her lap, and biting her lower lip.

‘I didn’t know what Michelle was planning.’ My words slurring as I speak. ‘My husband, Paul, he’ll want to know where I am, he’ll come looking for me.’

He smiles. ‘Ah, I can see the effect of the drug is still working its magic on you, but don’t worry, I think it’s only a mild sedative. That was the drug Michelle was intending to use on me, she brought her own needle with her,’ he says with a chuckle, producing a small syringe from within his jacket. ‘And I wouldn’t worry about your husband. I messaged him on your phone. I could still use your face to log in, even though you were asleep. What naughty things has he been up to? I told him you needed to get away for a while, and he seems to think it’s because of something he did.’ Fear floods my body. Paul might be under the impression I’ve booked a hotel somewhere nearby and gone to stay there. He might not choose to get in contact with me again until the morning, thinking it would be a good idea to give me space. It might be too late for me by then. ‘D’you know, it was brilliant seeing your reaction that day I came for the interview. It feels like ages ago, and only yesterday at the same time, doesn’t it? But let’s cut to the chase, we can get right to the real reason I decided to come back, and if you both agree to my demands, then we can all leave here tonight in one piece, and we won’t ever need to speak about happened here again. You can go back to your perfect family, Angela. Isn’t that what you want?’

He spits his last words at me. My heart’s ramming against my chest. It’s getting harder and harder to fight to keep my eyes open. I want to ask Michelle what drug she brought with her to use on William, but I can’t bring myself to speak to her. William said it was only mild. Perhaps the effects will wear off soon.

‘What reason have you got to want to come back?’ I say. ‘You . . . you stole from me, remember.’

He grins. ‘No, Angela. I admit I was a bit of a dick to you twenty years ago. I told you I’d split with Caz so I could get you into bed. I didn’t like the fact that you rejected me on New Year’s Eve, and I thought you might have been prepared to have another go with me. I would’ve taken you away somewhere nice one weekend. But no, I never stole from you. I’ve had a theory about who took that money ever since, though, and I’ve always wanted to hear her admit it, hey Michelle?’

I snap my head round at her, my chest is burning. William’s focusing his attention on her now.

‘Michelle,’ I say. ‘What’s he saying?’

She says nothing. She’s murmuring something to herself under her breath, as though she’s trying to block out the sounds around her. I watch as she closes her eyes. It’s as if she’s trying to wish herself away from here, to get out of what’s coming next.

‘You thought you were best friends back then, but there were many secrets Michelle kept from you, Angela, but I could see it. Everyone could see it. I take it she never told you she loved you?’

I frown at William. I’m not sure if I’ve heard him correctly.

‘What . . . what do you mean? We were friends.’

I look at Michelle, hoping to see any sign that she knows what’s William’s talking about, but she’s keeping her eyes shut.

He shakes his head. ‘I don’t mean love in a best friends kind of way, no, she loved, you. God, Angela, you were the only one who couldn’t see it, but yes, that’s because you were so concerned in getting people to like you, you never really quite worked out what the people around you, who you were trying to please, were feeling. Even you’re other friends, Lauren and Hayley; they talked about it behind your back, but again they chose not to say anything as they didn’t want to upset things between you.’

‘That’s not true,’ I say.

But as I say the words, memories flood back. Michelle snuggling up to me as we watched a film, how Michelle really opened up to me, once Hayley and Lauren left. She told me once I was the first person who ever took an interest in her, and how thankful she was for that. I swallow hard. I’m not angry about her loving me, and keeping it to herself. I can see how painful it would’ve been for her to keep that truth from me, but why the hell does William think she was the one who stole from me?

‘Well, you can continue to kid yourself, Angela, but . . . I think Michelle here was the one who took that money all those years ago. She hated me back then, and she even hated Caz from time to time. She was always jealous of anyone else who was friends with you, wasn’t she? Surely you saw that at least. It’s why she never really got on with Hayley or Lauren. She wanted you all to herself, and that’s what she got in the end, wasn’t it? Well until Caz came back to you, after I ended things with her.’

I look at Michelle, my breath coming out in short rapid gasps. She still hasn’t opened her eyes.

‘Did you . . . did you take the money?’ Silence stretches out between us. ‘Michelle, answer me!’

‘Okay, yes, I took it,’ she says. She finally opens her eyes. She’s looking at me with a coldness she’s never looked at me with before. ‘But you were the one foolish enough to keep it under your bed in the first place, after all the times I kept telling you put the money in the bank. I knew you’d had William in your bed, the day you quit your job, I could smell him in our room. I took the money because I knew you’d see him as the only suspect. It was the only way to make you stop seeing him and Caz. You were addicted to them both, like a drug.’

I remember the first night we met Caz, and Michelle telling me that I needed to stop taking in strays.

I wonder how long Michelle’s wanted to tell me this. Perhaps she wanted to tell me not long after it happened, but . . . she comforted me, she let me sob into her arms. She’s lied to me all this time.

I glance back at William. He’s looking expectantly at me, willing me to say something.

‘I was an idiot to you back then, Angela, but like I said, I didn’t steal from you. She did it to teach you a lesson. But that isn’t all this is about. Michelle’s not the only one keeping secrets, though, is she, Angela? Why don’t we talk about Rebecca and Caz, yes? Did you like the little message I sent you on the back of the photograph?’

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Character List:

Angela Watkins - Protagonist 

Paul Watkins - Angela's husband

Rebecca Watkins - Angela's daughter 

Michelle Blake - Angela's former best friend 

Kirsty - Receptionist (Angela's friend) 

Olivia - Angela's boss

William Harris - Angela's former friend 

Caroline (Caz) - Angela's friend 

Hayley - Angela's former friend

Lauren - Angela's former friend