Me. Her. Him - Chapter 73

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

William still has his gaze fixed on me. How the hell can I get out of this now? I’m pretty sure if I don’t tell him what he wants to know, he’ll kill me, or worse. He’ll torture me until I tell him the truth. Images of him standing over me, continuously injecting me with the drug Michelle brought, stream into my mind. I can’t keep hiding behind the lies. It isn’t going to stop him from digging. Perhaps it is time to unburden myself and tell the truth.

‘You never wanted anything to do with your daughter,’ I say, sitting up straighter. ‘You threw Caz out when she was pregnant. She was devastated.’

‘Yeah, I know I did that,’ he spits, almost as though the memory is painful for him. ‘But at the time I was angry at her, because she lied to me. She told me she was on the pill. I didn’t want a kid running about the place, spoiling everything we had. Yes, I was a dick to her. But you can’t change the past; you can only change the future.’

I look at Michelle to see any sign of a reaction on her face, but she just stares blankly ahead.

‘What do you mean by that?’ I ask.

‘Don’t you think Rebecca deserves to know who her real dad is?’ he says. ‘She must have asked you before? Unless you’ve lied to her, and said that husband of yours is her real dad. That would’ve been pretty foolish of you. He doesn’t look anything like her. In fact, she reminds me of my mum, which is quite crazy.' 

I know what he’s going to ask me. My heart’s about to burst out of my chest.

‘What do you want?’

‘It’s quite simple, really. I want to be a part of Rebecca’s life. You can say to her it’s time she knows who her real dad is, and then it’s up to her if she wants to meet me, and I’m sure she’ll be curious, who wouldn’t be.’

‘But you abandoned her, you didn’t want her,’ I say, my voice croaking.

‘That was a mistake. It was clearly an even bigger mistake letting Caz run into your arms. What happened, did you kill her in a jealous rage and take my baby?’

‘It was an accident,’ Michelle says.

William switches his gaze back to her. ‘Ah, she speaks. An accident you say, care to explain?’

Michelle does. She leaves out the part that I was the one at the top of the stairs with Caz when she fell. Michelle explains how Caz was suffering from post-natal depression and wanted to give her daughter up. William’s silent as he takes it all in. Michelle lies, and says we both woke up to find Caz at the bottom of the stairs, and that we realised she must’ve had an accident during the night, without us realising.

William shakes his head. ‘I’m sorry, you expect me to believe that Caz had an accident, when you got rid of her body?’

‘We were scared, William. We were out of our depth; we didn’t know what to do. I thought if the police came, they might not believe our story and then we . . . your daughter would’ve been taken into care. If that had happened, you wouldn’t have had a chance in hell of finding her.’ Michelle replies.

I press my knuckles into the hard, dusty floor of the van as I wait for William to respond.

He nods. ‘Okay, I suppose that is kind of true. So, I suppose now, are you suggesting that I thank you for dumping Caz’s body and taking our daughter?’

I open my mouth to speak, but it’s Michelle who responds to him.

‘Why are you doing this now? You’ve had twenty years to try and find your daughter. Are you seriously expecting us to believe that you’ve just suddenly decided to take an interest in her now?’

‘I’ve always wanted to get to know my daughter, well, perhaps not quite at the start, but a good couple of years after she was born, I sort of wanted to be a part of her life, but I’ve been afraid to try and get in contact. I had no idea if Caz decided, in the end, to get an abortion. I would’ve been devastated to find that out, knowing it would’ve been my fault for throwing Caz out in the first place.’

‘You wouldn’t have cared about that though twenty years ago,’ I remind him.

He glares at me before continuing, ‘This year I promised myself I would find out what happened to Caz and our baby, even if the truth was painful. I knew she would’ve gone to you all those years ago; you were the only friends she had. Of course I wasn’t expecting you to still be living at the same address, but I spoke to one of your neighbours, whose still there, and she said she saw you both, but particularly you, Angela, out and about with a baby. She also said the Northern girl seemed to have vanished, and that could only have been Caz. The timings fit, and of course, I only had to put two and two together. So, now we get to the part, where I’m the one with the power to make demands. Just how much do you want to keep your perfect little lives as they are, I wonder?’

I allow his last words to sink into my brain. He’s looking at both me and Michelle for an answer. Michelle says nothing. She’s a shell of her former self. The person who I once relied on. The person who I felt could make everything alright. I need her. No matter what she’s done in the past, I still need her.

‘What do you mean?’ I ask.

‘Well, I’ve told you I want a relationship with Rebecca, but I think a payment is in order, to make sure I stay silent. If you don’t agree, I’m afraid I could tell Rebecca everything that happened to her real mum, poor Caz, who’s body is lying somewhere in the ground in Norfolk. Of course she’ll want the police to investigate, won’t she?’

I’m about to answer him, all intent on telling him to fuck off, when Michelle launches herself at him. Her sudden movement seems to have taken him by surprise and he’s thrown backwards, as she pummels her fists into him. Perhaps he thought Michelle was still under the influence of the drug. But he’s quick to regain his strength. He throws Michelle off him and onto the ground, before he places his shoe on her chest. Michelle cries out.

‘Michelle . . . . Michelle. I didn’t want to kill either of you. But now you’ll give me great pleasure in . . .’

He’s mid-sentence when I jab him in the neck with the syringe he used on Michelle and me. My heart’s screaming in my chest. I was unsure if there would be enough left, but as his eyes swivel round to find me standing here, he crumples to the ground, giving Michelle just enough time to move out of the way, and pick herself up. It’s almost as though she’s just been involved in a bit of school playground rough and tumble.

‘Christ,’ Michelle says, brushing dirt off of her jacket.

My body is shaking. The syringe falls from my hand as I stare at William’s limp body. A few days ago I would’ve given anything to see him in the state he’s in now, but now, looking at him this way, makes me feel sick. What have I done? But as I’m standing there in shock, Michelle starts to kick him in the face. I remain rigid, unable to get the words out, even as Michelle’s kicks get more forceful. It’s only when I start to see blood spurting from his nose, that I grab hold of Michelle.

‘Michelle, stop,’ I yell at her.

Michelle stumbles backwards, and then she wipes saliva from her lips, before she spits on the ground. 

‘He won’t be out for long,’ Michelle explains, her breathing coming out hard and fast. ‘We need to act fast.’

‘What . . . but.’

‘Listen to me, Angela. Things didn’t quite go to plan tonight, yes, but, we can get things back on track, if you do as I say.’

‘But you’re not.’

‘You want to go back to your family, don’t you? To Rebecca and Paul. Well, this is your chance. Once we’ve dealt with William, you won’t have to ever worry about anyone coming looking for information again.’

Michelle heads back over to the van and climbs in. I look at William’s limp body. Blood trickles down the side of his face and onto the gravel. Someone will see the blood, won’t they? Even if it’s dried up by the morning. Perhaps they’ll think its animal blood. They won’t consider it being human. My whole body is tense at the thought of him coming round at any moment. What the hell is Michelle doing?

‘Michelle, what are you?’

She climbs out of the van again and holds me firm.

‘You need to help me, Angela. We need to get him back into the van.’

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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