Hope Island by Tim Major

Author:Tim Major
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Nina tried to tune out the blare of the TV in the sitting room. It was impossible. She found herself absorbed in the quiz show, a Deal Or No Deal far glitzier and brasher than the version she had seen once or twice at home. She stood in the centre of the room, still clutching the bathroom bin which she was intending to take to the kitchen to clean inside and out. She stared at the rows of identical hairsprayed women in identical red dresses, all holding numbered signs, and she let the wave of the audience’s applause wash over her. It sounded so much like the sea that her imagination played tricks on her: she pictured herself submerged in that water, that sound. It was beautiful and at the same time overwhelming and obscene.

She gasped, fighting for breath. Then she lurched to the coffee table, grabbed the remote control, and turned down the volume.

‘You’ll damage your ears,’ she said to Tammy.

She was startled by Tammy’s open mouth, her vacant stare. It took several seconds for the older woman to register that Nina had spoken.

Tammy peered up at her. ‘It hurts my head,’ she said in a flat, loud tone.

‘Me too. Maybe we could turn it off for a bit? Go for a—’ She stopped herself before she said ‘walk’. She still hadn’t determined whether Tammy blamed her at all for Abram’s death. Perhaps she didn’t even know that Nina and Abram had been to the cliff on the day of his death. She didn’t want to find out. ‘We could see what Laurie’s up to.’

Tammy’s face screwed up in an expression of revolt. ‘That’s not what I meant. It hurts my head now. Would you turn the volume up again?’

Nina obeyed without comment. Tammy lapsed into something like contentment, her jaw hanging open again as the TV presenter bellowed at her. Nina forced herself not to pay any attention. She hurried out to the kitchen and set to her cleaning task furiously.

When she returned Tammy had slumped to one side. She was awake and yet she hadn’t even put out a hand to right herself, though her back was as stiff as if she were sitting primly at a table. It was as if the room had changed its orientation rather than her.

Tammy stared through Nina when she blocked the view of the TV. Then she barked, ‘I’m very tired.’

‘I’ll help you up to your room,’ Nina said. She reached for the remote, then thought better of it.

Tammy waved her away. ‘I want Bobby to help me.’

‘I’m sorry, Tammy. He’s not here.’

‘He should be here.’

‘I’m doing my best. I can’t reach him.’ A strange idea occurred to Nina – that Hope Island was floating further away from the mainland, further away from the world she knew. Rob should be here, and she should not. It was all a terrible mistake.

Tammy’s head swayed as Nina raised her awkwardly from the sofa. As they staggered to the doorway, Tammy’s head turned from side to side continually.

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