Ours is the Winter: a gripping story of love, friendship and adventure by laurie ellingham

Author:laurie ellingham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Molly

Molly opened her eyes, blinking away the tears. They rolled onto her cheeks and stopped, frozen by the icy air.

Billy had died that night – the night they’d argued. She never did say sorry or tell him it didn’t matter if he delivered pizzas for the rest of his life, she loved him no matter what. She never got the chance to find out why Billy dropped out of school. Why he changed.

‘Erica,’ Molly whispered.

‘Umm.’ Erica’s voice was heavy with sleep and for a moment Molly wondered if she should give in to the sleep pulling at her eyelids. What good would speaking to Erica do anyway? There was nothing Erica could say that would change what she’d done.

Then a torch flicked on beside Erica. She propped herself up on one elbow and stared at Molly with her wide green eyes. ‘What is it?’

‘Why did you stop seeing Billy? When he came to London, I mean.’

Erica frowned. ‘Does it matter now?’

Clearly not to you it doesn’t. Molly gritted her teeth as the lava bubbled up to the back of her throat. ‘Forget I said anything.’

Why had she bothered trying to speak to Erica of all people? The logical part of Molly’s mind knew that she couldn’t blame Erica for Billy’s murder, but that didn’t stop the anger, the illogical hatred from rising up until she was half drowning in it. Erica might not have been the one to kill Billy, but Erica had promised Joyce she’d look out for Billy in London. A promise she hadn’t kept.

Erica had always called Molly her sister, Billy her brother, Joyce her family, and yet when it came to it, when it really mattered – life or death – all of her talk counted for nothing. If she’d kept her promise then maybe Billy would still be alive, and there was nothing Erica could say that could change that fact.

‘Actually no, I won’t forget it,’ Erica said. ‘You’ve been spoiling for this fight since the second I saw you at the airport, and probably before that, and do you know what? You’re wrong. So you can take all of the hateful glares, all of your childish sulks and shove them up your arse, Molly, because I’m sick to death of you blaming me for something I didn’t do.’

A rocket of fury blasted through Molly’s thoughts. How dare Erica say that to her? A dozen retorts danced on Molly’s tongue but her throat was tightening and she knew if she said anything the tears would start falling.

Instead, Molly pulled her hand free from the cocoon of her sleeping bag and grabbed at the zip. All the exhaustion in the world couldn’t make Molly spend another second in this tent with Erica.

‘Molly, wait,’ Erica said. ‘I’m sorry. I’m tired and I took it out on you.’

‘Sod off.’ Molly swallowed hard. ‘Why the hell did you invite me on this trip?’

‘Because I want my sister back,’ Erica cried out. She reached out and touched Molly’s arm.

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