Page 21

I dared myself to go a little closer, to walk to the other side where there would probably be a window alongside the front door. But as I approached the hut, I could see things on the outside of it: a pattern of sorts. As I got closer I could see they were handprints. Red handprints all over the back side of the house. Some were faded to barely anything, whilst some werebright and bold as though they had been put there fresh today. The newer ones overlapped the faded ones at specific points. The more I looked at them, the more confident I was that they had been made with blood. I felt my gut twist with unease, and I shivered despite the heat.
I tried to make myself walk around the other side of the house, but my body had frozen itself to the spot knowing I wanted to see more, but knowing I should retreat, head back down the incline, back to the beach that now seemed like a sanctuary. But the more I stared, the more I wanted to know. The same feeling I’d had when I had seen the other side of the island that they rarely used and when the man appeared in front of me. I wanted to know. I needed to know. I took three tentative steps, so I was halfway along the side of the house; there were more handprints along the side of the hut.
What if this woman was injured or in pain? What if those handprints were blood from an injury? But they looked too uniform and neat, as though they had been placed there purposely as decoration or as a statement of some kind.
I had barely taken one more step before I heard an animalistic noise coming from inside the hut. My heart lurched and I pushed my hand against the wood to steady myself.
This isn’t your business,my head was telling me. I remembered the words of Precious yesterday. They had their reasons for leaving Ula to her own devices. What if she was dangerous?
The animal noise came again, this time louder.
I stopped and took a deep breath then took three long strides until I was at the front of the hut. There was no way to see in through the one window at the front; there was a curtain pulled tightly across. Whoever was in there must be sweltering.
‘Sadie!’ Someone was calling me from below.
I stepped to the ledge and peered down where Clara was waving up at me.
‘Whatcha doing up there?’ she called in her West Coast accent.
‘I was walking and took a wrong turn,’ I lied, looking behind me at a slight pathway that led down to the hut from the other side. It could have been true. I didn’t want anyone to think I was trying to cause trouble here or going against every system they had in place; however inhumane it appeared from an outsider’s perspective. She waved me down and I picked my way back through the bushes and down the tiny trail until I was back on the beach. She walked up to meet me.
‘What were you doing up there?’ she asked again, with that same dazzling smile, a real-life American sweetheart.
‘Like I said, I was taking a walk. I stumbled upon the hut there.’ I pointed back up to Ula’s place.
‘We tend to leave Ula to her own devices. She can come to us when she wants to. None of us are trained to deal with her behaviour.’
‘Her behaviour?’
‘She’s slightly erratic, prone to a few outbursts.’
‘So when was the last time anyone saw her, spent some time with her?’
Clara thought for a moment and stared up at the hut. ‘I haven’t seen her for a few months now. But some of the girls have. They’re the ones who take the food up to her.’
‘Right. What exactly is wrong with her?’ I persisted. I felt Clara would want to tell me because we were room buddies and I felt I had more of a connection with her already than I’d had with anyone else.
‘She’s just a bit loopy. Different things happen to different people. We can’t all stay sane, can we? I’d say she had problems before she came, and something triggered her and she just ... went a bit mad.’
‘Should someone not try to get her to the mainland, get her home to her family where she can be properly looked after?’
‘She won’t come out; no one can reason with her. She’s too far gone.’ Clara shook her head.
‘So she’s just going to stay there?’ I stared back up at the hut, imagining a woman in there all alone, hunched in a corner, rocking or talking to herself.
Clara touched my arm. ‘Hey, listen, Sadie, I know how you feel. I was the same as you. I wanted to save everyone. But then I had to accept that things are different here; it’s not like it is back home. Sometimes, we must accept nature as nature.’ She sounded sad yet so sure of herself; she had lived here much longer than I had. I knew I needed to let things be and not worry as Clara had said but I was buzzing with questions about everything and everyone.
‘Fancy another swim? Bet I can beat you back to your towel over there?’ She pointed along the sand.
She took off and was practically in the water before I thought to catch up with her and try to give her a run for her money. As soon as I was in the warm turquoise waters and with the sound of Clara’s voice egging me on from ahead, I almost forgot about Ula alone in the hut. Almost.
14
THEN
I arrived back at the camp with Clara, euphoric from the swim, glowing from the water and sun.
I spotted Avril straight away; she was walking through to the camp from the huts looking a little more than perturbed.