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‘Inmate,’ Cupcake scoffed. ‘The second.’
I nodded. He could have been here a while, but I didn’t want to quiz him about it.
I couldn’t tell. Apart from the protruding ribs and the ingrained dirt on his skin, which, from a distance, looked like a tan, I now realised was a combination.
‘Your accent?’ I moved the conversation away from incarceration.
‘South African.’
I nodded. I was going to say as much.
‘You’re not like them though. Are you. The others? Avril?’
‘I’m new. This wasn’t what I expected when Avril invited me out here. I didn’t expect there to be only women. I discovered you by accident,’ I suddenly found myself admitting. I still had the upper hand, I reminded myself. I was on this side of the bars; they were on the other.
‘I know. I saw the look of horror on your face.’ Cupcake laughed. ‘It’s not every day you discover a prison on a paradise island.’
Of course, I remembered how I had discovered this place and knew my emotions would have been written all over my face.
‘I was just getting over the magnificence of the place.’
‘Marred it slightly.’
‘It’s not quite out of sight out of mind enough. I must accept the ugliness of what this is before I can truly embrace the beauty.’
Cupcake’s expression was dull and flat.
‘Sorry.’
‘Oh don’t worry, I appreciate the beauty. I see it every day, albeit from the same spot. It’s all I have now.’
I had so many questions bubbling on my lips that I wanted to ask Cupcake. Like why he was called Cupcake for a start and what he had done to be here. But this all felt so impertinent already, like I was betraying Avril. She had tasked me with coming here to sort out the noise. Whilst she was with the new male arrivals. Luring them in. Those were the words that I heard in my mind. But I didn’t want to think it. I didn’t want it to be true.
‘I need to get back.’ I suddenly needed to see what was happening at the main camp. Cupcake stepped back from the bars.
‘Will you come again?’ he asked. ‘It’s nice to have company. I haven’t had any for a while. Clara, she used to come,’ he added quietly.
‘Oh.’ Hearing her name mentioned was like a small stab in my chest. ‘She used to visit you?’
Suddenly I remembered the job that Clara had that she didn’t reveal to me, one that took her away early in the morning. This was where she had been coming?
My face must have given away what I was thinking.
‘She’s not here anymore,’ he said without question. ‘I get it. Her visa ran out. She needed to go home,’ he said wistfully. ‘She didn’t say goodbye...’ He trailed off.
My heart sped up, and my mouth went dry. He didn’t know. Someone had lied to him. But why, I wondered, would they tellhim a lie to protect him? Why not tell him the truth, as it would hurt more?
‘I have to go,’ I said; his mouth fell into a boyish, lopsided grin.
‘But you’ll come back, no?’
I walked away, already with a feeling that there was more to this man. Clara had spent time with him, were our intuitions right? Was this man not dangerous?
Cupcake had somehow drawn me in, and I knew I would be back and not just under the role Avril had assigned to me. ‘I’ll see you again. I’ll bring a cigarette,’ I said.
37
THEN