Page 109 of Pride

“But we can’t just leave him here and pretend this didn’t happen.”

Alex hung his head, and in a quiet voice he said, “He already dug a grave. I think I need to make use of it.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying or what you’re doing. You can’t bury him here. You can’t do that to yourself.”

I didn’t care about Arran. But I cared about Alex, so fucking much it hurt. I didn’t want him to have to go through anymore trauma tonight. He’d been through enough.

He peered up at me with haunted eyes and said, “I have to. I have to do this. And I need to do it alone. I need to put my brother to rest.”

What could I say to that?

I wanted to call the police, but I also understood where he was coming from. This was his twin brother. A brother he still felt responsible for, even in death. If he wanted to bury him this way, I wouldn’t stop him.

How could I?

So, I nodded and stayed on the floor as Alex stood up.

He walked over to his brother and knelt beside him.

“I can’t lift you like I want to,” he said, speaking to Arran. “But I know, if you were here, you’d tell me to just fucking drag you to where you needed to be, so...” Alex stood up, took hold of Arran’s ankles and started to drag his body across the forest towards the grave. I turned away. I didn’t want to watch this part.

Eventually, I heard the thud as Arran’s body hit the soil at the bottom of the grave. Then Alex went back to fetch both of the guns from tonight and threw them in, too, to be buried with Arran. Lastly, he walked over to the tree where Arran had hung his jacket. Slowly, he took it off and draped it over his arm, then when he got to the grave, he draped it carefully over his brother.

“Goodnight, Arran,” Alex said quietly. “I hope you find more peace in the next life than you did in this one.”

He stood up and walked over to where I sat. Then picked up a shovel I hadn’t noticed behind the tree. He walked back to the grave and began shovelling the soil back into it, stopping every now and then to wipe his brow and sigh.

I wasn’t sure how he’d get over the trauma of having to bury his own brother, but I watched as he kept going.

“Are you okay?” I called out with concern.

“I’ll be better once this is over,” he replied, sweat pouring as he worked hard at filling the grave.

Eventually it was done, and he stood for a moment, looking down at the unmarked grave where his brother was.

“It’s over,” I heard him gasp to himself. “This has to be over.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

EMMA

After the burial, Alex took the shovel, the camera from the tree, and the torches that were scattered around and loaded them into the boot of his car.

“I’ll come back in the morning and get rid of his car,” he told me.

We both climbed into Alex’s car, neither one of us talking, as he started the engine and drove away.

After a few minutes of driving in silence, Alex said, “I’ll need to speak to Ethan tonight, get him to wipe whatever he can from the footage online. He’ll know what to do. He always knows what to do.”

I didn’t reply.

Then, a minute later, he added, “I think I need to torch the car tomorrow. Find somewhere to burn it out. Or a lake maybe, an area of deep water where I can push it in. It needs to disappear.”

Again, I nodded dumbly as he made plans. Organising everything to avoid thinking about what’d happened.

“I’ll need to check his diary, make sure any future events are cancelled. I don’t want anyone sniffing around,” he added, andI zoned out, staring out of the window as we drove through the darkness.

I felt the warmth of his hand as he reached over to touch my leg and give me a reassuring squeeze.