Page 51 of The Beach Holiday

THEN

Ula had a child. Was that why she had been banished? It made no sense when there were two mothers on the island. And where was Ula’s child now?

Hester had told me that Adi had been abandoned by his mother. Had Ula abandoned Adi?

It was so sad that the two of them were separated, that both were missing out on parenting and being parented. Was it the pregnancy and birth that had driven her mad?

I took time to check on every man in Camp Z later that morning.

I gave them water from the rain canister and gave them the rations I had been sent with.

It was measly and pathetic. Some fruit and bread.

But I took time to try and talk to each man.

It wasn’t unpleasant, but I didn’t enjoy it.

I passed them their food through the small hatch and enough water to get them through the day.

Some of them spoke to me with pleasantries; others barely raised their heads, their spirits crushed.

I began to notice a similarity to the men.

Firstly in age. They were all between twenty-five and forty.

And the way they looked. Despite the weathered outer coat of their skin and the way their hair was matted, a few of them had teeth missing now, but it was easy enough for me to see that if they received a good scrub and a haircut, most of them would be pretty easy on the eye.

They were all roughly the same height, with a similar shade of light-coloured hair.

And I couldn’t deny that Cupcake had a certain look about him too.

Is that why the men were here, because of the way they had looked?

Did they all remind Avril of a certain man who had hurt her?

It seemed as though the answers were all offering themselves to me but I would need some confirmation from Cupcake.

‘I don’t know what to think about all of this, but I have some doubts.’

Cupcake looked intrigued as I passed him the bread, fruit and water.

‘Okay, doubts about who?’

‘Avril,’ I said quietly in case someone was lurking in the bushes and might report back what they had heard.

‘So talk me through it,’ he said, putting a piece of bread into his mouth.

‘It started at the beginning; there were things she didn’t tell me, and this camp being the biggest thing.

’ I thought again about Clara, but I couldn’t do that to Cupcake, not when he had clearly something going on with her.

‘I just get this vibe, that she ... that what she tells me isn’t the truth. ’

Cupcake remained silent as he ate.

‘And there are men here, in our camp.’

He stopped eating and looked at me. ‘Men?’

‘Yes.’ I cast my mind back to last night and the way they had looked. I could see a similarity again. Same height and build. The build Cupcake could have been a few years ago.

‘You need to tell them, warn them,’ he said. A panic rose in his voice. Where he had been calm each time I had spoken with him, he was now clearly alarmed.

‘I, I don’t know what to say.’

‘Tell them to get off the island right away.’

‘But everyone will know it was me who told them. My life is in danger,’ I said and as I spoke those words I finally knew. I was scared, I was trapped and I had no one to help me.