Soul Beach

too. ‘Did he get it wrong then?’
    She walks to the side of the bar and I join her. The beach looks real again, now, all the strangeness I felt after Meggie told me there were no animals, no birds, has gone. The waves seem to call out to me. Jump in, the water’s lovely . I’ve never skinny dipped, but I can understand why you would here.
    ‘Look, mate, I told you before, everything is need to know. All I do is make it as good as possible so that the kids never want to leave.’
    ‘But some do.’
    She sighs. ‘Some want to leave, yes. And a few, a very few, find a way out. But mostly, this is for eternity, and the ones who do best are the ones who learn to stay in the moment. All the kids who’ve tried to keep track of how long they’ve been here lose count after a couple of years, and then hate themselves for it. It doesn’t help.’
    ‘And the ones who do find the escape hatch? Are they the ones who kept trying?’
    ‘No. It’s not that simple. There are Guests who are desperate to leave but never do, and some who loved it here, but then simply didn’t show up one morning.’
    ‘So it is about something that happens in the real world.’
    She blows a pungent smoke ring. ‘Real is a relative term, Alice.’
    ‘In my world, then?’
    Sam looks away. ‘I’ve probably said too much already.’
    ‘So . . . if I do something that helps to resolve what happened to Meggie? Like, I don’t know, work out who killed her. Would she disappear?’
    ‘Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do anyway. It could be dangerous. Things have effects you could never predict.’
    ‘But . . .’
    She seems to be thinking something over. ‘All I’ll say is that I think you might be right about resolution being the key. But resolution doesn’t always mean what you think it means. As Confucius might have said.’
    ‘Confucius?’
    She waves the comment away. ‘Some old Chinese guy. You know your trouble, Alice? You read too much into things. Half of what I say is as pointless as you’d expect from a girl who’s been up all night.’
    ‘And the other half?’
    She tuts. ‘Give it a rest, will you? Tell you what, it’s a good job you’re only a Visitor. You’d go crazy here.’
    ‘I’m going to find her,’ I say, quietly.
    Sam stands next to me, and the stink of cannabis is almost overwhelming. ‘Go on, Alice. And when you do, tell her jokes and happy stories, enjoy the time you’ve got with her. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this bloody place, it’s that you never know what you have till you lose it.’

26
    If Meggie has an inkling that anything has changed back ‘home’ then she’s not letting it show.
    I find her lying on the jetty, staring up at the crescent moon, while three guys gaze at her like she’s a mermaid who’s been washed ashore. I look for Danny or Javier but they’re not among her admirers. These men are toned and honed and, in the blue lunar light, their skin reminds me of marble. Plus, their poses are too deliberate, as though they’ve chosen the best positions to show off their muscles. Funny, I hardly know Danny at all but I cannot imagine him doing that: though I am not nearly so sure about Javier.
    I have to remind myself that in real life they probably weren’t nearly as cute, so they’re making the most of the novelty of being gorgeous. I guess I might do the same if I looked so good.
    Then again, while I’m here, maybe I do.
    ‘Meggie?’
    She looks up and for a moment, she frowns, the way she used to when I walked into her room without knocking and found her posing in her underwear in front of the mirror, holding a banana to her face instead of a microphone. But then she smiles so kindly that I realise I must have been wrong.
    ‘Oh, Alice, you’re back already, that’s terrific!’
    The beefcakes don’t look round, and I’m about to say something about their rudeness, when I remember that of course, they can’t see me.
    Megan stands up. ‘I shan’t bother to introduce you to these three,’ she says, stepping in towards me for an air kiss. She whispers, ‘They’re not very bright or interesting and to be honest, I’ve already forgotten their names myself. I had wanderlust. Wanted a break from the intensity of the usual gang.’
    She walks ahead of me, back towards the bar. ‘Good to see you again so soon, baby sister. Taking a break from your homework?’
    ‘Something like that. You know what it’s like at home,’ I say, even though she