Soul Beach

Maybe it would have been better if I’d had more time to prepare myself? But today’s Sunday and we knew this was our best chance of catching people in.
    Plus, I don’t think Triti can carry on for much longer. When I saw Meggie on the Beach last night, I could hear Triti in the background, shouting and screaming. Some of the other kids had been talking about gagging her, just to shut her up.
    ‘No answer,’ I say, torn between wanting to leave before anyone sees us, and knowing that this is the only thing in my life that matters right now.
    ‘I heard someone in the house,’ Lewis replies. ‘Look, Alice, don’t wimp out now. I didn’t give up my Sunday to fall at the first hurdle. Try again.’
    Bloody hell, he’s bossy.
    But he also happens to be right. What would I tell Meggie or Danny if I left now? And how would I live with myself if I missed this opportunity to save Triti and get closer to the mystery of the Beach? Now is definitely not the time to let my nerves get the better of me.
    I press the bell hard, and we can hear it this time, echoing round the house, impossible to ignore.
    Through the glass panels in the door, someone moves. A slight figure approaches with the same fast but floaty quality that Triti has, and the door’s open before I can take another breath.
    ‘Yeah?’
    There’s no doubt that we’ve got the right house. This could only be Triti’s brother. His face is sleek, almost cat-like. Even though he’s dressed in Sunday slobbing gear – jeans and a crumpled shirt – he’s so elegant.
    ‘I’m sorry to bother you,’ I begin.
    ‘Not again, ’ he says. ‘I told the last lot. We’re not interested in eternal salvation, thanks. Apart from anything else, damnation sounds more fun.’
    His voice is posher than his sister’s, and more spiky.
    ‘We’re not trying to convert you,’ says Lewis, putting his hand on the door so that it can’t be slammed in our face.
    I step forward. ‘It’s about your sister. Triti. Triti Pillai, right? She is . . . she was a friend of mine.’ Meggie’s rules of lying kick in again. It is almos t true, though the next part of my story isn’t. ‘I knew her from school.’
    He looks at me suspiciously. ‘You’re younger than her.’
    ‘Triti was two years above me,’ I say. ‘She was always kind to me.’
    He frowns, sizing me up. ‘You weren’t at the memorial service.’
    ‘I wanted to come but I was . . . on holiday. Please, can we come in?’
    ‘You definitely weren’t at school with her, were you?’ her brother says to Lewis.
    ‘I’m Alice’s boyfriend,’ says Lewis, and I try not to snort. ‘Look, we won’t keep you long.’
    The guy hesitates, but then opens the door a little wider. ‘OK. But you can’t stay long, my parents will be back soon and I’m not having Mum upset again.’
    Lewis gives me the thumbs-up as we step into the house, which smells of vanilla air freshener. We follow Triti’s brother through the wide hallway and into a conservatory at the back. It’s chilly and the lighting is flat, the October clouds are so low I feel I could reach up and poke a hole in them. He gestures for us to sit down. The rattan furniture creaks under our weight.
    ‘Lewis,’ says Lewis, reaching out to shake his hand.
    ‘Rafi.’
    ‘I’m Alice,’ I say.
    ‘Yes. You said.’ His eyes are as wary as Triti’s, and I suppose I can’t blame him. ‘What are you doing here? Why rake it up again after all this time?’
    ‘I . . .’ God, this is a terrible idea. I want to leave, because of all people I should understand how totally devastating it is to lose a sister. Perhaps now, one year on, he’s finally got some closure and then I show up, full of lies, to bring it all back.
    But it’s for her sake. I have to remember that. If I unlock why she’s on the Beach, perhaps she can escape.
    Perhaps my sister can, too . . .
    Lewis nudges me.
    ‘I came here because I think the same thing that happened to Triti might be happening to me.’
    He looks up and down my body. Thank God I haven’t felt like eating since I arrived on Soul Beach – no one would ever have believed that I could have anorexic tendencies before this.
    ‘You’ve got a heart problem, have you?’ There’s a sneer in his voice.
    ‘That wasn’t all that killed her, was it, Rafi?’
    His face closes down. He reminds me so much of his sister. Except he’s more important to me, somehow: the first person I’ve met who proves the existence of