The Reunion

forward suddenly, veering to the right, towards the edge of the mountain. Andrew put his foot on the brake and Lilah felt the back wheels start to slide, propelling the car towards the precipice.
    ‘Don’t brake,’ she said helplessly, grabbing at the dashboard and at the door handle. ‘Andrew, take your foot off the brake.’
    He did, but it was too late. Lilah closed her eyes as the car slid from the road.

 
     
    24 January 1997
    Email, from Dan to Andrew
    Hey man.
    God, when did things get so fucked up? I hope you’re OK, you sounded in bits on the phone.
    Listen, she’s here with me, she’ll be OK. I’ll take care of her, don’t worry. She’s drinking like a fish of course, but I’m keeping an eye on her. I’ve persuaded her to stay at least until her mum gets back from holiday, then I think she’s going to move back in with her, so she’ll be all right.
    She’s gutted, obviously. But you know what she’s like: one minute she’s banging on about how you’ve broken her heart and she’ll never recover, the next she’s saying that she knew things were over months ago but she didn’t want to end it with you because she felt sorry for you.
    The thing with Nat, though. That’s going to be harder. I assume you’re seeing/speaking to Nat regularly – if you are, tell her to stop calling. Lilah is not going to be ready to speak to her any time soon. Maybe she should write or something, I don’t know. Honestly, I think she should just leave it, for a few months at least. Wait until Lilah’s found herself a new guy (don’t want to be harsh, but you know it’s not going to be that long), wait until she’s on a bit more of an even keel.
    As I say, I’m not going to let anything bad happen to her. I’ve been trying, as best I can, to persuade her to just stay in and get trashed with me rather than going out on the town where she could get herself into trouble. We’ve had some good long chats, actually, about you and Conor, Jen, everything. It’s been all right. She’ll be all right.
    Best of luck, mate. I’ll come to Reading and see you as soon as I can (not now though, because Lilah will take that as me siding with you and she’ll scratch my eyes out). Love to Nat. I think it’s a good thing, you and her. I really do. It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?
    Dan

Chapter Seventeen

    SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE, IN the darkness, something was making a noise. A banging sound, eerily rhythmic, bang, bang, bang. Like someone hammering on a door, begging to be let in from the storm. Or someone breaking a door down. Jack Nicholson with an axe and a manic grin. Honey, I’m home. The hairs were standing up on the back of Dan’s neck.
    ‘What
is
that noise?’ he asked.
    The four of them were in the kitchen, scrabbling around in the half-light generated by the wood burner, searching through every drawer and every cupboard for some candles.
    ‘No idea,’ Jen muttered. ‘Where the hell did I put them? I know I bought candles yesterday. I know I did.’
    The banging stopped. Then it started again, louder this time.
    ‘Seriously, what is that?’ Dan glanced over at Natalie; she was looking nervous, too.
    ‘I think there might be someone out there,’ Dan said.
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Zac said. ‘There’s no one out there.’
    ‘I thought I saw a light, actually,’ Natalie said. ‘A little while ago.’
    ‘Where?’ Dan could feel his heart racing. It was ridiculous, but he was starting to feel really creeped out.
    ‘Out back, towards the woods.’
    Bang, bang, bang.
    It was the perfect horror movie set-up. A group of people go to a house in the middle of nowhere, an idyllic location by day, lonely and menacing by night. A storm blows up. Some members of the group are separated. The lights go out. There are strange noises outside. Jesus Christ, all they were missing was a maniac in a hockey mask with a butcher’s knife.
    Dan was really starting to freak himself out now. ‘Perhaps we should just sit tight for a bit,’ he said, glancing around behind him, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling that there was someone else there, someone standing in the darkened hallway, watching them. ‘Let’s just sit by the fire for a bit, have a drink. The lights are bound to come back on in a minute.’
    Jen snorted. ‘After the last storm the power was off for nearly thirty-six hours,’ she said. ‘We need to find those bloody candles.’
    ‘Where else could you have put them?’