by Karen Aldous
I stood beside her as I finished brushing my hair. ‘Or Anthony.’
‘Or Rob,’ Lou added.
I glared at Lou in the mirror. ‘Oh, I’ve just had a … ew, I feel sick.’ I clutched my stomach. ‘Lou, I couldn’t get hold of Ant last night. Nor all day today. He said his phone died. You don’t think?’
Lou stopped brushing, her hand resting on the side of her head. ‘No, Cath. No, I’m certain he wouldn’t. Wasn’t he playing golf with Terry?’
‘But it’s her. If she can lure Mike, who probably thought her a joke, then who knows what she’s capable of.’
Lou held my gaze for several seconds. ‘Any of them. Oh God, I hope she hasn’t got her claws into …’
Angie stormed into the room and both Lou and I spun around. ‘What happened? Is Kim awake?’ I asked, still panicked.
‘Yes. Well …’ Angie drew the door to. ‘Kim’s apologised again but Ginny’s still riled.’
‘Oh, this is awkward,’ Lou said.
Angie rubbed her thighs and placed her hands on her hips. ‘Well, yes, but she has at least said that she won’t spoil her holiday. She asked that we all be civilised.’
‘Oh, good. But, Ang, we’re now worried,’ I said. ‘Sit down.’
Chapter 19
Kim
When I opened the curtains, thick mist hung outside the window – it was another foggy morning. And, although a little lifted by Ginny’s gesture, I was still feeling devastated by her response. Arriving down late for breakfast, I was met with pleasant ‘good mornings’ but the air inside was icier than out. I was grateful to see Lou had made my coffee and there was a boiled egg and toast on a plate where I usually sat, even though I had to force myself to eat it. My throat and stomach tightened with each gaze that bounced between them back and forth as I rushed to get it down me.
After finishing her breakfast, Angie got to her feet and began gathering and washing the dishes and cups. ‘I’ll just rinse these, while we wait,’ she said. I could barely swallow. I was a criminal without knowing the crime. I wanted to scream at them: All I did was care. This behaviour was so unreasonable. Yes, they felt for Ginny – after all, she was the victim in all of this – but still, they knew me well enough to understand surely.
As we marched from the path to the road. Lou held back and walked beside me. She spoke softly but she didn’t seem unduly worried if the others heard.
‘It’s so awkward at the moment, I know, but let’s enjoy our skiing and worry about everything else later. Such a shame Paula chose to tell her now. I could kill the bitch. But hopefully, time will figure it out.’ She nudged my arm in a friendly, almost soothing way, which took me by surprise.
‘I hope so,’ I said shaking my head. ‘Nothing I say will convince you of my sincerity, but I won’t give up.’
Lou’s mouth twisted. ‘Good. I’m not sure that I wouldn’t have done the same. I told Ginny that too. Let’s just see how she feels in a few days.’
I nodded. It would have to suffice, and I could only pray things improved before we left. I would hate to return to Oz leaving it like this.
As we reached Christoff, Angie gave him her usual three air kisses, but showed considerable constraint, whilst Ginny walked directly over to Neil. She shuffled around the other side of him to create some distance between us and I could hear her as she began to apologise. Neil gave her a hug, telling her he was glad she was back out ready to ski this morning. She peered over at me and lowered her head, saying something inaudible to my ears.
Christoff, however, soon rounded us up, informing us we would be going straight up on the gondola and back to the blue run again to keep working on our parallel turns. Although the atmosphere was uncomfortable travelling up in the gondola, once we were under instruction with Christoff, and the sun burned through the fog, I began to feel more relaxed. We managed to get five runs in the two-hour lesson and I felt my skis carving easier and more confidently with each run. Apart from a few minor falls, we all did well and Christoff promised that for our last day tomorrow, Friday, and New Year’s Eve, he would take us over to the Tournelle slopes, which were gentle reds. He said he had every confidence in us, but we would have to ski a steeper part to get there. He added that that was going to be our new challenge. I was so excited. I never imagined myself skiing a red run on my first week.
‘Excellent,’ I squealed, grinning around me, Ginny dropping her smile as I caught her eyes, which tore at my heart. I could see the others bubbling at the prospect.
‘Why don’t we carry on skiing now and have a later lunch?’ Lou said. ‘I’ll ring Angie to meet us up here.’ She peered round for our approval.
‘Sounds good to me,’ I said.
Cathy put her hand up. ‘Me too.’
‘I’ll see you ladies later then,’ Christoff said and skied off with a courteous wave.
‘Yes, me too,’ Ginny said, then frowned. ‘I’d be interested to know why Christoff doesn’t let us ski all the way down.’
‘Apparently,’ Lou said, removing her helmet, and tousling the top of her hair, which had flattened, ‘Angie said it gets steep and narrow at the bottom, so no doubt Christoff doesn’t want us scared. Although, she said there’s another run, but it’s very long, and I think she said you have to get a bus if you want to avoid the last horrible bit.’ She pulled out her phone. ‘I’ll text Angie.’
Ginny sucked in her cheeks. ‘Ooh, maybe he’ll take us all the way down tomorrow after we’ve done Tournelle.’
‘I’m not sure I’d want to yet. Steep and narrow isn’t a good combination, is it?’ Cathy said.
I scratched my lip with my glove. ‘That little bit we ski at the end of the blue is tricky enough for me. But maybe he’ll see how we get on.’
‘True,’ Ginny agreed, and however brief her reply, I was heartened that I had got a response from her.
Lou tucked her phone back in her pocket saying she had organised for Angie to meet us. Angie and Neil were apparently just getting on the six-man chair. We decided as we were close to the restaurant, we would make use of the ladies’ cloakroom. Ginny actually spoke to me again as I heard her in the next cubicle to me.
‘Kim, do you have any loo roll or tissue you could pass? This one has run out and I don’t have any tissues in my pocket.’
I know it was an emergency, but again, I was comforted that she had asked.
Angie and Neil were out by the lift when we returned to our meeting spot. The sky had clouded a little, but the light was still OK as we continued to perfect our parallels and turns. I remembered Christoff’s encouraging comments as I skied easily across the slope and prepared for what Christoff called my neat ‘smooth’ turns.
I was elated, and the sun penetrated through for a while bringing patches of sapphire sky and white summits back into view, the smooth snow beneath me glistening. As my confidence grew, I paralleled across the slopes, daring to ski that little bit faster, the adrenaline pumping in my veins. It was magical. We were on our third run down, and the cloud began closing in. The light became flatter, which meant the definition of the snow topography was making it increasingly difficult to read the contours.
Angie was leading, and I was behind Lou with Cathy and Ginny following me, Neil at the rear. We were just at the bottom of our lovely blue run, the trickier bit heading down to the three-man chair where it met another run. I’m not sure exactly what happened next, but as I neared a turn, a huge thud with a scream bellowed in my ears followed by a heavy scraping in the snow. Next, I saw a body whoosh through the air. Limbs spread, skis crossing. Then, just missing me, a snowboarder hurled face down in front of me. I lost balance, my speed increasing, my heart lurching as I realised it was Ginny crumpled over by the edge of the slope, but then, to my horror I saw her body slide, spinning faster towards a child. Her skis trailed behind as they tumbled, then came off. She missed the child, but her body sped on nearing the edge. I was hurling uncontrollably towards her crossing the slope, powerless. Then I heard a roar.<
br />
‘Stupid bitch! Out the …’
Ooph! I felt a huge thud. I was in the air.
Cathy
‘No, no …’ Motionless, I held my breath watching as they disappeared. Ginny and Kim gone. I could barely breathe. It happened so fast. I stood frozen. Ginny had spun off the edge and Kim had been pushed or knocked by a guy into the air and all I saw was her body flying over the edge of the slope after Ginny. I tried to push myself forward but was too shaky.
‘Oh, God. They must be …!’ Panic tore through me. ‘Oh God.’ I couldn’t bear to think. Stupid woman, get over. Neil was at the edge in seconds, spraying a jet of snow as his skis turned and stopped sharply. He stooped, picking something up and leaned forward for any sight of them. He then skied along a little further, scanning below. He turned towards me as he whipped his phone out from his jacket, tapping vigorously with a drained expression on his face as he held it to his ear. This didn’t look good.
My emotions surged. I whimpered, terrified for them both. Neil began speaking in French as I waited for two skiers to pass, my throat and eyes stinging. Unrooting my feet, I urged my skis slowly over to him. Other skiers were beginning to congregate around us. Lou and Angie, oblivious, had skied on ahead, towards the chairlift. I stood helplessly looking at the steep crevice below. I wanted to retch. What could I possibly do to help instead of standing here as a snivelling wreck?
Neil handed me a phone as he clicked off his skis and trod cautiously nearer the cambered ledge, scanning the depths below like he was figuring ways to climb down. I shuffled closer and clicked off my skis too, thinking he must be calling the mountain rescue. I ripped off my gloves, went to unclip my helmet, but figured it wasn’t the best idea. My vision blurring, I looked at the phone recognising the cover as Kim’s. It must have fallen out of her jacket. With trembling hands, my fingers tapped the screen and it lit up. It was an older version of mine without any security. I scrolled down her contacts and rung Ginny’s phone. It went to voicemail. I tried again in hope she would pick up.
‘Please be all right, Ginny,’ I snivelled. ‘Answer, but don’t rush,’ I mumbled to myself.
Neil finished his conversation.
‘The mountain rescue team are on their way. You OK?’ he asked, trembling with worry.
I nodded. ‘I’m so scared for them. Ginny’s not answering.’ I blew out a sigh, trying to keep my composure whilst inside I was feeling hysterical. ‘Damn!’ I cried, trying to think. I rang Ginny again, guessing she might have to struggle to reach her phone. I was worried she could be unconscious. Even with a helmet, she could have injured her head the speed she was spinning at. God, I prayed they would be safe. It rung again for what seemed like forever before it reached voicemail. I left a message to say Neil was above her and he’d rung the services. She could ring me on Kim’s phone. I paused. Then my voice broke. ‘Stay safe, Ginny darling. Please be safe.’ I then texted the same, then WhatsApped, just covering every communication channel I could think of. The tears now streamed down my face.
Neil put an arm around my shoulder. ‘Let’s just pray they’ve landed on snow. I can’t see how far it goes down.’
Instinctively I pressed Ginny’s call button again. ‘I don’t know. She may be trying to get her phone or reach safety. It could be off. I don’t know. Please, God, please let her be OK.’ It was then I realised the other two were probably still waiting at the lift. I said to Neil, ‘I’ll try and get hold of Angie or Lou.
Ginny
The melody on my mobile stirred me. The tune was ‘The Rose’ and I immediately thought of Kim. In a dreamlike state I was sitting in her rose garden so full of vibrant colour; pale and vibrant pinks, velvety mauves, brilliant whites as luminous as snow. I blinked several times, the skin on the left side of my face numb, my lashes wet. I could see particles of ice on my nose and cheek and the realisation dawned. I was alone, amid crushing silence and an intermittent electronic rendition of ‘The Rose’. Surrounding me were snow-filled gorges, trees, slices and ledges of rock.
Flat on my stomach, I crushed some ice with my right hand as I pushed against it, feeling a sharpness in my spine. My left arm was dangling. I rolled towards it, almost instinctively checking for any numbness. As my eyes hit the clouds, the stark light singed my sight. My goggles had gone. The tune started again, and I remembered setting ‘The Rose’ tone to Kim’s ring on my settings whilst we were sitting in her garden. It was the prompt I loved to hear. I would go to my laptop to talk on Skype. It played over and over but I lay listening, thinking of the heady scents and the sunshine.
I was afraid to move in case I damaged my back. It stung. One leg was painful too. The phone in my pocket stopped. In the silence in between I heard something. A whimpering. It wasn’t far away but it was becoming louder. I craned my neck glimpsing a silver-grey-coloured ski boot and the bottom of the leg of a black pair of ski pants. That position didn’t look good. My heart raced to a panic. I had fallen. The person whose leg I saw must have fallen too. I should get to them.
‘Shh – ouch,’ I whispered, trying to manoeuvre my torso gently to locate internal muscles to find out what was working. I then wondered if I was just bruised. At least I had sensation in my back, despite the pain. Peering down at the dangling leg, I looked at the deep crevice of snow below me, wondering if I would be able to throw myself into it. Would I sink into it, slide off it? I then wondered if I should talk to the person. Would they try to move, making them fall?
Horror gripped my throat. Then bile. My mind flashed to puking in the toilet. Mike, Paula. An image that had plagued me all morning. They were laughing and having sex in my bed. Mine and Mike’s marital bed. They were naked, sweating and laughing. His eyes meeting hers. His touch on her skin. The bile turned to vomit, projectile gushing from my mouth then running down the ledge. The pungent odour wafted up my nose.
‘Hel … hello.’ It was little more than a whisper, but I was sure I recognised that voice.
‘Kim? Is that you?’ Instinctively I called, almost gargling in my own vomit, but my phone buzzed and vibrated into my chest. Kim’s signature jingle followed. She was trying to message me. Could it be her on the ledge above me? If only I could reach my phone. I peered at the deep pile of snow again, and wriggled slightly, easing my torso forward. My jaw dropped, my lungs snatching my breath as I gasped. I was on some pinnacle, I realised. I then heard a pant and saw the leg jerk and kick out. Then I felt another buzz in my chest.’
‘Stay completely still,’ I muffled to the boot. ‘I’ll try and reach you. I’m not far.’
‘No … no, stay still,’ the voice whimpered with obvious pain, and I was now sure it was Kim.
‘Kim, where are you hurt?’ I asked. My phone rang again so I couldn’t hear her answer. I tried again to reach inside my pocket. She must have rung the rescue services if she had rung me. Lost for ideas, I knew I had to move and try to reach her. My pride might have been hurt but Kim’s survival was more pressing. And who knew who else was knocked. I could only hope that Neil was still on the piste and would know what to do. He was behind us. I wriggled my muscles, sure I was in once piece. My toes wriggled OK, my knees. I felt a bruise on my left thigh, and although I felt pain in my spine, there was movement in my muscles. Surely, I’d be able to get to her.
I thought of Kim, her crazy decision to ask a strange man to impregnate her. A desperate time in her life, driving her to take such a risk. Was the choice she claimed she made to protect me just as desperate? Did she feel she would risk sending me over the edge then? Revealing Paula’s confession. Had I not had my own suspicions, I might not have believed her anyway. Should I even now? Paula is an evil minx.
I reached into my lungs for breath. This was the time to take a risk and I had to keep perspective – this wasn’t just about me. This was life and death; no stronger purpose.
I stared at the spot I needed to be, then mentally, I took that leap. Then physically, I rolled off the ledge towards my aim. My heart filling my mouth
, I tried to tuck myself into the pile of snow. I sank several feet. My body was wedged but seemed to be in working order, pain shooting through my back. I had to pray the snow would hold me as I clambered out the pit of snow and, leaning into it on my hands and knees, focusing just ahead, I steadily traversed it, clinging to its bulk.
My phone began playing ‘The Rose’ again but weirdly it soothed me. Kim was with me. The snow was sticky, surface chunks sliding and falling. ‘Oh, shit, what have I done?’ I groaned quietly with fear, praying I hadn’t panicked her, or sparked an avalanche. I had to get up to her now. I knew she was above me and to my right, but I feared looking up in case I lost balance. I also feared looking down.
The tune from my phone stopped. ‘Don’t move,’ I breathed soothingly as my heart thumped. I’d never been so scared, clinging for dear life, but somehow, I knew I had to be brave. I reached the trunk of a tree and forced every ounce of strength in me to stand. I kicked my boots into the snow, sinking with each step until I reached something solid. Rock. I stepped onto a mound and above it saw a crag I could possibly grip. I reached out my hand and swung my body to reach it. Finding strength from I don’t know where, I lifted myself onto a ledge. My top half was up. I had to get the rest of me up.
‘Stay there,’ I heard Kim say, but my instincts told me I had to act quickly.
‘Shh …’ And with an almighty haul, I was up. Immediately I saw the hood of her ski jacket hooked to a thin branch, one leg angled awkwardly on another. One false move and … I couldn’t think. The distance, her weight, my balance.
‘Gin, please.’ Her voice sounded clearer. ‘Leave me. It’s too risky.’
I stood and viewed the scene. Looking just at Kim, not down, I considered if I could possibly grab her legs and pull her weight, so we landed over on the patch of snow below us.
