a PlayStation. That being sent to prison was like being sent on holiday. That obviously made them say that they quite liked the sound of prison – which is why he told them that everyone poos in a bucket.
…
Imagine telling all that to a pair of eight-year-old girls.
Daniel: I said no such thing.
Amy: …
…
…
Poo.
Emma: We ended up playing a card game. They had played Uno before and had some Old Maid cards back at home – but they really liked the idea of me teaching them a game with actual cards. The only thing I could think of was Shithead, but I obviously couldn’t tell them that was the name, so I called it Unicorn Head.
Chloe: We play Unicorn Head all the time now.
Emma: We played until the girls could barely keep their eyes open. They said they wanted to keep going but didn’t protest too much when I put them to bed. I’d planned to read them a story, but they were both asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.
I stood and watched them for a little bit… not long… but it was comforting to see them like that. They were so slim and small… so precious. They were taking these long, deep breaths and it left me feeling hopeful about the future.
It was true when I said that I sometimes found it hard to see them or be around them – but I think I got over it that night. I started to think that I could maybe babysit them as a regular thing. Julius only had the girls every other weekend, but I thought about contacting Simone and offering to look after the girls if she needed a hand.
…
It was a fantasy, of course. I don’t think she’d have agreed and, even if she had, everything changed before we left the island.
…
Whatever happened later, I have to thank Julius for giving me those few hours. He didn’t have to and I’ll always have that evening. It might sound odd to say, but it was one of the best nights of my life.
Amy: When we got home, Daddy told us Auntie Emma is a bad person who does bad things.
Chloe: He said that bad people sometimes act like good people – but that they’re still bad people.
Emma: After the girls fell asleep, I went out onto the balcony to get a bit of air. Galanikos can be stifling in the evenings sometimes. The heat of the day doesn’t clear and everything feels so close that you’re desperate to get away from it. That night, though, it was so much crisper and fresher than it had been earlier. It felt like the island was resetting itself. There was a chill on my skin and I wished it was always like that.
The balcony overlooks the bar and there were still quite a lot of people out. I was sitting and watching. It was the usual holiday thing. Some people were dancing badly, while others were lining up shots across the bar. I spotted Victor and Claire standing near a piano. They were close to each other but angled away. I didn’t notice it right away – but then I realised they were having some sort of conversation, even though they weren’t facing one another. Their lips would move and then the other’s body would stand more rigidly.
I think they were probably arguing, although I don’t know for sure. It was more the way they were going out of their way to not look at each other.
Claire: We argued more or less non-stop on the island.
Emma: I couldn’t hear anything over the music – but out of nowhere, Claire suddenly spun and then marched away. I think Victor called after her, but she ignored him and kept going. I watched him and he watched her. He didn’t move for a good thirty seconds after she’d gone, as if he couldn’t believe it. There was something about the way he was holding himself in, that time. The way his head was arched forward, with his shoulders tight and tense. I probably knew what was going to happen – and then it did.
Claire: I was back in the hotel by then. I only know what people said the next day.
Emma: There was a man who was on his way to the bar. He was going past Victor and they touched shoulders. He turned back to say sorry – but Victor swung at him before the guy knew what was happening. The