All The Lonely People - David Owen Page 0,59

notices,’ said Safa. ‘Not her family, not her friends, not even the guy who was going to propose to her that day. Now tell me . . . who has actually noticed that you’re gone?’

She didn’t know. She hadn’t let herself face it. Now there was no choice, she saw that nothing had changed. If her absence had left any blank spaces behind, the world had filled them so easily nobody could tell the difference. The only person who seemed to remember was the creep who had made all this happen in the first place. She hated that it made her need him.

‘So why not become somebody else?’ said Safa, seeing the answer written on Kat’s face. ‘Somebody who has scores of friends, who is loved? Who loves? Somebody the world would miss.’

Kat wanted every one of those things, and in the last few days she’d been stupid enough to think she might have found it, at last. Now she knew she had been wrong, and she ran, knowing Safa wouldn’t follow.

22

Refinement of the Decline

The message arrived on Wesley’s phone when he was almost home. From Luke. He was almost too scared to open it.

did you nick it?

He stared at the words for a long moment, as if they were a code to decipher. What are you talking about?

the car got nicked. nobody else knew it was there. Tru is losing his shit

I swear, it wasn’t me. I can’t even drive!

It was a couple of minutes before a reply came. it won’t stop us. we’ll find another way.

Wesley started to type a response that further pled his innocence, but he realised it would only make him look guilty. Luke was wrong about one thing: there was one other person who could have known the car was there.

He turned away from home and hurried in the other direction.

*

Kat stood in the sitting room doorway as her dad slumped in front of the television, assignment papers littered across the carpet. The news was reporting on the trouble at the march.

‘It’s thought the attack was organised on the Facebook page of a far-right campaign group, with several posts calling for “retribution” against members of the march.’

Too tired to feel angry about it now. Instead she thought about what Safa had said. The world at large hadn’t noticed Kat’s absence, no, but she still didn’t know about her family. It wasn’t the first time Suzy had ignored her messages. She had seen less of Dad than usual, but he had tried to speak to her. There was nothing conclusive.

‘Niko Denton, a prominent figure in the so-called alt-right, has denied involvement.’

Since arriving home she had swaddled herself in dressing gown and gloves, doing everything she could to hide the condition of her flesh. She peeled it all away now, leaving nothing but the sleeveless T-shirt and shorts underneath.

‘Dad?’ she said.

When he didn’t respond, she forced herself to move closer.

‘Dad,’ she said. Not a question this time. A plea.

Eyes fixed on the TV, light reflecting in his glasses. Kat walked across the assignments, paper crackling under her feet like ice, until she was standing between him and the screen.

‘Please,’ she said, voice shaking now, the first hot tear streaking down her face.

His eyes focused, and her heart leapt, sure that he saw her. He stood, and Kat opened her arms, sure that he would embrace her. Instead, he turned towards the door.

‘Kat?’ he called over the noise of the television.

She darted in front of him. ‘Dad, I’m right here.’

He shouted her name again, moving into the doorway to listen for a response. When none came he started to panic, hurrying to check the kitchen before returning to the hall. They were both crying now, neither able to comfort the other.

‘Dad!’ she shouted, reaching for him, the barrier holding her at bay. He rushed past her and up the stairs to throw open her bedroom door, cast around desperately, and then checked every other room in the house. It was only when he returned downstairs that the energy fell out of him. He sagged against the wall, and Kat watched helplessly as he sobbed into his hands.

‘I’ve lost her. I’ve lost her.’

Something inside her broke, a rending as if her body would come apart. This was it, surely, the final straw that would complete the fade and make her disappear for good. She welcomed it. When she choked out another sob, found she was still there, she staggered past him, up the stairs and into her room.

Shuddering