you were having some big amazing release?’
‘Yeah, it was so strange. Like, she was right! There was something hidden in there, and I got it!’
‘Me too,’ said Emma.
‘Mine was in my heart, if you can believe that,’ said Nadia.
Emma smiled. ‘I can.’
Nadia smiled too. She could as well. ‘Where was yours?’
‘A bit all over, actually,’ said Emma. ‘Mostly around my pelvis though.’
‘Ooooh, how telling!’ said Nadia, about to make a joke about her sex life that was rudely interrupted by the ringing of a phone. It wasn’t Nadia’s ringtone. It was Emma’s. Emma’s hand jutted out, off the wheel to where it sat below the radio, just as Nadia’s did.
‘I’ll get it!’ Nadia trilled, since Emma was driving, and she went to pick it up just as Emma said, ‘No!’
Emma clawed at Nadia’s hand so that Nadia ended up holding one end of the phone and Emma the other. Startled, Nadia looked at her friend, and Emma turned her head away from the road and looked at Nadia, and Nadia didn’t understand. In shock, she dropped the phone, registering the panic on Emma’s face, who suddenly let go too, just as something happened outside of the car, beyond the windscreen.
Nadia followed Emma’s gaze, and it all happened so fast, so quickly, but so slowly at the same time. No reactions were fast enough. There were people in the road – men. A group of men in the road. The car brakes screeched and the car jerkily slowed down.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, Nadia silently prayed. Or did she say it out loud?
Both women screamed as the group in the road turned their heads and registered the car, dividing themselves by either propelling forward or pulling back. The car came in at a halt, stopping inches from where the crowd had just been. There was silence. Shock. Nadia turned to Emma, who still had both hands on the steering wheel, her arms fixed straight in front of her, panting.
‘Ohmygod,’ she said.
‘You’re okay,’ Nadia said, unclipping her seatbelt. ‘Emma – you’re okay! Fuck.’ She went into organization mode. Rolling down the window, she said to the group to her left, ‘Are you okay? We’re so sorry!’
‘Fucking sorry?’ said one, in a Barbour jacket and wellies. ‘You almost bloody killed us! Jesus.’
Nadia turned to Emma. Her face was deathly white. ‘They’re okay, babe. Can you hear me? They’re okay.’ She lifted the handbrake and put on the emergency hazards. ‘Emma?’
Emma turned to her. ‘That was … horrible!’ she said, promptly bursting into tears.
‘Oh babe, get out. Come on. Let me drive. We need to get out of the road. Go on.’
The women clambered out of the car, where thankfully the group they’d nearly hit had already headed off into a nearby field. They were mad. Really, really mad – but at least that was better than being hurt. One of them turned around and shook his head, but Nadia was relieved that they all kept walking. She climbed into the driver’s seat and drove them to a nearby pub car park.
‘Bugger me, that was close,’ she said, closing her eyes to finally catch a breath.
‘Yeah,’ said Emma. ‘That was … yeah.’
Nadia switched off the engine and pressed her forehead to the wheel. It was no good thinking about what could have happened, but it was hard not to.
‘What happened?’ Nadia said, eventually.
‘I just took my eyes off the road for like, a second,’ said Emma. ‘That’s it. I just panicked.’
Nadia shook her head and then turned so she could see her friend. ‘But why? I went to answer your phone and you freaked out. Why would that freak you out?’
‘I didn’t know who it was,’ said Emma, as if that explained it.
‘I really need you to talk to me,’ Nadia implored. ‘I need you to tell me what’s going on. Emma!’
Emma stared blankly ahead and shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Just drive.’
They didn’t speak another word until they’d got back to London.
‘I’ll text you later this week,’ Emma said, as a goodbye.
‘Okay,’ Nadia nodded, sadly. ‘I’m here, you know. When you’re ready.’ She didn’t know what else to say. She’d never seen her like this before.
18
Daniel
‘Fuck me!’ one of the lads said. ‘Watch out!’ Daniel was vaguely aware of a giant shove into the middle of his back, forcing him to stumble up the grassy verge at the other side of the road. Before he could turn around and see who it was, he heard an almighty screech – the