CHAPTER 41
Ella
A punch in the gut wakes me, pushing out air violently.
I twist to my side, rolling myself as much as I can in these chains. They must have re-cuffed me because my arms are now secured behind my back. My mouth hangs open, stale breath lingering.
“Wake up, this isn’t a holiday.” Immi’s voice looms over me. The room is filled with a warm morning light that leaves a halo around her head.
“Immi, I–” My head throbs, trying to put as much of it together as I can.
“What the hell is the end game here?” Jude speaks for me, her face repulsed as she looks up at Immi. My vision swims as I clamber until my back presses against the brick wall.
Immi strides the length of the room, her hands behind her back. There’s something so different about her.
“I’m sorry.” It’s the only thing I can think to say, and it leaves both of them staring at me. Panic rises. If she’s hurting Benji just to get him to do what she wants, she’ll kill us.
“Robbie was your cousin, and the way that he died…” She flinches at his name. I need to be careful here.
“He was a good person,” I say, because it’s the truth.
But it also might save us. Or at least Jude.
I see something in Immi, the same look as the girl who drove Robbie around, chin raised and eyes determined.
Such judgment as she waved him over or waited for him to jump out of her car as a gangly teen.
Vague memories fall into place.
“He is. I basically raised him when I moved in there.” There’s pride in Immi’s voice but her jaw is tight. She has the same look she wore when the waiter spilt her salad over her cashmere jumper.
“I know, he always talked about you,” I lie.
Immi lets out a cruel laugh. Her shoulders shake as she tilts her head back. The chains behind me clang as I shift forward to rise onto my haunches, forgetting for a moment where we are and what is happening.
A slap stings across my face before I have a chance to balance myself.
“Don’t fucking lie. Robbie didn’t even mention me. He didn’t even like me. I’m not stupid.” Immi leans close, her teeth baring at me as she speaks.
“Then w–why are you doing this?” Jude looks between the two of us.
“Why–why–why?” Immi mocks Jude, her voice low and songlike, it almost doesn’t sit right.
Jude widens her eyes as she takes in the near-demented form of Immi.
Immi’s mouth moves but no sound comes out, she steps forward and lets out another little laugh.
This Immi is worlds apart from the one I knew.
“It’s about justice. You killed a young boy and you made a podcast out of it.” Immi throws her hands into the air, her fists coming down hard to her side.
The silence falls heavily over us.
“I’m sorry.” Tears streak down my cheeks.
“Sorry?” Immi roars, striding towards me with a fierce look. Her fingers dig into my neck, slamming my head into the wall so fast that pain rips through my neck.
“Woah! Immi stop this. I’m sorry about your cousin and I’m sorry that Ella has hurt you but you have to see how–” Her words are cut short. Immi whips out a fierce backhand that floors Jude.
Somehow, she keeps an arm on me, drawing closer as I struggle.
“Do you not see how much you’ve messed everything up?
But that’s OK, because I’m going to fix it.
No one is going to think well of you once they see what you’ve done.
” Spittle flies, Immi’s cheeks flush. I blink.
My fingers clawing at the wall and my legs pushing me upwards to take the pressure off.
We stay at a stalemate, Immi holding me by the throat until her hand drops, her nails leaving sharp imprints in my skin.
“This won’t fix it, Immi,” Jude says, turning up towards Immi’s looming figure.
There’s an angry noise from Immi as she rounds on Jude, her fist clenched and forceful as it makes contact with the side of Jude’s face. There’s an audible pop that draws a nauseous heave from me.
“Stop.” My words slide in between Jude’s cries. Despite her size, Immi is strong. The anger is fuelling her.
Jude’s face is oozing with blood, her nose tilting unnaturally.
“Please…” All I can do is beg. I don’t know what else to say.
The truth sits unnaturally between us. I didn’t kill Robbie, but I didn’t stop Henry. I’m not a bad person but I’m not good either.
“I’m sorry, OK? All those years ago, I made a mistake and–”
“A mistake?” Immi’s voice is hoarse. “A mistake is losing your keys, Elsie.” Immi bends her knees, bringing herself so close that my feet scramble back. The look in her eye is terrifying. “Not murder.”
I think of Henry and there are tears in my eyes. Stupid, irrational tears. Because she’s right, I could have done something. I thought I was doing something. All those stupid podcast episodes and I really thought I was making a difference. Helping in the justice of it all.
“Why didn’t you talk to me?” I ask, although how would I have imagined it going? Immi coming to me the day I moved in, smiling and letting me know that she knew who I was, what my real name was and, oh, would I be happy to chat about it?
“You would lie like you always have. No, this was fair, this was justice.” Immi’s gaze drifts off my face, to just above my ear in a way that sends a chill.
Jude scoffs. I give her a look, but she ignores me.
“She fucked up, yes. She did some awful things, Immi. I agree with that. But is it worth killing her over? She didn’t kill your cousin, Henry did.” Jude’s voice strains and I see the cuffs cut into her skin. She shifts, her trainer dragging on the floor.
Immi moves with speed. Side-stepping towards Jude so she towers over her. Her voice shakes as she roars, “I know what she didn’t do. She didn’t save him!”
The words hang in the silence of the room.
Immi puffs desperately. She’s right, I did none of those things.
I woke up in that hospital bed and the first person I thought of, the only person I thought of, was Nate.
By then, Henry had shown me his true colours, but it would take a few more stabs in the back to see who he was.
I was there again, the candles’ flickering leaving an ominous glow.
Robbie’s feet kicking wildly as Henry hunched over him, his fists moving so fast that a crunching sound came.
My scream filled the room, but we all know what happened when I tried to stop him.
Anger rips the memory apart, hot in my chest and tightening my jaw.
The version of me that whispers in the shadows did nothing then, but I tried.
God, did I try. It was messy and unlawful for me to lie.
Hell, it was all wrong. But it was Henry who killed Robbie and Nate, and I made sure he got the justice he should have.
“Look, you’re right. It was more than a mistake. I was young, I was naive, but I did so many things that hurt you and your family. That hurt Robbie.” I pause, waiting to see a change behind Immi’s eyes, but am graced with nothing.
“But Jude has nothing to do with this. Let her go, we can… you can have me.” My voice breaks and little trickles of sweat run down my inner arm. The chains clank as I move my legs, trying to find some stable footing.
Immi turns slowly, her teeth clenched as her eyes land on me. I push away, my bottom sliding on the dirty floor. I want the coldness of the wall against me, I want to ground myself against something. But she’s on top of me before I can.
“You have always done this; you’ve always made it about you. I’m sick of it. My dad was right about you. I came to you, do you remember? I came to ask you to tell me the truth of what happened that night, and all you did was lie,” Immi says.
I do remember. She was scrawny and ill-looking, appearing at my door one night when I went to put out the bins.
“What happened to Robbie?” she had begged, and I told her everything I remembered.
It wasn’t enough.
“See, even now you won’t talk. Selfish breeds what selfish do.” She lifts her chin again, and I see a scar reddening on her cheek.
“But I’ll put an end to you,” she says.
Immi doesn’t expect it when I reach for her, pushing myself off the wall as best I can at this angle.
It’s jerky and impractical but I move fast enough to swipe at her ankles.
She lets out a frustrated scream, kicking me away.
Jude takes the moment and swipes her legs outwards, trying to catch Immi’s right foot and yank her off her feet.
Immi barely moves, Jude’s legs not touching her at all.
“Fuck this,” Immi says, turning on her heel, “you are both as disgusting as each other. But there’s only one way to teach an old dog.”
Immi grabs Jude’s braids. Yanking Jude to her knees. Jude’s head rears back, trying desperately to reduce the strength of Immi’s grasp. I’m on my knees, leaning towards Jude only to get pulled back, the chains resisting me. My coccyx hits the ground with a thud, shoulder crashing into the wall.
“Agh.” Jude’s shoulders rise as she tries to shift her weight, but Immi is stronger and leaves Jude flailing like a puppet on a string.
My voice reaches for them, “Let her go!”
Immi barely registers my words. She gives another empty laugh as she yanks Jude’s head back with her hand.
“You surround yourself with people who placate you and fill your life with everything you ever want. You used Robbie’s death to make a career, a business. To make money! Not once thinking about those that you hurt,” Immi says, her lids lower as she traces a finger across Jude’s cheek.
“And you, little lady. You let her. You even said to me that you thought there was something odd about her when she first arrived, and you did nothing.” There is a tenderness in Immi’s voice that makes me sick.
“Immi, listen–” Jude begs, her voice hoarse.