The Beach

'Playing football! None of them thinking to check up on Christo!'

'Well, I think after Sal's speech everyone's trying to get back to…'

'Even before Sal's speech they were staying away… But if it was

Sal in here… if it was anyone else… Apart from me…' He hesitated, looking blankly at Christo, then laughed. 'I don't know. Maybe I'm being paranoid… It's just it's so weird. Hearing them outside, wondering why they don't come to check up…'

I nodded, although actually I was only half listening. His confinement with Christo was obviously getting to him and he clearly wanted to talk about it, but I had to bring up the subject of the raft. Sammy and Zeph would have covered the sea between the two islands before nightfall – a conservative estimate I'd worked out with Mister Duck by halving the time it had taken us to make the swim. At the earliest, that meant they could start the journey across the island tomorrow morning, and could conceivably reach the beach by tomorrow afternoon.

Christo stirred, distracting us both. For a second his eyes opened, clearly focusing on nothing, and a line of dark bile ran out of the corner of his mouth. Then his chest heaved and he appeared to slip back into unconsciousness.

Jed wiped away the line with Christo's sheet. 'I try to keep him on his side but he always rolls back… It's impossible. I can't tell what I should be doing.'

'How long will he be like this?'

'Two days at best… It might coincide with Tet.'

'Well that's perfect. It'll be the perfect birthday present for the camp, and maybe it will help Karl snap out of his…'

'Help Karl?' Jed looked at me curiously.

'Sure. I think half the problem is that no one can talk to him in his language. I think if Christo was talking to him then…'

Jed shook his head. 'No,' he said quietly. 'You don't understand. Christo's not getting better.'

'You just said, in two days…'

'In two days Christo will be dead.'

I paused. 'He's dying?'

'Yes.'

'But… How do you know?'

Jed reached out and took hold of my hand. Confused, I thought he was trying to console me or something, which got on my nerves, and I pulled my hand back. 'How do you know, Jed?'

'Keep your voice down. Sal doesn't want people to find out yet.' He reached out again to take hold of my hand, and this time he held it tightly, drawing it towards Christo's stomach.

'What the fuck are you doing?' I exclaimed.

'Shh. I want you to see.'

Jed pulled back the sheet. The entire area of Christo's stomach was almost jet-black, as black as Keaty's.

'Feel there.'

I stared at the skin. 'Why?'

'Just feel.'

'I don't want to,' I protested, but at the same time I felt my arm relax. Outside I heard the football bouncing near the entrance of the tent, a regular thumping that rose and faded like passing rotor blades. Someone cheered, or screamed, and someone else chuckled. Through the canvas, short bursts of conversation sounded sing-song and foreign.

Gently Jed guided my hand until it rested on Christo's torso.

'What can you feel?' he asked.

'It's hard,' I muttered.' …It's like rock.'

'He's been bleeding inside. Bleeding badly. I couldn't be sure until last night. Or I knew… I think I knew, but.,.'

'That thing… it's a haemorrhage?'

'Uh-huh.'

I nodded respectfully. I'd never seen a haemorrhage before. 'Who else knows?'

'Just you and Sal… and Bugs too, probably. I talked to Sal today. She said nobody can find out. Not after we've started to get things back to normal. I think she's mainly worried about Etienne hearing.'

'Because he wanted to take Karl to Hat Rin.'

'Yes. And she's right to worry. Etienne would insist we took Christo to Ko Pha-Ngan, and it would be for nothing.'

'You know that for sure?'

'If we'd taken him the day after the attack, maybe two days after, he might have been OK. And I'd have taken that chance, even if it meant losing the beach. I think Sal would have too… But now… what would be the point?'

'No point…'

Jed sighed and stroked Christo's shoulder before pulling back the sheet. 'No point at all.'

We sat in silence for a minute or two, watching Christo's shallow and irregular breathing. It was strange that, once explained, it was obvious to me he was dying. The smell I'd noticed on entering the tent was the smell of encroaching death, and the waxy appearance of Jed's flesh was from living in death's proximity.

This thought jolted me and I broke the silence bluntly. 'Zeph and Sammy built a raft. It was what they were doing behind the tree-line. They're on their way.'

Jed didn't even blink. 'If they make it to the beach,' he said. 'They'll see Christo die. Everything here will fall apart.' And that was all.

Secrets

I walked close to the longhouse entrance, past where Sal sat talking with Bugs and Jean, and continued along to the beach path. At the first corner I stopped, leaning against the fin of a rocket-ship tree, and lit up. Sal appeared when I was about an inch from the filter.

'Something is up,' she said immediately. 'What is it?'

I raised my eyebrows.

'By the way you walked, by the look in your eye. How do you think I know? So spit it out, Richard. Tell me what's happened.'

I opened my mouth to reply but she beat me to it.

'They're on their way, aren't they?'

'…Yes.'

'Fuck.' Sal stared into middle distance for a few seconds. Then she snapped back into sharp-focus mode. 'What's their ETA?'

'Sometime tomorrow afternoon, if they don't get scared off by the dope guards.'

'Or the waterfall.'

'Or the waterfall. Yeah.'

'Their timing is unbelievable,' Sal muttered. 'Absolutely unbelievable.'

'It turns out they were building a raft.'

'Building a raft. Of course they were. They had to be doing something…' She clutched her forehead. 'I'm taking it for granted you know about Christo.'

I thought for a moment, then nodded. I didn't want to get Jed in trouble, but when Sal was in this mood it was dangerous to lie. 'You don't mind me knowing?' I said nervously.

'No. The thing about secrets is you can't keep them unless you tell at least one other person. It's too much pressure. So I knew he had to tell someone, and I was fairly sure it would be you…' She shrugged.' …Seeing as you have your own secrets to keep, I figured that this way we'd keep all the secrets together in one little bunch.'

'…Oh.'

'Yes. It is clever, isn't it? Unless…'

I waited.

'Unless the person you told about our guests wasn't Jed. After all, Jed already knew, so it was hardly telling him a secret…'

'…Hardly relieving the pressure.'

'Quite,' she said casually, but watching me pretty close. 'So did you tell anyone apart from Jed? Keaty maybe… Or Francoise? I certainly hope it wasn't Francoise, Richard. I'll be extremely upset if you told Francoise.'

I shook my head. 'I didn't tell a living soul,' I said firmly, thereby excluding Mister Duck.

'Good.' Sal looked away, satisfied. 'To tell the truth, I was worried you might have told Francoise. She'd tell Etienne, you see… And you haven't told Francoise about Christo either?'

'I only found out about Christo twenty minutes ago.'

'If Etienne finds out about Christo…'

'I know. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone.'

'Fine.' Her gaze lapsed back into middle distance. 'OK, Richard… It looks like we have a slight problem with these rafters… But you don't think they can possibly get here until tomorrow?'

'No way.'

'Absolutely sure?'

'Yes.'

'Then I'm going to sleep on this. I need time to think. I'll give you my decision on what we do about them in the morning.'

'Right…'

I hung around, unsure as to whether I'd been dismissed or not. A full minute later, Sal was still gazing into nothingness, so I slipped away.