Cassandra blinked slowly and extended her arm to show Skye the notification of Jake's message. Skye hesitantly reached out to take it from her. She pushed her lips together, feeling speechless. How could she be so silly? What had she turned herself into?
Skye's eyes reluctantly looked down to read it. He was just checking in and asking if he could come round again soon.
Skye,
Hope you're doing good.
Thought we could meet up again outside of work stuff.
Happy to come round to yours again if your leg isn't up to going out.
Let me know, eh?
Jake x
Again. Again. Again
Skye could see the anger curling around Cassandra's lips, looking like she was about to breathe fire. "So, what? You don't sleep with anyone for years and then decide to do everyone's ex at the same time?"
"I-I haven't slept with Jake." Skye was starting to tremble; the tips of her fingers moving uncontrollably. She'd seen Cassandra like this many times, but not to her. They were best friends and they protected one another. Cassandra was always there for a warm hug or a mopey movie night with ice cream.
"You promised me you'd never speak to him again," the older woman hissed.
Skye breathed out, "He's helping with the investigation, I couldn't just ignore him." It wasn't exactly a lie, but it hadn't been how they'd reconnected either. Her hands fell down her messy, blonde locks. She looked like she'd just got out of bed. Red, tired eyes and a bloodless face.
"And Craig? We all know you like to try and mend broken souls, Skye, but he's grieving over my sister. Or maybe he isn't. Maybe he's as much of an idiot as I always thought he was."
Skye rested her fingertips on her forehead. "No, Craig's a good man. They both are." She paused, taking a deep breath. "Cass, sometimes good people make mistakes." She paused and looked away from her friend. "Life is painful. It's like walking into a wall continuously and feeling the pain with every hit. They've both looked after me since the accident, just as you have."
The words were going into Cassandra's ears and straight back out again. "You're not the friend I thought you were." She screwed her nose up. "Can't believe you'd go near Jake after everything." The older woman paused and rolled her tongue into the corner of her mouth in disgust. It took a moment or two of silence and ghastly stares before she asked, "Are you into him?"
"No, of course not. You know I don't want a relationship."
"Jake falls for every pretty woman in sight. Especially blondes. Nobody warned me, but there's your warning," Cassandra snapped; her voice growing louder and angrier with every word. It was exactly what Lalia had recently told Skye, but that didn't make it true.
In small villages, the residents were always stereotyped into boxes but Skye refused to judge people based on what others thought.
The Swimmer took a step forward. "Cass-"
"No. You need to get yourself together because I don't like this Skye. You're a mess. Don't come near me again." Rage flowed through the older woman like lava and with that Cassandra marched out of the door, slamming it with force behind her.
A lone tear rolled down Skye's face as she tilted her eyes away from the door. It felt like the world was caving in on her. Whilst Skye's usual instinct was to be brave and find a way to fix everything that had gone wrong, the broken, new side of her just wanted to reach for the champagne bottle sat on the coffee table.
Her eyes glared at the glass. It felt like a magnetic force, trying to pull her in. It would make her feel better, it would make her stop worrying and it would certainly keep away the anxiety attack that was climbing in her breaths.
Pulling her blue hues from the bottle was like pulling a foot up from a sticky piece of chewing gum, but before she knew it, she'd done it. Her eyes reached out to the front door for a moment but darted back to the bottle again. It felt like the walls were all moving closer, blocking her in.
After downing the majority of the champagne, Skye stepped forward and wrapped her hand around the doorknob. She held onto it so tightly that it felt like the old piece of metal could break any second.
She steadied her breaths and took the leap, taking her crutches and stepping outside. The evening air hit her so suddenly but it was a welcomed distraction from her stomach churning emotions.
Then she walked.
She walked and she walked and she walked until she couldn't steady herself any longer. The walk had been slow, but the dribbles of rain that collapsed onto her skin made her feel alive. Skye crashed down onto the top of a sandy hill on the beach. Her eyes shone out at the sea, reflecting the dove-grey sunset in her watery hues. The dim sunset had settled between the clouds.
Skye was still in a state of panic, maybe the alcohol wasn't working as she'd hoped. She forced herself to take deep breaths, breathing in for four seconds before holding her breath for another four. And release. Her counsellor had taught her some breathing work, but it never seemed to help.
The most difficult part was trying to stop the terror that thundered down on her mind. The pain that swamped her insides, the sweat that was scattered all over her back. Tears began to spark out all over the place and there was only so much the sleeves of her sky blue jumper could mop up.
Cascades of rain started to fall down, but still Skye didn't move. She brought her knees up to her chin and rested on them. The swimmer stayed there for half an hour, barely moving as the sky fell darker by the second. A rusting sound echoed through her ears, coming from behind her. Suddenly worried for her safely, her head spun around to see who or what was approaching her.
As her weeping eyes gazed up, she noticed a beautiful woman staring back at her. The female had deep brown hair and warm, blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the darkness.
"Skye, isn't it? You look like you could use a friend." Her deep, southern voice shocked Skye. It didn't quite match her classy, girly exterior.
As she grew closer, Skye realised that she recognised her. The woman was Lydia Campbell, the sister of Cassandra's boyfriend, Freddie Campbell.
Skye tapped the sand next to her and gave her a watery smile. She couldn't quite muster up a nod. Whilst it vitiated her peaceful trip out, she was aware that she didn't have a queue of people lining up to listen to her problems right now.
"I thought I was the only person mad enough to sit out on the beach in the rain. Why aren't we friends already?" Lydia laughed, pushing her wind-swept hair behind her ear whilst trying to sit down.
The only other people around were those who were only out to walk their dogs. Skye would have loved a pet of her own but her career had always been too busy for it. Plus, having Sierra and an animal in one house would be hectic.
Skye stared off into the distance. "I just love how fresh it feels. I could probably stay out here all night." Her words were spoken so dreamily.
"Perhaps not the best idea though. What's up? A problem shared is a problem halved."
"I don't know if you're going to want to hear about my fights with your future sister in law."
"Well if I have anything to do with it, she won't make it that far," the dark-haired beauty laughed. "Don't often see eye-to-eye, us."
Skye remembered now. Cassandra would always bad-mouth Freddie's older sister, Lydia. "I've always thought you seem pretty cool but I wouldn't dare approach in case she bit off my head," Lydia admitted.
With her eyes now dried up, Skye looked to Lydia with a thin smile. "You don't seem like the type of woman to hide away from anybody."
"No, you're right and I know how to stick up for myself, but I don't need childish drama when I'm thirty-two years old. Just don't like the woman and I don't think she's any good for my brother."
Skye suggested, "Maybe they're not good for each other." Despite her fight with Cassandra, she still loved her. "I'm not sure this one was Cass' fault. I did some things that I knew she wouldn't be happy with. I don't know why I did them."
"Sometimes good people do bad things."
Skye's smile beamed as she heard those words. "That's what I said," she replied, with a laugh. Finally somebody understood her.
Lydia had confirmed the veracity of Skye's thoughts. Sometimes when she was around people like Cassandra and Lalia she felt like she was the one in the wrong just because she was so different to them. Their outgoing and ruthless personalities conflicted her own, not to mention overshadowed her opinions.
"Sometimes I think I've had enough and I just want to fade away without anybody noticing." Skye didn't know why she was thinking out loud so easily.
"Let me tell you a secret." Lydia shifted on her legs to get more comfortable. "Everyone feels like that sometimes, but fighting through those feelings makes it worth while in in the end." The blonde felt Lydia tilt her head to the side to look into her eyes, but a sudden movement of Lydia passing Skye her phone disrupted it. "Here, put your number in my phone. Let's go out for a drink sometime."
Skye nodded and began typing her number in. "Yeah, that would be nice."
"I'd offer you a lift back to the village but Freddie's messed the car up. Men," Lydia told her with a roll of her eyes and a warm laugh.
"Oh," Skye breathed out at her car comment. Freddie had 'messed up' his car? His green car? How long had it been messed up for? Skye had questions but she didn't want to lose a potential friend. "Thanks for cheering me up."
As Lydia climbed to her head and rubbed the sand off her mini skirt, she put her hand on Skye's shoulder and said, "Keep your chin up, blondie."
Skye smiled up at her and nodded. Her mind was still partially numb but the short chat had helped. She stayed in the sand until the rain got too much and then hesitantly hopped her way home.
By the time Skye reached her house, the darkness had come out in full force. Apparently crutches and wet weather wasn't the best mix so getting home had taken even longer.
Her eyes looked over the building in front of her, before she put the key in. Living in a small, Welsh beach town meant that her house didn't look like much from the outside, but it was like a TARDIS on the inside.
Dark shadows loomed on the off-white bricks as her crutches led her through the door and straight to her bedroom. Skye couldn't remember falling asleep that night, but it made a difference to the nights she'd cried herself to sleep.
The next morning she got out of bed with a bounce. Not a physical one since that was hardly possible, but there was more positivity to the way she held herself. Her chin was up and her shoulders back.
Skye didn't know why she felt more energy passing around her body than she had in some time. Whilst talking to Lydia had cheered her up after a difficult day, it had also made her question Freddie and where his car had gone.
The swimmer hobbled through to the kitchen and sat at one of the kitchen stools next to her cousin, Sierra. The cousins mumbled a short welcome to each other before preparing their own breakfasts.
As Skye slipped porridge into her mouth, her eyes slowly turned to look at Sierra. Now was as good a time as any to question her youngest cousin.
"I'm asking everybody this, literally every single person I know, so don't be offended," Skye began, with a small smile dancing off of her lips. She pressed her lips together and took a breath before continuing. "Where were you the night of my accident?"
Sierra sighed immediately. "Am I still asleep or is my cousin really asking me if I was involved in her hit and run?"
"Si, it isn't personal. Lalia and Oscar will be asked too."
"I can't remember. I was probably at a party and I was probably drunk." With no shame, Sierra shrugged. She was a student who commuted to Swansea for university. Commuting hadn't been her first choice, but she had applied to the university accommodation too late. "I can't drive though, I don't have access to a car." Her friend drove her into uni every day.
"I know that."
"Why are you so sure that somebody you know did it? It was probably another bloody tourist who doesn't know how to drive properly around here. We get them constantly, it's nothing new," Sierra mumbled, prior to taking a large bite of her toast.
If only everybody would stop saying that. "I have evidence that suggests it was somebody I know."
"If I was put in a vehicle of any kind I'd have smashed it up way before finding your car." Sierra's waves bounced as she tilted her head to return Skye's eye contact. "Who do you think did it? You have good intuition."
Skye rested her fingers on her cheek and sighed loudly. "There is somebody but I don't know how they'd have got the item that was found in the car."
It wouldn't have been impossible though and Skye had never had much trust for Freddie Campbell.
Do you think Cassandra's boyfriend, Freddie could have done it?