Just like that, tears rolled down his cheeks. “I didn’t expect you at all,” he whispered.
“I didn’t expect you either,” I whispered back, wiping a tear from beneath his eye. “But I’m so glad you came.” I might’ve been letting my love for him override everything else, but I simply couldn’t let him leave tomorrow. I couldn’t watch him ride away on his bike and possibly never see him again. Maybe I was too much like my father, unable to help following my heart above all else. Hopelessly romantic.
Almost everyone had left, and I was locked in a moment with Noah. Sylvia sat in the corner, a broken woman. Her sins were revealed for all to see. I hated her. Hated what she’d done to Noah, and how cruel she’d been to him and Vee through the years. It was difficult to pair the person she once was with who I knew her as, but I had to remind myself she was the same person deep down. She was still just as rotten inside. A memory struck, and I brought my attention back to Noah.
“That time when I thought you pushed Sylvia out of her wheelchair,” I whispered. “What really happened?”
Noah cast a brief, disdainful glance at her, then looked back to me. “She threw herself from the chair on purpose. She saw we were growing close, and she wanted to turn you against me. She’s hated me from the day I was born, and she can’t stand the idea of anyone loving me.”
I heard the truth in his words and fury filled me. Fury for a woman I’d once thought meek and kind, a woman I’d cared for and put to bed countless nights. I knew he was telling the truth because she’d tried making me believe he was dangerous, but she was the true villain.
I didn’t make eye contact with her as I led Noah upstairs to his room. It was so hard to ignore her, but knowing what I knew now, I’d never be able to look at her the same way again.
She’d known what Victor did, but she’d decided to pretend she hadn’t. She’d let him abuse Vee and Noah for years after that, lied that Noah had killed his father when it had been an accident, gone along with Hawkins’ false testimony.
We entered Noah’s room, and as usual, the curtains were wide open. I looked out at the dark view, not paying much attention until I noticed a lone figure standing in the water.
Vee.
She was down on the beach, walking farther and farther out to sea. With stark horror, I realised what she was doing.
She was going to drown herself.
I fled Noah’s room, no time to explain where I was going. I had to get to Vee before she did something she could never undo. I raced down the stairs and to the kitchen. Suddenly, the sound system came to life, blaring “Beyond the Sea” by Bobby Darin. The song was deafeningly loud, startlingly so, but I was too desperate to get to Vee to wonder who or what turned the music back on.
I pushed open the back door and sped through the garden, straight to the cliff’s edge and down the stone steps onto the beach. Bobby Darin’s crooning followed me, his voice creepily echoing in the night and making the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I raced for the shore and dove into the water fully clothed. I could barely see Vee anymore. Only her head was above the water. The sea was like icicles. The shock of it was so intense my lungs struggled for air. It was like being punched hard in the chest.
“Vee!” I shouted, but she didn’t respond. Salt water filled my mouth as I tried not to succumb to the cold. I swam towards her, pushing through the freeze. “No!” I cried when I saw her go under just a few feet from where I was. I took a deep breath and plunged under the water. It was hard to open my eyes fully, but I caught a glimpse of the material of Vee’s green dress and reached out, grasping for it to no avail.
“Estella,” I heard a muffled, indistinct voice call my name from above. My oxygen was quickly depleting, and I started to grow dizzy. I couldn’t see Vee anymore. Weakness caused me to lose control as a powerful current swept me under. My limbs flailed all about, struggling to return to the surface, but it seemed impossible. In a panic, I opened my mouth, letting in vast amounts of sea water. I knew it was a mistake as soon as I did it. Suffocation set in, and I wasn’t sure if it was real or an hallucination, but I saw the dark shadows from my dreams morph into Victor’s cruel face as his voice sounded in my head, I told you to stop him. You should’ve stopped him.