The Family Secret. Tracy Buchanan

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СКАЧАТЬ the girl and wraps the blanket around her slim shoulders. The girl is freezing to the touch and is shaking uncontrollably, her long colourless eyelashes glistening with frost. Amber instinctively pulls her close, willing her own warmth to seep into the girl’s fragile body.

      ‘What on earth are you doing here with no coat?’ she asks as Viv and Rita jog over.

      The girl doesn’t say anything, just looks up at Amber with big, bewildered eyes.

      ‘Look at her, she’s freezing,’ Viv comments as they get to her.

      Amber’s mum looks down at the girl, brow furrowed. ‘Are you local, love?’

      The girl blinks, her eyelashes sticking together from the ice. ‘I – I don’t know,’ she replies. The three redheads exchange looks.

      ‘She looks familiar,’ Viv murmurs. ‘What’s your name, sweetheart?’

      ‘How long have you been out here?’ Rita asks.

      ‘Where are your shoes?’ Viv adds.

      ‘Too many questions!’ Amber says. She helps the girl up. ‘Come on, let’s get you into the warmth, you need defrosting.’

      They all help the girl limp towards the beach hut and Amber takes the chance to examine her pretty face. Her eyes are set wide apart beneath her feathery blonde fringe, her nose a button. There’s a ring in her nose, a gem in her eyebrow. Both pretty and blue, like the streaks in her hair. She looks to be in her late teens. There’s a chance Amber’s aunt is right – maybe the girl had got drunk the night before and ended up in one of the beach huts? It happened sometimes. But looking at this girl, Amber thought she didn’t seem the type to do that. Not like Amber was at that age, wild-haired and even more wild-minded.

      They walk into the middle hut and Amber helps the girl sit down on a stool. She turns up the electric heater. As she does so, Rita gasps. Amber follows her gaze to see the hair behind the girl’s right ear is matted with blood.

      ‘Call an ambulance,’ Amber says quickly, pulling her glove off, grabbing a sanitary towel from her bag and pressing it against the girl’s wound. The girl flinches then tries to brush the towel away.

      ‘No, love,’ Amber says, gently lowering her hand. ‘You’ve hurt yourself.’

      Amber’s mother looks at the blood-soaked towel then turns away, hand to her mouth, as Viv pulls her mobile phone out and calls for an ambulance. When she explains the girl’s injury to the person on the other end, the girl’s eyes widen with fear. Amber puts her hand on her arm to comfort her and the girl looks down at Amber’s hand, taking in the missing fingers and the gnarled stumps at the end. She traces a cold finger over the stumps and Amber quickly pulls her hand away.

      ‘Let’s get something warm in you while we wait for the experts, hey?’ Rita says, pulling herself together. ‘Tea? Hot chocolate?’

      ‘Coffee?’ Viv adds as she puts the phone down.

      ‘I don’t think it’s like that, Viv,’ Amber says. ‘Anyway, best we don’t give her anything to eat or drink before she’s checked out properly.’

      ‘Really? Remember when you fell over and hit your head after that party, drunk as a skunk?’

      Amber ignores her aunt, clearing some Christmas bunting from a small table and sitting down on it. ‘What’s your name then, love?’

      The girl is silent for a few moments. Then she shakes her head, tears filling her eyes. ‘I don’t know it. Why don’t I know my own name?’

      ‘It’s okay,’ Amber says in a soothing voice. ‘It’ll be the shock of falling over. I remember being a bit confused when I did one time.’

      Her aunt and mum suppress smiles.

      ‘My mum and aunt were too busy laughing to notice I’d actually hurt myself,’ Amber adds, scowling at them both. ‘Do you remember anything, like how you got here?’

      The girl looks out towards the sea, flinching slightly. Then she quickly shakes her head.

      ‘Steady!’ Amber says as the towel shifts from the movement, the girl’s blood seeping onto her fingers.

      ‘Sorry,’ the girl says, stilling herself. ‘I – I don’t remember anything, really.’ Panic flutters in her eyes. ‘Why can’t I remember anything, why can’t I—’

      ‘Don’t worry, love,’ Amber’s mum says, putting an arm around the girl’s shoulders. ‘It’ll come back to you eventually.’

      The sound of sirens pierce the air.

      ‘They said they’d be quick,’ Viv says. She marches outside and waves up at the ambulance driving down the main road. A couple walking their dog stop and stare. It wasn’t often people heard sirens around those parts. Bar some recent muggings, the town was usually devoid of much crime.

      A few moments later, two paramedics appeared at the entrance of the hut, a man and a woman.

      ‘Looks like you’re getting yourself nice and warm,’ the woman says as she gently lifts the sanitary towel from the girl’s wound and examines it. ‘Yep, that’ll need stitches.’ The paramedic looks at Amber. ‘It’ll explain the confusion too. Quite common with head injuries. You don’t know her then?’

      Amber shakes her head along with her mother and aunt.

      ‘The poor thing doesn’t remember anything,’ Rita adds.

      The male paramedic pulls a large silver sheet from his bag and wraps it around the girl’s shoulders. ‘What brought you walking along the beach with no shoes and coat on then?’ he asks as he does so.

      ‘I don’t know,’ the girl whispers. ‘I really don’t.’

      The female paramedic pulls some latex gloves on then blows on her hands. ‘I’m just going to briefly touch your belly, all right? Just to check your temperature. Probably best we get your wet dress off anyway.’

      The girl looks alarmed.

      ‘Here, hold that blanket up,’ Amber says to her mother and aunt, gesturing to a blanket that is for sale. They do as she asks, holding the blanket up to create a screen. Amber quickly helps the girl pull her dress off then wraps the first blanket tight around her and places the other layers on top.

      ‘Thank you,’ the girl says to her, peering up at her in the darkness created by the screen.

      Amber feels her heart clench. ‘No worries.’

      The paramedic places her fingers against the girl’s tummy then her neck, checking her watch as she does so. ‘I think you might have a mild touch of hypothermia too. Combined with the head injury, best we get you to hospital sharpish.’

      The girl looks alarmed again.

      ‘It’ll be all right,’ Amber says, grasping her hand.

      ‘Will you come with me?’ the girl asks in a small voice.

      ‘Of course,’ Amber СКАЧАТЬ