Chapter 59: HONEY - The Safe Room

A scream like a thunderclap pierces Honey’s ears until she realises it’s coming from her. Trembling, she snaps her jaw shut and rushes over to Amber.

Her little sister lies in a pool of blood after the hammer landed against her fragile skull. She doesn’t know what to do. Can you move someone with a head injury?

“Amber. Wake up. Please!”

She’d never expected to see Amber’s daughter running towards her along the road. But as soon as Sophie calmed down and told her what had happened, she’d called the police. Now she called again and requested an ambulance too.

That morning, Ed’s mother, Rita, had called her mum in a panic. They couldn’t get through on the landline and wanted to know if Amber had been in touch recently. Call it a sister’s intuition, but she’d known right away. She knew this had something to do with Peter.

After six weeks of freedom, Honey had spent some time checking in on her sister without Amber knowing. She had talked to Sophie from the school playground, a risky venture that could have easily backfired. She’d found out where Amber lived and worked from their mum and every now and then she watched her sister go about her daily life, trying to pluck up the courage to speak.

Then Rita called and she’d decided it was time. She never expected the reunion to be like this.

It has been years since she felt her sister’s skin, but she takes hold of her hand now and squeezes gently. Amber has grown up over the years. Her skin is rougher and drier than it used to be. Her face is more angular, and there are lines around her eyes. So many years have passed. So much time wasted.

“Don’t you dare die on me,” she whispers. “Not like this. God, I’ve been such an idiot. I’m so sorry.”

Terror slices through her body. Is Amber already gone? She feels for a pulse and lets out a quick breath of relief. Fate could never be this cruel, could it? To bring her back to her little sister and then wrench her away?

As soon as she’d set foot inside the house, Honey had known that Peter was here. She’d smelled his BO. His evil. Sophie told her fragments of a horrific story. Amber inside the safe room. Peter and some woman playing house. Honey knew right away that their worst fears—her fears, her mother’s and father’s too—had all come true. Peter had decided to act.

When he attacked her, she froze. For years, after the night she slashed his throat, Honey shrank away from even the mildest action scene in a book or on TV. Violence made her sick to her stomach. She had nightmares about Peter’s blood spraying the walls. She was so ashamed of what she’d done. But perhaps the part she’d been most ashamed of was not finishing the job.

There’s a gurgling sound behind her and Honey realises that Peter Harlow is still alive. She shudders with repulsion and doesn’t want to turn around, but she has to. He’s evil incarnate. He might as well have cloven hooves and horns as far as she’s concerned.

She turns back to Amber and then to Peter. If Amber doesn’t pull through, what kind of a world is it where Peter gets to live?

He lies on the carpet with a knife in his neck and a geyser of blood spurting from his throat. Honey stares at the knife, remembering the years in prison. The sound of the locks on the doors. The shouts and howls of the other women late at night.

There’s a wail in the distance. The police are coming. Paramedics will be here to save her sister but also to save Peter.

His eyes are wide open when she crawls towards him. She thinks she hears him try to mumble a ‘no’. She pulls her coat sleeve over her hand, and his pupils follow the movement. Then she presses her hand down on Peter’s mouth, listening to the gurgling, sloppy sounds coming from his throat as he tries to take a breath.

It doesn’t take long.

She moves back to her sister and takes her hand, making sure that the same coat sleeve ends up in the pool of blood from both victims.

“Your big sister is here now, Amber Pants. Everything is going to be okay. Sophie is with your neighbour, Carrie something. You raised a good kid there. Sorry I’ve been lurking around watching you both. I know you hate that.” She laughs. “But I couldn’t bring myself to face you. Not after I started something I couldn’t finish.” She glances over at Peter. “It’s finally done. You’re free. So don’t fucking waste it. Okay? Come back to me. You have to!”

There’s a shout from downstairs and Honey calls out to the officers.

“I know I was a total bitch when we were growing up. But I always loved you, you know.”

They flood in, moving Honey aside to get to Amber.

Everything that happens after is a blur.