The Heir And The Spare

#15

FIFTEEN

'I'm oxygen and he's dying to breathe.' - Tahereh Mafi

I think I just forget how to breathe.

This cannot be happening. I feel like I'm having an out-of-body experience as if I am watching someone else play this out in front of me. My knees are red raw and scattered in cuts from where the gravel has sliced through my skin. I am kneeling beside Claudia's lifeless body, her blonde hair stuck to her face with blood. Her blood is everywhere. On the road, on her body, all over my hands.

James has lost his shit.

"I'm going to be sick" is all I can hear him say repeatedly. He's standing over us, his hands trembling. Henry's arms are firmly planted on his shoulders keeping him steady. Henry is talking into James' ear, but his voice is doing little to soothe the sheer panic and guilt etched on every single feature of James' face.

"I need to go to the police, I need to...I need to check for a pulse. An ambulance, have you called an ambulance?" James starts to scream, ripping himself away from Henry. His eyes are wild and he meets my gaze, staring at my blood-soaked hands.

"A pulse," he repeats, his voice breaking. "A pulse, she must have a pulse."

It's too much. I can see it on his face, the cogs turning, his brain shutting down as if to protect him from the realisation of his actions.

"Tell me she's got a pulse!" he screams at me.

"Enough," Adam's voice breaks through. He looks to Henry, "units are on the way, we need to get these two out of here."

"You've got to be kidding, Adam," I growl. "We cannot leave her here!"

"I'm not fucking leaving." James spits.

"You have no fucking choice, mate," Henry's voice snaps attention to him. He stares at his charge with a look of determination I haven't seen before. "You're the next fucking king of Australia. This never happened."

"I don't give a shit who I am!" he bellows into the night. "I'm not leaving her here to fucking rot."

The sound of sirens blaring in the distance causes all of us to freeze. "Our units are still five minutes out," Adam says. "We have got to go, now."

Before I can think twice, Adam scoops me up from the floor and chucks me into the back of the SUV as if I'm weightless. I scramble on the seat to sit upright and Adam slides into the driver's seat of the car. I watch Henry plead with James to get in the car.

James' eyes snap in the direction of the sirens and then back down to Claudia's body. Henry uses this and pulls at James' sleeve, dragging him to the back of the SUV.

"I will sort this out for you," he tells him. "I promise."

Henry slams James' door closed and knocks on the roof of the SUV. Adam doesn't need to be told twice, he flies us into the night.

*

I'm not sure what could prepare us next for the shit show that occurs the moment the car pulls up inside the palace gates. One moment I am getting out of the car, the next I am swarmed by security and being led to a room where I am commanded to strip down, everything to the hairband that ties my hair.

Once I'm undressed, a female agent leads me to a bathroom where I am told to wash. She gives me clear instructions on how to clean myself, passing me hideous-smelling products to drench myself in. I can barely comprehend what I am doing as I lean against the showerhead, the scalding hot water burning my bare skin. It is in the shower that I allow myself to cry, to properly let the emotion that floods my body out. I don't know where to look or what to do but I crash to the floor, letting the water run off my shoulders.