Rachel Weeping (21 page)

chapter 26

M
ichelle finished the
call to her mother. She couldn't stop smiling. Looking down at her flat stomach, she found it difficult to believe that there was another life growing inside of her. She tried to sense its presence.

The clock in the kitchen told her it was almost lunchtime. Maia must be getting hungry. She opened the cupboard to see what she might make for her. A sandwich? Soup?

‘Maia!' she called out. ‘What do you want for lunch?'

Her question echoed through the house and while she waited for a reply, she took out a loaf of bread. When she heard no response she called out more loudly. She realised that the child probably couldn't hear her from the front garden.

Michelle listened again and when she still heard nothing she walked through the house, putting her head into each one of
the rooms. Empty. No Maia. Mildly annoyed now, she opened the front door and walked up the driveway. Where could the child have got to? Hiding maybe? Hide and seek was still one of Maia's favourite games.

‘Maia! It's lunchtime!' she shouted. ‘Come on, now!'

She went around the front garden to Rachel's room to see if the little girl was there. Another unanswered call prompted Michelle to stop and listen.

Silence. What was wrong with the silence?

Hugo. The dog had stopped barking but where was he? Could Maia have taken him for a walk out in the road? She looked towards the side gate at the top of the driveway but it was closed. Maia wouldn't have known how to open it anyway.

‘Maia …?' Michelle called, her heartbeat accelerating as she walked along the side of the house and into the back garden. ‘Where are you hiding? Hugo?'

The trees that lined the side of the house were overgrown and as Michelle made her way down the stone pathway the wind picked up and blew in gusts around her, as though it was pushing her towards the back of the garden.

‘Maia! Hugo!'

Michelle turned the corner of the house and stood looking around the immaculate garden. The green grass was freshly shorn after Richmond's Saturday attentions. The pristine water of the infinity pool was still except for the rhythmic ripples that came from the pool cleaner as it made its journey along the bottom. She called Hugo's name again and thought she heard a slight rustle in the bushes and something that sounded like it could have been a whimper. She shaded her eyes and called but no Hugo came out. Michelle felt an eeriness hanging over the garden. She was about to return to the house when she saw something bobbing in the pool.

It was Maia's Barbie doll.

Michelle began to run.

She came to a stop at the edge of the pool and looked down.

Time stood still for what seemed like a second and then like an eternity. Michelle stared and stared. The pool cleaner was jammed against something at the bottom of the pool, sucking at it, making a gurgling, straining noise.

It was Maia.

Michelle's temporary paralysis was replaced by a rush of adrenalin and she dived into the pool, discarding her shoes with frantic kicks as she went deeper under the water. She grasped the little girl by the arm and pulled her towards her. Using all her strength, she pushed Maia towards the surface.

Michelle gasped and gulped for air as she surfaced. Desperately, she grabbed Maia's head and lifted it so that her face was out of the water. She kicked her legs, pushing Maia towards the steps in the shallow end. As soon as the water was shallow enough for her to stand she gathered the child in her arms. She laid her on the brick paving by the side of the pool.

Her mind in a whirl and panic setting in, Michelle started to shake Maia by her shoulders. Then she stuck her fingers in her mouth and turned her head to one side in an attempt to expel the water she must have swallowed. Maia didn't respond to anything she did. Michelle had done a first aid course five years ago but she found herself drawing a blank as she stared down at Maia's motionless body. She looked around desperately, trying to figure out what to do next, the shock of the moment overwhelming her.

Michelle screamed for help, but even as she screamed, she knew it was useless. She needed help and she needed it quickly. She ran inside the house and grabbed her cellphone from the kitchen counter, dialling the emergency services as she ran back outside. The call connected just as she reached the swimming pool and knelt down next to Maia. She began to shake her in another attempt to stir her but Maia lay mute, staring up into the sky.

‘You're through to Netcare 911. In case of emergency …'

‘PICK UP!' Michelle screamed at the voice recording.

‘… please press 1.'

Michelle pressed 1 and waited. ‘Wake up, Maia,' she whispered urgently. ‘
Please
wake up.'

‘Netcare 911, how may I assist you?'

‘I need an ambulance at number 76 5th Avenue in Parkhurst,' Michelle said as clearly as possible, not wanting to lose a second on miscommunication. ‘A little girl fell in the swimming pool …'

‘Okay, ma'am. I'm dispatching paramedics as we speak. While they make their way to you I need to ask you some questions that will help them when they arrive.'

‘Okay, okay. Thank you.'

‘How old is the child?'

‘Five! She's five!'

‘Is there anyone there who can perform CPR?'

‘I did a course a while back but I can't remember any of it.'

‘How long has the child been in the water?'

Michelle looked down at Maia and realised that she had absolutely no clue. The last 20 minutes or so had been a blur of phone calls.

‘Excuse me, ma'am,' the operator said. ‘Did you hear the question? How long has the child been in the water?'

‘I don't know,' Michelle said, breaking down. ‘I don't know.'

 

chapter 27

Rachel sat up
in bed as soon as she heard the car horn blare out from the storm, the desperation in the sound striking fear into her heart. She looked around and waited, trying to figure out if it was real or a figment of her imagination. Then she heard the same sound she had heard earlier, someone crying out, only this time she recognised it as a human sound. She heard it again, weaker maybe but no less desperate. She climbed out of bed and went over to the window. Pulling the curtain aside, she peered out into the rain.

She took an involuntary step backwards when a flash of lightning lit up the sky but she had seen something odd. She waited for the roll of thunder to finish and looked back out. It was Michelle. She was on her hands and knees, collapsed in the middle of the driveway beside her car, the rain beating down on her. Rachel stared at her, trying to understand what on earth had brought the woman outside in the middle of the storm. When Michelle cried out once more, this time clearly in pain, Rachel realised what was happening.

Instinctively, she moved towards the door but then stopped herself. She returned to the window. She put her face right up against the glass, like Maia used to do, and watched Michelle struggle. This was it, Rachel thought to herself. This was the justice she had been crying out for. After all that had been taken from her, here she was about to witness her vindication play out in front of her. A dark wave of warmth moved through her body. She stood very still and she watched.

She watched in silence as Michelle battled the elements, crawling closer to her car to find shelter. Her body looked as though it was responding to ripples of pain and she moaned in agony as she edged her way along the rough paving.

All of a sudden the sky was illuminated by a huge sheet of lightning. For a brief second Rachel saw her face reflected back at her in the glass. Then came the loudest crack yet, probably the loudest Rachel had ever heard. She jumped back in terror. There was a strange scorched smell in the air. As she tried to keep her balance, she knocked the biscuit tin off the table and it crashed down, spilling all of its contents across the floor. Rachel looked down, her heart still thumping with fright. There was a photograph face-down beside her foot. She picked it up.

It was Maia's school photograph. Staring down at her smiling child, the child she had lost, a band of pain seared through her as sharply as any lightning bolt, and simultaneously another weak cry came from the driveway. She leant against the wall and began to weep. With the flow of her tears something else seemed to be flowing through her, a multitude of emotions, the weight of which compelled her to the floor. Rachel sat heavily, the photograph held tight against her breast, and wept and wept.

As much as she wanted justice for what had been taken from her, she knew that she couldn't allow another woman, no matter how much she hated her, to feel what she had felt when Maia had been ripped from her life. It was a wound that could never be healed. She could not intentionally inflict that on someone else.

Pushing herself to her feet, Rachel went over to the door and walked out into the driving rain.

 

chapter 28

Rachel's visit to
Home Affairs had been as expected: uncomfortab
le and humiliating. The taxi journey home had taken longer than anticipated and she had arrived at the taxi rank at 13:45, which left her with fifteen minutes to get back to the Jordaans' house before she was late for Michelle. Adjusting her handbag, Rachel picked up the pace, her heels clicking loudly on the tar of the tree-lined street.

She felt a stone inside her shoe and stopped for a moment to get rid of it, balancing on one leg as she took her shoe off and knocked it against the side of her thigh. She was about to start walking again when she sensed that something wasn't right. Looking around the empty street, she tried to pinpoint what it was that was disturbing her – whether it was residue from her experience at Home Affairs or something else that she couldn't identify.

The feeling of unrest continued to grow and she started to walk faster, holding onto her bag and papers so that she didn't drop them. She was two blocks away from the house when she heard the sound of a horn behind her and turned to see Chris's car pulling up to the kerb.

‘Why are you running?' Chris asked through his open window.

‘I'm late,' Rachel replied, suddenly feeling foolish in front of Chris. ‘Michelle said I must be back by two.'

‘Well, jump in the car then,' Chris said as he cleared shopping bags from the front passenger seat for her. ‘I'm heading home as well.'

There was no use in arguing so for the second time that day Rachel opened the door and lowered herself into the Z4. She put on her seatbelt and tried to ignore the strange feeling of dread that still sat heavily on her heart.

Chris was grinning at her. He looked very pleased with himself. He put the car into first gear and zoomed off.

‘Why are you home so early today, Chris?' Rachel asked.

‘You're not going to believe it,' Chris said, a huge smile on his face, ‘but we just found out: Michelle is pregnant. We're having a baby!'

‘That's great news,' Rachel said, smiling back at him. ‘You will make a good father.'

Chris slowed as they came up to an amber traffic light and pulled to a stop. As he waited for the light to change to green, he turned to Rachel in the passenger seat. He was about to ask her something when the sound of an emergency siren filled the air and he glanced up in the rear view mirror. Rachel turned around to look too. An ambulance was hurtling up behind them, its red lights flashing and siren blaring. Chris quickly pulled the car to the side to make way for it to pass and they watched as it sped across the intersection and disappeared down the road.

‘I hate that sound,' Chris said as the traffic light turned green and he moved the car forward, more slowly this time. ‘Always makes me feel horrible.' He shuddered.

Rachel nodded and looked at the clock on the dash, the time reading 13:57. She had three minutes before she was officially late but now she knew that the Jordaans would be too distracted by the news of the baby to care about it, so she wasn't as tense.

They turned the corner, the one where she sat and socialised with Maria and Tapiwa, and drove into the Jordaans' street. The ambulance that had been in such a hurry was parked further down, its lights still flashing. Rachel leaned forward curiously to see whose property it was, realising at the same time as Chris did that it seemed to be theirs. The ambulance had stopped outside the Jordaans' house.

‘What the – ?'

Chris pulled over behind the ambulance and yanked up the handbrake. He scrambled out of the car and Rachel followed his lead, bringing her bag and papers with her. She watched Chris approach the driver of the ambulance, a young man who looked fresh out of training.

‘What's going on here?' she heard Chris ask.

‘Sir, I'm going to need you to – '

‘I live here.'

‘Sir, we received an emergency call to this address and – '

Chris didn't wait for the driver to finish his sentence. He ran through the side gate into the property, calling out for Michelle as he went. Rachel stared at the open doors at the back of the ambulance. The vehicle was empty except for lots of what was obviously medical equipment. The flashing red lights on wet tar – there must have been a shower earlier – were harsh on her eyes. As she walked through the side gate she saw two paramedics with bags in their hands run past her room and down the path that led to the back garden.

Rachel's heart started pounding, the fear from earlier returning with a greater sense of urgency. Placing her bag and papers on the ground next to her room, she slowly started to walk down the pathway, then picked up speed as sudden fear clamped around her heart. As she rounded the corner she saw a group of people, she couldn't tell how many, at the side of the swimming pool. Some were kneeling, while a couple of others stood and handed gear back and forth. She saw Chris with his back to her.

The air was filled with a horrible shrieking sound that was but wasn't human and Rachel put her hands over her ears. She realised that she'd heard it from the road. The sound was coming from the pool itself and she stared across at the water to try and identify it. It was the pool cleaner, stuck against the side and partly above the surface. As it gasped at the air it made an eerie screeching noise that sounded like somebody crying in torment.

Rachel returned her attention to the paramedics, who were giving instructions to each other. She tried to see what they were doing, but she was reluctant to go any closer, not wanting to intrude.

As the wall of people shifted around, she caught a glimpse of something on the brick paving. Or someone. Someone was lying on the ground there by the side of the pool. The group shifted again, moving back a little, making her view momentarily clearer. She saw a hand. A child's hand.

Rachel's legs buckled but she didn't fall. She was aware of Chris's face turning towards her as she began to run.

Chris met her halfway there and he grabbed her and held her tightly, his strong frame preventing her from moving forward. Like a wild thing she clawed at him and screamed – ‘Maia! Maia!' – lunging and twisting in his arms, almost knocking him over. But Chris stood firm and held onto her until she surrendered, until he was able to draw her face into his chest and hold her there until her screams quietened.

He loosened his grip slightly and Rachel was able to turn her head and look over at the group of people by the pool. Two of them had moved aside and were standing apart from the others, turning their heads to look over to where she and Chris were standing, talking in low voices. Now she could see Maia clearly. She was lying on her back in her princess dress. She heard snatches of what the paramedics bending over her daughter were saying to each other.

‘No response ...' she thought she heard one of them say.

The other, a middle-aged white man in a white shirt, whom she recognised as one of the two men running past her room with their bags, was pushing down violently on Maia's chest. When the other paramedic put a hand on the man's shoulder and shook his head, he stood up.

Rachel let out one last scream and then all of her strength left her body. She felt herself falling. Chris supported her as she went down, bracing himself in case she tried to break away again and run.

Rachel tried to stand up but couldn't. From the grass she looked across helplessly to the pool and that was when she saw Michelle. She was standing behind the paramedics, Maia's body between her and them, her head bowed. Her clothes were soaking wet.