we go and discover Thailand then?’
‘I just need to …’ Lizzie shook her head as she spun around. ‘I’m going—’ She darted towards the toilet sign.
‘I’ll go too,’ Samantha said. ‘I could really do with brushing my teeth.’
‘Good idea.’ Jaddi fell into step beside her as Lizzie rushed ahead.
‘What is it about women and toilets?’ Ben said. ‘I’ll just wait here by myself then, shall I?’
‘Yep.’ Jaddi laughed without turning around.
‘Doesn’t the camera bother you?’ Samantha asked. She risked a glance behind her, relieved to see Ben lowering the camera to his waist and switching it off.
‘Not really.’ Jaddi shrugged.
‘But all those people who’ll be watching us. It’s a touch voyeuristic, don’t you think? People turning on their TVs to watch our every move.’
‘It is a bit weird, but you’re overthinking it. Forget about the camera, that’s what I’m planning to do. At best, Ben will be like an annoying older brother tagging along,’ Jaddi said, throwing a glance over her shoulder and smiling at Ben. ‘I know it’s not perfect, but don’t think about how much better it would be without the camera. It’s because of the camera that we’re here. I promise you, in a few days it won’t even factor in to your thoughts.’
‘I’ll try, I guess,’ she said, the doubt palpable in her voice.
‘Hey,’ Jaddi said, nudging her elbow against Samantha’s side. ‘Do you think Lizzie’s got Bangkok belly already?’
Samantha laughed as she pushed open the toilet door and stepped into the white, tiled restroom. ‘I don’t see how, we’ve only—’ Samantha stopped talking, her eyes registering Lizzie’s body, slumped on the floor by a row of sinks. ‘Lizzie!’ Samantha gasped, diving towards her. ‘Are you OK?’
Lizzie’s eyes fixed on Samantha’s. She moved her mouth, causing a gurgling noise to escape from her throat.
Terror exploded inside of Samantha, making every movement feel fumbled and out of sync as she wriggled free of her backpack and skidded onto her knees beside Lizzie.
‘What’s wrong with her?’ Jaddi’s voice, loud with fear, ricocheted off the walls.
‘Lizzie, can you hear me? What’s wrong? What’s wrong?’ Samantha turned to look over her shoulder at Jaddi. ‘Get help!’ she half-shrieked at her as hysteria started to tighten around her vocal chords.
Before Jaddi could move, a tremor took hold of Lizzie’s body. Lizzie slumped forward onto the tiles as convulsions shuddered through her.
‘Oh God,’ Jaddi said. ‘Oh God, Oh God.’
‘Jaddi, snap out of it and get some help!’ Samantha shouted again.
Jaddi pulled her eyes away from Lizzie’s shaking body and stared at Samantha before jumping to her feet and dashing for the door.
Samantha watched her go, wanting to scream after her, I told you this would happen. I told you. This is your fault. Instead, she clenched her teeth together and turned back to Lizzie’s still-convulsing body.
Samantha
Lizzie’s body continued to shudder and shake in disjointed movements as Jaddi flew back into the restroom. It seemed to Samantha, helplessly watching Lizzie – elbows bolted to her side, her hands twisted into deformed fists – as though a demon had found its way into Lizzie’s body and was fighting with all its might to get out.
‘I said get help!’ Samantha shouted, the hysteria, a cyclone in her throat. ‘Where’s the help?’
‘I got Ben,’ Jaddi half panted, dropping down beside Lizzie and avoiding Samantha’s gaze. As Jaddi spoke, Ben stepped through the door, camera on shoulder. The same fluid movements from the terminal now shortened in the small rectangular restroom, but still slow, still even. I’m here to capture the story, not be part of it, that’s what he’d told them on the plane. Why had Jaddi thought he’d help? Why had she not run across the airport, screaming for help until an army of people rushed to her side? All of a sudden the space around them closed in. What now? Samantha didn’t want to leave Lizzie’s side, but what choice did she have?
‘Shit, her lips are turning blue,’ Jaddi said. ‘We have to do something.’ A sob left her mouth as she reached her arms out towards Lizzie’s juddering legs.
‘Don’t touch her,’ Ben said from behind them, his voice calm and in control, slicing through the panic swarming through Samantha. She turned her face towards him. In one move, Ben placed the camera onto the floor and hopped over to Jaddi, pulling her up and away from Lizzie.
‘What are you doing?’ Jaddi cried out, shrugging off his hands.
‘She’s having a seizure, you can’t hold her,’ Ben said, taking Jaddi’s place beside Lizzie.
‘But she keeps banging her shoulder on the tiles,’ Jaddi said. ‘It must be hurting her. I can help.’
‘No, you can’t. You’d do a lot more damage by holding her.’ Ben pulled off his jumper and slid it under Lizzie’s head as a current continued to shake her body. ‘All we can do is cushion her head.’
‘How do you know?’ Samantha asked, not bothering to hide the accusation in her tone.
‘My brother has epilepsy,’ he said before leaning closer to Lizzie. ‘Lizzie, you’re having a seizure. It’s OK. It’ll be over in a minute. Hang in there. You’re going to be fine.’
‘Can she hear us?’ Jaddi asked from behind them.
‘I don’t know. My brother always says he can, but every seizure is different, and it affects people differently.’
Something in Ben’s tone loosened the fear gripping Samantha. She pulled in a breath and watched Lizzie’s jerking movements begin to slow. ‘I think it’s stopping,’ she said.
‘Let’s give it a minute and wait for her to come around before we alert the airport staff,’ Ben said, as if reading the question in Samantha’s head before she’d had a chance to ask it. ‘That way she won’t come out of it to a bathroom full of people. There’s nothing a doctor can do for her right now.’
Time passed. A minute, then two. No one spoke. Samantha could hear her heartbeat drumming in her ears. She glanced at Ben’s camera, still in its position on the floor, the light on the side glowing red. It was still recording, she realised, fighting the urge to stand up and step out of the way. Whether she liked it or not, she was part of this documentary, and nothing would make her leave Lizzie’s side.
‘She’s opening her eyes.’ Jaddi leaned in and placed a hand on Lizzie’s shoulder. ‘Lizzie, can you hear me?’
Lizzie’s pupils narrowed into focus as she stared between the three of them, her eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. It was the same look Samantha had seen on Lizzie’s face the morning of her first radiotherapy treatment last autumn.
‘You’re all right, Lizzie. You had a seizure,’ Ben said.
Lizzie’s face softened, tears formed a wall of water over her pupils but she continued to stare at them in turn.
‘I’ll get her some water,’ Jaddi said, scrambling to her feet.
‘She needs to speak first, before you can give it to her,’ Ben called after her. ‘In case she’s still seizing and we don’t know it. If she is, the water could go straight into her lungs and choke her,’ he explained as he stood up.
‘Oh, right.’