a t t h e e d g e o f t h e w o r l d
9 6
Advance Reading Copy
and again the stench of vomit stings my eyes. When he’s
done, Des leans back against the wall, but Ivan pulls him to
his feet and into the shower.
I go back to the bedroom, where I use a slipper to sweep
the broken glass into a corner, and then I pick up all the pills
and pile them into the palm of my hand. There’s no sign of
a bottle they might have come from. I try to count the pills,
but my eyes are blurred with tears, and in the end I just
throw them into the pile with the broken glass.
The shower turns off and there’s noise from the bath-
room, but when I go out to the hallway, Ivan closes the
bathroom door.
“Ivan?” I call through the door.
“We’re fine,” he calls back.
“Come on, open up,” I say, but a second later he opens
the door and steps out into the hallway, closing the door
behind him. He’s soaked, and his eyes are rimmed with red.
“Should I call an ambulance?”
He shakes his head. “He’ll be fine.”
“There were pills.”
“I know. He’s fine.”
“But…Ivan…” My voice trails off, because I can’t find
the words to say what I want to say.
There’s more noise inside the bathroom, and then the
door opens and Des lurches out. He’s naked and still dripping
from the shower, and when he sees me he stops and puts his
hand out to steady himself, but when he does, he misses the
