Daniel’s mood is darker this morning. He must have had a heavy night. The short detour they take to find their old house is a clear recipe for disaster. Alex can already foresee what awaits in that garden. When it comes, the sound of shattering glass sends a shiver through his body, as does the coldness in Daniel’s eyes as he legs it back to the car, the hysteria in his voice, his maniacal joyride from the village, foot to the floor.
And that’s when Alex realises that finding the spot on the cliffs is the last thing Daniel must be allowed to do. The truth they’ll unearth there will not be the one he’s seeking. If a greenhouse in a garden can do this to him, then god knows what impact breaking through the denial about the accident will have. Daniel’s mind has become as unstable as those crumbling rocks. It might quite literally drive him over the edge. Maybe there is still time to prevent disaster. Maybe the future is not yet written – Alex’s one hope is to play on his confusion and lead him the wrong way. As they hit the beach, he focuses all his attention upon the track heading back towards the car, and gesticulates as furiously as he can. But Daniel is having none of it. A second, even wilder arm gesture is thrown off course by the twists and turns of the chair. At every stop Alex points and grunts again, but the work needed to wrestle the wheels over the raised steps, the bumping and shaking that follows, ensures that his efforts go unheeded. The fated confrontation with the truth now seems inescapable. Alex braces his arms and legs and clears his mind for action as the critical moment draws closer.
But that moment, when it comes, is not of the kind he’d feared. Not one of turning the chair broadside to block some suicide dash, or of being tipped like rubble into a pit. A moment only to take in the tidal wave of remorse and self-loathing that comes crashing through his brother’s mind. He looks deep into the eyes of the broken soul who now holds him in his arms. He studies each line of the sea-stained skin, hair blown back wildly from the tormented face. A moment to share the confessions, to absorb the white-hot pain, and a moment to embrace the tears – Daniel, finding his way into his head, just as he’d sworn that time to Gulnaz that he would.