Free Soul Storm by Kate Harrison Page A

. .’
    ‘Don’t “Ali” me. You asked me for the truth, you’ve got it. Now I need the truth from you: do you believe anything I’ve just told you? Because if you
don’t, I think I should leave. Now. And I’ll never bother you again.’

 
     
     
     
12
     
     
     
     
    I regret the ultimatum the moment it’s out of my mouth.
    Why alienate the last person on this earth who still takes me seriously?
    I try to think of something to say to make it better.
    Lewis holds his hand up. ‘Wait, Ali. I’m thinking.’ He smiles. Is that a sad smile – because he’s finding the words to tell me our friendship is over – or a
smile that says, ‘I get it now’?
    ‘I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t
that
,’ he says eventually. ‘It’s the perfect storm for me. I’m a scientist. A rational
person. I believe in matter and gravity and what’s observable. Evidence.’
    ‘I know, Professor.’
    He smiles again. ‘I’m not convinced there’s an afterlife. I’ve always thought we invented it to make us feel better about the big unknown. Wouldn’t bet my life on
it, but, you know, odds on we die and, well, that’s it. Except for the memories of us that the living hold on to.
That’s
how we stay alive.’
    I nod. I’m not noticing the restaurant any more. Just him.
    ‘If I’d heard what you just told me from anyone else, Ali, I’d be raising my eyes to the heavens I don’t even think exist, and asking for the bill. But you’re not a
flake. Eccentric, yeah, but not a flake.’
    Is there a chance he could believe me?
    ‘Plus, I don’t see why you’d lie to me. Like you said, you’ve had the best part of a year to come up with something more plausible. So, there are two possibilities. One,
this beach of yours does exist. Two,
you
sincerely
believe
it exists, even though it doesn’t.’
    A wave of disappointment smashes into me. ‘So you
do
think I’m crazy—’
    ‘Ali, you had
your
time to talk, now let me, will you? It’s not a case of
crazy.
More that the brain can be . . . ingenious in finding ways to adapt to horrible
events and, God knows, you’ve had enough of those in the last year.’
    ‘I am afraid I might have lost it,’ I say.
    ‘Oh, Ali.’ He rests his hand gently over mine. ‘What makes me so sure you haven’t is the fact that you’ve still got insight. You know it defies belief, yet you
still trusted me. I’m honoured you told me, despite the risks.’
    I feel as though someone’s watching us.
    I spin round and realise it’s just the waiter. We should have finished our food by now, but our plates have barely been touched. He floats away again.
    ‘So, what now?’
    Lewis peers out of the window. I don’t know if he’s seeing the sea, or is lost in Lewis Land. Maybe we all have private places we escape to when we need to.
    ‘What’s the best way to test a hypothesis?’ he says thoughtfully. ‘Experimentation. There must be a way to analyse what you’re seeing when you are convinced
you’re on this virtual beach.’
    ‘Really? How?’
    Lewis puts his napkin on the table, runs his hands through his hair. ‘I need to work on that part. But there has to be an explanation for what you’re experiencing.’
    ‘And that’ll help me?’
    He sighs. ‘I can’t promise anything. There’s pure science, and then there’s the application. Two very different things. But knowledge is better than ignorance,
right?’
    ‘I thought a little knowledge was meant to be a dangerous thing.’
    And then he smiles. His eyes crinkle at the edges and he looks like he might be about to laugh. ‘Life’s dangerous, Ali, especially when I’m with you. But I kinda like it that
way.’
    After lunch, we head for the amusements on the pier.
    Salt and vinegar, smoking oil, burnt sugar, seaweed. It’s exhilarating. Perhaps I also feel so good because I’ve shared it now: my darkest secret.
    I never smell anything this real on Soul Beach.
    I try to stop myself