The Happy Family by Jackie Kabler (electric book reader txt) 📕

nothing, then wrench it open, grabbing bottles and tubes and packets of headache tablets, flinging them onto the floor until the cabinet is empty and the shelves are smooth and bare, and still I’ve found nothing, nothing at all.

‘Darling! What’s going on? What’s wrong?’

I spin around, my breathing laboured and my chest tight. Mum’s standing in the bathroom doorway, staring wide-eyed at the mess, at the broken glass, and at the shampoo oozing out of an upended bottle onto the black and white floor tiles.

‘Oh, Mum …’

My voice cracks and the tears come again. She takes two careful steps towards me and opens her arms. I stagger into her embrace.

‘Darling, what is it? It’s OK. Whatever it is, we can sort it, OK?’

She’s murmuring into my hair, arms wrapped tightly around my waist, and I bury my face in her neck. Suddenly I’m five again, falling over in the back garden and running to my mummy to kiss it better, and for a moment, just a moment, I feel a wave of pure happiness. And then reality comes crashing back and I think about all the patients, hundreds of them maybe, who’ve seen that footage, that horrendous, humiliating footage. My naked flesh on display, out there on a porn site. Oh my God, a porn site. I start to panic again.

‘Mum … Oh Mum, something terrible’s happened.’

I take a step back, out of her arms, and I tell her. She listens, her concerned frown turning slowly into a look of horror.

‘But I don’t understand. How did someone get pictures of you, here in your own house? And it’s on the internet? Can’t you do anything? Beth, this is awful. Who would do such a thing?’

‘I don’t know, Mum. I just don’t know.’

Why didn’t I delete the post immediately? I think suddenly. I push past her and grab my phone and, hands shaking, delete it all. Then I sink onto the bed. My legs feel weak and my mind is racing. Mum’s still hovering, watching me uncertainly.

‘Mum, I’m OK, it’s OK, it’s gone,’ I say. ‘You go on down. I won’t be long.’

She hesitates, then nods.

‘Well, if you’re sure. I’ll put the kettle on again. You look like you need a strong coffee.’

‘Something like that,’ I say, and try to smile. She smiles back and leaves the room but I feel sick. Yes, I’ve deleted the Facebook post, but the video’s still out there, isn’t it? Still on that disgusting website, still there for anyone to see. How the hell do I get it taken down? Do I go to the police? A solicitor? I don’t know. I need to look it up. I’ve just picked up my phone again, wondering what on earth to type into Google, when the phone starts to ring. Jacob.

Oh no, please. Not now.

‘Good morning!’

I try to sound upbeat, cheery, but I’ve barely got the words out before I have to move the phone away from my ear. He’s bellowing.

‘JESUS CHRIST, BETH. WHAT’S GOING ON? WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT? I’VE ONLY GOT A LINK TO A FRIGGING PORN SITE ON MY COMPANY FACEBOOK PAGE.’

My heart almost stops beating.

What? It’s on another page? Jacob’s landscape gardening company page? Oh shit, shit …

‘It’s not … I didn’t …’ I stutter, but he’s still yelling.

‘PICTURES OF YOU, BETH. A FORTY-YEAR-OLD MOTHER. WHAT IN BUGGERING HELL WERE YOU THINKING? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU? AND WHO’S DAPHNE BLOODY BLAKE?’

‘Jacob, listen, please …’

‘CHRIST, I MEAN I COULDN’T EVEN WATCH IT … WHAT POSSESSED YOU, SERIOUSLY? ARE YOU THAT DESPERATE FOR ATTENTION?’

‘JACOB! CAN YOU SHUT UP FOR ONE MINUTE AND LET ME SPEAK?’ I scream down the phone at him, and finally he stops shouting, his breathing heavy and angry in my ear.

‘Jacob, listen.’

I take a breath, wondering how on earth to explain something I don’t even understand myself.

‘It wasn’t me. I mean, the footage is obviously me, and I’m … just so ashamed, so mortified, but I didn’t shoot those pictures, and I certainly didn’t post them. I’ve obviously been hacked. And I don’t know who Daphne Blake is. I don’t know how it’s happened, Jacob. Somebody must have put hidden cameras in my bedroom and bathroom. I don’t know who or how. I’ve searched everywhere and I can’t find anything, but you have to believe me, all of this is nothing to do with me. I would never … The link was posted on the surgery Facebook page too, Jacob. It’s a nightmare, and I just don’t know, I just don’t know …’

Hot tears are flowing down my cheeks again. There’s a long silence on the line, then he says: ‘What the fuck?’

‘Jacob, I—’

‘Beth, you’re making no sense. You’re telling me that someone, what, broke into your house, fitted hidden cameras and then recorded video of you naked and put it on a porn site? Seriously? Why would anyone do something like that? And who? That is just ridiculous.’

‘I know,’ I say helplessly. ‘I know it sounds ridiculous. But it’s what’s happened, OK? Maybe not someone breaking in, I don’t know; we haven’t had a break-in. Maybe it’s someone I know, someone who’s been in the house. Maybe someone did it for a joke, and obviously it’s not funny; it’s horrendous, but—’

‘Oh, for God’s sake.’

He sounds so scornful, so full of contempt, that I actually wince, as if he’s just punched me in the stomach.

‘Jacob, I’m telling you the truth …’

He isn’t listening.

‘I’ve deleted the post, OK? And now we’ve just got to hope that the kids and their friends never get to see those videos, haven’t we?’

‘Oh God, Jacob. You have to believe me. I don’t know—’

‘Well, I don’t know anything anymore. I don’t know you anymore, that’s for sure. All I know is that you’ve been acting so fucking weird recently that I’m now seriously worried about the kids’ welfare. I’m picking them up from their sleepovers later and then they’re staying with me, Beth. I’ll come round later and pick up some of their stuff, but I’m