The Icarus Girl

On Sunday morning, after Dulcie and Siobhan leave, Jess’s mother cornrows Jess’s hair for school the next day. Jess tells her mother that they sang a song about the Lord at school. Jess asks her mother why she doesn’t like the Lord, and Jess’s mother explains that it’s not that she doesn’t like him, but that “Jesus doesn’t have lips as big as yours, and his skin is fair. How can you ever be as good as him on the outside when there’s nothing of him in your face?” (236).

Later, Siobhan calls Jess on the phone. Siobhan wants to tell Jess scary stories, even though Jess tells Siobhan that she doesn’t like scary stories. Jess sees TillyTilly on the staircase. She feels something “like a damp white sheet flew over her” (238) as TillyTilly takes over her body. In Jess’s voice, TillyTilly tells Siobhan, “Don’t phone me again with your stupid stories, white girl” (238). Jess struggles to find the words to apologize, but Siobhan hangs up before she can take back TillyTilly’s words. After Jess hangs up, TillyTilly becomes angry, insisting that Jess likes Siobhan better than she likes her. Jess calls TillyTilly mean and claims, “It’s more like sisters with Shivs than it is with you” (239). TillyTilly runs into Jess’s mother’s study and breaks the computer. When Jess’s mother asks Jess what happened, Jess tells her mother that TillyTilly did it.

On Monday afternoon, Jess and her father are watching cartoons when Jess notices TillyTilly behind the couch, laying on the floor. Jess goes to TillyTilly and tries to pick her up and finds that she “was light—so light it was like holding cotton wool. Or nothing at all” (242). Jess says she didn’t mean what she said about Siobhan being her sister and asks if TillyTilly is only pretending to be unwell to scare her.

Jess calls Siobhan and apologizes for what she said, and they make up. After Jess gets off the phone, Jess’s mother calls Jess’s grandfather in Nigeria. Jess’s mother puts Jess on the phone, and Jess’s grandfather asks Jess whether she has seen her friend recently. Jess isn’t sure what her grandfather means, and he asks again about Jess’s friend who stole the candles, explaining that he found them when he went into the Boys’ Quarters recently. Jess wonders whether her grandfather also saw the picture of the long-armed woman. Jess’s grandfather says, “Two hungry people should never make friends. If they do, they eat each other up. It is the same with one person who is hungry and another who is full: they cannot be real, real friends because the hungry one will eat the full one” (249).

Later, Jess hears TillyTilly’s voice from the bathroom. When Jess enters the bathroom, the door slams shut behind her. Jess sees her reflection in the mirror, but her reflection’s lips move on their own, and TillyTilly’s voice comes out. TillyTilly asks Jess to switch places. Jess refuses. Suddenly, the sink and bath taps all turn on at once, and the mirror shatters. Hearing the noise, Jess’s parents break open the bathroom door. Jess screams that it was TillyTilly who broke the mirror, that her mother hates her, and that it is her mother’s fault Fern is dead. Jess’s father slaps Jess, something he has never done before.

Jess goes to bed. She wakes up in the middle of the night to TillyTilly laughing and talking to her in her bedroom. Jess realizes that TillyTilly is no longer safe and wonders whether she ever was. Jess’s bed starts shaking, and a warm liquid begins dripping onto her pajamas. Jess tries to ignore what is going on around her, but she finally opens her eyes to see a figure hanging from the ceiling, its face centimeters away from Jess’s face. Jess screams.

The next morning, Jess gets herself up and dressed for school. Jess’s father comes into her bedroom and apologizes for hitting her. At school, TillyTilly appears at the table across from Jess. TillyTilly apologizes for scaring Jess, but Jess, confused and frightened at TillyTilly’s presence, faints.

After school, Jess’s mother takes her to an appointment with Dr. McKenzie. Jess tells Dr. McKenzie that it was actually her who broke the mirror but says she didn’t break the computer. Jess asks to come home with Dr. McKenzie to visit Siobhan. Once they are alone in Siobhan’s bedroom, Jess tells Siobhan about TillyTilly. Siobhan believes Jess, saying Jess is too smart to have an imaginary friend. Siobhan promises not to tell anyone about TillyTilly. Jess’s mother appears suddenly at the bedroom door and says she and Jess need to leave immediately. On their way out, Jess’s mother explains that Jess’s father collapsed at work and now he’s in the hospital. Jess, terrified, believes that TillyTilly caused her father to become ill as revenge for hitting Jess.