That nightmare, but. It felt so freaking real. Still, nothing to be done but wait for Laney to show, or Mum, or maybe the sun. Mum won’t be too much longer but that doesn’t mean Laney will get in before her. Sometimes she pushes her luck and if Mum is tired enough she’ll only do a quick glance in to check that us girls are safely sleeping. There’d been a lot of years after Dad died when Mum wouldn’t let us sleep on our own.

We were seven when we lost him in a car accident. He’d been driving back home late after a few days out tordoning by himself. Laney had once called him a tree-killer because that was the job – going out and poisoning trees to clear land. She’d been smacked for it and told not to eat the food it put on her plate if she was so high and mighty. It was maybe the only time I saw him look ashamed. Tordoning is something most of the men in town do for different properties, sometimes in gangs, sometimes by themselves. Dad had his own one-man team going. Which is why he was all alone that night when he went off the road right into a tree. The cops said it was tired driving. I didn’t like to think about it.

My strongest memories of him are being held close to his massive chest, which was usually vibrating with laughter at something we’d been doing. He never called me by my name, I was his ‘MnM’, short for Mini-Me. Sometimes I think my parents were idiots, fancy naming your twins after yourselves. For seven years we had two Alanas and two Staceys in the house and one communal headache. There are times I miss the other Stacey so bad my chest feels like it might implode. That’s how I’d learnt that time doesn’t heal some things, you just get used to the pain.

Gulping down the last of the tea I push to my feet like I’m shoving against my thoughts, rinse my cup and head back to bed. I hesitate at Laney’s door, but decide not to create a realistic lump; if Laney is showing off somewhere she deserves to get in trouble. I climb into my own bed to wait and somehow fall asleep.

Day 1, Daylight

Day 1, Daylight