Chapters (75)
- Cover
- Praise
- About the Author
- Title Page
- Intoroduction
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EITHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- CLIMATE EMERGENCY
- Copyright
‘I can’t go anywhere he’ll find me. If he gets hold of me, he’ll kill me. I’m not supposed to be here. I was supposed to stay with him. He—’
‘Slow down,’ I say, placing a hand on each of her shoulders. ‘Look at me. Breathe. Slow down.’
She takes a few gulps of air. Her hands stop worrying at each other.
‘Dana, what’s going on?’
Her words come with difficulty. ‘Last week, when he said about this thing arriving, he said he wants me with him all the time now. He wasn’t going to let me go to school but I persuaded him that’d look bad. Made up some crap about my attendance being so low that if there was anything unexplained, they might send someone to look for me.’
‘Yeah. Mr Walters was asking after you today, too.’
She seems a little surprised at this. ‘Right, yeah. So, Carl said he’d pick me up every day straight after school at the front gates, and that Alan would be keeping an eye on me, and I wasn’t to leave his sight. And I haven’t, and it’s been… But…’
‘But you’ve slipped away. And you’ve come here.’
‘I snuck out before break this morning. I’ve been here all day, waiting for you, hoping you’d come.’
‘And you need somewhere to stay.’
‘I was going to camp here. I’ve done it before, in the summer. But it’s supposed to rain tonight, and…’ She is desperately fragile. Standing in the protection of her garden, her own walls – walls which she’s been dismantling for weeks – are crumbling to dust.
Now I’m the one who needs to be strong. ‘You can stay at mine. Mum’s off to her parents’ this afternoon. Can you wait here another hour or so, then I’ll come and get you?’
FIFTY-NINE
FIFTY NINE
Unexpectedly, Mum’s home when I get there. She wants to make sure I’m going to be OK on my own – it’s the first weekend this year that I’ve not been with her. I explain that, so far this year, there haven’t really been that many weekends.
She smiles. ‘I’ll be back late again on Sunday.’
‘You and Walters starting things up again?’
‘I wish you’d stop calling him that. He’s got a first name you know.’
‘It feels weird. He’s my teacher.’
‘I know, love. But he’s…’
‘Yeah, you said. He’s “good for you”. I get it.’
What with the following mum-fussing, and being told exactly what’s in the fridge, freezer, cupboards and shed, it’s almost two hours before I can get back to the garden.