Shit. Shit shit shit. He raced to the bedroom. She lay with her back to him. ‘I’m so sorry. You must be starving. I’m going to go get something now. What do you feel like?’

The rise and fall of her back.

He tried again. ‘Aunty Nic? Whatever you feel like, I’ll head out now. Or I can get us some Uber Eats.’

She mumbled something to the wall.

‘Sorry, I didn’t hear—’

‘I don’t want anything from you.’

‘You must be hungry, though. I’m really sorry, Aunty Nic. What can I get you?’

Silence. He fetched her tablets and a glass of water, put them beside the bottle of juice on her bedside table. He waited while she took the pills. She swallowed, glared at him. ‘What?’

‘I just … I’ll go get some groceries and that, but … I’m out of money and I need to—’

‘If you know where my wallet is you’re welcome to whatever’s in it. It was on the kitchen table when I had my fall. That thieving sister of yours might have emptied it already, though.’

‘I’ll have a look. I wouldn’t ask, it’s just …’

‘I don’t care, Will. Take what you want. Do what you want. Leave me alone.’

Will called the first emergency dentist on the list, confirmed he could get in today. Aunty Nic’s wallet was not on the kitchen table. He kicked the wall, downed another Endone. Even water hurt almost too much to bear. When he recovered enough from the pain to focus again he saw a handbag on a hook by the door. Inside was a wallet. No cash but two credit cards. He pocketed both and headed out.

NIC

NIC

Afternoons in this empty, alien place are long and full of terrible sounds. Like in the hospital, noises convulse through the space, working on Nic’s nerves like a sustained electric shock. The planes overhead are as loud as everyone always complained they were. She’d never noticed before. Like death swooping in to scoop you up, changing its mind at the last second. Meanwhile the cars and trucks and bikes are outside but they sound—feel to her shivering limbs—like they are in the room, or at the very least right outside her bedroom window, revving calmly before charging through to crush her where she lies. She asked Will yesterday what they were all doing out there, revving and revving and beeping and revving, barely ever seeming to simply drive on past.

‘A lot of deliveries around here. Groceries, postie, couriers. I’ve seen a lot of those motorbikes with the big heat packs on the back. Uber Eats mostly.’ And he went on to explain what that was as though she were a visitor from the past.