Red (2 page)

‘Well, it is Sydney, though it doesn't look like it. I dunno what this suburb was. It rained and it rained,' he said. ‘I saw on this big screen last night that they reckon there was this cyclone like the ones they get up north. It was out at sea and then it turned and huge waves came roaring up over the beaches and the land and it just took everything for nearly a kilometre. It never happened like that before, not round here. There're lots of people dead or missing and injured and everything's smashed up. The army's been called in to rescue people, and the SES.' He paused. ‘There were some people, police and rescue mobs, came through yesterday and I reckon there'll soon be a whole gang of soldiers. Be good. Get rid of some of the scavengers.'

‘Who?'

‘Those people we saw. They're just looking for stuff so they can make some money.'

‘Maybe they used to live there. Maybe that was their smashed house.'

‘I reckon all the people in the house would be dead under the rubble or washed out to sea.'

‘Why wasn't I washed out?' Her voice trailed away. Shivers ran from her chest, down her arms to her hands till her whole body was shaking. She couldn't stop. She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, entwining her fingers despite the pain from her cuts and torn skin. Backwards and forwards she rocked, teeth chattering. Who had she been with? What happened to them? Was it her mum or dad? Brothers or sisters?

She took a deep breath and slowly steadied herself. ‘What will the soldiers do? Will they help us?'

He shrugged.

‘Do they take you somewhere?'

‘Probably to a shelter.'

‘What's that?'

‘Kind of like a hospital.'

‘I don't need a hospital.' She touched the back of her head. ‘But my head really hurts. And my hands are a mess.'

‘Are you sure you don't know what your name is? What I can call you?' said Peri.

She thought for a minute. Nothing. There was nothing in her head but a small voice and that name she kept repeating.

‘I don't know. I can't remember.'

‘You must have a name. What about that Martin person you were jabbering on about. Is he your father?'

‘I don't know. It's like words in my head. It's all I know.'

Her father? Was he? How could she know her father's name but not her own? Who was he? What did he look like? And her mother? What about her? She frowned, trying to summon a picture.

She fell silent. Empty. Unconnected.

‘Where is he? Was he with you?'

‘I don't know.' She stood up and moved to lean against the car.

‘What about you?' she said. ‘Where's your family?'

‘Haven't got one. Don't need one.' He picked up a stick and scratched at the dirt at his feet. ‘My family's all gone. This is where I live now.'

Was hers all gone too? How could she not know? What did she know? She looked down at her hands. These are hands. These are fingers, knuckles, wrists, arms. I know stuff. I'm not stupid. But who am I?

‘I've got some food,' Peri said. ‘Are you hungry?'

She nodded. When had she last eaten? What had she last eaten?

She watched him climb into the car and come back with slices of bread and some fruit. He broke a banana into small pieces and handed her the sandwich he made with it. He held out a cup of water and she filled her mouth and rinsed off mud and salt-tasting sand.

‘It's not exactly a top restaurant,' he said.

‘It's good.' She ate hungrily, squashing the soft fruit between her teeth, feeling it take into her stomach the last little bits of grit.

‘How did you get that bruise on your face? I thought you said you weren't in all the mess.'

‘I wasn't.'

‘So?'

‘So mind your own business.'

When they'd finished she looked at him and said simply, ‘I don't know what to do.'

‘You can stay here if you like.'

‘Stay with you?'

‘Have you got a better idea? You can sleep in the car.'

‘But I need to find out who I am. Maybe someone is looking for me. I must have a family out there.'

‘You don't need a family. You can be all right on your own.'

She shook her head. She felt lost, alone.

‘I could show you where there's one of those kind of hospital places.'

‘What for? I'm not sick. There must be somewhere else.'

He shrugged. ‘There's a rescue centre where they give out food and blankets and stuff like that. It's OK but you have to steer clear of the cops. They might want to put you somewhere for lost kids. You know, like a kids' home. There're loads of kids wandering around. They're everywhere. And they might grab me too.'

‘What's wrong with that?'

‘I'm not getting bossed around by anyone. That's what happens in places like that. They make you do stuff that you don't want to do, and if you don't do it they whack you.'

They were quiet for a while. The rain had stopped and the girl felt her sore limbs warm in the sun. She rolled her shoulders, wincing a little from the pain, then stretched out her legs and flexed her ankles.

‘If you don't know your name,' said Peri, ‘we should make one up just so I can call you something.'

‘Like what?'

‘I dunno.'

‘Have you got a mum or a sister? I could borrow their name.'

He looked away.

‘What did you think when you first saw me?'

‘I thought you were dead.'

‘Well, that won't work as a name.'

‘I saw your bright red T-shirt in the mud and I went over to see what it was. I could call you Red.'

‘Sounds like dead. Try other words that mean red.'

‘Rose. Scarlet. Ruby.'

Rose? That felt familiar. Ruby? She felt she knew the word but as she tried to grasp the thought it darted from her mind, like a little fish zipping through water.

‘What's a ruby?'

‘You know. A jewel. A bright red jewel. Like rich people wear.'

She looked at her torn, mud-stained T-shirt. ‘That's not me.'

‘I'm just gunna call you Red. I reckon you might even have red hair - under all that mud.'

‘Suit yourself.' She closed her eyes. Her head hurt. Her hands hurt. She wanted to think about what had happened but it was too hard. Later. She'd think later.

‘That place where they give out the food,' said Peri, ‘I could just sneak in and get stuff. I've done that before.'

‘But how does that help me find out who I am?'

‘Worry about that when you get more food in your belly. And you need some clothes. I have to get more water too. This rainwater won't last and all the pipes are wrecked. The sewers are leaking everywhere.'

She looked down at her mud-encrusted jeans. No running water. No washing. No clean clothes. No toilets. Nothing to drink. No one to turn to. Suddenly she could feel every bit of her body. It was as if all of her flesh was squeezing her stomach, pressing in on it and then moving away to leave only a shell, an emptiness. Her hands were shaking.

‘This is crazy. We can't live like this, on our own. We need to go and find someone to help us. We have to.'

‘No way.'

‘Why can't we go to the police or the soldiers?'

‘ 'Cos we can't.' He was yelling at her now, his face red and frowning. ‘People say they'll help you but they just want to control you and tell you what to do.' He turned away from her, mumbling something, pressing his hands down into the pockets of his jeans.

‘Sor-ry.' Her voice came out as a whisper.

‘I'll go to the Centre. You stay here,' he said. ‘It'll be quicker if I go by myself.'

He walked off. She watched him growing smaller and smaller till he disappeared. Why was she staying here, doing what he said? And why wasn't he with
his
family? What had happened to them?

A seagull cawed overhead, swooped around in a wide arc and came down to land only a metre from her. Red leant forward. Another gull flew in and then another. They tottered towards her on their skinny red legs. ‘Ruby legs,' she whispered. ‘Sorry. I've got nothing to feed you.' Nothing to feed myself.

• • • • •

The afternoon dragged on. The clouds had disappeared and Red moved every so often to follow the sun. Heat in the stones dried her jeans and the warmth relaxed her sore muscles. Then it became too hot and she moved herself into a spot where the remaining bits of the wall cast a cooler shadow. She looked out over the shattered landscape. The scavengers were gone. I am the only person in the world. Despite the heat, she shivered. She looked down at the dirt at her feet. A line of ants marched out from under a fallen sandstone block, turned right at the edge of a pile of bricks and disappeared back under a fallen wooden beam. They knew where to go. What if Peri didn't come back? What if someone did grab him and stopped him from coming? What if the rain started again and more waves came and reached in to her and destroyed this place? What if… what if… Her body was shaking again. She slumped forward and tears welled in her eyes. What if … At her feet were crushed leaves stuck in pockets of muddy water. Fallen from their branch, adrift. That's me. Come back, Peri, come back. Stop it. Stop these thoughts. You are alive. He has found you and fed you and he has promised to come back.

• • • • •

She sat up and ran her thumbs through her salty hair, trying to break up the muddy clumps. Her skin was dry and itchy. She scratched her back and neck. Her fingers brushed against a leather cord. She pulled at it and from under her T-shirt came a long, looping strand and on the end of it a solid metal tube. She spat on it and rubbed it clean. Smooth metal locket. Who had given it to her? Did she always wear it?

Was this a clue to who she was? She gripped the locket tightly, ignoring the pain in her hands.

She wanted Peri to return. She stood up and saw him picking his way over the slabs of broken concrete. She waved and called out, ‘Peri, Peri.' Then as he came closer, she felt silly and she stepped back into the shadow and was silent as he came up to her.

‘What did you get?'

‘Food. There's enough fruit for a few days and they had packets of stuff – special rations that soldiers have. There's even chocolate. And I scrounged a backpack and I got you some clothes.'

He shook out a bag on the ground. Coloured T-shirts, men's and boys' style, landed at her feet. ‘I had to say they were for me,' he grinned and waved his hand over his skinny chest. ‘You're nearly as big as me. I reckon they'll fit you.' He sat down. ‘Any visitors while I was away?'

She shook her head. ‘As if. I found this, though. I was wearing it round my neck.' She passed him the locket.

‘Weird,' he whispered. It lay flat on his palm. He stroked it with the fingers of his other hand, turned it over and traced a tiny ridge along the top. ‘It might open. There might be something inside.' He scratched it with his thumbnail. ‘Pity we haven't got a knife or something sharp.'

‘Couldn't we ask at the centre?' said Red. ‘We should go in there anyway. There must be records and people looking for other people. Someone must know me. I'm not some freak from another planet.'

Peri shrugged. ‘It's crazy, Red. Nobody's got time for a kid like you. They're putting up tents but there are way too many people. All their computers are down and there are piles and piles of clothes and toys but only a few people to hand them out and everyone's sticking up photos of relatives they've lost and there are reporters and cops and everyone's going totally wild.' He passed the locket back to Red. ‘We can go back there tomorrow but if you want to find out who you are, I reckon you'll have to do it yourself.'

CHAPTER TWO

IT GREW DARKER. PER I WRENCH ED OPEN THE DOOR S OF
the car.

‘You can have the back seat if you like. I'll take the front.'

Red curled up on the cracked plastic, her head on the door's armrest. She smelt fungus and decay. In the mud on the floor was orange peel and screwed-up bags that had once held takeaway food: the smell of stale pizza slices, hamburgers, tomato sauce and cold fat lingered.

Through the broken back window of the car, the stars were vague and indistinct, half covered with streaks of cloud. She stared at them, wishing she could identify them in some way, to know them. Eventually her eyes closed and she fell into a troubled sleep.

• • • • •

In the morning, over a handful of dried apricots and chocolate, she said, ‘I want to go back and look around where you found me.'

‘Why? There's no one left out there,' Peri said. ‘When I found you I'd been all round that part.'

‘I still want to see it,' she said quietly. ‘It might make me remember something. And I want to go to the Centre and see the photos on the wall. Someone in my family might have been away for the day. My mum or my dad, they might have been at work in the city or visiting somewhere else. They could be desperate, going crazy looking for me right now.'

‘OK, but I'm telling you, you won't find anything.'

They shared a packet of biscuits, crisp tasteless squares, and a bottle of strangely flavoured juice. ‘It's what they have for soldiers,' said Peri. ‘You can't buy this in shops. It's full of everything you need to stay alive in a battle zone. Protein and stuff. Another good reason not to join the army.' He grinned. ‘They're opening up all the emergency stuff they keep for when there's a war.' He wiped his face with the back of his hand. ‘It's just like that out there. There are soldiers and police all over the place and tanks and army tents. And everywhere looks as though it's been bombed.'

• • • • •

They retraced their steps to the place where Peri had found her. ‘I used to swim at the next beach down that way.' He waved his hand to the south. ‘The cliff collapsed there in the storm. You'd have to be a mad dog to swim there now.'