Watery Graves (19 page)

“I want that.”

“I’m sorry if you felt
as though I left you.”

“You did, Mum. You and Kristian both did.”

Chapter Thirty Three

Shadows in the pine trees gave Emmy refuge, a moment to pause and think through what she needed to say to Sebastian. Silent and still, she watched him lie on the checked rug, staring up at the tree tops. Glimmers of sunlight streaked his face, masking his expression. She couldn’t imagine what might be going through his mind.

“Sebastian,’ she called.

Startled, he flipped over, sitting back on his knees. “How long were you there?”

Emmy forced herself to join him on the rug. “I didn’t want to scare you.”

The river churned below them, its levels on the rise again.

“Did you see the way the bank’s been cut away? The water’s pretty fierce through here,” Sebastian said.

Emmy nodded. “Yeah. It’s taken out the bend.”

Searching for the right words, Emmy traced the red and green tartan squares on the rug, “Umm…About what I said about the drinking…It came out wrong. I just wanted them to know how much you were hurting…you know, Maya, Mum and Kristian and everything.”

Sebastian cleared his throat. “Well, while we’re at it…” The corner of his mouth twitched. “I want you to know that what you said…I thought you turned on me. So I turned on you.”

“I didn’t like it.”

“Neither did I.”

“I don’t like feeling scared all the time.”

“Me either.”

“You never show it.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Open your eyes wider.”

It was an automatic response
. Her eyes did open wide as though on command. Though it wasn’t to see evidence of his problem, it was genuine surprise.

“It’s something in my gut, like a knot that’s there all the time. You never know what’s going to happen.” He shook his head at her
. “Come on Em, connect the dots. It’s all there in front of you. That’s why I drink. It settles me down.”

“I thought you were missing Maya.”

“I am. It’s everything. I don’t want to feel any of it.”

Emmy nodded thoughtfully. She settled back on her elbows. “You know what I did?” Emmy asked him.

“Is it something you’ll get in trouble for?”

“Probably, but it’s the only thing to do when you’re scared of something. I had to face it head on.”

“What’d you do?”

“I swam across the river while it was still up from the flood...on my own.”

He leant on his arms and laughed. “That’s not facing your fear, that’s forgetting you have a brain. No one has gone near that river in a flood since your uncle was a kid and surfed the rapids. Man I wished I’d known that this morning. If I had’ve blurted that out it would have trumped all dirt you dished on me.”

“But I’m alive. If Mercy River wanted to claim me, it would’ve done it then.”

“Does your mum know?”

“Nope.”

“Kristian?”

“They’d kill me.”

“Don’t tempt fate again, Emmy. That was a stupid thing to do.”

“I won’t need to.”

Emmy pushed Sebastian back onto the blanket. His face contorted in surprise, but she pinned an arm across his chest. With her free hand, she played with the muscles in his face, like play dough, moulding his lips back into a smile. It took a second or two before he found the humour in it and laughed.

“I want things to go back to the way they were between us,” Emmy told him.

“Like this? Laughing you mean.”

“And talking. We need to talk again. Like we used to.”

She resisted at first when he tried to shove her off his chest, but then gave in when she realised he wanted to hold her close. She allowed him to guide her face close to his for a kiss.

Their eyes closed.

An image of Maya flashed through Emmy’s mind. Her arms were outstretched. Sprinkles of coloured light erupted from her fingers. Emmy felt herself drawn close to her, held as if she were a precious soul made of that light. She snuggled in, warmth on her cheek, breath on her mouth, pressure on her lips. It was difficult to breathe.

She crashed back, her eyes snapped open.

And so did Sebastian’s. His surprise mirrored hers.

“What happened?” she whispered.

“What happened to you?”

“I think I’m losing my mind.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“I saw Maya.”

He rolled onto his back. “Me too.”

“The lights?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

He reached a hand out to hers and tugged on it. “Yeah.”

She turned to him.

They shared an awkward smile.

“Are you going to go all weird on me again?” she asked him.

He shook his head, “I’m not drinking anymore.”

She believed him.

“But this kind of thing makes me want to drink big time,” he said.

“So weird.”

“That didn’t happen,” he said. 

“It couldn’t have,” she replied. “It was all in our imagination.”

“As if a dead mother would want to pop in while her son was kissing his girlfriend.”

“I don’t think she thinks of me as your girlfriend.”

“So strange.”

“Crazy.”

“It happened didn’t it?”

“It did, didn’t it. I don’t feel like your girlfriend though.”

Chapter Thirty Four

Emmy recognised the manicured hand before she looked into the face of Mrs Paltry. Sebastian was busy with another customer, but managed to grab Emmy by the elbow, stopping her from walking away.

“I’m not serving her,” Emmy muttered under her breath to her mother, who was under the counter stacking punnets of blackberries. “Can you?”

“Who?” Ingrid asked, looking up.

“I need some service, please,” came the scratchy voice
, not unlike the witch on the Wizard of Oz.

“Mrs Paltry.”

“Serve her,” Sebastian whispered as he ducked under for a bag.

Ingrid yanked his arm so he couldn’t get up, and prodded Emmy forward
. “Confront the people you’re most afraid of,” she whispered.

“I can’t,” Emmy said, but Mrs Paltry was pouting in front of her.

“Service would be nice, dear.”

“Yes, Mrs Paltry.”

“Is that pumpkin soup?”

“Yes, Mrs Paltry.”

“Don’t be cheeky dear.”

“I’m not, Mrs Paltry.”

“I’ll have a container or two, thanks.”

“One container or two, Mrs Paltry?”

“No one likes a cheeky girl.”

“I know Mrs Paltry,” Emmy said, shoving two in a bag. “That’s seventeen dollars.”

“Please.”

“Please, Mrs Paltry,
that’s seventeen dollars.”

“Highly overpriced, I must say.”

“Yes, Mrs Paltry,” Emmy said, keeping the twenty dollar note safely in her hand until Mrs Paltry had tucked the coins back into her wallet.

As Mrs Paltry marched away from their stall, Emmy heard her mother sigh beside her and Sebastian laughed. Emmy hauled her mother out from under the table and turned so she could speak to both of them. “I want this on record for the two of you. I have served Mrs Paltry for the last time.”

“I don’t blame you,” Ingrid said. “But I must say Maya would have been proud.”

“Yeah. Good job,” Sebastian added.

Emmy spotted Libby in the crowd from across the square. She untied her apron. “I’m out of here.”

Ingrid looked at her watch
. “Is it time?”

“Libby’s over there.”

“Are you sure you don’t want Sebastian to come?”

“I’m happy to go with you.”

“What? Leave Mum here on her own? Kristian is going to be gone for ages.”

Emmy didn’t wait for Libby to make it to the stall. She met her half way.

*

“So what did you want to see?” Libby asked.

“I’m not good with vampires.
Pink Serenity
sounds better.”

“It sounds weird.”

“The vampires movie is a love story. It’s not a horror. My friends love it. Most of them anyway. And those that don’t I’m sure are just pretending for the sake of being different. It’s not scary. If you get scared then I’ll tell you what happens.”

“Sounds scary.”

“I tell you what. Come see it and if you don’t like it, we’ll leave. And catch the next session of
Pink Serenity
or then there’s
A Shot at Freedom
a bit later. Promise. I’ll pay.”

“Fine.”

Emmy gave her money to Libby but walked with her while she bought the tickets.

“Popcorn and
Cokes are a must,” Libby said dragging her to the kiosk. They shuffled through another queue.

Loaded up, Libby led the way down the labyrinth of bright carpeting and
fluorescent lights. “We need to hurry. It’s about to start.”

“Not used to rushing to do things.”

“I didn’t think I’d ever in a million years talk you into this movie.”

They stepped into the dark, shuffling to their seats. Libby set her up. And Emmy followed her friend
’s every move. She wanted to do this movie thing right. She couldn’t help giggling at how weird it was sitting in the dark with strangers.

The opening scene began in bushland. A deer was running from a predator. Libby covered Emmy’s eyes. “I forgot about this part. Sorry,” she said.

Emmy reached up and covered her own eyes. “Just let me know when something’s going to scare me. I want to see this movie.”

“Okay now. It’s fine to look,” Libby whispered.

Emmy opened her eyes to a bleak shadowy movie screen and Libby looking down fiddling with her phone.

“Are you watching it?”

“Of course, I love it.”

But she seemed on edge.

Libby turned and looked behind, just as something hard hit Emmy in the head.

“What was that?” Emmy said, ducking down in her seat.

“I just got a text. Jed’s here. He saw us come in.”

“Something hit me.”

“Me too. They’re throwing things at us.”

“Let’s just watch the movie.”

Emmy watched, aware that Libby was preoccupied. Emmy felt it. She wondered if it was time to tell her friend about Jed. She tried to concentrate on the movie, but it was hard. Every time the girl left her house she worried for her.

It was hard not to get lost in it. It was a love story. Emmy was caught up in the impossibility of it, when she sensed some shuffling in the seats beside her. Jed and a friend had sat down beside her. She took a sidelong glance at Libby. She was staring straight ahead, smiling.

Jed placed his arm alongside hers on their shared armrest. She felt the backs of his fingers flicker playfully against hers. She pulled her arm away and leant towards Libby.

“Do you want to change seats with me Em?”

Emmy shook her head. She sat on longer.

Jed’s seat lit up as he played with his phone.

Libby reached for hers.

Emmy saw it all while trying to appear like she was lost in the movie.

Libby liked Jed.

Emmy felt she’d been given only half the story about the movie plans with Libby. At another scary part, she stood up, excused herself and shuffled past Jed, who touched her where he shouldn’t as though helping her negotiate the maze of feet on the way past.

At the top of the aisle Emmy looked down at the seat she’d been sitting in, empty between Libby and Jed. In front of her eyes, Jed changed seats, sitting beside Libby. Emmy considered finding another seat and settling in for the movie, but decided against doing it on her own. It was a love story but it was filled with tension.

Emmy left.

She went to the toilets. There, she made a decision.

When she’d finished, Emmy strode over to the ticket box on her own, bought a ticket for
Pink Serenity
and found the cinema herself. It was her kind of movie, a simple story about a girl too young to have the odds stacked against her, only wanting acceptance and maybe a bit of love.

*

It wasn’t that Emmy wasn’t mad at Libby. She was. She was just more proud of herself for picking another movie and seeing it on her own. If she wasn’t feeling the way she did, she would have walked right past the library. Instead at the steps she stopped. She stood there wondering what it was like inside.

A mother led her three children up the stairs. They were leaping and jumping excitedly. Emmy followed them.

Inside, was like a hum of quiet activity. People were browsing shelves, reading in chairs, gossiping, and in the far corner children played while parents wandered off on their own. As Emmy walked through, people looked up from books. She felt she was stirring up the air just by being there.

She found an aisle of books that looked interesting, stroking their spines, reading titles and taking the odd book into her hands when she felt like it. Her heart was hammering, but she knew it was because she could sense her world widening.

As she turned to go down another aisle, Emmy spotted a group of girls gawking at her. There were three of them, all openly staring. She held their gaze, absently reaching for a book. Then one of them seemed to come to her senses. She started beckoning to her, inviting her over.

Emmy kept staring back. The book felt heavy in her hands. Her feet seemed to plant deep in the carpet. Emmy was about to take a step when the pathway to them was obstructed. She found herself staring at the buttonhole of a red shirt. When she raised her eyes, she was staring directly into the face of Jed.

Emmy dropped the book. She tripped over it as she stumbled out of the aisle and headed for the exit. Her legs took her up the street. The urge to run took over. The cobbled alley ways through town all began to look the same. Right, left, left, right. She couldn’t find the main square. The faces of people she passed looked at her with alarm. It made her panic rise more. Left, left, right left. Every time she saw a flash of red she spun around and headed in the opposite direction. Left, right, left.

She burst out through the stone gates of the town onto a street. The world opened up to trees and painted wood houses with chimneys, large yards and coloured fences. Out in the middle of the street Emmy spun, unsure of what to do, but grateful to be out of the maze of stone buildings. The only thing was her family was back in the square. The thought of going back made her head spin. She bent over the gutter dry re
tching.

Her breath was shallow and fast. She stood up
, taking in the view of the street. At one end she saw a line of blue gums behind the houses. Dazed, she stumbled towards them. The closer she made it the more her feet seemed to take over. She heard the river before she saw it. She knew if she followed it she would make it home.

The end of the street opened out onto a park. She paused, taking it in. It was the park that her mother had run to that day. She was near her mother’s house. Emmy wandered back up the street away from the river into the side street to see if she could see it.

There it was, looking much better than it had the day she was there. It was still old, but the yard had been cleared, and the old fence taken down. The windows glistened in the sun. Emmy wondered why she even wanted to see it. The house didn’t feel as though it was any part of her. It was all her mother’s. She backed away, turned and headed for the river.

As she was about to turn down towards the river, Emmy caught a flash of red to her left. Every cell in her froze. Her breath stopped. It was Jed. He had stopped too. Her brain kicked at the fear. At first she headed straight for the river but at the last second veered back up the street, breaking into a sprint for the old house.

Either way her choices were bad. The river was sure to be a dangerous place and Jed knew where she lived. The old house, she hoped, held the chance that he had no idea it belonged to her mother. But then again, somehow everyone knew everything about her family.

She dived down the side of her old house.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Angels Maya don’t fail me now.
But then it struck her. If they were anywhere they were all in Mercy River.

In a moment of lunacy she ran in a circle around the backyard before forcing herself to stop. Panting, she peered up at the house. The back door was open just a crack. She bolted for the steps and fell in through the doorway
, sprawling over the cracked lino. Spinning around on her bottom, she scrambled to her knees and fell against it. The old key was in the lock. She reached up and turned it, falling back to the floor.

She sat against it for a second or two, before the thought struck her that if that door was left open other windows and doors might be too. She ran to the front door,
and pulled against the handle. It was locked.

When she headed into the lounge, she realised the shreds of the curtains had been taken away, so she dropped to the floor, crawling to the window. From the bottom corner she peered up over the ledge. Jed,
in his bright red shirt, was standing out in the street staring at the house.

Emmy eased herself down to the wooden floor. She gazed at all the windows in her line of sight. They seemed firmly shut. But the fact the back door had been left ajar did not give her confidence. All of a sudden, it didn’t seem to matter if the windows were closed or not. She was trapped inside. And he was outside.

Something shifted and shuffled inside the house. Her ears pricked up. It sounded as though it was coming from one of the bedrooms. Emmy rose to her knees, and peered out again. Jed was still in the street. She sighed and slid down. It must be her imagination.

Emmy crawled towards the hall. She heard the noise again. She froze. The hammering in her ears
kept her from searching the silence. But in the hallway she sensed a presence.

“Who’s there?” she whispered.

There was the sound of something sliding, then the creak of floor boards.

“Oh my God
. Who’s there? Who’s there?” Emmy cried and shook but she could not move.

“Emmy. It’s okay.” The girl in black stepped out into the hall from her grandparents’ room.

Emmy’s legs gave way completely. She knelt back on them. Her cries turned to a cough. “Who
are
you?”