Page 122 of Lost In Kakadu

He woke at dusk, when the sun was a red slash on the western horizon. He crawled to Abi. His throat constricted as he touched her cheek. She didn’t respond.

“Abi!” He rested his head on her chest and was relieved to hear her steady heartbeat.

A fire burning within him made him get to hisfeet. He picked her up and strode along the road with angry determination. The blackness of night smothered him. He clenched his teeth against the excruciating pain in his back until his jaw ached.

A light appeared in the gloom, like a distant firefly. He stared at it, willing it to be a rescue party. The light flickered, then steadily intensified and his heart raced.

Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

He stood still, not wanting to blink and then the one light became two.

His breath caught in his throat. A car!

“Abi, we’re saved,” he wanted to say, but nothing came out.

A trickle oozed down his chin—sweat or blood from his split lips, he wasn’t sure which. The car lights disappeared for a moment and then returned, bigger, closer. He couldn’t move. His feet were frozen, knees locked in place.

Like an act in a magic show, the car suddenly appeared, and he was shrouded in a cloud of red dust. Delirious, he heard voices, but couldn’t understand them.

Rough hands relieved him of Abi’s swollen body and then black faces with white eyes guided him into the car. He wanted to thank them, but the words wouldn’t escape from his throat.

He crawled into the back seat, clutched Abi’s hand and lapsed intounconsciousness.

Chapter Fifty-Six

Krystal woke to ragged snoring from the girl in the bed above her and no matter how hard she tried to block it out, she couldn’t. A cold breeze whistled outside, rattling the wooden blinds and she pulled the stiff sheet over her shoulders attempting to keep warm.

She lay awake wishing for the comfort of her own room until the morning bell rang through the halls.

The noise in the dining hall was a cacophony of high-pitched voices and Krystal longed for a moment of peace. She quickly ate her breakfast and then asked to use the bathroom. It frustrated her that she even had to ask. In the closed stall, she sat on the toilet lid, placed her head in her hands and willed the buzzing in her ears to go away. It didn’t.

After a while she removed the top from her pen and marked another notch on the bathroom wall. Only three hundred and twenty-two days until her eighteenth birthday, then she could walk out of this hell hole as a free woman.

The bathroom door banged open, and she sat upright.

“Krystal, are you in here?” Bellowed the deep voice of Miss Anders.

“Yes, Miss.”

“The principal wants to see you.”

Krystal flushed the toilet, pushed the pen into her underpants and exited the cubical. As she walked along the dark hallway ahead of Miss.Anders, she gnawed at her fingernails wondering what she was in trouble for.

She knocked on the door and gritted her teeth as she entered, determined to fight whatever accusations she was now facing.

Two police officers crowded the room, and she instantly recognised them.

“What’s going on?” Her heart sank. The only reason they’d be here was because the bodies of her mum and dad had finally been found. The room swayed ever so slightly as panic rose within her.

“Take a seat, my love,” the principal said with a rare display of kindness. “These detectives have something quite incredible to tell you.”

Krystal slumped onto the cold wooden chair and stared into the eyes of the woman who once told her they’d given up searching for her parents.

“Hi Krystal, do you remember me? I’m Detective Powder.”

Krystal nodded, too nervous to speak.

“Well, you’re not going to believe this, but your mother’s alive.”

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