Page 1 of Drown My Sorrow

Chapter one

Aspyn

AspynAged14

I thought flood waters would be quiet, but they really aren’t. The water roars around us like the roar of a monster just out of sight. There are bangs and crashes in the dark, and each one makes me recoil like I’ve been hit with a bullet. It’s so loud I can’t hear anything else but the deafening thunder of water. The movement in the dark of hundreds of thousands of litres makes the world feel like it’s alive with an army of creatures writhing in the place my whole world had just once existed.

I can’t stop the small cry that slips past my lips as the shock retreats. The ache in my knees is a fierce burn, my finger hurts, and I’m cold down to the bones. I’ve never been so bombarded by so many terrifying sounds.

Where’s my dad?

I’m blind in the dark, the lights are gone, and, with each second, my panic runs away from me. I swipe back my wet hair, peering over the edge of the bank towards where my house was. A few hours ago, that bank was just a hill with a road on top. Now it’s the edge to a mass of churning, thunderous water that is destroying everything.

My house is gone. Not underwater, gone. It floated away, and then, I remember seeing the roof swallowed up by the water like it was just eaten. The place with my dolls and plastic horses is gone. The house with my mummy and daddy and my older sister Cassie that was home is no longer.

The whole house. It was there a few minutes ago before my dad threw me out.

I scan the water, blinking rapidly, hoping it will just magically come back. Water laps at my knees where I’m kneeling, but I can’t stand up. Where is my house?

It’s just gone, and it stays gone.

“Cassie?” I call, but it’s not loud enough to even come close to being heard over the torrent.

A sob rips free of me as I search the black, roaring liquid. I’m so cold, I can’t stop shivering, and the world feels weird, sort of far away but close.

“Dad?”

My mother screams behind me, a wordless shriek into the void. I recognise her voice. The sound raises the hairs on my arms and gives me such a visceral reaction that I twist around, drawn to seeking her out. She rushes towards the flood waters but is caught by our neighbours’ thick arms and swung back.

He shouts something, but I can’t hear him. Still, the tone sends alarm into my numb mind. Too slow, I can’t think fast enough to understand what is upsetting them.

I stand up, my legs are wobbly. The shivers start and are so violent my teeth chatter. I can’t stop thinking about how cold I am.

My mum screams again, and somehow I know it’s bad. It’s terrible. A high-pitched sound is driven out of my chest by the tight panic that has me in a vise.

“Mum?” I stutter her name, my scream somehow drawing everyone’s eyes.

She looks at me, and her eyes widen with fear. “Aspyn!” Her shriek is louder than the roar of the water behind me. So loud every instinct in my fourteen-year-old body obeys instantly, turning towards her, forcing my exhausted and shock-numbed body to take a stumbling step towards her.

The world slows down. I see the wide eyes of our neighbour in his pale face. He’s got a gash on his forehead that’s stopped bleeding but has left a red streak down his face. My mother’s legs give way, and she sags in his hold. I’ve never seen her look like that before. Her hair, normally immaculate and coloured like straw, is a tangled mess, and her dress is ripped, revealing one of her chunky arms and shoulders. The rain continues to fall, turning the world hazy. I see her as if she’s a dream.

“RUN!”

I don’t know who screams the word.

Alarm skitters up my spine. I turn my head, and, boom, I’m catapulted through the air.

I have a thought that this is bad, really bad, but it’s too late. I wonder if I will find Dad and Cassie.

I’m scared.

I feel like I fly forever, and then I open my eyes and look into the water, into the black, into the roaring open maw of the monster. I feel the rush of cold as my monster swallows me, and then, darkness.

PresentDay

I send up silent thanks that my heat is finally over. And then feel so guilty over the thought that I can’t bear to lie there a second longer. I sit up and gently shove the arm laying across my waist off me. The urge to snuggle in the hold for longer than is necessary tempts me, but I refuse to be the pitiful hanger-on that won’t get a clue.

They deserve better.

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