War Bird

25. The Fire Will Dwindle.

I'm sneaking back from the kitchen with a naughty Penguin biccie. Mummy will yell if she finds me so I need to be quiet as a mouse. But then I hear a noise from their bedroom. More shouting. There’s been a lot of that. I'm up on my tiptoes, running to get back to my room as fast as I can, but then I hear the bedroom door open. So I hide the only place I can, behind the couch.

"Please, don't do this." Mummy's crying as they come into the room. "I don't understand."

"Look, I’m sorry. But just try and get it, yeah?” Daddy's moving quickly, grabbing books, zipping bags. “I have to get as far away from Marla as I can.”

“Walk out on your child, Rafe? She’s just a little girl!”

"Yeah, right now she is. But remember that story I told you? The big lie? Well, one day, not soon, but one day she’ll be a target, because-"

"Because what? She'll be a freak? Like you?"

"I ain’t no freak! Damn, if that’s what you think, why did you marry me?"

"Right now, I ain't sure."

"Well if that's the sitch," he says, and there's the sound of rustling material. "Maybe it really is for the best that I leave so you can give her the most normal life you can."

"No! No!" Mummy shouts, and something hits the wall above my head and falls inches away from me. It's Daddy's coat. "You can't leave us like this."

"How many times? I got no choice." Daddy's voice is muffled now. "Please, just let me go. I gotta go, I have a job to do.’

"You're leaving us with nothing."

"I know, I ain’t happy about that but I need every penny." Daddy croaks. "I'll come back for you if I can." There’s a final, loud zip. “Keep her safe, okay?”

"Don’t do this." Mummy's voice is all quiet.

"Marla's important. Remember that. If things go the way I think they will, then she will be called."

"Well you better make sure they don’t go that way," Mummy sobs. "Cos I can't lose her too."

My eyes open and I bolt up. The dorm is pitch black and all around me I hear gentle snores, the occasional cough. I allow my pounding heart to slow and then I lower myself back down to my pillow. I don't know how much of that dream was made of actual memory, but the little thoughts that have been niggling away in my head are slowly coming together. There's a reason I'm here, not just because we upset Bridget, but it’s something bigger than that. 

There's no way I'm sleeping any more tonight.