Lucid by Kristy Fairlamb

Author:Kristy Fairlamb [Fairlamb, Kristy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780648347262
Publisher: Lakewater Press
Published: 2019-04-23T04:00:00+00:00

— 18 —

My search for more details on the house fire turned up nothing. Beverly had two children. A daughter who lived in Perth and a son in Canberra who visited most days. If I felt the way I did, I could only imagine his distress and eagerness to find the cause of the fire that’d killed his mother.

Smoke choked my lungs and burnt my eyes, and all I could do was squeeze her weak hand when my mind gifted me with another onslaught of fiery pain that night. Nothing changed; I hadn’t come up with an alternative yet. The weight of her loss, and the magnitude of my failure, seared me along with the fire. But I didn’t give up hope for Beverly; accidents could often be turned around. I just needed time.

The following day, with Tyler’s voice still echoing in my mind about helping others, I showered and dressed in faded jeans and a black hoodie, my least ‘I have money’ clothes, and strode the soaked footpaths into town. It wouldn’t take my mind off Beverly, but without school to do the job, working at the shelter would do well to keep me somewhat distracted.

Pleased to have extra hands for the day, Patty got me sorting through one of the supply cupboards with her, and then after lunch I played a few games of draughts with Henry.

I enjoyed the interlude. Being productive instead of useless helped, and when I arrived home, I held my breath and searched the news again. The air rushed out at once, relief, so much relief. Detectives had traced the source of the fire back to the dishwasher.

I called Tyler and filled him in while I paced my room. Window to door, robe to table.

‘So if she just didn’t start the dishwasher…’

‘Yeah, but most people do at the end of the day, don’t they?’ Tyler said. ‘Not sure there would’ve been a way out of this for her.’

‘Maybe, but you know how sometimes they advertise recalls on the news, maybe she saw that, or her son saw it and told her about it.’ I paused by my window and ran my hand back and forth on the ledge, bringing to mind all the photo frames in her home, the faces of her children and grandchildren. They had to be an indication she had loved ones who cared.

I stood silently with the warm phone to my ear, contemplating her alternative. Tyler’s steady breathing flowed down the line.

I sat on the edge of my bed. ‘So how’s your day been?’

‘Mmm, not the best, not the worst.’ He spoke heavily, and my heart cracked a little for the pain behind his words.

‘That’s sucky, I’m sorry. Do you wanna get out tomorrow, do something together?’

‘I’d love to, not sure Mum’d be keen.’

‘She doesn’t like you seeing me?’

‘No, it’s not that. I dunno, I feel bad going out and leaving her when she’s in a bad way.’

‘You sure it’s still okay to come round tomorrow night then?’

‘Yeah, she’s picked a movie for us all to watch.

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