Others Were Emeralds by Lang Leav

Author:Lang Leav
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-06-26T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

HERE IS THE sequence of events that immediately followed the crash. First there was the Jet Ski sailing in the air toward Brigitte, punctuated by Sying’s ear-piercing scream. Next was Freckles clambering onto Buzz Cut’s jet ski, the two of them speeding to shore, no doubt eager to extricate themselves from the scene.

Someone pointing at them shouted, “Call triple zero, quick. Don’t let those guys get away!”

A little girl said in a hushed voice, “Are they dead, Mama?”

Sying on her hands and knees, retching.

Then, in the distance, I spotted Tin on the water slowed to a standstill and bobbing like a lifeboat. And then I shut my eyes.

Although much of the aftermath has been permanently etched in my mind, there were certain details I found hard to recall. I couldn’t name the police officer who wrapped a blanket around my shivering shoulders and pushed a hot chocolate into my hands. But I can still taste the lukewarm liquid, sickly sweet as I took small, tentative sips. I don’t know how long it took for the ambulance to arrive, but I can still hear the exact pitch of its hysterical wail cutting out abruptly on its approach and leaving behind a dull, residual silence. I don’t know when Bowie’s parents appeared like an apparition, his dad grave and stoic standing with his wife beside him as Bowie lay on a stretcher, a white sheet pulled over his face. Or how long Tin had been circling the water, looking through the wreckage for Brigitte before driving her bent and broken body back to shore, to a wailing Lucille, who stood with a trio of grim-faced men in white plastic jumpsuits. Tin placing a tentative hand on her shoulder and Lucille looking at him in shock before her face twisted into an expression of pure anguish. As he pulled her into his arms, the surprising closeness between them drew a lump in my throat. I was just about to make my way over when I caught sight of Mum barrelling toward me, anxiously patting my body down for evidence of injury. Yan, blinking back tears, shaking my shoulders in a rare but unmistakable show of brotherly love. “It could have been you, Ai, do you know that?”

Tin’s dad had yelled at him in front of everyone. Head bowed, he readily accepted his father’s abuse as a small rivulet of blood coursed down his leg, only a superficial wound. Aside from the story he had told about his mother, Tin had never mentioned his family. He had kept that part of his life so carefully guarded that until that moment, I couldn’t even imagine him existing outside the parameters of our group. But there was his dad, screeching loudly in Vietnamese, bristling with unabashed fury. A female officer—the one who earlier had handed me the hot chocolate—felt compelled to step in. “Sir, please be kind to your son. He’s just gone through a traumatic event. Do you know how lucky he is to be

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