The Amethyst Child by Sarah Singleton

Author:Sarah Singleton [Sarah Singleton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

We’re back in the room with Neil, the note-taker and the tape recorder. Today, however, Dad is sitting in Mum’s place and Neil has a primrose-coloured shirt and black cufflinks. He and Dad shake hands, man to man. I notice how Dad’s presence alters the dynamic in the room. Neil is brisk and businesslike rather than protective. Again I wonder, is this how he’s trained to act?

‘Well, Amber, I’m sorry to drag you in again but we’ve still got more ground to cover. I reckon we should get this wrapped up today if we press on,’ he says. ‘I reckon you should be back at school next week.’

School. In a million years, a million miles away, I would be back at school. I shake my head, dismissing the possibility. Dad leans back in his seat, legs thrust forward, arms folded. I sense he doesn’t much like Call-Me-Neil. Perhaps the policeman, with his faint perfume of expensive aftershave, is too smooth for my bluff father’s liking. Then again, maybe Dad doesn’t like to be on the defensive. He didn’t foresee the cataclysm. He failed to protect me.

Neil sits on the front of his table, his hands clasped in front of him.

‘So, Amber, your parents went on holiday on August 20, and you stayed behind at the Community.’

Dad interrupts. ‘That’s right. I’d met up with Renault several times – even thought we’d do some business with him. He seemed straight up. How was I to know? I mean, I wouldn’t leave the country and let her stay with just anyone. Of course not! We trusted him.’

Dad’s babbling. Neil holds up his hand to stop him.

‘Thank you, Mr Renalden. Thank you. There was no way you could have known,’ he says. But Dad is not to be stopped.

‘And all this weird stuff – about the Amethyst children and the nonsense he was filling her head with. I had no idea! She didn’t tell me about all that. Of course if I’d known I’d never have agreed. But Amber didn’t tell me anything!’

He’s looking at Neil as he rants, but I realise my dad is actually talking to me. He’s angry I kept so much from him.

‘Have you got children, Neil? It’s easy when they’re little – but just you wait till they start growing up. You’ve no control any more. They do their own thing and only tell you what they choose to let you know. You want to keep them safe, but how can you when they’re not straight with you?’

‘Please, please,’ Neil interjects. ‘Mr Renalden, I need to hear what Amber has to say.’

Dad glares at me, but he shuts up. I lick my lips.

‘What do you want to know?’ I say.

‘What was it like, staying at the Community?’

I close my eyes, and the place rises up in my memory. Johnny didn’t come over the first few days. It was just Dowdie and me, as we were in the beginning. She set up a camp-bed in her room so we were together from the moment we woke, till the moment we fell asleep at night.

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