My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay

Author:Lisa McKay [McKay, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8024-7976-1
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2007-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

chapter 12

It was Wednesday morning. At least that’s what my brain was telling me. It didn’t feel like it, though. Wednesday morning was getting up early so we could all have breakfast together as a family. Wednesday morning was worrying about the calculus homework I hadn’t done.

Wednesday morning was not scrambling downhill following a small animal track that sometimes disappeared completely, leaving us to pick our way through the scrub, weaving around trees, disoriented and trusting Mani completely. Wednesday morning was not having to spend half my energy ignoring the voice in my head that wanted to start most internal conversations with “This time eleven days ago …” and the rest with “Ahhhh! A snake!”

I felt cheated.

We’d had a good breakfast, though. Definitely a Wednesday breakfast.

Now that we were getting closer to the villages again we’d decided to have someone keeping watch at all times, and I’d taken the early morning shift. Brendan had shaken me awake apologetically at four. I checked on Mark, who was sleeping soundly, before stumbling out of the shelter into the quiet, chilly darkness and heading straight for the fire.

Brendan must have fed it before waking me, as two larger pieces of wood were just catching alight, small yellow tongues licking at their curves, climbing steadily. I sat down as close to the fire as I dared, my back to the others, my eyes scanning. Above the formless darkness of the bushes nothing but the graceful lines of the tree trunks danced with the shadows. I could hear Brendan’s breathing settle into an even rhythm that was almost snoring.

My eyes returned to the fire, too tired to be on high alert. The flames had joined forces, grown in strength, and were busy conquering the last unclaimed twig to which one small leaf was clinging valiantly. It vaporized at the first touch of heat, flakes of ash momentarily suspended, swirling in the light, before scattering.

Something splashed onto my hand, resting on the handle of the knife in my lap, and it took me a moment to realize it was a tear. It was quickly followed by another, and another. I gave in to the luxury of rare solitude and let them slip free, enjoying the warmth on my cheeks, breathing evenly and ignoring the pressure to allow the gentle shower to become a raging storm. The fire slid in and out of focus. One molten yellow ball separated into two and merged again. Then Mani was there, standing across the fire, so suddenly I did not even have time to jump.

I cursed my self-indulgent inattention as he sat down. Some guard I was! I swiped my left cheek clean on the shoulder of my T-shirt whilst pretending to glance behind me, and the right while smothering a yawn. Mani, digging in the basket he had carried with him, tactfully ignored me.

“Hi,” I said, my voice sounding thick.

“Selamat pagi,” he replied, looking up. His eyes were so dark in the reflected firelight I could not tell where the pupils began.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.