One day as Hannah was sitting in her room studying for her weekly History test, she heard car doors being slammed and someone was crying loudly.

Hannah rushed to her bedroom window and saw Sheila, her mum’s friend, get out of Charles Andrews’ car. Charles Andrews was her mum’s boss at the diner. The back door of the car was opened, and she saw Charles help her mum out of the car. Her mum was crying uncontrollably and being supported by Sheila on one side of her and Charles on the other side. They helped her mum walk to the door of the trailer.

Her mum suddenly lets out a piercing scream, and Hannah felt her heart speed up. Her legs turned to lead, and her feet felt as if they were nailed to the floor. For some inexplicable reason, tears overflowed from Hannah’s eyes as panic filled her heart.

Hannah managed to walk to the front of the trailer, and she reached the living area just as the door opened.

When her mum saw her, she cried, “Oh, Hannah.”

Hannah asked urgently, “Mum! What’s the matter?”

“There has been a terrible accident. Your dad and two other men at the site… are dead.” A long sigh escaped from her throat. She swayed and would have fallen if Sheila had not been holding onto her.

Hannah shook her head vehemently. It could not be true, yet there they were all standing in front of her with horrible, tragic expressions on their faces. “No!” She screamed and pushed through the three bodies standing in the doorway. She pressed her hands over her ears as she ran, unaware of the direction she had taken, and she ran until she was not sure whether she was gasping for air or if it was the sobs tearing through her body.

When she stopped running, she stood there crying until she heard Sheila call her name.

Sheila walked toward her and tried to hug and comfort her, but Hannah pushed her away roughly, screaming hysterically, “They are lying! Tell me they are lying!”

Sheila shook her head as she bit her lower lip and waited for Hannah to stop sobbing.

The sun set and crickets started singing in harmony with the toads croaking.

Sheila asked, “Aren’t you cold?”

“What difference does it make?” Hannah snapped angrily. “What difference does anything make?”

Sheila shivered.

After a while, Hannah said, with a voice which sounded dead, “Let’s go back.”

Silently they walked next to each other, and Hannah did not know how she got her legs to take those steps, but eventually they got back to the trailer park and then to the trailer. Charles, who had brought her mum home, was gone.

Sheila followed Hannah into the trailer.

Her mum was sitting on the sofa with a wet washcloth on her forehead.

When Hannah walked into the trailer, her mum reached up to take her hand. Hannah fell on the floor in front of the sofa, between her mum’s legs and she pushed her head against her mum’s stomach. Hannah felt nauseous and she thought the pain will never, ever go away. Inside, she was still crying and screaming.

A few moments later, when Hannah looked up at her mum, her mum was fast asleep.

Sheila said quietly, “Let me make you a cup of tea.”

Hannah did not reply. She sat there on the floor, next to the sofa, still holding onto her mum’s hand. She lowered her head and cried quietly until Sheila touched her softly on the arm, and said, “Come sit with me. Let your mum sleep.”

Hannah stood up from the floor and followed her meekly to the table. She sat down at the table, across from Sheila and watched her pour two cups of tea.

Sheila said, “Go on, and drink it.”

Hannah blew on the hot, milky liquid and then she took a sip. She looked across the table and smiled. “He will be coming home soon. It’s all just a big mistake.”

“Hannah,” Sheila said sympathetically.

“No, you don’t understand. My dad has someone looking over him, protecting him and they will never let such a terrible thing happen. It’s all a mistake, you’ll see.”

Sheila reached across the table to take Hannah’s hand. “You have got to be brave for your mum now, Hannah. She is not a very strong person, you know. There is going to be a lot of suffering to endure over the next few days.”

Hannah drank some more tea and then she got up. She glanced across the small living area toward her mum asleep on the sofa and then she slipped on her coat.

Without saying a word, she walked out of the trailer and then she stood in front of it, looking down the rutted path where she will soon see her dad coming home.

As she stood there, she closed her eyes. “Please,” she prayed, “I don’t care if You do not answer any other wish but this one.”

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, looking at the pathway expectantly. The road was empty. She waited and waited.

In the morning, when the sun rose in an angry grey sky and the wind howled among the trees and made the long grass around her ankles sway in a hundred different directions, she realised as she looked at the road one more time, her dad was not coming home. He was gone forever.

Slowly Hannah turned around and walked back to the trailer.

CONTINUE READING

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