The Great Between

Easter

When Gracie bursts into my room the next morning, it's like someone has dragged me back in time. Suddenly, I'm eight years old again and there is an excitement in the cold morning air that pulses through me. My sister throws the door open and drums on the end of my bed, yelling something about eggs. I catch a glimpse of her pyjamas before she disappears again, dancing down the hallway.

Max sits bolt upright and blinks at me, her hair a bird's nest around her face. Light from the hallway makes one side of her face glow orange, casting strange shadows over her wide eyes.

'Please tell me they've set up an egg hunt,' she whispers, but she's up and out of the room before I can speak. I scramble out of bed to follow her.

There are shiny eggs balanced on doorframes and cornices, tucked in corners of the dining room, and poking out from hiding spots in the kitchen. The house is a mine of coloured foil and sugar. Gracie scans each room carefully, methodically checking every shelf, nook and cranny. She puts every foil-wrapped egg she finds in the pocket of her NASA hoodie and by the time she makes it from her room to the lounge room, the pocket is bulging with treasure.

Max's approach is much less ordered. She pushes ahead of Gracie, barrelling down the hallway so fast she skids into the wall at the end. Max keeps telling Gracie not to bother looking on that shelf or under that chair, but Gracie looks anyway. Gracie has a system and she's not going to let Max ruin it.

I pick up all the eggs Max drops and end up with quite a stash. I offer to carry Max's eggs so she doesn't eat them as soon as she finds them, and she pours them into the pockets of my dressing gown. Gracie says I'm being a lazy egg hunter, claiming Max's treasure as my own.

'You're not even looking,' she mumbles as she plucks a pink egg from the mantlepiece in the lounge room.

'I'm making sure Max doesn't eat more than five eggs before breakfast,' I say. 'I'm practically doing a civil service.'

'I'm allowed five before breakfast?' Max scrunches a purple foil in her hand and pops another egg into her mouth. I roll my eyes and she offers me one she's just scooped up from the arm of the couch. I take it and she grins at me with chocolate-covered teeth. There is something about Easter chocolate is just better than regular chocolate.

I leave Max and Gracie to their hunting and knock on Mum and Dad's door. They're tucked under the doona in their pyjamas, sipping coffee and watching the news.

'Morning,' I mumble, standing awkwardly in the doorway. Now that I'm here, I can't find the words to say how sorry I am for doing something as stupid and irresponsible as I did yesterday, something I knew would get me in trouble if I got caught. It doesn't cover it properly, but I say, 'I'm sorry for yesterday.'

Mum pats the doona beside her but I stay hovering in the doorway.

'Do you mean sorry about Nana or sorry about sneaking around with Leo?'

I shrug. 'Both.'

Mum nods slowly and says, 'No one is worth acting stupid for, Stella. You knew that was wrong. We're in a pandemic.'

Mum's disappointment is palpable and the worst part is she's right: whatever could happen between Leo and me isn't worth risking our lives or anyone else's. If something had happened, if we'd spread the Virus to people who got really sick or died, would I even know I was responsible? It's not worth the risk.

Mum taps the doona and I clamber onto it, letting Dad put his arm around my shoulder as Mum sighs deeply.

'Never do anything like this again, Stella,' Mum says. 'And don't lie to me about where you are. It scared me enough when Gracie disappeared to Nana's. This was just...'