Samantha's car flew down the highway as fast as she dared to go. The sun was beginning the smudge the horizon and the silhouettes of ghost gums were springing up from the ground as she made her way across the landscape. It was just after five in the morning, and Samantha was trying to get to her sister's house before things could spiral any further than they already had. By now, Elaine and the boys would be settled into Samantha's bedroom, though it didn't seem likely that Elaine would get any sleep.
Sam couldn't stop mulling over in her mind that when she had previously pictured having to pull her sister and the children out of that house, she had pictured them trying to get away from Greg - not trying to get away from Kelly.
The old car had been grinding when shifting gears lately, and Samantha startled when it did so now, shifting down into second. The entry to the steep driveway was just ahead, and she slowed down only enough to control the car up the hill, pulling to a sudden stop outside the garage.
Looking up towards the house Samantha could see that all the lights in the house were on. There was some kind of loud music coming from the lounge room speakers, and the wooden front door was open, though the screen security door was closed. Now that she was here, Samantha felt nervous. She could see chunks of white ceramic scattered across the concrete in front of the front door and she realised that she had no idea who was waiting for her there. It was Kelly, certainly. But Kelly had changed lately.
The car's engine was ticking as it cooled down, the sun starting to become more obvious in the sky. It was windy, and the trees shivered in the mostly dark world around her. Samantha took a deep breath, and stepped out of the car. Outside the car, she hesitated. The early morning was peaceful, despite the din coming from the house, and she badly did not want to have the conversation that was about to happen. There was an exhaustion lying across Samantha's being like a weighted blanket, dragging her shoulders downwards and slowing her steps as she moved towards the house. It wasn't just that she had been awoken at one in the morning by Elaine pounding on the door. She felt as though, in the last few months, her body had lived through a hundred years. The exhaustion was in her bones, permeating through every cell she had.
The music was pouring out of the house through the screen door and Samantha pressed the bell with no small amount of trepidation. Within seconds, the music cut off suddenly. Seconds ticked by until Sam hesitantly reached out a hand and tried to the handle of the screen door. It was locked. At almost the same moment, Kelly appeared as if from nowhere, from behind the wall to the right of the door. She said nothing, staring at Sam as though she didn't know her.
"Can I come in?"
Kelly said nothing, clearly rolling the question over in her mind, weighing the options. Finally, silently, she reached out a hand and unlocked the door.
Sam stepped inside slowly, unsettled by the silence coming from her niece. She glanced at the conspicuously empty place by the front door, where the tall blue and white floor vase had sat the day before, next to the hall table.
The ceiling fan in the lounge room was set to high, creating the high whistling sound that happens when a fan is going fast enough to make a person feel nervous when walking underneath it. It was strangely chilly in the room, although it was not cold outside. Sam turned around to talk to Kelly, who still stood in the front doorway, arms folded across her shirt. She was wearing jeans and a shirt, clearly having never gotten changed to go to sleep. It made Sam cautious, knowing she was dealing with a teenager already under emotional strain, and now a full twenty-hours since her last scrap of sleep. The butcher birds outside were beginning to warble, calling to each other across the mass of trees.
"Why are you here?" Kelly asked, looking at her aunt with a face that gave nothing away. The hair had begun to stand up on the back of Sam's neck, and she didn't know how to answer.
