Siren Bay

II

December 13th | Eighteen Days Until NYE

I shoved my hand into the duffle bag beside me as dad drove from our place in Newport to Whale Beach. The trip wouldn't take long, I could find a brief moment of solace on my phone by listening to music, but mum quickly called for my attention on the lecture.

I groaned, a hand automatically resting by my car door handle, and wondered if I could Tom Cruise it and jump out. I had heard the same lecture all night - mum claimed to forget about the cafe trip conversation yesterday where she mentioned maybe agreeing to let me stay at Benji's that night. Claimed. I rolled my eyes. Mum was paranoid I'd venture to the beach and be lost at sea again.

Well, she was going to go to Siren Bay again, but her parents didn't need to know that.

"Sylvia Nancy Okenji," Mum scolded when she caught the eye-roll. "You are still grounded, and we're being generous here by letting you have the summer, okay?"

"I know Mum," I said sadly, turning to face her. I knew I was in trouble - the last time I'd been called my full name was six months ago, after going missing for two days.

"So listen to your father and I," Mum looked to dad, who was turning down Benji's street. "I want texts from Benji, Leah, Old Smithy, as well as from you throughout this. You are back before Christmas Eve or I will drag you out of that house myself--"

"Mum, I'll be there, I wouldn't miss your presents." I smiled when I caught the blush on mum's cheeks. Mum, out of the entire family, was the most excited for the festive holiday. She forced them all to endure a full English roast in the sweltering heat while the rest of my friends had the traditional Aussie cold meats and salads on Christmas Day. It was insane to have a boiling hot meal when it was reaching 36℃ before noon, but my family was a mad bunch and she loved it. "Not to mention your sticky date pudding!"

"Oh I see, you don't like my presence?" Dad piped up when they pulled in front of Benji's house. Because of the steep cliff of Whale Beach, his front door was on the top floor of his house, the other floors following the slope beneath. It was a sleek, older home with patchy grass and scattered flowers in the front garden, a vine of jasmine fencing it off from the main road. "I won't cook either, I'll go to Bali instead."

"Don't you dare," I leaned forward in my seat, grabbing my dad's broad shoulders. "I want that car for Christmas!"

"No." Mum and dad said in unison. Dad swivelled to face me, shaking his head at my laughing, before showing his notorious glare.

"Oh no," I muttered, bracing myself.

Dad turned off the car. His expression held no chance of negotiation, so I brought my hands into my lap and waited for the millionth lecture. I knew where they were coming from, their reasons were my own fault in the end, but I couldn't ease their doubts without revealing secrets - the one that swept me out six months ago.

It would result in me being grounded for the rest of my life to an isolated cabin in the Canadian wilderness...with no internet.

"Silvie," Jeremiah Okenji's deep voice was known to make grown men tremble in fear. "You know the rules - constant communication from you and your friends, staying at Old Smithy's house until Christmas, and then after Boxing Day you can stay until New Years.

"It's fair to give you the summer when you've accepted your grounding for the past five and a half months, so we're trusting you here." Dad unlocked the car doors, the click echoing in the silence. A gleam echoed in his eyes at the tension he'd created. "You don't want to find out what happens when you break our trust.