Redemption

Screams

Explosions shook the floorboards.

Abby's eyes focussed on the TV as a massive fireball erupted. The speakers roared and vibrated through Abby's armchair. James Bond simultaneously leaped and pouted.

Abby's eyes glazed back over and she stared in the general direction of the flat screen, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her yellow pyjama shorts. Cold air seeped under the back door to her right, but she didn't mind the chill. Her thoughts were in a distant place. Distant and uncomfortable.

What was her mother going to tell her after her last exam? What danger was she in? Who was this Dmitry guy and why was he looking for them? Whatever the truth, it seemed bad enough her dad thought it might keep her from going to uni. Had she spent all these months studying herself into brain damage when she was about to be told some secret that would render all her exam results worthless? What a waste!

Her parents sat on their lounge and watched the movie like it was another ordinary Saturday night. They had been the same all through dinner. She subtly studied them, but they looked like they always had, or maybe there was a slight tightness around their eyes. Maybe she was imagining it. How long had it been since she'd really paid attention to them?

Abby gave herself a mental kick. She should just ask what they'd been talking about. It would mean she'd have to fess up to eavesdropping, but surely that was insignificant in the face of whatever they were keeping from her.

She just needed to ask.

Her dad turned towards her. They locked eyes and Abby's heart punched at her ribs. Had he seen any of her thoughts on her face? Her brain refused to come up with something to say.

"Want a beer?" he asked.

Abby couldn't think of anything she wanted less right now. "Yes please."

Her dad's smile crinkled the tanned lines around his eyes. "Good girl. Just try not to fall asleep in your chair. Eighteen is too old for me to carry you to bed anymore." He thumbed the remote on his armrest and James Bond paused mid-flirt.

Her dad grunted as he pushed himself to his feet, then he, too, paused. It took Abby's dilapidated brain a while to work out why.

There was a strange noise coming from outside. Some kind of screaming, yelling, maybe howling. Multiple voices. Abby couldn't tell if it was human or animal, but it was definitely coming from somewhere on the farm. Somewhere close.

Her dad hurried out of the room. Abby could tell where he was by the thuds of his feet on the floorboards. Up the hall...into their bedroom...over to the corner...standing still...coming back again...

He glanced at her mum as he rushed past the lounge room. His hands held the spare rifle from the lockbox on top of their wardrobe and his face had a slight frown above his eyes – his usual expression when looking for something to shoot. Normally the only things he shot were kangaroos when they were eating their crop sprouts, or wild bores that gored lambs and calves in the area. But roos and pigs didn't make this kind of noise.

Abby hurried after him to the front door with her mum a pace behind, leaving Mr Bond to smoulder at an empty room.

The glass door was slid all the way open and the veranda light flickered a few times before it decided to stay on. Her dad was shoving his feet into a pair of old work boots when Abby passed him. She stopped under the light where the cool air tightened the bare skin on her arms and legs, the Spring evening chill plunging through her pyjama shorts and singlet.

The farm was dark beyond the veranda. The only visible lights were the glow from the town lights of Chinchilla, a faint and narrow strip on the horizon.