ZOEY [Featured Story]

I

Mummy hadn't moved for two days.

Three-year-old Zoey stood in the doorway of her mother's darkened bedroom, silhouetted by the light from the hallway behind her. She held Hopkins, a tatty, stuffed rabbit, almost as big as she was, by the ear. The shape on the bed was completely motionless, and covered from head to toe with the thin, sweat-stained sheet. One bony, mottled arm dangled over the edge. On the small bedside table, the bright green numbers on the digital clock blinked on and off endlessly, but Zoey didn't know what the numbers meant. The only sound in the house was Spongebob's cackling laugh coming from the room at the other end of the hallway. Once, a long time ago, the sound had made her giddy with excitement, but now she just wanted to cry. The DVD had been looping through the same four episodes for so long now.

'Mummy,' she whispered. 'Mummy, I'm hungry.'

Silence.

Zoey took a couple of wobbly steps into the room, but had to stop when the smell overpowered her. The tears started to streak down her cheeks again.

'Mummy,' she sobbed. 'Where's Daddy?'

Again silence.

Zoey retreated back out of the room and down the hallway. She hurried past the lounge room where Spongebob was chasing a jellyfish with a net and headed into the dining room. From the big window behind the table she had the best view of the street. Every day she would stand there and look out, waiting for Daddy's little red car to come around the corner while Mummy set the table behind her. Every day he would flash his headlights at her, and she would shout 'Daddy's home!' and run giggling to hide under a blanket, or the kitchen table.

But Daddy hadn't come home.

Now when she looked out the big window, all she could see was the big, black car , its front end crumpled against the telephone pole outside.

Zoey stood there, waiting with her hands and nose pressed against the glass, until the Spongebob DVD returned to the title menu, and then eventually began to play through again. The world on the other side of the glass was silent and cold. She sat down on the carpet and took a handful of Froot Loops from the box that lay beside her. There wasn't much left now apart from the broken bits and sugary powder that always came out in the last bowl. That had always been her favourite part. She lay her head down on Hopkins's soft body and soon fell asleep.

***

A sound from outside stirred Zoey from her dreams. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Three Froot Loops that clung to her face fell silently, one after the other, to the carpet leaving red imprints in her cheek. Daddy? The sound was some sort of engine, but it was too loud to be Daddy's car. It was deep and angry, like a lion's growl.

It was dark now, both inside and out, but there was a light that moved in the street, causing the long shadows of the trees and power poles to slink around, as though hiding. The sound grew louder until a single, dazzling headlight burst around the corner. Zoey was blinded by the light and clamped her eyes tightly shut. The growl stopped outside the window and died down to a stuttering purr. Then there was a rush of footsteps and a loud voice.

'Lisa!'

Someone was hammering on the door.

'Lisa! For the love of God, open the door!'

The noise stopped for a moment while the voice talked to itself more quietly.

'Please, not you too. You just have to be okay. Please. Please. Please...'

Zoey clutched the curtain with one hand and tried to see the man at the door. She had a good view of the front door from the window, but the light from the thing on the front lawn was still shining straight at her and she could only make out the vague shape of him.