Watery Graves Read Online Free PDF Page A

sit in the lounge to catch some TV and one of them wants the music on. The house is so small. And if we’re not all at school, we’re at home. All of us. You at least can get some space in your place.”
    “It’d be quiet without them.”
    “But your family is so much saner than mine.”
    “I sleep in the same bed as my mum.” It was rare that Emmy spoke about what her life was like. Most of the time, it felt like there wasn’t much to say, but then other things that played on her mind seemed best kept private.
    “Really?” Libby absentmindedly pulled off one petal at a time and let it blow in the breeze as they walked. “I can’t imagine sleeping in the same bed as my mother.”
    “Your home feels so warm. I like being there .” Emmy smiled. “But you can come over to my place any time you want,” she added, but then, realising what she’d said, started to backtrack. “I mean – when we’re not doing chores and everything.”
    Libby’s eyebrows were raised. “It’s okay. I’m happy to just meet up at the lookout.”
    Emmy pressed her lips together and nodded . “Yeah I like that too.”
    Emmy ducked through the wire fence and held it open for Libby. As they walked through the top paddock, the cabins and the river came into view. Below, in the gravel driveway, she spotted her mother and Maya near the van in what looked like an embrace.
    Libby froze. “What are they doing?”
    Emmy looked at her watch, “Am I late? They think I’m missing.” Emmy cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled, “I’m here ! I’m not missing, lost or dead!”
    Neither of them looked up.
    “Gotta go,” Emmy said, taking off.
    “Is everything okay?”
    “Yeah, fine!” she called back over her shoulder.
    She skipped and skidded down the hill, losing sight of the women as the bedroom cabins loomed. Around the bend, she pulled up. The dust on the dirt track settled around her ankles.
    Her mother had Maya in a head lock.
    “Get in the van,” Ingrid commanded.
    “Let go of me,” Maya cried.
    “I got you the last appointment of the day.”
    “Well, you take it.”
    “I’m not the one vomiting blood.”
    Overcome with images of blood gushing from Maya’s open mouth, Emmy jumped when Kristian came up behind them.
    “It’s not like you’re imagining it.”
    “Blood is blood.”
    “Whoaa. Girls. What’s going on?” he said.
    Emmy stepped aside, gripping onto a fence post.
    “She won’t get in the van,” Ingrid cried, “She needs a doctor. Start the motor, Kristian,” she managed between puffs and grunts. Once she’d spotted her standing at the corner of the cabin, she added. “Help me Emmy.”
    Emmy shuffled forward. “How?”
    “I tell you what,” Kristian said. “Neither of you ha s been for a check-up in years. Why don’t you both get in?”
    Ingrid released Maya. “What?”
    “I’ll go if she does,” Maya said, turning to Ingrid, “We’ll go together, like friends do.”
    “I’m not the one who’s sick.”
    “Well, what if I am? I’m not going to a doctor if you’re not with me.”
    Ingrid’s eyes glazed over. “We’ll go tomorrow then. Together.”
    *
    Emmy played with her English text, flipping through the pages, bored by the exercises she’d been set for home school. Sebastian sat across from her, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth and his hand etching out an essay at high speed.
    She reached forward for the old Heinemann Australian Dictionary they shared. She flipped through the flimsy pages and looked for the word ‘rape’. It read ‘the crime of having sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent; a seizing or theft; any abusive or improper treatment.’
    Her face became hot and her limbs weakened and went limp.
    “Hey,” Sebastian patted the table in front of her. “Are you working?”
    She clapped the dictionary closed.
    “Stop dreaming. You know the rules. If we get this done we can get out of here.”
    “I wish I was dreaming,” Emmy replied.