A Shot at Freedom (12 page)

Chapter
Nineteen

David

A single naked light bulb hung from the high ceiling. Leaning up against the wall, he mindlessly, turned it on and off, light and darkness, both blinding. David had to force himself to turn the phone on. There was a text. It was Brooke’s number. He read it and felt a weight envelope him like a cape. 
Need.
It was a word he didn’t want to hear from her. She didn’t
need
him. He was the last thing she
needed.
In time, she would see it.

He pressed in the only other mobile number her knew by heart and flicked the light switch off
. The deathly quiet intensified his senses. He lifted the ringing phone to his ear. It clicked when it connected.

“Hello?” His mother
’s voice was weak, but familiar.

“Hi, Mum.”

“David.”

He slid down the wall, and
leant his head back.

“David?”

“Yeah Mum. It’s me.”

“I thought you would have called sooner.”

“I wanted to.”

“
Have you got a new phone?”

“It’s stolen, so I can’t call much.
Don’t know when they’ll cut it off. Don’t call me on it.”

There was a pause.
He wasn’t game enough to ask her how her life was.

“I heard you left Brooke.”

“I did,” he said quietly.

“I wish you hadn’t.”

“She didn’t go back home did she?”

“No, she didn’t.”

“I want her to. She sent a text. She said she needs me. I don’t want her to.”

“You need her just as much, David.”

David cleared his throat, shaking his head. “I was working with boats, but that didn’t work out, so I’m cleaning now. It’s all good.”

“You were always a hard worker. You’d be a boss
’s dream.”

He
wanted her to think he was okay, and didn’t know what else to say. “Are you working Mum?”

“I went to jail.”

“Huh? Are you in jail now?”

“No, no. They took me to jail. I
was there one night. They let me go. The Jensens bailed me out. The court dates keep adjourning, and I know it seems strange, but I just want them to get the paperwork together to get it all over with.”

“So your lawyer thinks they’ll let you off?”

“No. She says there’s a real possibility I’ll go away for a bit. It will be years, not months.”

“Mum..?”

“That one night in jail was the most peace I’ve felt in a long time. No worrying about anything. I slept. I was safe. I thought I was going to be able to stay. I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about food or a place to live. But they let me go.”

“Where are you now?”

“I couldn’t go back to the house. I never want to go back. I left everything.”

“There wasn’t much
worth taking.”

“I’m staying in town, in the
Jensens’ pub. They are letting me have a cheap room. I can’t stay here forever but.”

“Mum, I can come back.”

“I don’t want you here. You know that. I want you to stay where you are and if you love me you’ll keep your mouth shut. It’s enough that I have to worry about myself.”

“I can work for the two of us.”

“Don’t come back.”

“Jail isn’t safe Mum.”

“What’s the worst they can do to me? I don’t think it can be as bad as it has been. There’s probably women just like me in there. I’ll make a good friend.”

“Mum…
you don’t have to do this.”

“I’m going now. I’m fine. Keep working, David.”

She hung up.

David flipped the phone shut.
There was a queasiness in his stomach. The pitch darkness made him dizzy. He lost his bearings. It was like the oxygen had been sucked right out of the room. He gulped back some air, and then some more, but couldn’t fill his lungs.

The door opened beside him, casting a
triangle of hall light into the room. He realised he’d dropped to his side and was curled up in a ball.

“David?” Gloria squatted down beside him.

His eyes fixed on her strappy red shoes. He squeezed them tight.

“What’s wrong? Open your eyes.”

His hands were clasped around his knees, his body rigid.

She pulled his head back and peeled
an eye open.

“Don’t please. Don’t
,” he begged her.

She shut the door. “Get up.”

His hands sprang away from a sweaty grip. He allowed himself to be led to the bed. He curled up on it. His head was in her lap. He closed his eyes and let her rub his forehead, his temples and shoulders.

“You don’t need to
explain anything to me,” she said.

He nodded.

Chapter
Twenty

Brooke

The front stairs rattled under each heavy step. With a wad of paperwork clenched in her hands, Brooke felt like hurling it in the bin. She was getting there, talking to people, but even on the phone she could tell they wore poker faces. She was beginning to worry that being in the shelter was going against her. They saw Brooke, the stereotype streetie, not Brooke, the girl who just wanted a start in life. They had her mobile. She had to wait for their call. She spent every moment willing that stupid thing to ring.

David hadn’t responded to her message. Everyone bagged him, but she always stood up for him. And he
leaves her in the middle of nowhere, sending one text that tells her nothing. Her lips tweaked, as she inwardly cringed. She was beginning to think she was as crazy as everyone seemed to think.

The hall was lit by a
single light. Outside the workers’ office, Tyler was leaning against the wall, talking into the residents’ phone. When she came up the stairs he pushed off the wall. His eyes passed over her. He pressed his forehead against the cornice.

Disguising her relief, s
he attempted to slip past him. But he reached out and grabbed her arm. The ordered papers fluttered to the floor. Prying herself free, she crouched and gathered them up, avoiding his eyes, but noticing his leg twitching. David’s leg twitched like that mainly when he was nervous. She knew the signs. It made her realise the sooner she got on the plane the sooner things would sort themselves out.

Tyler turned his back
on her again, returning to frantic phone conversation. “Dina, get Mum for me…Well, get Dad….I know they’re there…I don’t have much time, Can you just put the phone to her ear?…Mum?...Mum…I hear you breathing…It’s me…”

Brooke ducked into the girls
’ room for her information folder and envelopes, loading her arms up. As she shuffled past the kitchen, she heard Natasha and Tim fight over whether chilli would be good in the pasta sauce or not. A volunteer was refereeing.

Floodlights illuminated the back yard.
She plodded down onto the basketball court, choosing a spot on the far side, where the bricks met at a corner. She sat cross legged in the barked garden, and began sorting through her papers, brushing away stray tears.

I can’t do this. I can’t.

Closing her eyes, she imagined David, sitting on a jetty, dangling his legs. The jetty was so high his feet couldn’t touch the water. The water was as blue as all the pictures she’d seen on the internet that day, mountain peaks rising out of the waters around him. He was alone.

Startled out of her reverie, she snapped her eyes open when someone thundered
down the ramp onto the court. Tyler swiped up the ball, slamming it hard on the ground. It bounced and hit him in the face.

“
Aargh,” he grunted and kicked at the air, missing the ball by miles. “F-f-f-f-ar-ar-ar-ar-ar-k!”

Brooke inched back
towards the fence, gripping her pen, leaving the papers fluttering on the edge of the retaining wall. Hiding between spiked fern fronds was useless. He’d already seen her.

Tyler grabbed the ball
hugging it to his chest, he turned to her, peering at her through squinted eyes, his face wet, and mouth upturned. “Fuck them,” he wheezed. “Fuck ‘em.” He took the ball and slammed it on the ground, turning around, punching the air, and forcing out a guttural grunt.

With her gaze set on him,
Brooke rose to her feet.

When
Tyler turned towards her, his face was strained with pain. He shuffled towards her, with an arm outstretched, beckoned to her to move closer. She stood beside the papers, standing over him. A tiny breeze lifted their edges, shifting them off neatened piles. Tyler wrapped his lanky arms around her hips and pulled her to him, nestling his face into the folds of her singlet top. Her hands fluttered at her side, then with a new purpose stroked his hair. “Everything is going to be all right,” she murmured, not just for his benefit.

Chapter Twenty One

David

David’s glass never seemed to empty, dark liquid topped with a slight froth, in a regular Coke glass. When he looked to the bar tender he grinned. “It’ll make cleaning this place a little less gruesome.”

“Cheers
!” David skolled it, heading off with the tub to clear another round of tables. The bar was full. For something to do, he’d started working earlier. His first drink was his incentive. There was a lot he wanted to forget about. 

A tap at
the glass doors, right next to the table he was clearing, surprised the hell out of him. Wearing a bright pink top, Gloria was pressing her boobs against the glass. He couldn’t make out what she was saying. He wove through the crowd to meet her at the doors.

“There’s a party at the marina,” Gloria told him.

“Your boyfriend there?”

“Yep.”

“Then why would I go?”

“He doesn’t really remember what you look like.”

“I’m not going.”

“I’ll meet you
up on the cliff top then. Above the marina,” Gloria said, tripping away from him in her yellow mini and matching heels. “You haven’t left this place in ages. It’s not healthy.”

***

Music from the boat pumped through the night. David had lost sight of Gloria and her boyfriend, so he cracked open another can and leaned back to revel in the sugary spirit. Every gulp bubbled in his mouth.

“Ah ha! He ventures out.”

David tensed, spilling some of his drink as he spun around to face Gloria. He settled himself and took a sip. “There isn’t much to this spot, a main street, a marina and a massive abyss in between,” he said, sucking in his cheeks to stop himself smiling at their little role play.

“And you’ve been stuck in the main street all week
.”

“So I picked the marina
for some change of scenery tonight.”

Gloria edged down the gravely slope and sat down on the retaining wall beside him.
“I heard a pretty girl asked you to come and meet her here.”

He could sense her closeness even though they weren’t touching.
“How did you sneak up behind me? I was watching you do the whole Dancing Queen thing for ages.”

“Turns out Chas
doesn’t like the whole dancing or the queen thing. He called me a slut.”

“Come here. Sit down. Have a sip.”

“I was having fun. A couple of drinks are all I need to loosen me up,” she added.

“Loose huh?”

“Shut up.”

They watched the boat, glittery with party lights, sequinned guests and feather boas. There were too many people on the upper deck
. People were ducking below and others emerged. The party was flying high, then flopping depending on who was on board and the music that played.

“Can you see him?” Gloria asked.

“Chas?”

“Who else would I be talking about?”

“How can you be bothered? I mean, really, this guy - ”

“Can you see him?”

David scanned the boat. “Is he on the deck?”

“
Yep, he’s on a deck but not the deck you’re looking at.”

Picking up on the hint, David scanned the other boats bobbing in the marina. Gloria grabbed his chin and tilted his face, so he had to look
directly down. On a boat nestled closest to the shore, slightly bigger than a dinghy, he saw them. Two figures writhing, limbs entwined, wrestling for top position.

“How can you tell it’s him?”

“He thinks I’m stupid. He thinks he picks a fight with me, sends me home and then he’s free for the night.”

“I wouldn’t leave the party.”

“It’s what he wants.”

David struggled to stand. He squatted then fell onto his knee
s. Cupping his mouth, he drew back a breath, ready to call out.

Gloria yanked
on his arm, pulling him into her. She pressed a palm over his open mouth. “Don’t.” She exhaled.

He squirmed free,
but was unable to take his eyes off her. Her straight dark hair swayed, brushing a bare shoulder.

“How drunk are you on a scale of 1-10?”
she asked him.

“If
ten is passed out, I’m a seven.”

Really? Wow? You look so sober.”

“How about you?”

“I’ve been dancing
, so probably a two.”

David couldn’t
work out if she took his can from him or he gave it to her. It didn’t matter. He wanted her to have it. As she drank, they watched Chas grunt all over the girl.

“He’s got a certain style about him,” David joked.

Gloria lifted the drink and waved it in front of him. “You got any more?”

“A couple. The rest is back at the bar.”

“Let’s go.”

David took Gloria’s shak
ing hand, and used her to drag himself to her feet. He felt himself stagger as she led him back to the road. An explosive sigh erupted from the boat below. “I hope you didn’t hear that.”

She ignored him.
“You’ll have to sneak me into your room in the back, but I’ll help you clean when the bar closes.”

“Deal.”

***

The pub walls vibrated
. The beat of the band tunnelled through the back passages. It was difficult leading Gloria through to his room. In an obvious loss of patience, she ended up dragging him.

“Quick
.”

“What?”

“Don’t let anyone see me here with you.”

They barrelled through the flimsy door, David fell onto the bed groaning,
Gloria closed the door and leant on it. “Does this door have a lock?” she asked.

David didn’t have time to reply.

She lurched forward straddling him, pushing him against the wall. Her mouth pressed to his throat, lifting and bruising his skin.

His
throat constricted. “Don’t, please,” he begged.

“
Shh. Pretend I’m her.”

“Huh?”

“Pretend I’m that girl you’re so hooked on.”

He tried to push her off him, but her hands clasped his wrist.

“Just close your eyes and imagine what it would be like to be with her.”

All strength drained away. He let her pick at his buttons and spread his shirt wide.
Dropping back into the pillow, his arms were free but his mind was pinned on an image of Brooke.

Gloria
’s long spidery fingers became delicate. Her squeally laugh softened to a whispery giggle. With his eyes squeezed tight, he was aware of his cheeks aching and his mouth pouting as he held his breath. His head thumped, and when he shuddered, air burst from his nose. Tears wet his face. He clenched his body, and fumbled for her, drawing her hips to his, barely giving her enough time to free him from his jeans.

His jaw hardened and his body
tensed, as he tried to hold back. In one last effort, David fought with Gloria, pushing her onto her back.

The power was his again.

***

With his fingers entwined in the sheet, David leant over the bed and retched into
a bucket. Behind him he could hear an echo. He glanced over his shoulder seeing Gloria in his t-shirt and his first thought was of Brooke.

The door creaked open streaks of bright daylight fell over the bed.
Darbie looked over the two of them smirking.

“Don’t worry Gloria. I won’t tell anyone.” He left the room laughing, stepping back in only for a brief moment with a
nother bucket. “Great job on the bar by the way.”

Gloria lurched forward and hurled into it, kneeling by the door. “There’s something I need to tell you,” she said, spitting into the bucket. “
Darbie’s my cousin but he’s good friends of Chas.” Gloria turned to him, a string of vomit across her cheek.  “You need to go.”

“It smells in here,” David groaned. “I’ve got to go get some air.”
He rolled out of the bed, and crawled across the floor for his jeans.

“Just go lay low. Go to your tent.”

Outside the bar, David vomited bile into a bin in the parking lot. It took him forever to stumble through the car park and out onto the street. To the disgust of a group of girls in bikini tops and short shorts, he had to stop to vomit in a drain. And then again more times on the open road. His head wouldn’t stop whirling on his weak limbed body.

***

The tent had already been trashed. But David didn’t care. He made a bed out of the slashed fabric, covered himself over and passed out. If it was them, he figured they’d already hunted for him there and wouldn’t be back anytime soon.

He woke to the rain.
The ripped tarp was his only cover. Warm tropical rain drizzled through, but he slept.