A Shot at Freedom (13 page)

Chapter Twenty Two

Brooke

Brooke jerked out of a light sleep, aware that she was pinned down. Her forehead struck something hard. Hands clasped over the bridge of the offender’s nose, hiding their face.

“Fuck me
, Brooke!”

A panic erupted inside her. “Tyler?” Brooke whispered
. “Get off me.”

Foley mumbled from the other side of the room, “Having a good time over there guys?”

Shadows distorted Tyler’s appearance. An evil grin spread across his face as he raised his hand to stroke his nose. Brooke was able to pull the sheets free from the other side of the bed.

“That was some head butt,” he groaned.

“Get over it, mate,” Foley hissed.

Brooke covered her mouth
, conscious of stale breath and dry lips. “What’re you guys doing here? You’ll get us in trouble.”

Tyler stroked her cheek
. “We’re just visiting. I need some attention. Foley can’t give it to me. Not the way I need it.” He flopped down on the bed beside her.

She felt his hot breath on her neck.

“I’ve been thinking about you,” he said.

“Have you?”

“Have you been thinking about me?”

She thought about it, and nodded
. “Yeah, kinda. I have actually.”

“Sounds promising.”

“I was hoping you were okay after everything that’s happened, but wasn’t game enough to ask.” She was aware that he was looking down at her chest. She tried to pull the sheet higher. “Don’t you think you should go?”

Foley leaned across the divide between the bunks and passed something to Tyler. Tyler lit it. It was a smoke, heavy and pungent, an
odor stronger than tobacco. With every breath she tasted the sickly smoke that itched its way down her throat.  She pushed Tyler’s hand away. “I hate cigarettes.”

Natasha giggled but her laugh was soon suffocated by sucking noises.

“Don’t ya wanna feel good?” Tyler sucked in the smoke and held it in before exhaling.

“I get head spins.”

“C’mon. We can’t stay for long.” He leaned in towards her. “Have some of this. It’ll loosen you up. Promise.”

Brooke tried to draw her head back into the pillow, but its softness would only allow her to go so far. Her eyes were wide, as his lips crushed hers, pushing against the stiffness in her jaw, forcing her own lips apart. Unexpectedly, he blew second-hand smoke down into her lungs. The thickness of it made her choke. Unable to breathe, desperation shot through her limbs and she tried to kick free.

Tyler gave her a second to cough, before covering her mouth with one hand and passing the joint back across the divide to Foley with the other. “Be quiet. You’ll wake the worker,” he whispered.

“I’ve got a boyfriend
, Tyler.”

“You never called him that before.”

“He wouldn’t like it if this happened.”

“I wouldn’t like it if this didn’t happen.”

“I don’t want to hurt him…” and then she added “…or you.”

She wedged an arm between them, stroking his arm to appease him, searching for a dreg of safety in the closeness. “We’ll all get in trouble.”

Tyler sat up. “Hey Foley, we do this all the time, don’t we?”

A muffled murmur emerged from the rustle of sheets
. “Hmm, huh. Yeah.”

More grunting, then Natasha sat up, her hair was tousled. “Brooke, David isn’t here. David left you at a truck stop in the middle of a
freakin’ highway. That’s not love.”

Brooke eyed off the glowing embers in the smoke as Tyler sat back and inhaled.

“He knows you’re not at home. He knows you’re out in the world on your own. He’s not bothering to find out where you are to come and get you. That’s not love.”

Brooke reached for the joint.

“You don’t even have a photo of the two of you together.”

“David hates photos.”

“He knows you’re not in his league.”

Brooke put the rough end to her lips but couldn’t make herself draw back on it.

Foley wrestled with Natasha, but she held him off. “Has he ever kissed you?”

“It’s not like that between us,” Brooke defended.

“Have you ever been kissed?”

Brooke saw Tyler’s face soften. He held out his wiry fingers
, taking the joint from her. With his other hand, he pulled her down with him. She let him press her cheek to his chest and wanted to cry. He brushed her hair back off her face and played with it. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m okay. I just miss David.”

“No, I’m sorry your first kiss was so horrible.”

He tilted her face towards his. Her eyes stayed wide. She felt out of her depth, not understanding how she found herself in a bed, in the dark with a guy she couldn’t work out if she liked or hated. Her first real kiss tasted like pot. And it wasn’t from David.

“You’re welcome, Tyler,” Natasha said, before Foley suffocated any other conversation with kisses.

“Relax,” Tyler whispered in her ear. “He’s not here now. He never has to know what happens between us.”

The door creaked open. Framed by the light in the corridor, the worker, Josie stood with a hand on one hip, like a super hero. She flicked on the light switch, brightening the room, making them all squint.

Brooke sat upright and hugged her knees.

Tyler dropped from the bed.

Natasha’s hair was tousled and her shirt was off.

Caught up in the bed sheets, Foley couldn’t be seen.

Josie tapped on Natasha’s bed head
. “It’s time to go, guys.”

Tyler smacked at the lump in Natasha’s mattress
. “Come on, Foley.”

Brooke panted with relief.

“No. All of you; it’s time to go,” Josie said.

They all stared at her, dumb.

“I’m sorry. I can’t believe you’re making me do this. I’m so disappointed in you. What are you all thinking? You were all doing so well, lining up work and looking for a places to stay—”

“Josie, can’t you pretend you haven’t seen anything?” Natasha pleaded. “It’s Christmas in two days.”

“Too many rules have been broken, Tash. We’ll have to take this to the workers’ meeting to see when you can all come back. You won’t be able to stay here altogether. I can’t believe you did this.”

Tyler took the lead. “It’s okay, Josie. Don’t worry about it. We’ll work something out. We always do. Come on guys, let’s go.”

Brooke didn’t move. “No, it’s not okay. I can’t go.”

Josie stepped back into the hall
. “You can’t stay here Brooke. You broke three rules, relationships in the house and boys in the girls’ room are massive safety issues. And drugs are out and out illegal. No point in rethinking it all now.”

“But it wasn’t me.”

Natasha rolled off the bunk. “I’ll help you pack, Brooke.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

***

At the bottom of the steps, Brooke looked up, ready to argue one last time. But the front door closed. She saw Josie’s shadow slide through to the office. The light switched off, and the house became lifeless.

Tyler held a hand out to her. All she could do was look at it. It was a cold, bony, icy welcome. But it was the only thing she had to lead her.  Anything remotely solid she felt like she was standing on had been whisked out from under her.

“Come with me. I’ll look after you,” he said.

“She won’t listen to me,” Brooke said, looking back up at the darkened staff bedroom.

Foley and Natasha stepped up behind Tyler
. “She’s just doing her job, Brooke,” Foley said.

“We can come back in a week,” Natasha added, brightly. “Come with us. We’ll hang out together for the week and try and get you back in. We’re free,” she squealed.

Brooke’s mind couldn’t sort through the barrage of thoughts that plundered her mind. She followed the group. Her feet took one step at a time. The trees, road, pavement, cars, houses and painted picket fences blurred and melted. Their colours blended in a surreal mess, like mixed paint. She was only barely aware of Tyler and Foley, laughing uncontrollably at some disturbing story.  Natasha seemed bombed out of her brain, but happy.   

At the first corner, she knew if she lost sight of the shelter, her life would permanently change. The world was a dangerous place.

“This is all wrong,” she said, flatly. “I’m going back.”

“You can’t
,” Natasha protested. Her eyes cloudy and her plump lips drooped so much they seemed to literally hang off her face. “Josie won’t listen to you. The workers never do. She’d probably call the cops if you go back. I’ve seen her do it before.”

“I’ll make her listen, Natasha. I did nothing wrong.”

“Why?” Foley asked, his lips curling in defence. “What’s wrong with coming with us?”

Brooke tried to choose her words carefully. She looked down at her own hand still locked in Tyler’s. “I can’t live on the streets. I don’t have what it takes. I just can’t do it. I know it sounds pathetic.”

“Yeah slightly pathetic,” Foley muttered.

“You won’t be on the street. We have friends with flats,” Tyler said, cocking his head to the side with his stoned
, charming grin. “We know where to go and who to talk to.  You’ll be with us. I’ll look after you.”

“I can’t go…I have to find David.”

Tyler squeezed her hand.

“So…” Foley continued
. “You can’t come with us tonight because…? I mean we owe you money. We can get you on a bus.”

Natasha slapped him in the stomach. “You told her about the money, Foley?”

But Foley ignored her.

“And then what? What do I do at the other end? I need a job,” Brooke persisted, but he had her interest. “How will you get me the money, Foley?”

Foley held her gaze but didn’t answer her.

“We’ll chuck in what we have and get the rest somehow,” Natasha offered. “We always get by. This is the way we do things out here.”

“Can’t you tell, Natasha wants you with us,” Foley said.

And what Natasha wants Natasha gets,
she thought.

They watched her, their stoned faces limp.

Tyler took the lead and tugged her forward. “It’s not a long walk. My friend is just around the bend and down the highway a bit.”

Brooke let herself be led. She looked down at the way his hand clasped hers and it was all wrong. But she kept walking.

***

When they walked through the front door, Brooke was glad to be holding Tyler’s hand. It was a lounge room filled with young people just like Natasha, Foley and Tyler. All eyes fell
to her, as the stranger. As though outside her own body, she saw herself the way that they did. She was the girl hiding behind long hair, tired worn out, unable to make full sense of anything.

Brooke sat between Tyler and Natasha. A sea of faces peered back at her in the smoky haze. A bong passed from hand to hand. When it came to her turn, Tyler showed her how. Like a puppet she played along. Her turn never seemed to end.

Natasha laughed.

Brooke’s eyes drooped. A second bong was placed up to her lips. She no longer had any trouble inhaling.

“I don’t belong here,” she muttered.

“Where do you belong really?” Tyler whispered in her ear.

“I don’t want to sleep with you,” she said.

“I don’t think you’d been any good anyway,” he replied.

She pressed her lips together, and swallowed his words. They floated around her brain. “I guess that makes me lucky.” In her mind, those words were followed by a question mark.

Chapter Twenty Three

D
avid

Twirling spears of sunlight breaking through the canopy woke
David. Droplets tapped at his face. His watch was missing and his shoes were gone. He sat upright, and fumbled around the soaked bedding.
Missing? Stolen? Lost?
Brooke had given the watch to him, for no other reason than she wanted him to have one. It had to be back in the room. He had to find it.

His mouth was furry and dry. He trekked across the mountainside, led by the gush of the stream, blasted with new life after the rain. Leaves cast a damp carpet across the ground, sticking to his bare feet. Once he tasted the cool rainwater, he revived himself enough to reali
se there was nothing to stay in the forest for.

In his mind, he imagined stepping over the threshold of
Darbie’s pub, smelling the onions sautéing in the kitchen and the thud of the beer taps behind the bar. His tongue began to water. He could taste his first beer.

***

David stood outside the concertina doors. The bar was wide open, customers sat in rustic booths and around the bar, young hip holiday makers, snorkelling instructors, girlfriends sharing champagne, guys playing pool.

It was lunch time. 

Darbie carried out meals to a family out the front. Fish and chips, burgers; David couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten. He stood where he could be seen, unable to be the one to speak first.

“Well, well, well,”
Darbie jeered, as he unloaded the tray. “Look who came back down from the mountain.” He winked at the littlest girl in the family, and tucked the tray under his arm, idling over. “I missed you last night.”

“What?” But then David realised he’d been asleep longer than he thought. It was lunch time the day after he’d headed up to the mountain.

“You clean a good bar. I hate to lose you.”

“I need a job still.”

“So Chas hasn’t hunted you down yet, huh?”

“I’m not scared of him.”

“I didn’t tell him about you and Gloria but someone else did.”

David shrugged, not surprised. He knew about small towns.

Darbie shook his head. “He’s a prick.”

“I’ve seen the way he is.”

“If you need to hide out in your room, go for it. I’ll bring you a beer and a burger.”

“With chips?” David mumbled. He dragged his feet across the wooden floor, with a small smile.
Darbie was a mate.

“He’s already looked here. Lay low for a
s long as you can. That way when he finds you the beating he’ll give you won’t nearly be so bad. He’ll have lost some of his passion.”

David
believed Darbie. Not about the fact Chas would lose interest in whipping his arse, but that Darbie wouldn’t tell and he was on his side. It’d been a while since he’d been hit, but he knew he’d survive it and it wouldn’t be his last. There was always someone somewhere who wanted to wipe him off the face of the earth. It didn’t matter if he was home or in the Whitsundays.

“And mate? You stink
,” Darbie teased, waving at the air. “I’m not bringing you food until you get in that shower.”

David
ducked his head and grinned, pulling his cap over his eyes. “Yes Mum.”

The watch wasn’t in his room. The mobile he’d found was missing.