Page 97 of Nowhere Burning
Silvie continues to tap Marc gently, humming as her finger drums his eyelids and ears and head. The kidney transplant has held, so far. It has been three years since Riley gave it to Silvie. Maybe this one will last.
Silvie stops tapping. She kicks up dust with her heel. ‘Dad.’
‘Yes.’
‘Can I have screen time?’
‘Watch the stars, for god’s sake.’ Marc’s voice rises, exasperated. ‘Just for a moment. Watch the goddamn st—’
‘Fine.Fine.’ Silvie rolls her eyes. She’s getting to that age. She thumps down onto the seat beside him.
Marc wraps a blanket around them. He holds Silvie close, breathing her hair. Her hand steals into his. He tries not to hold it too tightly.
Riley is a question that Marc will never stop asking. Some days hefeels her loss all over again. Other days he wants to weep with gratitude for what she did and then there are the days of anger, of rage so deep that he cannot speak her name. Marc feels Riley in a different part of his body each day.
He has lost his sister so many times, it doesn’t seem possible that she is gone. And then it does, and then it doesn’t again. Maybe he will never believe it. Maybe Riley is nowhere. Maybe she’s somewhere she belongs.
Silvie tightens her grip on Marc’s hand. ‘Dad.’ They look up.
Venus has appeared above, gleaming like a silver stud. The sky darkens slowly and there they are, the stars, puncturing the night one by one, burning down on everything.
