Page 83 of Just Watch Me
“We sort of saw it,” Finlay said. “Even though it was almost dark. That was the scariest part. I wasn’t that scared of the earthquake. I was onlyreallyscared when I saw Mum running out there.”
“Running out where?” Jade asked before Zane could.
“Out onto the pavement,” Finlay said. “To get people.”
A moment of stunned silence, and then Scarlett said, “She was very brave, I think. She gave me her phone before she left and told me to keep everybody together. Like in a film, where the person volunteers for the mission, and they tell somebody else to take care of everyone in case they don’t make it back.”
“It was very dramatic,” Olive said. “But dramatic isn’t as nice in real life. I didn’t know why she was leaving, so I wasn’t scared right then. I was only scared later.”
“Wait,” Zane said. “What?” The skin was prickling on his scalp, and he had that cold thing again. Fear, was what that thing was. Nobody else was saying anything. Shocked, he thought. And Skylar’s grandfather? He was probably more than shocked.
“I showed her that the water was going out,” Finlay said, “because we learned about tsunamis in school, of course. But there were heaps of people down there who hadn’t learned, I guess, because they were just standing there.”
“Oh, my God,” Jade said quietly.
“So Mum ran down there,” Finlay said. “I didn’t know why she left until I saw her outside. She got all the people who were close to Te Papa, and they started running inside, and she was at the back, like tonight, making sure everybody was coming. Then I couldn’t see them anymore, except the peopleshe didn’t get, and then the wave came. I wasn’t sure where Mum was, though.”
Murmurs from around the table, but Skylar didn’t address them. She got up, went around the table to where Finlay sat, put an arm around his shoulder, and said, “Well done, darling, spotting the water going out. I wouldn’t have been in time otherwise.”
“Very well done indeed,” Zane’s dad said. “Both of you.” His eyes met Zane’s across the candlelit table, and Zane thought he knew what that look said.Some guts,it was.Some ticker.
Zane couldn’t say anything. That was because he could see it. The same thing he and the boys had done, hauling those people up the slope, but they’d done it straight after the quake, and they’d gone fast. He knew how scared he’d been, though. How it had felt like that wave was right behind him. How long after the quake had Finlay seen that water going out? How long had it taken Skylar to run down there?
And, worse: how long had it taken her to run up again? He’d seen the images on TV. Te Papa with the gaping holes where the glass had been, where the water had rushed in. And out again. He could see it right now, and it was making his blood run cold.
That was what he was thinking about now, on the couch, trying to sleep in the absolutely dark house. About that wave coming. About her running. About her courage.
About her fear.
He turned over again, restless. If he’d been at home, he’d have got up and made a cup of tea. Skylar should’ve had a cup of tea after all that, too. Tea with sugar, the best thing for shock. How many cups had he drunk, there in that house on the hill, trying not to fear the worst? How much harder for her? But the electric was out, so there was no tea.
A stirring in the dark. He couldn’t see anybody; he justknew they were there. He sat up. One of the kids, probably, waking with bad dreams. “Who’s there?” he called softly.
“Me,” a voice said. “Skylar. Groping along here. Sorry to wake you. No phone, and no light. Can you point me to the kitchen?”
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CARPET BURN
“I can,” Zane said. She could barely see him in the nearly absolute darkness, but she could tell that he was sitting up. “Glass of water, maybe?”
“Maybe,” she said. “But I probably just need to sit. I don’t want to wake Jade, but I—” She stopped.
“Can’t sleep, eh,” he said. “Me neither. Come sit by me, if you like.”
She did. He put an arm around her, then pulled the throw over both of them. His side was solid and warm, so was his arm, and her tension was possibly lessening.
“Better?” he asked after a minute.
“Yeh,” she said. “You’re like a weighted blanket.”
“A what?”
“People use them for anxiety. I don’t normally have anxiety, but sometimes …”
“Widow,” he said. “Single parent. I get it. And if you can’t afford the anxiety in the moment, you feel it later.”
“Yes.”It was an exhalation. “At least I think that’s what this is. When I close my eyes, I keep seeing?—”
