Driftwood

[Red Ranger 1]

Felt really sorry for Matt here: It was a nice idea for him to provide for the family like he used to, but he was just left feeling inadequate.Maddy being back could cause complications...

[pembie]

I'm not so sure that Matt will survive in Summer Bay! It is the most dangerous town on the planet Give me a Island anyday

Hmmm Maddy staying with Matt and Roo could be great that's if she doesn't come between Matt and Roo...

[Ludub]

On 28/08/2016 at 11:29 PM, KittCatt said:

Continuing to really enjoy Josh and Matt's friendship  I'm really glad Matt has someone to talk to

 

On 29/08/2016 at 6:46 AM, Kristen said:

Really liking Josh and Matt's friendship.

Thanks KittCatt and Kristen,  Glad you're enjoying it. I liked the idea of Josh as a counsellor but I know he's a very different guy from the volatile temper tantrum throwing teen we all knew. If he'd remained blind he could have gone either way but it would definitely have had an impact on him one way or the other. It might have given him the insight and understanding to deal with other people's loss and help them through it. 

On 29/08/2016 at 1:05 AM, ~JarlieFanEver~ said:

Liked the idea of these couples e.g. Kyle/Billie, Josh/Tamara, Brody/Evelyn, Oscar/Callie

Thanks Jarlie  Some different hookups just to shake things up a bit, haha! You haven't met Callie yet but I hope you like her.

22 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Felt really sorry for Matt here: It was a nice idea for him to provide for the family like he used to, but he was just left feeling inadequate.

Thanks Red!  I know, poor Matt!   Why do I always make my boys suffer?! lol. He's not adjusting very well at all really.

5 hours ago, pembie said:

I'm not so sure that Matt will survive in Summer Bay! It is the most dangerous town on the planet Give me a Island anyday

Haha, thanks Pembie  I couldn't resist that little jibe. Summer Bay is a very dangerous place indeed. If I was Matt I'd get my little family on a boat and hot-tail it back to the island as quickly as possible. It might not have burgers and breakfast cereal but at least they have a chance of not getting blown up, or murdered, or dying because of the cancer cluster. Go, Matt, go!

Thanks everyone for reading and commenting. I really appreciate all the support. You guys are great! 

[Ludub]

Thanks to everyone for the very kind comments  As always really really appreciated! Sorry for the long waits between updates. I'm just a bit busy these days so I really only get time towards the weekends. Hope you like this chapter.

WARNING: ADULT THEMES

 

Chapter 4

 

 

“Who wants a glass of wine?!” asked Maddy, skipping back into the kitchen with a bottle of red wine that she’d got from her suitcase and opening the drawer to look for a bottle opener. “I brought a couple of bottles of this great wine back from Italy… It’s from this little vineyard in Puglia that we went to… That’s the heel of the boot, way down south before you get to Sicily.” She found the cork screw and started to screw it into the bottle while she talked, “…That area’s meant to be one of the best places for wine because of the volcanic soil or something… Anyway, the Italians go on and on about it… God, Italy is just the most amazing place… It’s so beautiful! …I mean, you’ve been there, haven’t you, Roo?”

“Yeah, I’ve been there… It is a beautiful place…” she said, looking a little wistful. “It feels like someone else’s life now though…” sighed Roo, smiling across at her from the couch and thinking how nice it was to see her so lit up and full of life. She’d clearly enjoyed her travels so much! The last time that she’d seen her, nearly five years ago, she’d been so downcast and unhappy about her life. Things with Matt had hit rocky ground when her cancer had come back and she’d just pushed him and everyone else away. Having to go through treatment again and have surgeries to remove a part of her liver, had just hit her so very hard. Matt had tried so hard to stand by her but she’d been so full of anger and resentment that nothing he’d done had seemed right. Leaving the Bay had been a tough decision, but she’d insisted on going home to her parents, and dealing with things on her own. Seeing her now with that huge white smile of hers, flitting about the kitchen, and wittering on about how beautiful Italy was, was like a breath of air. “How long were you in Italy?” she asked.

“Oh, just a few months… My friend Michele invited me to go visit his parents for the summer… They have a house on the beach down there.” she said, carefully carrying three glasses of wine over to the couch and plonking herself down beside Roo. “He’s a friend from work in London… You know I was working in a call centre in London? Well, I made so many friends from all over the place…” she said, flashing another huge white smile. She lifted one of the glasses and handed it to Roo giving a nervous little giggle. “Seriously! You have to taste this… It’s so nice!”

Roo couldn’t help laughing a little at the look of excitement on Maddy’s face and lifted her glass to take a sip. “Mmm, that’s really good.” agreed Roo, nodding at her with another big smile. “You seem really happy, Maddy?” she said, gently tucking Maddy’s blonde hair behind her ear in a motherly kind of way and tilting her head to one side, “I’m so glad… I’m glad that you seem so much happier than the last time I saw you… I’ve really missed you, y’know?”

Maddy nodded and looked away abruptly towards the door to the hallway. “Where’s Matt disappeared to?” she asked.

“Oh, he’s gone for a shower” said Roo, rolling her eyes at her, “He’s been fishing all day apparently”

“That’s why he wasn’t at the barbecue?!” asked Maddy, in an incredulous tone and shaking her head in disapproval, “He was fishing?! Since when does Matt fish?!”

Roo snorted a little and raised her eyebrows at her. “Four years on an island, Maddy… We fish…” she said, with a bemused smile.

“Oh God!” exclaimed Maddy, covering her mouth with her hand and starting to laugh in an embarrassed sort of way. She hadn’t made the connection with their life on the island at all, and wondered when Matt had suddenly taken up what she saw as a boring old man kind of pastime, “Sorry Roo! How dumb am I?!”

“It’s okay… you were thinking recreational fishing with waders and fishing rods…” she said, bursting out laughing and shaking her head at that mental image, “…like dad.” Matt’s way of fishing was as far removed from that as it was possible to get. An image flashed through her mind of Matt standing stock still in the water with his spear poised in that elegant way, watching intently and waiting to strike. His lean, muscly body, so taut and tensed, as he balanced on one leg, and watched the fish circling in the little dammed off area that he’d created. His movements had become so precise, so predatory, so sexy… She’d loved to watch him. It was always such a turn on. She missed that. The sharp contrast with Maddy’s image of a fisherman in chest high green rubber waders and wellington boots just made her laugh. “Sorry, Maddy”, she said, as she covered her mouth too and tried to stop giggling, “I’m not laughing at you… Let’s just say that I can’t picture Matt going out fishing with dad anytime soon!”

“What are you two giggling about?” asked Matt, as he walked back into the living-room looking a little nervous. He’d changed into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts that didn’t really look like his style, but his selection of clothing was pretty limited these days, and mainly consisted of old clothing of VJ’s that Leah had dropped round to the house for him. He didn’t really care normally but for some reason he was feeling a little more self-conscious with Maddy in the house. He would never have insisted on going for a shower if it had just been Roo at home when he’d got back. He wondered why she made him feel so on edge after all this time.

“Nothing important” said Roo, lifting his glass of wine and holding it out to him. “Maddy brought us some wine from Italy!” she said, giving him a big smile, “It’s delicious!”

He took the glass from Roo and smiled at Maddy. “Thanks” he said, as he walked over to check on Alfie who was now dozing in the playpen that they’d set up for him in the living-room. He was still much too clingy to be left in the bedroom on his own and Roo wouldn’t have been happy to let him out of her sight either. Neither of them were ready for that yet. He turned and threw himself down in the armchair beside the couch. “Was Europe as much fun as you thought it would be?” he asked, before taking a mouthful of the dark plum red wine and giving her an appreciative smile. He was trying his best to seem relaxed but he could feel that tightness in his chest and he was sure that she could see through his smile and probably hear his accelerated heartbeat. “This is really good, by the way.” he said, as he swilled the wine about his mouth.

Roo glanced across at Matt, and as their eyes met, she smirked at him a little, remembering a conversation that they’d had on the island about alcohol. He’d surprised her with his knowledge of wine and whiskeys, and much more refined tastes than she’d have given him credit for, especially given his age. Matt always seemed to have something extra up his sleeve. He was still full of surprises, even after all these years.

Maddy began to speak at great length about her travels. She’d made lots of friends in London who came from all over Europe and other more far-flung places. She hadn’t been paid that well in her call-centre job, but she’d taken every opportunity to go travelling, and thanks to a lot of generous people who’d invited her to come visit them in their home countries, she’d seen a lot of the world. There’d been Michele and Sandrino at opposite ends of Italy, Maria in Portugal, Noemi in Finland, Laszlo and Attila in Hungary, and she’d even got to visit her friend Lin in Singapore on the way home to Australia. Her life was in London now though. She had an English boyfriend, and a flat with a lovely bunch of girls, and she hadn’t really wanted to leave to come home. She was just having a bit of trouble getting her visa sorted.

She’d decided to come back a little bit earlier when she’d seen the news coverage of the rescue. She’d wanted to see them as soon as possible! Part of her still couldn’t believe that it was true. The BBC had broadcast the news one Saturday afternoon when she’d been sitting in a pub in central London having a drink with one of her mates from work. Her jaw had nearly hit the floor when she’d seen those bedraggled images flash up on the screen. A man and a woman with tangled, almost dreadlocked hair, looking around them with terrified staring eyes, and cradling a small child in their arms. They were being brought ashore wrapped in those silver space blankets used to prevent hypothermia, and the media was just crowding around them, and shoving cameras in their faces. Found on a remote island in the Solomon’s, it appeared that they’d drifted nearly a 1000 kilometres from where the boat had gone down! No-one would ever have found them if a film crew hadn’t decided to make their fishing documentary there. Four years in complete isolation and now they were back! The look of shock and distress on both their faces had been heart-breaking for her to see. Hardly anyone in the pub had paid the slightest bit of attention, but for her the world had suddenly been turned on its head, and people that she had mourned for four years had literally just come back from the dead. These were real people, with people who loved them and cared about them. Not just fodder for the world’s media! She couldn’t have been more shocked.

“You have no idea how amazing it is to sit here with you two!” she said, looking back and forth between them with a sad little smile. They could tell that she’d been getting more and more emotional as she’d gone on and was struggling not to cry. She set down her glass and reached out for their hands on either side of her. “We had a funeral… well, I guess, more of a memorial service for you, y’know? About six months after you went missing…” she said, with her voice shaking a little. She stared straight ahead at the playpen where baby Alfie was sleeping and sighed. “I was just finished treatment and I still wasn’t strong enough to walk yet… I wasn't going to come but I'm glad I did. I needed to say goodbye to you both in some way... so Oscar came and got me and he pushed me in a wheelchair for the whole day… It was so sad... We really thought that you’d both died… It was terrible…and I really didn’t think that I was ever going to get over it…”

“Hey, it’s okay!” said Matt, kneeling down in front of her and looking up at her with concern. “We’re back and we’re both okay.” he said in a soothing voice, giving her a sympathetic little smile and putting his hand on her knee. He’d never really given that much thought to the impact that their disappearance and ‘death’ must have had on the people that cared about them. He realised now that people like Maddy had been through a terrible ordeal too. It was just hard to shift your focus to anyone else when you were suffering yourself. “I’m sorry we put you through that” he said, glancing across at Roo in a worried sort of way.

“I know” said Maddy, blinking back a few tears as she let go of Roo’s hand and gently caressed the side of Matt’s face. “It’s not your fault…” she said, gazing deeply into his eyes, “It’s just… It’s just… I never got to say goodbye... Not really”

“We didn’t die” said Roo, sounding a little defensive. She knew deep down that she was being silly, but this show of affection between Maddy and Matt just didn’t sit well with her. She’d never have put herself down as the jealous type but she didn’t like Maddy touching Matt like that. Maddy was his ex-girlfriend after all, and now that she and Matt weren’t marooned on a desert island, it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that he might want to get himself a younger model again. She hated herself for feeling this insecure.

“I know” said Maddy, catching the defensive tone in Roo’s voice and snatching her hand away from Matt’s face. She turned to look at Roo with an apologetic expression and said, “I didn’t get to say goodbye to either of you… You were two of the people I cared about most in the world, and like that, you were just gone! Dead, as far as I knew… I’ve felt so guilty about how I left things with you for so so long… But more than anything, I’ve just missed you!” She leaned over and hugged her arms around Roo. “Ohhhhh! I’ve missed this! I’ve missed you.” she said as she squeezed Roo tight. “I love you both, y’know that?!” she said, reaching for Matt to pull him into a hug, “…and I’m so happy that you two had each other… and now you have Alfie!”

Matt glanced at Roo, wondering at the little display of jealousy a moment earlier, and feeling a little bit offended. He thought that Roo knew how much he loved her and how much she meant to him. He was surprised that she would think that Maddy was any kind of threat after the life that they had lived together on that island and everything that they’d been through. He’d thought that they were stronger than that, and it hurt that she obviously thought so little of him.

“We love you too” said Roo, pulling Maddy in closer, as Matt moved away and went to sit down again. “We’ve both missed you too, Maddy” she said, giving Matt an apologetic head tilt as he sat sulking in the chair with his glass of wine. She couldn’t help feeling guilty. He hadn’t had to say anything. The look that he had given her had said it all. “We talked about you all the time, you know?” she said, pulling away from the hug to look at Maddy properly and stroke her hair behind her ears. “We didn’t know if everyone on the boat had died that night… We actually thought that we might have been the only survivors… but we talked sometimes about what you were doing. We knew that you’d do it! We knew you’d beat your cancer… you’re such a fighter!”

Maddy shook her head and wiped at the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. “It doesn't work that way... and I nearly didn’t.” she said, glancing across at Matt again in an embarrassed sort of way, “I gave up for a little while when I heard about the boat going down… and you and Matt going missing… I decided to stop treatment… It all just seemed too pointless… too hard…” She sniffled a little and wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her top, “Oscar came to see me and he convinced me to start treatment again…” She laughed and rolled her eyes at Roo, “Again!”

“Again?!” laughed Roo, putting her arm around Maddy’s shoulder and giving her a little kiss on the cheek. “You’re lucky to have a friend like Oscar, eh?!”

Maddy nodded and laughed again as she wiped at her tears. “Have you met this Callie girl?” she asked, brightening up a little.

“Yeah, I have… she seems nice” said Roo, laughing a little. In truth, she hadn’t actually spoken to her much but she seemed like an interesting girl. Fiercely intelligent from what Zac and Leah had said, and unusual looking in her choice of clothing and hairstyle. Still, Oscar and she seemed to be very happy together, and she really seemed to get on well with Leah, which was nice.

“I’ve spoken to her on Skype before. I really like her!” said Maddy, grinning from ear to ear, “She’s not what I was expecting!” She smiled across at Matt, looking for his input, but he just shrugged at her. He’d never spoken to Callie so he had no comment to make.

“Can I ask something?” said Maddy, sitting back up and reaching for the wine bottle to refill everyone’s glasses. There was a mischievous look on her face and her mouth was curling at the sides into a sort of wry smile. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” she said, smirking at Matt.

“I guess” replied Matt, glancing at Roo and raising his eyebrows at her in a quizzical way. He wasn’t sure that he was going to like this.

She turned and looked at Roo with a cheeky little smirk on her face and lifted Roo’s wine glass to hand it to her. “I just wanted to ask… well… I just wondered… when… I mean, how long was it? …” she bumbled, blushing a little red as she looked back and forth between the two of them. “I mean… how did you two… y’know… how did it happen?”

 

*****

 

“Well, that was embarrassing!” said Matt, closing the door to the bedroom and pulling off his t-shirt and shorts to climb into bed. He’d just come back from the bathroom after brushing his teeth and he was running his tongue over his teeth like he always did now. Living without a toothbrush and toothpaste was probably the one thing that he had hated most about life on the island. It was such an incredible feeling to have smooth clean teeth! He loved that sensation. “I can’t believe the questions she asked us!” he said, slipping into the bed beside Roo and putting his arms around her waist.

“She’s just curious” said Roo, turning to smile at him over her shoulder and giving him a little kiss on his minty fresh lips. The wonders of toothpaste weren’t lost on her either. “It’s understandable… People were shocked when they found out about us… It’s probably weirder for her than anyone else, if you think about it.”

“I know” he said, squeezing his arms around her waist as she intertwined her fingers with his, “It’s just weird answering those kind of questions… y’know… to her.”

“I’m just glad it’s all out in the open” sighed Roo, feeling her stomach tie itself in knots, “We don’t have anything to be embarrassed about or feel guilty for!” She wasn’t sure that she fully believed what she was saying though. Maddy turning up like this out of the blue had churned up a lot of her old worries again. She’d always felt a little bit guilty for sleeping with Maddy’s ex-boyfriend, but somehow when they’d been trapped on the island, that thought had been a lot easier to bury. What was the point in worrying about it when they’d never see each other ever again?! Now that she’d had to sit facing her, and talk about how long she and Matt had lasted before they’d jumped into bed together, she felt pretty awful. Surely it was silly to feel bad about it though?! It’s not like they’d even still been together when the shipwreck had happened! They’d broken up a long time before and Matt had been a free agent. But then, why did she have this sick guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach, and why had she reacted in such a jealous way earlier when she’d seen them together?! She hated this feeling! “Maddy seems happy” she said, smiling over her shoulder at him again in a slightly forced way.

“Yeah, she seems to be happy in London… with… It was ‘Dave’ wasn’t it?” he said, kissing her shoulder and pulling in a little bit closer behind her, “…I’m happy for her”.

Roo rolled over to look at him and they gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment. “You do know that I love you, right?” she asked, suddenly sounding quite serious and stroking the side of his face, “I was so scared today… I can’t have you disappearing on me like that… You know that’s my biggest fear.”

He nodded, looking decidedly guilty and kissed her on the forehead. “I know, Roo… I’m so sorry about the barbecue” he whispered, leaning in for a light little kiss, “I must have freaked you out so much… and…” He gave a big sigh, and rolled over onto his back, pulling Roo over so she could rest her head on his shoulder. “I’ve been talking to Josh and I think… I think maybe I need to talk to someone… you know… like a professional?”

“Like a counsellor?” she asked, gently stroking the skin on his chest and giving him a little kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah, maybe” he sighed, staring up at the ceiling and thinking how much he missed being able to see the stars. Their hut had gaps in the roof a lot of the time and they could always see patches of sky when they slept. “I just don’t seem to be able to talk to people anymore and it’s like… it’s like I have this… I dunno… ‘scared’ feeling all the time…” He glanced at her for a moment, wondering what her reaction would be, and then looked back at the ceiling. It was hard to say this out loud. “I just feel so… so useless, Roo! …More than useless…  I don’t even know why you’re with me now that you don’t have to be… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here… I always knew what to do on the island… Now… Now, no-one needs me …I might as well not be here!”

“I need you here!” exclaimed Roo, raising herself on one elbow and looking at him in shock, “I need you!”

He blinked a little to stifle the tears that were threatening to come. “I’m just useless… I’m so sorry, Roo… I’m sorry…”

She took hold of his chin and turned his head by force to make him look at her. “You are not useless!” she said, looking him in the eye and shaking her head adamantly, “You are not useless! D’you hear me, Matt?!”

He laughed at her a little bitterly and shook his head. “What do I have to offer?” he asked, grimacing a little as he tried not to cry. “I don’t have a job… I don’t have any money… I can’t even… I can’t even provide…” he stammered.

“None of that matters!” she assured him, looking at him in shock and concern. She hadn’t realised that he was feeling this way.

“Yes it does, Roo!” he said, shaking his head at her again. “I need to feel like I’m looking after you… and Alfie… and I can’t do that here.” He laughed again in a sad and bitter sort of way and covered his face with his hand. “Do you know why I went fishing today?” he asked, without looking at her.

“Baby, it’s okay!” she said, taking his hand away from his face, “I know you needed some time alone.”

“I went fishing because I thought it’d be nice to sit down and eat together like we used to…” he said, in a sad and distant voice, “Just the three of us… I wanted to feel like I could still be useful… like I could still do something… like I could still provide for you and our baby… and since I don’t have any money of my own…”

“Oh god!” exclaimed Roo, turning his face to look at her again. She suddenly grasped what he’d been trying to tell her and she could see how hurtful the barbecue had been now.  She hadn’t even registered the fact that he’d thrown a bag full of fish in the rubbish bin when he’d come home. She’d seen him do it but she hadn’t thought anything of it. Throwing away food like that would have been unthinkable on the island. “I didn’t know!” she said, giving him a frantic sort of kiss on the lips, “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry, Matt!” she said between kisses, “I love you.”

They began to kiss more urgently and she pulled her fingers through his hair to pull him up towards her as they kissed. She rolled over to sit on top of him and he reached up to pull her pyjama top over her head. He smiled up at her, wondering at how beautiful she was, and then she leaned down to kiss him. He ran his hands through her long dark hair and pulled her in for a deep and passionate kiss. She giggled as he rolled her over so that he was on top and he began to kiss her neck. “I love you” he whispered.

…..

As they lay back in each other’s arms afterwards, Roo couldn’t help running what he’d said over and over in her head. It was very worrying that he felt the way that he did. Useless?! He wasn’t useless! Okay, so he didn’t have the same kind of responsibilities that he’d had on the island, but then neither did she!  They didn’t need to worry about starving to death here! Things were different! How had she not noticed how unhappy he was here? Had she been so blinded by her own selfishness, and her own fears and worries, that she hadn’t seen how much he was struggling?

“I wish we’d never left the island” he whispered so quietly that she wasn’t sure that she’d even heard him correctly, “We had the perfect life, and now it’s…”

“We can’t go back” she sighed, cutting him off and gently stroking the skin on his chest “We have to move on.”

“What if I can’t?” he said, in a small broken voice, “What if I can’t move on?”

“We have to” she said, raising herself again on her elbow to look at him, “And it wasn’t the perfect life, Matt! You know that it wasn’t! …It was hard! It was scary a lot of the time! Don’t you remember when Alfie got that fever and we thought that he was going to die?! What would we have done then?! Anything could have happened to us and no-one would have found us! It was far from perfect… It’s just that life here isn’t easy either! It’s hard for me too!” She tilted her head at him sympathetically and said, “Matt, we will find a way to make this work… You’ll find a job, and we’ll get back to normal.”

“Normal!” snorted Matt, shaking his head and rolling his eyes a little, “Maybe...”

“I need you, Matt!” she said, giving him a soft little peck on the lips, “Please don’t leave me to deal with this on my own… You can’t disappear on me again like you did today! I need you!”

“I won’t” he said, putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her down beside him. “I’ll be here… You’re never getting rid of me.”

 

*****

 

 

 

Roo rolled over in the bed with her eyes still closed and reached out towards Matt to cuddle in beside him and try to steal a bit of his body heat. It was strangely cold in the room this morning and she was actually shivering a little, which was pretty unusual for the height of summer. He was always so lovely and warm, radiating heat from every inch of his body, whereas she had circulation problems and was always complaining about her feet feeling like ice blocks. He teased her about it all the time, but he never seemed to mind her warming her cold hands and feet on him, even if it did make him jump a little. Sometimes he wouldn’t even wake up completely but he’d rub her hands in his and blow on them for her. She loved how he always took care of her and how safe she felt when he was around.

Finding a cold empty space where he should have been, she opened her eyes, and saw in the dim light that his side of bed was empty. Why wasn’t he there?! She rolled over to his side of the mattress and looked over the edge of the bed to check that he wasn’t sleeping on the floor. Sometimes when his back was bad, he preferred to sleep on the hard wooden floorboards, but he wasn’t there either! She rolled back over to her side again and lifted the small alarm clock off the bedside table, squinting a little to bring her eyes into focus, and saw that it was only 5.58am. What on earth was Matt doing up so early?! They’d both sat up talking to Maddy until well after 2am last night so it seemed strange that he’d be up and about so bright and early in the morning. She glanced over at the cot and shot bolt upright when she realised that Alfie wasn’t there either. Her heart started to race almost immediately and she couldn’t help feeling a rising sense of panic. Alfie had rarely been out of her sight since the day he was born, and it wasn’t like Matt to just get up and leave her in bed without telling her where he was going. He would have known how much waking up alone like this would have frightened her, especially after his disappearing act yesterday. It just wasn’t something that he’d do! Something about this didn’t feel right but she tried to tell herself that she was just being silly and to calm down. There was no point in getting herself in a state when Matt and Alfie were probably just curled up on the couch downstairs. Maybe Alfie had woken and started fussing, and Matt had simply decided to take him to the living-room so as not to wake her? It was certainly possible but it seemed odd that she hadn’t woken because she’d always been such a light sleeper. Besides, Matt usually just brought Alfie into the bed with them rather than leaving the room. There was something very wrong about this whole situation, and it was really beginning to make her feel anxious.

She scrambled out of the bed in a bit of a panic and decided that she’d go and look for them downstairs. She threw on the first thing that she found on the floor, one of Matt’s T-shirts that was far too big on her, and padded out into the hallway as quietly as she could. She wanted to run. Her every instinct told her to run, but she restrained herself. Just because she and her crazy boyfriend were both awake at the crack of dawn didn’t mean it was fair to wake everyone else up! She would try to be quiet. She tiptoed down the stairs as quickly as she could, avoiding the right hand side of that one stair that always made a loud creak, and made her way into the living-room. She really began to panic now! There was no sign of Matt or Alfie! She’d expected to see them cuddled up together on the couch with a blanket pulled around them, and she’d intended to simply cuddle in beside them and go back to sleep in Matt’s warm embrace. But he wasn’t there! Where the hell was he?! It struck her that the living-room looked like a bomb had hit it. There was paper and rubbish everywhere! She didn’t remember leaving the place in such a state last night! Why were the dresser drawers open?! How had the place become such a mess?! She spun around and saw that all the kitchen cupboards had been flung open too and the contents taken. They were completely empty! Piles of crockery and glasses lay smashed all over the floor, along with cutlery and other cooking utensils, and all the drawers of the kitchen units had been pulled out and emptied too. The contents of the fridge and freezer were splattered all over the floor! The whole place had been ransacked! It was then that she realised that the front door and the back door were both lying open! Her heart was racing now, as the panic began to take hold, and a sick feeling rose from the base of her stomach. Something was terribly terribly wrong! It looked like they’d been burgled… but if that was the case, where on earth were the boys?! Why were Matt and Alfie missing?! Had they been kidnapped?!

“Dad!” she shouted as loudly as she could, charging back out to the hallway, and taking the stairs two at a time, “Dad! Dad! Oh my God! Help! Dad!” Her heart was beating so fast now that she could feel it pulsing in her neck. Hammering on Alf’s bedroom door for a second and then flinging it open, she cried, “Dad! Wake up! We’ve had a break in!” Her stomach gave a terrible lurch, as she realised that his bed was empty too, and that he was nowhere to be seen. The bed was unmade as though he’d simply gotten up to go to the bathroom and never come back. What on earth was going on?!

She ran back out to the hallway and screamed for Maddy before flinging her door open too. Just as she’d feared, the bed was empty and unmade as well, as though she’d been abducted in the middle of the night. Her suitcase had been emptied out on the floor and her clothes were lying everywhere as though a bomb had gone off.

She turned and staggered back out into the hallway with every inch of her body now shaking. Her legs felt like they’d turned to jelly. The silence in the house was overwhelming. She could hear the soft ticking of the alarm clock next to her father’s bed. She’d never been aware of it before. The only other sound was her own racing heartbeat and panicked breathing. She was alone! There was no-one here! Everyone was gone and they’d just left her here all on her own! Why had they abandoned her?! What was she going to do now?!

She ran down the stairs and shoved her feet into a pair of her dad’s shoes that were sitting in the hallway. With that, she ran out the front door and started shouting for help! She began to run towards the caravans, hoping to find someone to help her, anyone! Surely one of the campers might know what had happened. Someone had to have seen or heard something! But her mouth fell open and she stopped abruptly in her tracks when she realised that all the doors and windows of the caravans had been thrown wide open. They were all empty and an eerie silence had fallen over the whole campsite! There wasn’t a soul around! The campsite was strewn with rubbish, and discarded clothing, and there were cars abandoned all over the place with the doors hanging open. Some of them looked like people had been packing in a hurry, with suitcases clumsily packed and thrown in the open boots of cars. It was like everything had come to a standstill in one terrible moment. Everyone was gone! She stood and stared around her with a dazed expression on her face. She couldn’t begin to understand what had happened. This was like some post-apocalyptic scene from a movie, as though the entire population of Summer Bay had been wiped out in a flash, leaving not even a trace of them behind. Why was she the only one left?!

She looked down at her feet in her father’s old brown shoes and wondered what to do.  There was a tiny baby grow on the ground in front of her. The size that a new-born baby would wear. So small, so delicate. It had a large muddy footprint on top of it with that unmistakable Converse pattern, and as she peered down at it she began to cry. What had happened to the world in the time that she’d been asleep? How could she go to bed safe in the arms of her boyfriend with her little boy sleeping so peacefully nearby, and then wake and find that she’d lost everything? How could that have happened to her? Where was everyone and why would they just leave her behind like this?! She sat down where she was, and pulled her arms around herself, trying to figure out what to do next. Her mind was spinning with all sorts of possibilities, and terrible thoughts of what might have happened to them were racing through her head. Gradually just one thought began to form clearly. She needed to find Matt and Alfie. She needed to find them. They were the only things that really mattered in her life now. As long as she had them, she would be okay. She needed to find them right now.

She looked up and saw a red car not too far away. One of those people carriers with enough space for seven people if you unfolded the seats in the boot. The driver’s door was lying open so she could see inside. There was a silver fish keyring spinning round and round and the glint off it in the early morning sunshine had caught her eye. The keys were in the ignition and she took that as a sign from some kind of higher being that she was to take it. It was becoming clearer and clearer what she needed to do, and she slowly nodded to herself as a plan began to form. She would take that car and drive into town to see if she could find other people. She couldn’t be the only one that had been left behind! Maybe it was just the caravan park that had been affected by whatever this was? Maybe the town was still okay? Maybe Matt and Alfie were safe and they were just waiting for her there at a rescue centre or something? She needed to pull herself together and try to find them. Sitting here in the dirt wasn’t going to achieve anything! She clambered back onto her feet and jumped into the driving seat of the abandoned car. She turned the key and gave a sigh of relief when the engine roared to life and she could see there was a full tank of petrol. She swung the car around and headed out towards the road. Setting off at high speed down the track towards the town, her heart thundered in her chest as she wondered what she would find there. What if it was more of the same?  What if everyone was gone?! What if she really was the only one left?!

[Guest]

Great chapter Lubud.

Loved Maddy telling her life story.

Whoa at the end.

Update again soon

 

[Red Ranger 1]

I absolutely loved the scenes with Maddy here, you captured her bubbly enthusiasm just perfectly, and it's nice that despite a few awkward moments Roo and Matt could have a reasonably relaxed chat with her. It's good that they talked as well and seemed to be on the same page.But then that ending...

My first thought is that it's a dream, especially with the whole caravan park empty too, because I can't think of anything else that extreme.Even if there'd been an emergency evacuation, Alf and Matt wouldn't have left her behind surely?

[KittCatt]

Great chapter!

Really loved the chat between Maddy, Roo and Matt  It was such an important moment- for all of them to reconnect after everything that had happened. A bit awkward at times, as expected, but funny and sad. It must really hit home for Roo- that her loved one's really did think she was dead forever. And so much has changed in Maddy's life since...

Glad Matt opened up to Roo. It must be hard admitting to her that he feels useless, and wants to go back to the island. I really feel for him. But glad Roo is supporting him as much as she can.

That ending is certainly worrying..  A dream, a delusion or real life? 

I look forward to finding out what happens next 

[Inactive User]

Great chapter

Loved how Maddy told Roo and Matt about her life story  

Liked how Matt opened up to Roo

And whoa at the ending!  I am wondering if it's a dream or not...

P.S I had been to Italy once back in 2013 and it was such a beautiful country. I had been to Samoa (1998), Adelaide (2008), London/Ireland/Paris/Singapore (2011), London/Italy/Hong Kong Airport (2013), Sydney (2014)  

 

[pembie]

From being lost on a Island then to wake up in some sort of zombie apocalypse world???? Maybe, Roo will be going      utterly bananas before long At least we had Maddy back for a short time... Rotten luck for Matt though he opens up to Roo about his feelings and then he vanishes

[Ludub]

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to comment  Really glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one. Might be next weekend before I get to update again but we'll see how I go. 

WARNING: ADULT THEMES

 

Chapter 5

 

 

“I just don’t get why she’d do this” said Matt, shaking his head at the two police officers standing in his living-room as he paced back and forth with Alfie in his arms. Alfie just wouldn’t stop crying and Matt had no idea what to do to calm him down. Roo had never left him for more than a few minutes before and her sudden disappearance was something the child was totally unprepared for. What’s more, she was still breastfeeding him, so by now he’d have been having his morning feed and a cuddle, which made this sudden separation that bit more of a wrench. “They’re actually saying she stole a car?!” he asked in an incredulous tone.

“This is flaming ridiculous!” huffed Alf, crossing his arms across his chest and scowling angrily at the two young police officers standing in front of him. One of them was Jett Palmer, who’d only taken up a position at Yabbie Creek police station a few weeks earlier. He’d asked for a transfer from the city to be closer to John and Marilyn. Looking at him now in his police uniform, Alf couldn’t help thinking how the police seemed to get younger and younger with every passing year. Not just the police, it seemed that everyone in positions of authority had suddenly become children. Wasn’t Jett Palmer about twelve years old?! He was finding it hard to take him seriously. “My daughter is not in the business of stealing cars!”

Jett nodded at him sympathetically, holding his cap in his hands, and sat down on the arm of the couch to talk to them in a more informal way. He gave Maddy a nervous little smile, as she sat on the sofa hugging a cushion, but she didn’t seem to be able to take her eyes off Matt as he paced the room with baby Alfie. The other young cop crossed his arms across his chest and nodded at Jett to take the lead. He’d transferred in from Western Australia less than a month ago and he didn’t know the community like his partner did.

“Mr Stewart” began Jett, looking a little nervous, “It looks like Roo might have been a bit… um… ‘distressed’… or confused in some way…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Alf, sounding very impatient and giving Matt an accusing sort of look.

“She’s um… in a state of undress” said Jett, looking a little embarrassed but trying to sound as professional as possible. He really hadn’t been sure how to tell them that Roo was walking about with hardly any clothes on, but ‘a state of undress’ sounded like official police language in his head, and he hoped it might make Alf stop looking at him like he was a child in kindergarten playing cops and robbers. “According to some of the campers” he continued, putting on his most serious ‘I’m a grown up’ voice, “…she was only wearing a t-shirt… and a pair of men’s shoes”

“She’s running about half naked?!” exclaimed Alf, looking increasingly worried, “What is that girl playing at?!”

“Was she hurt?!” asked Maddy, looking at Jett with big worried eyes as she held the cushion that bit closer.

“Not as far as we know…” said Jett, looking back and forth between Alf and Matt, and scanning for any trace of guilt on their faces. “But the witnesses said she was shouting for help”, he added. He was pretty sure that this was a mental health issue, rather than a case of domestic abuse, but you never could tell what went on behind closed doors. He didn’t want to think badly of either of them, but he’d seen some disturbing things in his first year on the job, and it had taught him not to take things at face value. Humans were capable of terrible acts even when they seemed like perfectly nice and respectable people.

“Did you two have a blue or something?!” demanded Alf, suddenly glaring across at Matt in an accusing way, “She was pretty upset about you not showing up for that barbecue!”

“Yeah I know” said Matt, looking a little shamefaced, “But we talked when I got back last night… we were fine.”

“Well, I don’t see why she’d be running around shouting for help then!” growled Alf, growing even redder in the face than he already was, “Why would she run out of the house with no clothes on?!” His face clouded with anger and he began to clench his fists by his side as he looked at him, “…If you’ve hurt her?!”

“What?!” exclaimed Matt, looking shocked and hurt, “I would never… How could you even think that?!”

“No-one’s saying that you did!” said the other police officer from across the room, “We just need to understand what’s happened here…”

Maddy glanced up at Matt in an embarrassed sort of way and then looked across at Jett and the other police officer. “I was in the room next door… They didn’t have a fight… The walls are pretty thin, I’d have heard.”

Matt looked down at Maddy and blushed bright red when he realised that she must have heard them when they’d gone to bed last night. She must have heard everything. Maybe she’d even heard their conversation?! He turned to look at Jett, and said, “No, we didn’t fight… I really don’t know why Roo’s done this.”

“We think there might be…” said Jett, wondering how to phrase this in a way that wouldn’t offend any of them, “We think there could be…mental health issues…” He looked around at the shocked and worried expressions on their faces and gave them a sympathetic little head tilt. “The people whose car she stole said that she was behaving very strangely… Like she couldn’t hear them or see them... The mother tried to talk to her but she just looked straight through her.” He glanced at Matt and gave him a questioning sort of look. “Is Roo… Has she been… has she been acting a little strangely lately?” he asked.

Matt chewed on his bottom lip and glanced nervously at Alf for a moment. “No… she’s… well, I mean…” he started to say, unsure of how to answer that question. All things considered, Roo had been doing pretty well for someone who’d been through one of the biggest traumas that anyone could ever imagine. On the surface she’d seemed to be coping with things better than he had, but he wasn’t sure that either of them could be considered completely normal. He was painfully shy and withdrawn, whereas she was terrified of being alone for even a moment. He knew that neither was a ‘normal’ state of being. Roo’s anxiety seemed to come out most in her sleep though and she’d been having nightmares pretty much every night since the shipwreck had happened. If anything, they’d gotten worse since they’d been home, and they’d even developed into the occasional episode of sleepwalking. Mostly she’d just wandered about the landing and opened and closed the doors on the wardrobe, but he’d found her in the kitchen one evening binge-eating the entire contents of the fridge. That had really freaked him out because he hadn’t been able to wake her. It had been like her mind had gone somewhere else. She’d brought Alfie downstairs with her that time, but she’d seemed completely oblivious to his frightened cries, and just continued shoving food in her mouth. When he’d tried to stop her, she’d gotten violent with him, and actually hit him in the face. Four years of near-starvation had certainly had an impact on her state of mind. Sleepwalking enough to leave the house and steal a car seemed a bit extreme though, but what other explanation was there?! “Uh… well… She’s been having nightmares… ‘night terrors’, I guess you’d call them…” he said, looking at Alf with fear-filled eyes “…and she’s been sleepwalking a bit since we got back… It’s been getting worse the last few weeks.”

“Sleepwalking?!” exclaimed Maddy, putting her hand over her mouth in a worried sort of way, “Like proper sleepwalking?!”

“Yeah, a few times…” said Matt, furrowing his brow, “It’s just… sometimes… sometimes it’s really hard to wake her up… she just… she doesn’t know that you’re there.”

“Why didn’t I know about this?!” asked Alf, looking a little shocked and hurt that Roo hadn’t confided in him, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“She didn’t want to worry you” said Matt, shushing Alfie as he quietly sobbed in his arms, “…and… well… you haven’t exactly been supportive.”

Alf opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it. He wanted to give Matt a piece of his mind and tell him just how disgusting he thought this whole situation with him and Roo was, but as he stood there looking at him, all he could see was a young man who was scared silly for the safety of the woman he loved. Matt looked so frightened and hurt, and standing there now, holding that scared little boy in his arms, all he wanted to do was give him a pat on the back and tell him that things were going to be okay. Instead, he just folded his arms tighter across his chest, pursing his lips, and shaking his head at the two young cops in an exasperated way.

“Do you think that’s what this is?!” asked Matt, feeling his heart thumping in his chest, “She’s sleepwalking?! …She’s what?! She’s gone joyriding in her sleep?!” He wondered where on earth she was, as terrible images flashed through his mind, and he imagined the car that she’d stolen wrapped around a tree. Would she be able to drive safely if she was basically asleep?! What if she’d gone off the road and the car was lying in a field somewhere?! What if he’d lost her, now, after everything that they’d been through?!

“It would explain it” said Jett, nodding at his partner and getting up to make a move. “The owners of the car said that she ignored them completely… They were packing the car and they’d left the keys in the ignition… Roo just climbed in and drove off.” He pulled his cap back on and gave Matt a sympathetic little smile, “Try not to worry… We have all units out there. They’re all looking for her right now… We will find her.”

 

*****

 

Oscar sat with Callie on the beach and stared out at the water with a self-satisfied little smile on his face. Everyone seemed to have liked Callie at the barbecue last night and he was feeling relieved about that. He wasn’t sure why it mattered to him so much that they liked her, but it did. He glanced across at her as she leaned back with her eyes closed to get the early morning sun on her face. They’d decided to come down to the beach to watch the sunrise together. She had her legs crossed at the ankles and was leaning back with her hands in the sand behind her. He laughed a little at the fact that she was wearing knee high socks and gold mary-jane shoes to come sit on the beach with him. No bikinis for Callie! She really wasn’t a local girl! He loved the quirky way that she dressed, and the fact that she really didn’t care what other people thought about it, or how unsuitable it was for a day on the beach. Here she was now in 25-degree heat in a long orange and pink tartan skirt to below the knee, mint green knee-high socks, and a white t-shirt with a skeleton on the front. She was different, and he liked that.

“Wanna go grab some food in a bit?” he asked, leaning over to pull one of her earphones out and giving her a light little kiss on the lips, “The diner should be open now.”

“Yeah, cool” she said, giving him a big smile, “Is Leah working at the diner today? I wanted to ask her about that Moussaka she made the other day… My yia-yia’s just isn’t as good…”

“Calliope Dimitriou!” he gasped, using her full name for comic effect in the scolding way that a mother does. “I’m telling her that you said that the next time we visit!” he teased, tickling her playfully in the ribs and laughing as she started squealing. “I’m serious! You are so gonna be in her bad books! No more moussaka for you!”

“Don’t… you… dare!” she gasped between giggles as she landed flat on her back and pulled him down on top of her. “She’d never speak to me again…” she giggled, as she put her hand gently on the side of his face and raised herself up towards him for a kiss, “…and I’d never speak to you!”

“Is that right?” asked Oscar, flashing her a mischievous smile, “I guess that’ll just have to stay between me and you then.”

“That’s right” laughed Callie, raising her eyebrows at him and smirking. “Moussaka is no laughing matter for us Greeks, y’know?” she said, sitting up a little and jabbing him in the stomach in a playful way. “Besides, there are things I could tell your friends about you…” she added in a teasing tone of voice, “I can be a very dangerous girl when I have a score to settle!”

“I’ll keep that in mind” said Oscar in a mock serious voice, as he furrowed his brows at her in an exaggerated way, “I guess we’ll both have to keep each other’s secrets then… won’t we?”

“I guess so!” she agreed, mimicking his very serious tone and knitting her brows together too. She made a sign with her hand as though she was locking her mouth closed with a key and then mumbled loudly with her lips pursed together as though she was trying to speak but couldn’t.

He laughed, rolling over onto his back so they were lying side by side, and he took hold of her hand and began playing with her fingers. “I guess we’re stuck with each other then, eh?” he said, with a pretend sigh.

She replied in that muffled voice as though she still couldn’t speak and suddenly sat up looking at him with startled eyes. “I an’t ind the ey!” she mumbled at him, pretending to scan the sand in search of the key she’d locked her mouth with, “I an’t ind it!” She motioned in a panicked way towards her mouth, and pretended to pull at her lips to try to open them, but to no avail. She started running her fingers through the sand between them and looking up and down at him in a pretend worried way, as though he should be helping her to look. “Elp!” she mumbled, keeping her lips pursed together as though they were glued, “Elp!”.

He rolled his eyes at her and burst out laughing. He loved how silly she was sometimes and how she always managed to surprise him by taking it that one step further. She always had to push it! She loved this kind of stuff even more if they had an audience because she knew how embarrassed he would get. She never seemed to have that sense of embarrassment herself. Being with Callie was always unpredictable and he loved her for that. He couldn’t stop laughing at the ridiculous facial expressions she was making now as she tried to open a mouth that had been locked closed by an imaginary key. Now she actually wanted him to start searching the sand for it, for something that didn’t exist. “Oh dear!” he said with mock concern, sitting up again and squashing her cheeks together so her mouth became a fish pout, “I guess you’ll just have to ask Leah for that recipe another time, eh?!”

“iss isn’t unny!” complained Callie, pretending to be upset and crossing her arms across her chest as though she was sulking, “Ou eed to elp me!”

He lay back on the sand and put his hands behind his head with a happy sigh. “Y’know, I think this could really work out for the best…” he said, smiling as he slipped his sunglasses back on. He could see her scowling at him now but he knew that she was enjoying the joke as much as he was. He could just make out the hint of a smile curling on her lips even if she was doing her best to hide it. She was so silly sometimes. “I could get used to this…” he said, smiling at her contentedly, “It would certainly be a much quieter life without loud Greek women shouting the house down all the time.”

“Ound it!” mumbled Callie, with an excited squeal as she climbed on top of him to make sure he could see the make-believe key she was holding in her hand. She inserted the imaginary key that she’d just found, in the imaginary lock, and unlocked her mouth with a satisfying smack of her lips. With that she leaned down and gave him a long slow kiss, grabbing the front of his t-shirt and pulling him up towards her. As she pulled away from the kiss, she frowned at him and put on her best ‘I’m offended’ facial expression. “Now what was this about loud Greek women?!” she teased, starting to playfully punch him in the stomach.

“Hey!” he laughed, putting his hands up in front of him to protect himself. He pulled himself in to a sitting position and grinned from ear to ear, “I’m not saying anything that isn’t tr…” His voice trailed off as something further down the empty beach caught his eye, and he scrambled to his feet, looking decidedly worried. There in the distance was a very bedraggled looking woman stumbling across the sand in nothing but a t-shirt. She was clearly very distressed and kept pulling at her hair and screaming something out towards the water. He couldn’t make out what she was saying but she certainly seemed to be very upset. He squinted to try to bring her into focus.

Callie got up too and came to stand beside him. “Who is that?!” she asked, glancing at him with a look of concern, “Do you know her?”

“I think it’s Roo!” gasped Oscar, as he picked his phone up off his towel and took off towards her down the beach as fast as he could go.

 

*****

 

“I should be out there” sighed Matt, sitting on the couch with baby Alfie’s arms wrapped tightly around his neck, “I need to get out there and start looking for her! I can’t just sit here!” He looked down at his little boy’s tear-stained and puffy face and shook his head in despair. Alfie hadn’t let go of him since he’d realised that Roo was gone, and given how clingy and distressed he was now, Matt didn’t know how he could leave him behind to go and look for her. He’d tried to untangle himself from him a little while ago, in the hope that he could hand him to Maddy, but he’d screamed the house down and looked like he was going to choke himself. The sound of him crying like that had just broken his heart and he’d stayed a while longer to try to calm him down. Alf had gone out to start looking some time ago and before he’d gone he’d made a barbed comment that had made Matt feel like he wasn’t a ‘real man’. He was sitting here now with his stomach doing somersaults and feeling every inch the failure that Alf thought he was. “What if?” he started to say, glancing across at Maddy with tears starting to well up in his eyes, “What if… What if she’s…”

“She’s okay!” interrupted Maddy, shaking her head at him insistently and leaning across to pat him on the knee. “She’s fine Matt… Seriously! You don’t survive a shipwreck and 4 years on an island and then get killed sleepwalking!”

“You do if you steal a car when you’re asleep and then wrap it around a tree!” snapped Matt, a little too loudly. He looked down at Alfie’s startled little face and began shushing him softly. “Hey, it’s okay” he said, feeling guilty for scaring him, “Don’t worry, Alfie… Mummy’s gonna be home soon”.

“Alfie?!” called Maddy, in a coaxing kind of voice as she held her arms out towards him, “Why don’t you come and see your Auntie Maddy? We can play with your toy cars?” She saw his bottom lip begin to tremble as he looked at her with fear and suspicion. She might as well have been an axe-murderer as far as he was concerned. He buried his face in his daddy’s chest and hugged his arms a little bit tighter. “Okay, never mind, Alfie” she said, tilting her head at Matt in sympathy, “We’ll play later, I guess…”

“He’s not good with people he doesn’t know” said Matt, looking at her a little apologetically, “Especially not today.” Alfie was doing surprisingly well in adjusting to new people, considering that he’d spent the first two years of his life in total isolation, but today was just a little overwhelming for him.

“That’s okay!” said Maddy, still talking in that voice that people use with small children, “Alfie and I’ll get to know each other some other day, won’t we Alfie?”

Matt turned suddenly to look at the door when he heard someone knocking on the doorframe outside. He jumped to his feet, with Alfie still in his arms, and went to open the door in a panic. “Yes?!” he said, flinging the door open in the hope that it was one of the cops.

“Hi darl” said Irene, giving him a pitying sort of look when she saw how much of a state he was in and how upset Alfie looked, “Alf told me about Roo… I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do.”

Matt shook his head and blew out a huge shuddering breath. “Thanks Irene, um… come in” he said, leading her into the house and nodding for her to sit down in the armchair. “Tea?” he asked, going out to the kitchen and spinning around in a lost sort of way. He couldn’t think for the life of him how you would even begin to make tea.

“C’mere, you two!” said Irene, in a soft and soothing voice as she walked over to him and put her arms around them both. She pulled Matt in for a hug and was surprised to feel his body begin to shake in her arms as he began to cry a little. “Darl, listen to me, she’s going to be okay.” she said, rocking him gently and giving Maddy a worried little smile when she saw her watching from her position on the couch. “They’ll find her” she assured him. She pulled away from the hug and held Matt away from her for a moment to look at him properly. His eyes were just so full of fear. “Now you go and sit down and I’ll make the tea” she said, gently stroking the side of Alfie’s little face.

He nodded in a defeated way and went to sit down on the couch again with Alfie. “Mate, you’re gonna need to let go for a little bit” he said, feeling a bit claustrophobic and panicky. He pulled at Alfie’s little arms and made him hug him around his chest instead.

Irene brought a tray with three cups of tea over to the coffee table and sat down. “Why don’t you give him to me?” asked Irene, reaching her arms out towards Alfie, “What about it Alfie? Do you want a hug from your Auntie Irene?” To Matt’s surprise, Alfie actually let go and put his arms out towards Irene. She lifted him onto her lap and wrapped her arms around him. “Now, little man, how about we put on a DVD and have ourselves a little sing-song, eh?” She nodded at Maddy to grab one of the DVDs and gave Matt a little smile. “I’ll look after him, okay? …You go do what you need to do.”

He sat for a moment with his head in his hands and gave a heavy sigh. “I’m going to look for her” he said, getting to his feet and heading for the front door. He stopped in the doorway and turned to look at them with a bit of a confused look on his face. “Uhhh… I don’t have a car” he said, dragging his fingers through his hair and pulling at it in frustration, “I don’t even have a licence anymore… What am I supposed to do?!”

Maddy started to get up. She had a licence and her rental car was parked outside, but before she could say anything, a phone began to ring.

Matt nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound and frantically started patting his pockets to try to find the ringing phone. Irene picked it up off the coffee table and held it out to him, and he snatched it out of her hand.  “Hello?! Hello?!” he said, answering in a panicked voice, “Yes! This is Matthew Page!” His eyes widened in shock as he listened to the voice at the end of the line, “Okay, yes, I’ll be there as soon as I can!”