The Forevers

by Chris Whitaker

  ‘We could do each other’s hair?’

  Hunter glared at her, incredulous. ‘Like I’d let you touch my hair.’

  Mae almost smiled at that one.

  ‘Go with the hot rich boy. For some reason he wants to risk it with you … STDs and everything.’

  She thought of Sail. ‘I messed things up. I mean, he’s messed up. Together we’d be …’

  Hunter motioned for her to continue.

  Mae took a breath. ‘I took something from him and it’s all I see when I look at him. And he pretends it’s all right and …’ She stopped. ‘I don’t know why I’m telling you this.’

  ‘The thing you took. Give it back.’

  ‘There’s a bigger picture. And anyway, I don’t think I can get it back. Not on my own.’

  Hunter watched the gentle water. ‘I suppose I owe you a favour.’

  30

  ‘Ayisha said the postman was in her mummy’s bed,’ Stella said.

  Mae puffed out her cheeks. ‘Making a delivery, I guess.’

  ‘What was he delivering?’

  ‘His package,’ Felix said.

  Mae aimed an elbow at him.

  ‘I think Selena has made people crazy,’ Sail said.

  ‘Or maybe she’s set them free,’ Felix said. ‘Like now, take what I’m about to do. I’d never have had the balls to do it before. I mean, if we weren’t going to die in the next –’

  ‘I’m just glad it doesn’t involve fire this time,’ Mae said.

  ‘But it does involve Felix dressed up like a zombie?’ Sail said, a question in his tone.

  Felix shrugged. ‘She rented the Walking Dead box set.’ Mae sighed. ‘If that doesn’t imply a deep attraction to zombies, then I don’t know what does.’

  She had helped with the costume. They’d taken a pair of scissors to Felix’s best shirt and trousers while Stella helped paint his face, using her fingers, tracing the lines.

  ‘So this is what it feels like to be white,’ Felix said, looking at his reflection in the window of a parked car.

  ‘How does it feel?’ Mae asked.

  ‘Entitled. Even as a zombie.’

  Mae handed Stella a bottle of ketchup.

  ‘More by the mouth,’ Mae said.

  ‘Not in the mouth,’ Felix said, coughing.

  When they were done he led them up Ocean Drive.

  ‘Is he doing the walk?’ Stella said.

  ‘Afraid so,’ Mae replied.

  Felix limped, one shoulder dipped, his left foot dragging behind him.

  ‘He should do the noise.’

  Felix groaned.

  They stopped by the open gates at the end of Candice’s driveway. Mae handed Felix the sign.

  CANDICE, USE YOUR BRAINS

  GO TO THE FINAL WITH ME.

  ‘I’m scared,’ Felix said.

  Sail cupped Felix’s face in his hands and spoke to him, nose to nose. ‘This is it. Two weeks to fulfil your destiny. I know you’re nervous, it’s natural. But you’re the Reverend’s son. When he talks, you can see the housewives stirring. The apple and the tree, Felix. His blood is coursing your veins. So channel him, lurch down that driveway and groan your heart out. And when she hears that beautiful mating call, she’ll march out and finish ripping those clothes from your body.’ He planted a gentle kiss on Felix’s forehead and then nodded.

  Felix nodded back.

  ‘So romantic,’ Stella said, clapping her hands.

  ‘You really think this will work?’

  ‘I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life,’ Sail said, wiping his hands on his jeans.

  They stood there, fingers crossed, nervous for him as he walked down her driveway and disappeared from sight.

  And then they heard the scream.

  Followed by the deafening sound of a rape alarm.

  The zombie came sprinting from the drive. ‘Liam’s got a gun. He’s got an actual gun.’

  ‘She had to chase him with her brother’s airgun. Zombie rape, man. I tell you, there’s some terrifying people in this town,’ Hunter said.

  ‘Are you sure he was trying to rape her?’ Mae said.

  ‘No doubt. He was making weird sex groans.’

  It was midnight.

  Hunter wore black jeans and a dark hooded top. She’d tied her hair back. On her feet were monochrome black Converse and beneath each eye was a streak of warpaint. Mae had laughed so hard Hunter almost turned and left her.

  ‘After this we’re even,’ Hunter said.

  ‘Okay, commando.’

  They walked up Ocean Drive in silence and stopped by the Prince house. The gates had been taken down to make room for more machinery.

  The house lay in darkness, Hugo and his father in the city. ‘We’ll take the Range Rover,’ Hunter said. ‘I can handle an auto no problem.’

  They walked up to the front door of the house and Mae took the coat hanger from her bag, straightened it and twisted the end into a hook.

  Hunter kept watch.

  Mae dropped to her knees and pushed the wire through the letterbox. The keys were on the side table, right where they’d been the night she broke in.

  ‘Hurry up,’ Hunter hissed.

  It took five attempts before she knocked everything to the floor.

  ‘Like a cat burglar,’ Hunter said.

  Mae pulled the wire carefully from the door, then grinned when she saw the keys hooked to the end.

  They walked over to the black Range Rover and Hunter pressed the key fob.

  Lights flashed behind them.

  Mae glanced at Hunter.

  Hunter glanced at Mae.

  And there in front of them, in the glass-walled garage, they saw the gleaming red Ferrari.

  ‘No way,’ Hunter said. ‘He would kill us. I mean actually kill us dead. That thing is going in the bunker.’

  ‘We could take your father’s car?’

  ‘Even worse.’

  ‘We’ve come this far.’

  ‘Did you not hear me? That car is going in the bunker instead of the dozen family members he could fit in there instead.’

  ‘I saved your life.’

  Hunter gritted her teeth. ‘You can’t ever use that again.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  They walked over to it.

  ‘It looks scary. I don’t know if I can drive it.’

  Mae shrugged. ‘It’s just a car. How hard can it be?’

  The engine screamed as Hunter crunched into second and they shuddered along the driveway.

  ‘You sure you know how to drive?’ Mae said.

  ‘Sixty-five lessons,’ Hunter said, as she stalled. ‘The instructor said that was some kind of record, considering my age.’

  From West they took B-roads. Hunter activated the wipers and couldn’t switch them off again.

  ‘Can’t believe we stole a car from Jon Prince,’ Hunter said. ‘He’s got that look in his eye, you know, like crazy. And he’s a total perv, always checking me out.’

  ‘Who isn’t?’ Mae said, face locked straight.

  ‘I know, right.’

  ‘Did you know Hugo’s mum?’

  ‘She was cool. Kind of timid, and I could tell, you know. Some days she wore heavy make-up, and it hid the bruises but not the look in her eyes.’

  ‘And then she left.’

  ‘And Hugo’s been searching for her ever since. She took a bag, but left her only child behind.’

  ‘She was desperate.’

  ‘Maybe she’ll come back for him, but the days …’

  Mae watched dark fields pass by. When she was a girl they’d spilled with rapeseed, so bright, like a million fallen suns. Now they were fallow, all of them, nothing but mud baked hard by neglect and the relentless summer.

  Hunter crossed the centre lines while she fussed with her hair in the rear-view mirror. Mae grabbed the wheel and kept them headed straight.

  ‘You see all that shit in America? That space centre. I get why they stormed it, but tearing it
apart like that …’ Hunter found fourth.

  ‘They’re levelling.’

  ‘Some people are rich enough to keep living, maybe not for long, but they’ve got a chance if they leave this planet.’

  ‘You think that’s fair?’

  ‘Murder for principle, I’m not sure that’s a defence.’

  ‘But when there’s no one left to judge –’

  ‘We can only judge ourselves,’ Hunter said, watching the road.

  They made it to Newport as the moon edged out a cloud and finally lit the sky.

  Mae pointed and Hunter stopped in the middle of the road.

  ‘That’s it?’

  Mae nodded. ‘That’s it.’

  Hunter pulled her hood up.

  The pawnshop sat in darkness, but for the small red light of a security camera. Mae pressed her face against the window and looked inside.

  Front and centre, with the electrical equipment, was Sail’s laptop.

  ‘Can’t he just buy it back?’ Hunter said, keeping an eye on the deserted street.

  Mae picked up a rock. ‘I have to do this myself. I took it, I get it back. Go start the car and be ready.’

  Mae threw the rock as the engine fired.

  The door was glass, she expected it to crack and shatter.

  The rock bounced back.

  She tried again, hurled it with a run-up. It thundered against the glass but didn’t leave a mark.

  ‘It’s reinforced,’ Hunter called.

  ‘Thank you, I didn’t realise.’

  ‘Such a bitch.’

  She tried again, this time when it cannoned back it nearly hit her.

  Hunter laughed and clapped her hands, like Mae was performing a skit for her.

  And then they heard the shout as the lights from the flat above came on.

  The window opened and Mae recognised the owner.

  He was bare-chested, and he swore at her and then, to her horror, she saw him raise a gun and point it down. And it didn’t look like an airgun.

  ‘Shit,’ Hunter screamed.

  Mae sprinted for the car, yanked the door open and dived into the passenger seat.

  ‘Go,’ she yelled.

  Hunter slammed her foot down on the accelerator.

  The car lunged violently backwards.

  ‘You’re in reverse,’ Mae shouted.

  Hunter screamed again and wrestled with the steering wheel.

  The car swerved as they mounted the pavement and ploughed straight into the front of the shop.

  The windows caved.

  Glass rained down and a cloud of dust smoked into the street.

  The alarm was shrill and jarring and Mae opened the door and climbed out into the wreckage.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’

  Mae grabbed the laptop, and then headed to the other window and took the necklace from the display.

  She climbed back in just as Hunter found first and they tore into the road.

  Hunter screamed the whole way down the high street.

  The tyre blew out as they reached the edge of West.

  They opened both doors and pushed, Hunter with one hand in the car to steer. It was slow going. The streets were dead.

  ‘Maybe he’s got breakdown cover,’ Hunter said, then climbed into the car and fished through the glove box.

  ‘You know we can’t actually call.’

  Hunter held up a small silver hip flask. She drank, smacked her lips and passed it to Mae, who did the same.

  ‘Ten nights,’ Hunter said, and toasted the sky.

  Hunter kicked her heels off and threw them into the car. Barefoot, her hair matted down with sweat, she looked over at Mae.

  ‘I read that they did a survey once. They asked people what they’d do if they found out an asteroid was coming the very next day,’ Hunter said. ‘Like, if instead of giving us ten years they gave us twenty-four hours.’

  ‘I saw it. Two-thirds said they’d get drunk.’

  ‘Everyone knows that. But they never said what the other third would do.’

  ‘Who gives a shit, we’d be too drunk to notice.’

  Hunter laughed so hard she let go of the wheel on the corner of Hooper Avenue and Cedar Road.

  They watched through their fingers as it smashed into a lamp post.

  ‘That ought to do it,’ Hunter said.

  Mae drank some more, then passed the flask to Hunter.

  ‘We could just dump it here,’ Hunter said.

  ‘There’s cameras. Better leave it where we found it, he’ll just think it’s kids. Vandals or something.’

  It took half an hour to get it moving again.

  They were sweating by the time they turned onto Ocean Drive.

  ‘You think the radio still works?’ Hunter said. ‘A night this wild needs a soundtrack.’

  She slid into the seat, turned the radio on and cranked it up, despite Mae telling her to keep the noise down.

  ‘“Tuesday’s Gone”,’ Hunter said, closing her eyes.

  ‘But we’re here, right now, to see it off.’

  Hunter smiled.

  They pushed the car onto the driveway, stood back and surveyed the damage. The rear bumper caved in. The windscreen shattered and the bonnet folded back on itself.

  ‘You think he’ll notice?’ Hunter said.

  ‘If he’s anything like his son, maybe not.’

  Hunter smiled sadly. ‘Hugo, he’s not who you see.’

  ‘People rarely are.’

  ‘He’s more. He’s everything.’

  Mae gripped the laptop tightly.

  They walked back down the street.

  ‘Thanks, Hunter,’ Mae said, quietly. ‘I didn’t think you had all that in you.’

  ‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me. And I guess there’s a lot I don’t know about you.’

  ‘I still think you’re a bitch.’

  ‘I still think you’re a slut.’

  Mae smiled.

  Hunter smiled. ‘Epic night.’

  ‘Totally.’

  31

  At the white house Mae climbed in through the window, placed the laptop back on the desk and let the tired wash over her.

  That night, their kiss coming back to her. She almost smiled, and was about to turn and leave when she heard shouting.

  Mae eased into the towering hallway, silent along the marble floor.

  She saw them in the kitchen. Sail’s mother was tall, might once have been striking but looked as though the slightest breeze would knock her down.

  She was making coffee, her wrists so thin the dressing gown she wore fell at one shoulder and Mae could see her bones standing proud.

  ‘You think I don’t know it’s her birthday tomorrow?’ she said.

  Sail sat at the counter. Mae could not see his face but he sounded tired.

  ‘It’s today,’ he said.

  She looked at the big clock above an open fireplace, logs piled high beside it. ‘There’s not long now. Do you think we could just let today pass?’

  Sail nodded.

  ‘Tell me, Jack. Tell me we won’t have trouble today. That you won’t make today about you and everything you do wrong.’

  ‘I’m not doing it for –’

  ‘Your father might call and –’

  ‘He’s not coming back.’

  ‘He’ll be back for the end.’

  ‘That’s too late.’

  ‘I’m tired, Jack. I’m tired of this life we don’t live. I thought it would be safer here, because you can’t get yourself into trouble like in the city.’

  ‘That’s the thing about trouble, it tends to follow no matter how bad you want to leave it behind.’

  ‘We all make mistakes.’

  ‘I don’t. I’ve never regretted a single thing I’ve done.’

  She smiled. ‘I know you miss her.’

  His mother crossed the floor and hugged him tightly.

  He was limp in her arms, his head on her shoulder.

&nbs
p; Mae watched the unfurling tragedy, so tired for them all, for herself and her sister, for Sail and his.

  It was hard to watch him, so when his shoulders shook and his mother closed her eyes Mae turned and left them, the haunt of his cries following her from their grand house and their small lives.

  She went to the beach and watched the sunrise over the water.

  Cool breeze gave clarity to her thoughts. Abi had stolen Hunter’s necklace, ridden the same bus Mae took every month to the small town of Newport and sold it. The Mantons weren’t short of money, and they gave their daughter everything she asked for. It was clear Abi was keeping something from her parents and her friends. Whatever it was it had likely died with her. Mae reasoned that everyone was entitled to a side of themselves they kept from the world.

  ‘The best time of day.’ The Reverend walked over and stood beside her.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You look tired, Mae. Like my son. He never sleeps, you know. He watches movies all night. He thinks he’s expanding his mind.’

  ‘He isn’t?’

  ‘The more he reads about Selena, the further it pushes him from God.’

  Mae looked at the Reverend then. He looked older, the skin sagged beneath his kind eyes. ‘He thinks you don’t see him.’

  ‘I know that.’

  ‘He needs proof there’s a God. He’s looking for divine intervention.’

  The Reverend picked up a stone and skimmed it across the water. ‘Felix comes into the church and he helps. He’ll lay out the chairs and help with the flowers. But he doesn’t see beyond. It’s a test of faith, to believe in what you can’t see, what you can’t prove.’

  ‘And that gets you someplace better after this. How about if I tell you every bad thing I’ve ever done?’

  He smiled. ‘We’ve all done bad things, Mae.’

  ‘Even you?’

  He nodded and she wondered if he knew he was failing at being a parent, at loving his son without such weighty conditions.

  ‘Stella, she asks about my parents. I don’t tell her.’

  ‘Because it hurts.’

  She said nothing.

  ‘That pain, it’s what makes us –’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Kids come to see me, worried about the way the town shakes beneath our feet. People come to check and can’t work out why.’

  ‘Don’t tell me it’s because of God.’

  He squinted towards the sun. ‘Feeling is the most reliable sense. The earth shaking deep in our bones, we feel that. And that’s what religion is to me, Mae.’