Carrier Read Online Free Page A

round, with a small nose and wide, brown eyes. With longer hair I might even have been sort of pretty, but without it I was at best a young, delicate boyish-looking girl who looked dirty most of the time because you could never really wash the red dust from your skin and hair. I was perpetually tanned or bronzed; whether it was from the sun or the dirt I didn’t know, because I’d never had a true break from either one.
    After throwing several things into my backpack, I locked the girls in the shed again — this time I had to chase them for several minutes before I managed to get them through the door.
    On my journey to the fence, I hesitated when passing by the enormous salmon bark. A light evening breeze was blowing, the leaves on the ancient tree making ghostly whispering sounds.
    Three mounds of sand — one higher and fresher than the others — now rested beneath its shade. Invisible cold fingers of death traced my skin and left me with goose bumps that wouldn’t rub off no matter how hard I tried. I bent my head and muttered a small ‘sorry’ to the stranger who now rested there, before shuffling away as quickly as my legs could go.
    Soon the sun disappeared over the horizon and darkness fell as softly as ash over the property. I plonked myself on the ground beside the fence, setting the container of stew and thermos full of goat’s milk down before making a pillow out of Dad’s jacket. I rested my head and stared up at rapidly darkening the sky.
    Time passed.
    Once shy stars now brightened and swirled against the night in clusters like thin streams of milk. The calls of the nocturnal kept me awake, though I knew it was now past candle-out time.
    Nerves pooled in my lower belly. Patrick hadn’t showed yet, and minute by minute, my hope at seeing him again died. I started to wonder if perhaps he’d indeed found his father and therefore had no reason to roam this way again.
    Above all else I wanted Patrick and his brothers to have their father back. But I couldn’t help the cold emptiness spreading inside me like winter frost at the idea of never seeing him again, of not having anyone else in the world but Mum.
    An hour later the shed had grown silent, and I yawned, picturing the warm bodies of my girls huddled together on the floor of the shed. With all the excitement from last night and the dream about Patrick with the rash, sleep hadn’t been easy.
    Drawing my shirt tighter around me, I concentrated on the stars in a desperate bid to keep awake. The star I’d named Alice was much harder to find when the sky was lit up like this. But just before my lids closed over what was the most spectacular ceiling I’d ever slept beneath, my tiny star winked in the north-westerly sky, letting me know that I wasn’t as alone as I felt.
    *
    A creamy mauve sky stared back at me when I opened my eyes again. It wasn’t early enough to herald morning birdsong, but light enough to know that the rising sun was not too far away.
    Scrambling into sitting position, I nearly screamed when I spotted Patrick lying on the other side of the fence. He was propped up on one elbow and resting his head in the palm of his hand. His eyes remained fixed on me as though he’d been watching me sleep the entire night.
    I ran my fingers through my hair and rubbed at my face.
    â€˜Morning,’ he said, a gentle smile curving his lips.
    â€˜How long have you been here? How long have I been sleeping for?’ I knew it was a stupid question to ask, seeing as it was nearly morning, but I was a little lost for intelligent words. All this extra light made me feel self-conscious and not as confident as I had been when the shadows of darkness had cloaked us both the other night.
    Patrick’s eyes were green-grey, like the ocean I’d seen in pictures, not dark brown as I had first guessed. My family were all brown-eyed. Only Alice had had icy blue, and of course I hadn’t seen