“Love you too, kiddo,” Beth replied. “Be safe.”
the twenty sixth chapter
MARCO
It’s so much harder than I expected to end the call with Beth. She’s been my safe haven for more than a decade now.
Seeing that restaurant entrance, walking past the park bench where I once sat, has stirred memories long forgotten. But having Amos here with me is comforting beyond words.
When he walks beside me, my past and present overlap.
And as we drive away, I feel a magnetic pull back toward Longreach.
As though a harness is wrapping around me, begging me not to turn onto route seventy nine.
The narrow road unspools ahead of us in a thin ribbon of grey.
It’s barely wide enough for one vehicle.
Low saltbush.
Patches of red dirt.
A twisted tree clawing at the sky.
When you’re this far from the ocean, with no mountains or forest for shelter, the sun takes centre stage.
A fierce ball of heat, scorching everything in its path.
The ground shimmers in its wake.
Almost as if the world is still deciding whether to exist or dissolve.
One could be forgiven for thinking that this asphalt and Amos's truck are the only man-made things to exist for miles in every direction.
It’s not too far from the truth.
God, I hate this feeling.
I’ve spent so long trying to run from it.
Probably why my life now centres around comfort, luxury, connection and abundance.
Last time I was here, I honestly had no idea how far I was from civilisation.
I’d never ever been to the end of this road.
The entire world beyond Jundah was still some abstract notion.
And perhaps that was a good thing.
Because now that I’ve lived in the real world, walked along city streets for half a lifetime, and traveled endless days along that highway, the isolation of this region haunts me even more.
???
Did Mum know how vast and wide this continent spread?
How far away we truly were from the rest of the world, from the help we needed?
