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“I’m okay. Sad but okay. I just wanted to see her house.”
“So, you climbed up a gum tree to see her house?”
Despite myself, I laughed. “I’m like a metre off the ground.”
“Okay.” Harry let out a breath. “Okay, well that’s good.”
“We used to play in this tree as kids. Still have the old tyre swing on it. But from this branch, you can see her house. And Harry—” My voice broke and I held my breath as tears finally tumbled down my cheek. “She used to play music up loud every night before she got hearing aids. You could hear it from here, but now there’s no sound. Her house is dark, and it’s dark because she’s not there. She’s not coming back.”
Harry said nothing, the only sound his laboured breaths.
“I just needed to see her dark house to know it was true. That she’s really dead.”
“I get it,” he said quietly.
“Everyone wants to talk to me about rumours of her secret fortune. Which is just bullshit. She was an old woman in an old house who loved drawing and painting. I just hate it.”
“Yeah, some of the patients shared their thoughts about her with me today, too.”
“Ryan double-checked her house for security, just in case. I’m just so angry. And I’m just so … so …”
Sad. Lost.
“I know, Stacey.” His voice was no more than a whisper. I could barely hear him over the gum leaves in the breeze. “And it’s okay what you’re feeling. Be shitty, sad. Whatever you need to do, feel it.” His voice cracked.
“I’m remembering things about Dad, and then after the fire. Granny Lynn and Dad are the only people I’ve known who have died.” I gulped for air. “I didn’t know my father was dead until three days after the fire. In a way, I knew, right when it happened, but it only became real when Mum told me in hospital.”
“Fuck, Stacey.”
“Have you lost anyone?”
Harry let out a ragged sigh. “Yeah. My best friend.”
“I’m so sorry. For your best friend, for oversharing … I …” Tears spilled down my cheeks. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say a thing. But if you want to talk, I’ll listen.”
I nodded but said nothing. We stayed on the phone for several minutes not talking. The only sounds were the rustling gum leaves, the occasional bleat of a sheep and my sobs.
“Hey, Stacey.” Harry’s firm voice broke me out of my daze. “I can hear your teeth chattering.”
I pulled my jacket around me. “Oh. It’s colder than I thought. I think I’ll go inside now. Get some sleep.”
“I’m going to stay on the phone until I know you’re back safe in your house.”
“Y-yeah, okay.” I jumped down from the branch, sniffing and coughing. “I’m sorry. I’m a bit of a mess.”
“No need to apologise. At all.”
“Why aren’t you seeing the band tonight?”
“You’re more important.”
I said nothing, allowing myself a small smile.
“I’ll save my dance with you for another time, Firebird.”
I walked, listening to Harry’s breathing, faint but reassuring.
