Chapter Three

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Thursday, May 19th 2005

Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

8:07 PM


Junie Bennett was three things.

She was cold, hungry and a little scared.

Cold, because for probably the umpteenth time that month the boiler had stopped working. She had tried to fix it herself with the boiler manual she'd found in the basement but she had, of course, failed miserably. The manual used such confusing vocabulary and complicated instructions that Junie had given up within fifteen minutes of her attempt. She wanted to call someone to fix it but the phone wasn't working and she didn't know who to call.

The temperature in the house had plummeted several degrees in the last ten minutes. The plus side was that she had been able to find something to keep her relatively warm. Junie wrapped the thick blanket around her and cuddled into its furry warmth.

She was hungry because the only thing she had to eat that day was an packet of crisps and an apple. Not even a nice apple at that. As soon as she had come home from school, Junie had ventured into the kitchen and just five futile minutes into her search for sustenance, she had found the cupboards and fridge empty with no food in sight. Well, there was that block of cheese but it had turned green. The food should have been here. Exhaustion and hunger never mixed well with her, it always seemed to make her irritable and impatient.

Junie was worried because she had not seen Audrey in four days . On the Monday morning before she had left for school, Audrey had trotted into the kitchen holding a suitcase. She was dressed to impress, her red hair had been styled upwards into a tight bun. She wore a short and rather tight white dress with crimson high heels. Audrey had given her some money for food and anything else she might need. She'd said she was going on a business trip with a friend of hers and that she would be back soon. Junie thought four days was soon enough.

She was, admittedly, a little scared because she didn't like the fact that she hadn't seen her mother for four days and she was starting to get worried. The lights weren't working again, leaving Junie to sit in the cold dark by herself. Junie may have been a little scared of the dark. The flickering light from the television ahead helped a little but not a lot. She sat in the living room, quietly watching an episode of Home and Away. She was only watching it because it was the only thing on television that she could tolerate.

Thump.

What was that? Her eyes scanned the room. She had definitely heard a noise.

Thump. Thump.

There it was again. Keeping the blanket wrapped around her, she sat up and cautiously left the comfort of the living room. The narrow hallway was dark. The thumping noise was coming from the front door. Junie frowned. Who would be knocking at this time? For a second she thought her mother had returned, she shook her head, batting the thought away when she realised her mother would have come in from the back door.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Whoever was knocking was getting impatient now. Junie hopped forward and grabbing a baseball bat from the storage compartment underneath the stairs, she walked towards the door. If she was going to die, she was going to die fighting.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

She raised the bat high and yanked the door open. She was surprised to find that on the other side of the door was not the bloodthirsty monster she expected but the skinny blue-eyed boy by the name of Dylan Mercer. He gaped at her. His ocean blue eyes were widened in fright. Junie dropped the bat and let out an exasperated sigh.

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