These Hills Called Home | ONC 2024

[4] The Morning After

    For the fifth time that morning, the Silverlake phoneline was too busy to answer. Gemma hung up and tossed her phone onto the flat's kitchen island, a combination of broken sleep and futile clashes with engaged dial tones throbbing through her head. Repeated images of Jacob's limp body assaulting her mind's eye between thoughts did not help the ache either.

    The flat itself was welcoming enough. Dressed in sleek neutral hues with an open-plan layout, it was a surprisingly modern space compared to the pub it sat above. Large crystalline windows bathed the living area in morning light, effervescent sunbeams bounding off well-used kitchen utensils and the flashy television set alike. By the front door, an old-looking door key sat between two sticky notes, one from Avery – Found this in the junk drawer. Welcome home, roomie! – and one from Iris – You start at two. Don't be late. It had been years since Gemma had started a day with so sincere a smile.

    Collecting her phone and new key, Gemma locked the front door behind her and ventured down to the pub. Heady aromas of mango and citrus ascended the stairwell, and foam rose to meet her eye from wet streaks across the floor. As she stepped off the staircase, a bright blue mophead flew beneath her boot.

    "Watch it!" Iris screeched from behind the handrail. Her thin fingers choked the life from the once-varnished handle of a mop, soap suds frothing around its fibre tendrils. "First you crawl out your pit late, then you plant your filthy prints all over my mopping. Unbelievable!" She held her stance for a single tick of her leather-strapped watch, then returned to her fluent cleaning work. "The other layabouts are in the front, if that's where you're going."

    Gemma wordlessly retreated to the bar area, carefully stepping over the slickest mop strokes. Perched on neighbouring barstools with small mugs of black coffee before them, Avery and Nathan swivelled around at the sound of her approaching footsteps. "Aha! The Sleeper has awakened!" the girl cheered, prodding Nathan's side with her elbow. "Told you she'd be down before midday."

    The sigh that Nathan gave out in response only momentarily delayed the return of his usual cheery expression. "No thanks to you, I'm sure," he quipped before he pinched the front of Avery's beanie and yanked it over her eyes. As the girl wrangled with her hat and hair, he turned to face Gemma and sipped at his drink. "How are you holding up?"

    "I'm...not sure. I know I owe you both like crazy, though," Gemma answered, averting her eyes from the faces staring back at her. "Yesterday would've been so much worse without all your help."

    "Don't mention it. Jake was our friend, and he'd have wanted us to make sure you were okay," Nathan said with a reassuring touch on Gemma's arm. He ran a hand over his face, a thin glaze coating his eyes. "I was thinking about it all night, and I still can't make sense of it. Jake's really gone, just like that. He didn't even get to see you arrive."

    Though it made sense now, part of Gemma's heart bled as it had done when Jacob had not shown up. Her brother leaving without a word was familiar, even comfortable to deal with. Processing his death was an intricate, ever-expanding puzzle without a clear starting point.

    The squeaking of Avery's loose barstool broke through Gemma's contemplations. "How about Silverlake?" the girl asked, rocking on her seat and rapping her knuckles off the bar's surface. "Have they dug anything up?"

    "I wouldn't know," Gemma muttered through a groan. She laid her phone on the counter, its screen lit up with a list of failed calls. "I've been calling them for the past hour, but they never answer. I'm wondering if I should just hang out at their office until they talk to me."

    "You'll be there a while." Nathan rubbed the back of his neck and sucked air through his teeth. "The farmers tried that when they blocked our side roads with their work vehicles. When they finally opened the door, they said the police were coming to disperse us and shut us out again."