‘Kelly.’
She fought hard against the impulse to simply surrender to sleep but she had already fallen so far down the dark well that it was almost impossible to see the opening at the top. The light was nothing more than a pinprick.
‘Kelly. Wake up.’
The fight was kindled in the very centre of her being, radiating implacably outwards. She dragged herself up from the pit of unconsciousness and slowly opened her eyes.
But nothing had changed. Finn still lay in the hospital bed, hooked up to machines, propped up on pillows. Unmoving. Unspeaking.
Until he opened an eye and lolled his head towards her. ‘Did you pass?’ he croaked.
The earthen jar of Kelly’s spirit broke and shattered with relief. All the fear and pain and anxiety flowed out in a gushing torrent that left her empty and weak. ‘Finley,’ she whispered. ‘You came back.’
Finn smiled the tiniest, weakest smile. ‘Where else would I go?’ he said.
Kelly stood up out of the chair and climbed onto the hospital bed. She straddled Finn with one knee on either side of his hips and took his chin in her hand. She angled his head up slightly so that he had to look directly into her eyes.
‘You scared the hell out of me, Finn. Don’t you ever, ever, do something like that again.’
Finn swallowed and tried to clear his throat, but his voice still rasped when he spoke. ‘I did it for you, Kel.’
‘I know you did. But you have to promise me you’ll never do it again.’
***
Her hair hung loosely over her shoulders like curtains framing her face. The fluorescent bulb above her head bathed her in an angelic glow. Her eyes burned with passion. She was more beautiful now than he had ever seen her.
‘I promise,’ Finn said.
Kelly gripped his chin between her thumb and forefinger and titled his face a little further towards her own. She turned her head and leaned in slowly. Her hair tickled Finn’s cheeks. Her breath was warm. She closed her eyes.
He did the same.
Then her lips touched his. They were dry and slightly chapped. She tasted of mint chewing gum. The kiss was the most exquisite drug he had ever taken and he knew, just knew in the very heart of his being, that he would never leave her again.
Epilogue
Twelve Months Later
He stood nervously in front of the camera. It wasn’t his first time, but it was the first time since the disaster. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and waited for the call to action.
Finn smiled at the young man. Although Jett wasn’t the most confident actor in the group, he was far and away the best. Finn had recognised his talent on the first day of the semester and had nurtured and grown Jett’s ability in the almost fifteen weeks of classes that had followed.
Now, as they headed into semester break, Jett had a chance to redeem himself after his last catastrophic effort, when he’d forgotten his lines, called a character by the wrong name and actually broken down on camera. Finn had told Jett the story of Martin Sheen’s own semi-breakdown during the filming ofApocalypse Nowand the information had pepped the kid up enough to come back to class.
‘Action,’ Finn said.
Jett opened his eyes. They were no longer his own – they belonged to his character.
Finn’s throat constricted with pride. ‘That’s my boy,’ he whispered.
***
Finn drove through the main streets of Ballarat on his way out of town. Although it was the second largest regional centre in the state, the streets were still comparatively sedate and empty. There was a big difference between five million people and a hundred thousand. It was peak hour and Finn was three cars deep at the traffic lights. He looked up at the Gold Rush–era buildings and wondered, as he did every night on the way home, about the lives of the people who had built this place a hundred and sixty years ago. Not just a lifetime ago – it felt like a galaxy away.
The light changed. Finn turned up the heating. Winter was only a few weeks old and already the nights were punishing. But when he made it to the small town of Buninyong, fifteen minutes away, Finn breathed in the harsh, crisp air like it was health itself. It burned in his chest, an ongoing purge of the foul and tainted breath that clung to the insides of his lungs. The memories of his past slowly being expunged, but not yet completely expelled. Perhaps they never would be. Perhaps they never should be.
Finn recognised the dark thoughts starting to settle on his mind. He had to focus on the now. Narrow his thoughts and channel his energy.
