These Hills Called Home | ONC 2024

[16] After the Storm

    Meet you outside around 3?

    I'll even use the van especially for you

Sorry that my messed-up ankle's spoiling your off-road fun

    At least your foot doesn't scream whenever I rev the bike's engine

    Can't wait to have you back, Gem. We've missed you!

Missed you dorks too <3

    Sat on a low stone wall among the clean brickwork of the hospital's main entrance, Gemma drummed her fingers against her duffel bag as she stared at her phone. Her latest message was truthful, yet the message did not chime with her stress-scorched nerves. While Nathan had been in constant contact throughout the day, checking on Gemma and arranging her pick-up, Avery had been wholly, stubbornly silent.

    Cold, sticky dread slithered down Gemma's back as she checked her last exchange with the girl once again, combing for the thinnest thread of a clue:

    still got that HUGE news bomb to drop on you

I'm falling off my bed in anticipation

Can't you just tell me now?

    no duh

    gotta have something sweet to celebrate your epic return

They've said I should be good to go tomorrow

Hope that's not too long to make you wait

    girl plz

    this is SO worth waiting to share irl

    better rest up and get your butt back here for me

    Gemma cupped a hand over her weary eyes. There were countless reasons for Avery to keep away from her phone during work hours, yet after days of consistent communication, the abrupt radio silence deafened her. Controlling her breathing, listening to the steady stream of nearby traffic, and counting the smooth paving stones under her feet all failed to rein in her roaming thoughts. She was spiralling, and the longer she sat alone, the harder a familiar intrusive fear hacked at her heart.

    The slam of a vehicle door pulled Gemma back from her mind's blind depths. Waving to her, Nathan jogged up the stairs, casting an appreciative eye over the lush, leafy planters that adorned the hospital's main entrance. He was alone. "Hey, Gem! Hope I didn't make you wait too long. It's been a long time since I had to drive around here," he said with a vague gesture at the winding roads over his shoulder. His warm, giddy laugh bounced from his lungs, only to trip and falter at Gemma's unmoving features. "Sorry. Was that too much too soon?"

    "Don't worry about it. I actually really missed your energy in there," Gemma said as she scraped up a half-hearted smile to appease the concern knitted into Nathan's lowered brow. She threw a vain final glance through his van's windows, yet nothing met her eye but taunting emptiness. "Where's Vee? I thought she was coming too."

    "Yeah, well...something went wrong in the pub." Nathan's cheeks reddened, and he ran a hand over the front of his neck. "All the...important pub stuff just broke suddenly. It seemed really serious."

    At the base of Gemma's chest, her rigid panic melted into a soft, caramelised concern. Intense peak-time demands had exposed the fragility of much of the pub's infrastructure from her first shift, so any major equipment failure was easy to imagine. It was harder to see Iris insisting that Avery stick around in that stressful situation, however, and Nathan's nervously shifting eyes only fuelled her burning anxiety. "That sounds like a nightmare. Do you think Iris could use our help too? I have her number, I can –"