Death on Holiday

Chapter 16

"Dad's been found!" cried Jack, pulling me out of bed. "He' alright, just a few burns. We can go visit him now!"

"What about Brendon?" My mind automatically flicked to my younger brother.

Jack shook his head. "Nothing yet. But they're not sure of everyone's identity, so everyone's probably fine".

*****

At the hospital on the mainland, it was packed. Several hundreds of people were doing the same as us; meeting their loved ones, or identifying their family members. There was an air of worry and uncertainty around, surrounding us all. I hated it. It made me feel so scared.

Dad was sharing a room with some other fella with burns on his arms. He seemed friendly enough. But none of us were focused on him.

"John!" mum screamed, and ran over to him. He placed a plastered around her as she collapsed onto him. Me and Jack stood in shock for a second, before my brother followed.

"Dad! You're okay!"

Dad smiled at him. "Just a couple of burns and bruises, son, nothing bad". He kissed mum on the cheek, and I flinched, remembering Harvey once more. Dad glanced over at me. "Em? You can come over, you won't hurt me. I'm all drugged up".

"Where's Brendon?" I asked as I cautiously made my way over.

Mum glared at me. "Emily! Give him some time! He just saw us!"

Dad's eyes glazed over. We all stopped breathing, and just watched him. "I had to grab his water bottle and a snack, which were still in the boat. Cos we had to have fluorescent vests on, we weren't allowed to carry backpacks. I went to fetch it while he made sandcastles on the beach. I went back for him, but I couldn't find him. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have ever left his side".

None of us could speak.

Jack eventually cleared his throat. "He's probably one of the unidentified people. He'll be fine, won't he?"

I stayed silent as mum responded, "Of course he will be".

I noticed dad didn't make a noise either.

As we all glanced around at each other, it didn't even spring to my mind that this could very well be our new family.

"And what about Max and Harvey and the others?" I wasn't worried about making the conversation awkward.

He had no words for me.

*****

I left after that. I couldn't talk to him. Instead, I went hunting for Brendon.

Over half the people who had been rescued were still unknown. Us, as visitors, were allowed to pop into each room with a description of someone who sounded like our person, and check if it was them. Whenever there was a note about a young boy around the height of 130cm, I popped my head in. I even tried rooms that described males with his hair and eye colour. But there was no such luck. I checked for all of my friends; Harvey and Max, Phil and Connie. Even for Robert and Celeste Johnson, and Charles and Chloe Watson, for Luella and Pheob. But none of them I could find. Which scared me a little. Deep down, something shifted. Like I realised I would never see some of them again.