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It was early evening and the café was reasonably full with visitors, patients and hospital staff. There was an atmosphere of collective respite, a temporary escape from the sterile hospital corridors and a myriad of diseases and injuries waiting outside the door. The gentle hum of conversation created a soothing backdrop, punctuated by the occasional clink of coffee cups and the rhythmic whir of the espresso machine. The café had an inviting ambiance, illuminated by the soft glow of pendant lights and the golden hues of the setting sun seeping through the windows.
She spotted Demi in the corner, two cups of steaming coffee sat on the table. Abby quickened her pace as Demi stood, holding her arms wide. She almost knocked her friend from her feet as she fell into the hug.
“Oh, Abby.” Demi tightened her embrace. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
She squeezed back. “Neither can I. And you only know half of it.” At some point, between the café and the ward, Abby had decided to tell Demi everything.
They sat at the table and Abby took a grateful gulp of coffee. “Thank you.” she smiled at Demi.
“How’s your mum?”
Abby felt the tears gather in her eyes again. She’d not cried since Dr. Carchedi told her about the change in Rachel’s prognosis, almost five hours ago.
“Up to her eyeballs on morphine.”
Demi smiled. “No pain.”
Abby nodded. “Not much conversation either.”
Demi reached across and took Abby’s hand. “What are the doctors saying?”
She sighed. “They’re trying to be positive, without giving us false hope. Two days ago, they gave her weeks to live, now it’s days. I keep waiting to wake up and discover it’s all just a bad dream.”
Demi squeezed her hand, blinking back her own tears. “And what happened at the house? Was it a gas leak? Emma thought it might be something to do with Rachel’s paints, or her setting agents?”
The truth about the explosion clearly hadn’t gotten out yet. Abby wondered how much longer that secret would keep.
“Dee, there’s so much more I haven’t told you.”
Her friend leaned closer. “Tell me.”
Over the next ten minutes, she told Demi everything, from discovering who her father was, to the impending gang war between The Devils MC and Peter Isobel’s crime syndicate, to keeping everything from Scott and the precarious state of his career, and their relationship.
The colour steadily leached from Demi’s face, her mouth falling open as Abby spoke. “I don’t know what to say.”
Abby shrugged. “What is there to say? Everything is royally fucked.”
“Well, thank God you got out of Rachel’s house when you did. I drove past there on the way to the hospital, and there’s nothing left.”
A sudden heaviness settled in Abby’s chest, as if an unseen force had placed a weight upon her heart. She inhaled sharply, her throat almost too tight to bring any air into her lungs. The café blurred around her, and nausea gripped her stomach.
Everything was gone? Every painting, every photograph… every memory. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision from the tears tracing a silent path down her cheeks. Soon her mother would be gone as well, and she’d have nothing left to remember her by.
Demi stood and dragged her chair closer to Abby’s. She put her arms around her and Abby let herself cry as the noise of the café faded into the background. The weight of loss pressed down, threatening to consume her entirely. The realisation that all the remnants of her childhood, the physical representations of cherished memories, were now reduced to ashes, was unbearable.
Abby felt as if she was caught in a rip, and every time she swam free, the rip would pull her back under again, stealing the air from her body and taking her feet from the ground. How much longer could she survive this? How much more could she lose?
“Dee?” She wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. “I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything.” Demi’s face was streaked with tears as well.
“I want you to take Flynn and get out of town. Go visit your mother in Brisbane or stay with your friends in Cairns.”
Demi sat back. “What? You want me to leave you with all this shit going on?”
Abby nodded. “Yes. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you or Flynn. Please, Dee. These people are dangerous, and Zep said they'll do anything to win, including going after the people I care about.”
Demi looked unconvinced. “I don’t know.”
