A Shot at Freedom by Kelli Bradicich Read Free Book Online Page A

her mind, where she wore the crisp blue striped uniform, comfortable work shoes and spent her days chatting to the regulars and getting to know travellers. People were always friendlier in holiday places. Everything would work out as long as she and David stuck together. He was all she needed. Even as she thought about him, she felt her breath rattle in her hollow chest.
    ***
    David
    At fir st David sprayed the sinks and toilets, wiping them delicately. With each swirl of the cloth his movements became harder, faster, stronger, larger. Stubborn marks stayed. The walls were caked in blood and shit. The rage began in his gut. His shoulders ached from holding it back.
    He filled buckets with steaming hot water and hurled them across the floor and up the walls. Not enough. It was never enough. He could never be enough.
    Outside was a high powered hose. Jostling with the swing door, he dragged it in, turned it on. The spray hammered the walls, flooded the floors and soaked him through to the skin. His hair pasted against his skull. It wasn’t the way he wanted to look. It wasn’t the way he wanted to be. It wasn’t him.
    All that was left was the mop. At first he dragged the mop through the lake of water, wringing it out into the bucket. His efforts were small and insignificant. Salty tears pricked at his eyes. His chest shuddered. He kicked the bucket. The mop became an axe.
    He stopped, and turned, captivated by the dripping walls. The mop clapped on the tiled floors. He reached into his pocket for Brooke’s phone. Turning it on, he leant on the sink to read the messages.
    ***
    Brooke
    With a bored glance out the window, she caught sight of David at the ute. Without looking back at her, he climbed in. Black smoke blasted from the exhaust. Her serviette floated to the floor. Knocking several stray chairs flying, she scrambled for the exit.
    Hauling the glass door open she stood in the gravel car park, just in time to see David pull out on the highway. As the dust settled around her, she noticed her bag abandoned at the head of the empty car space.
    ***
    David
    David saw her in the rear vision mirror. She ran into the middle of the highway and stood motionless. As he gripped the wheel, he told himself leaving her was for the best. There was one thing he was sure about. The pain on her face was because of him and everything he had been to her since they were five when he found her hanging from an apple tree in his orchard.
    The orchard belonged to her family now.
    ***
    Brooke
    Brooke found her phone in the bathroom sink. The screen was cracked in the top corner but it was working. The mop was snapped in three pieces and scattered across the floor. A split bucket propped against the door. Brooke wiped the toilet seat and sat down. She dropped her head into her hands and cried. Tightness seized her chest, squeezing every nerve until her body throbbed.
    The phone was her only connection to him. But she had to have patience to wait for him to call. The messages were still there, unread. Her fingers worked as if they weren’t a part of her. The first text flashed before her.
    It read , call us we’ll come get you both
    Yeah right . Strategy.
    She tried another , davids father dead come home
    ***
    David
    David’s eyes searched for parts of the highway that he could make a clean u-turn. At every driveway and side road, his heart thumped harder and his foot eased off the accelerator. It was a beeping horn or the chugging backfiring ute that brought him back to his senses, forcing him to push on.
    ***
    Brooke
    With her bag at her feet, Brooke sat on the log under the shade of the blue gum, counting the cars that flew past, 407, versus the cars that pulled into the station, 46. The sun drew closer to the earth, setting at a size larger than she’d noticed before.
    The waitress sat down beside her again. “Is there anyone you might need to ring?”
    “I can’t contact him.”
    “Who’s him?”
    “My friend. We got sort of