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

separated.”
    “The boy that was here with you earlier today?”
    She nodded. “Well, I can see why you’d want to keep him. He cleans a mean bathroom, that one.”
    Brooke raised an eyebrow, looking at the waitress for signs of sarcasm.
    But the waitress shielded her eyes and looked up the highway. “So you’re out here waiting for your man.”
    “He’s not coming back for me.”
    “ You two had a fight didn’t ya?”
    Brooke shook her head as though to wipe a memory from her brain.
    The waitress rubbed her arm, “Don’t worry sweetie, that’s what we boys and girls do. They just leave until the anger dies down. He’ll be just around the bend, I’m sure.”
    “His dad died. He was killed. It was his mum. She shot him. I got all these messages on my phone.”
    “He left and he doesn’t know?”
    “I don’t know.”
    4 13 cars passed them on the highway. 46 had pulled into the station.

 
     
     
     
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    Aim
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    Chapter Seven
    David
    David squeezed his eyes shut until his face ached, “Farrk,” he mouthed. Losing himself to the sounds of the thrashing waves over the rocks far below, he felt himself sway. In his imagination, the cliff edge he was standing on eroded, grains of sand crumbled to pebbles and rock, stopping just short of his toes. It felt so real that the ground seemed to shift under his feet. Sickened, he crouched and hugged his knees to his chest in an effort not to topple over, “Faaaaarrrk!” he shouted. “Fuck, you’re an idiot.”
    Salty spray sprinkled over David’s skin. The lonely stretch of coast swirled and churned before him. Seagulls called out to him as they circled above. Springing up, he charged back to the old farm ute, a wart-like reminder of his old life. He clambered into the humid cabin. When he slammed the door it bounced open again. Ignoring it, he gunned the engine, kicking it into reverse, rolling down into the gully and then backwards up the track. He paused and yanked the door shut, collecting his thoughts and making a decision. Ramming the gears into first, he let the brakes go and accelerated, back towards the cliff edge. He picked up speed and went straight to third. With his foot flat to the floor he began the ascent. The engine backfired. It slowed down, chugged, forcing him to drop back to first. The bitumen ran out. He only had enough momentum to tap the barricade with the bull bar and roll to a stop. The impact wouldn’t have been hard enough to leave a mark. The truck rocked to and fro in the wind. He took his foot off the clutch. It didn’t even lurch forward. The engine cut out.
    With the ocean again, spread out before him, waves sucking and bubbling below and seagulls in full flights of freedom, David made up his mind to give into what was. He hauled his bag across the seat, wrenched the door open and stepped out.
    At the cliff edge, he closed his eyes, and felt the breeze wipe the tears from his cheeks. The bag on his back, unbalanced him, pulling him backwards, towards safety.
    I t wasn’t the time for him to die. But it could be a good spot to let the world think it was where he let himself just tumble over. Free fall. Last moments of agony, his body ripped open by jagged outcrops, splattering across rocks below, cleaned up by the sea. Fish food.
    With everything he owned on his back, he left the truck behind and headed for the highway. The decision was made for the moment. He would live with all he’d done to leave ugly jagged marks on the lives of the only people he let get close to him, Brooke and his own mother.
    ***
    David tried to stick to the grassy spots as much as he could, choosing not to drag his feet, as he walked along with his thumb held high. It was obvious there hadn’t been much rain around in a while. A cloud of dust shrouded his split farm boots. Grit had made it through the hole in his sock and rubbed between his toes.
    The cars drove past, at speeds that pushed him further off the road. He wondered what it