I heard nothing for ages, saw no torchlight. After a while I felt footsteps thud towards me. Everyone should have found a spot by then, so I thought it must’ve been Wally, except the footsteps didn’t shuffle the way Wally’s did. Whoever it was stopped outside the crawl space, right next to my head. I felt my pulse throb in my throat, like it was going to burst out of my neck.
The steps thudded away and I kept waiting. My legs were stiff from crouching but I didn’t want to make a sound in case Wally had crept up on me. After a while I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t see anyone in the yard, so I circled the yellow house. I trailed my fingers along the side of the walls and my fingertips were dirty as dog paws by the time I’d done a lap.
I walked towards the fence and looked over to our house, and then out to the paddock. The grass was still as a painting, the stalks silver and glowing. I couldn’t see where the ground dipped to the hill, and it stretched out for ages until it blurred to black. It made me dizzy, the invisible point where the ground bled to sky.
I headed back towards the house. The light from the window was foamy blue and Ian was sitting at the top of the steps. I stayed on the grass, called out to him, ‘Did Wally find you?’
‘Nah,’ Ian said. ‘I gave up.’
‘Where are the others?’ I asked, looking around. ‘Is Wally back?’
‘Dunno,’ Ian said, taking a sip of beer.
I looked around the yard, but we were alone.
‘What are you doing over there?’ Ian said.
‘What?’
‘Why don’t you come sit over here?’ he said, patting the space on the stair next to him. ‘I’ll give you a sip.’
No way was I going to sit next to Ian, not after last time. ‘I’m alright over here,’ I said.
‘Come on,’ Ian said. He held his can up. ‘I won’t bite.’
I shook my head but I don’t think he saw me.
‘Just a sip.’
I looked around for Cassie. ‘Don’t want a sip,’ I said.
‘Suit yourself,’ said Ian. ‘Just trying to be nice.’
I sat down in the grass where I’d been standing and hugged my knees to my chest. The air felt soupy in my throat. After a minute I heard the sound of footsteps crunching. Cassie appeared at the top of the driveway.
‘Where is he?’ I said, scrambling up.
‘Didn’t Wally find you?’ Cassie asked.
‘No,’ I said. ‘I waited for ages.’
Cassie looked around the yard, cupped his hands around his mouth. ‘Wally,’ he called out. ‘We’re not playing anymore.’
‘What are you panicking for?’ Ian said.
‘I’m not panicking.’
I knew Wally wouldn’t just disappear like that, especially not at night, especially not by himself. He was a bigger wuss than all of us combined. We wandered around the yard, calling Wally’s name. I checked all the usual hiding places in the shed and under the house but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere. Cassie went inside to see if he’d given up and snuck inside to bed, and I went down the driveway, all the way to the front gate. In the distance, across the grass, a shadow moved, but it was only a fox’s tail whipping under the fence.
I wound through the shrubs sprouting from the grass. When I walked past a big one close to the fence I heard rustling in its leaves. ‘Wally?’ I said. I pulled the branches apart and there was Tilly, squatting in the bush where there was a clearing big enough to fit into if you curled yourself up really tight. ‘It’s just you,’ I said, flinging the branches back.
‘Did I win?’ Tilly said, crawling out of the bush.
‘Have you seen Wally?’ I asked.
‘No.’
‘He’s gone,’ I said.
‘Gone where?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘He’s just gone.’
I turned and hurried back to the house, Tilly thudding along to keep up with me. The sound of her breathing made me want to bop her in the face to shut her up.
‘Slow down,’ she said.
‘No,’ I said, walking even faster.
‘Jeez,’ she said. ‘Calm down.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘I’m sick of you hanging around all the time. None of us like you. Cassie’s only nice to you because he feels sorry for you.’
I was surprised that came out of my mouth. It was like someone else was inside my body speaking for me, but I didn’t care. I could feel Tilly fall behind me, the scuff of her shoes hitting the dirt.
When we got back to the house Cassie was at the edge of the paddock with Ian. He told us he was going to go down the highway, told me and Tilly to search the yard again.
‘It’s too dark,’ Tilly said. ‘I don’t want to.’
‘Go home then,’ Cassie said. He turned and headed towards the driveway.
Tilly looked as though she’d been struck across the face. Her eyes glossed with tears and her mouth hung open, bottom teeth a row of polished stones.
‘You heard him,’ I said. ‘Just rack off.’
I turned and walked through the yard to the yellow house, didn’t wait to see what Tilly did next. Everything was as it was before, quiet and still and shadowy. I walked around the entire fence line. There was nowhere to hide. I called Wally’s name. It echoed into the trees.
When I got back to the house Cassie was coming up from the driveway. He dragged open the paddock gate and we stood at the edge of the track. I trailed my hands along the top of the grass and it pricked my skin. Cassie clasped his hands to the back of his neck.
‘He’ll turn up,’ I said, though I didn’t really believe it. I had a terrible feeling; a twin connection telling me something had gone wrong.
‘Yeah, well, if something happens to him Dad’ll find some way to blame me.’
I felt sick in my guts. I knew there was nothing but dirt out there, but Wally was scared of the paddock, of the knackery, and I didn’t think he’d go out there by himself, especially at night and for so long.
‘Idiot,’ Cassie said. He walked up the track a bit. ‘What an idiot.’
We waited at the edge of the paddock for what felt like ages. I sat down in the grass again. I felt tired all of a sudden, my legs like bricks, and I lay down in the dirt. I imagined Wally face down in the dam, or wedged under the wheels of a truck. Cassie said that people get zapped into the sky all the time, especially in places like this, where there’s lots of land and space and not many people. That the Martians zoom down on open fields, snatch up whoever is down there alone.
When I heard something moving along the path, crunching the dry dirt, I stood up and looked into the paddock. A few seconds later I saw shapes coming towards us.
As they got closer they stopped being shadows and their faces and clothes and bodies became clear. Ian was gripping Wally by the shoulder, steering him along the path. I let out a big breath and I bet Cassie did the same. When they got closer to us I could see Wally’s arms and legs were covered in feather scratches and his hands and his face were streaky. He wasn’t wearing shoes and his socks were crusted with dirt. Tilly trailed behind them. Her ponytail was loose, and she had her arms crossed in front of her chest, looking at the ground. Something was off. Why had Tilly gone into the paddock? I took a photo in my brain, evidence for later.
‘What’s wrong with him?’ Cassie said to Ian, shoving him away from Wally. ‘What’d you do?’
‘Piss off,’ Ian said. ‘He was all the way at the knackery, spewing his guts up. I didn’t do anything.’