Mercy Point

by Anna Snoekstra

  ‘You’ve checked your house, right?’ Ridha asked.

  ‘Of course,’ Michael’s dad told her. ‘Rechecked before you all arrived.’

  ‘You know, I’m sure it was just a coincidence anyway.’ Fabian’s mum cut into the silence. ‘They all go to school together. We’ve just been lucky that none have been friends so far.’

  ‘That’s not what it looked like, Fran,’ said Tessie’s mum. ‘It looked like they had arranged to meet.’

  ‘Maybe Tess and Emma were just meeting for their assignment?’ said her mum. Oh gosh, her grip tightened on Michael’s hand and she was glad she hadn’t let go.

  ‘What assignment?’

  ‘Something for science, wasn’t it?’ said her mum.

  ‘Yes, she wouldn’t stop going on about it for a while,’ Ridha added and they both laughed affectionately.

  ‘Tess never mentioned it.’

  The room went silent.

  ‘That doesn’t mean anything. Tess doesn’t open up to me much these days.’ Tessie’s mum’s voice sounded so sad. Emma tried not to look at Tessie. She felt distracted anyway, distracted from all of it, by the feeling of Michael’s hand in hers. Their fingers interlaced and for some reason, the feeling of it was making her feel all shivery inside, but in a good way. His leg was pressed against her thigh and the place they connected felt extra hot. She looked up at him, and he was already looking at her. There was a softness in his eyes she’d never seen before.

  ‘Okay, let’s cut to the chase. We’re all worried they might know something,’ said Michael’s dad. Emma let go of his hand. What was she even doing? She had to focus.

  ‘There’s no way,’ said Fabian’s dad.

  ‘I guess we should just monitor them. If we don’t see any other unusual behaviour, then we know it was just a coincidence,’ said Fabian’s mum.

  ‘It wasn’t a coincidence, I already told you. The way they looked at each other . . . it was definitely as though they planned to meet. Maybe someone told them something.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Fran. ‘It’s too dangerous, we all know that.’

  ‘I agree. I don’t think anyone would have said a word, no matter how much they disapprove of the whole situation,’ Ridha said.

  ‘Oh, here we go again,’ snarled Michael’s father.

  ‘I just don’t understand how you can continue mining,’ Ridha’s voice was passionate now, ‘not after everything that happened.’

  ‘I already heard all this from Belinda the other night. You both talk like it all rests on my shoulders.’ Michael’s dad’s voice was cold now. ‘All of us are complicit in this. Don’t forget that.’

  ‘We know that,’ Fabian’s father said, ‘but we aren’t all making a tidy profit from it like you are.’

  ‘If you have a problem with it, Gio, be my guest and speak out. Or are you too scared like everyone else?’

  ‘You want him to speak out about the kids?’ Tessie’s mum asked, sounding incredulous. ‘That’s crazy! No one can ever know!’

  ‘Oh for God’s sake, Lia!’ Michael’s father’s voice was rising fast. ‘Do you really think the public would even believe we found those babies down in the caves? There is no way!’

  It was as if time stopped. They looked at each other. Emma’s heart thumped.

  ‘You’re right,’ said her mum, ‘I don’t believe it myself sometimes.’

  Silence. Emma’s head swam. This was unbelievable. It made no sense. She’d never even been to the caves.

  ‘We should never have gone back there.’ Michael’s father’s voice was quieter now, but still angry.

  ‘We had to go! Damon might have still been alive! We couldn’t just leave him there!’ said her mum. In the photo it had looked like he was part of their gang; he must have been friends with all of them.

  ‘And if we hadn’t gone, we never would have found them,’ Fabian’s father said, trying to keep his voice steady. ‘We wouldn’t have our children; you wouldn’t have Michael.’

  Silence again. Emma knew what it meant; she almost reached for Michael’s hand again, but stopped herself.

  ‘I think Fran’s right.’ Her mum sounded resigned. ‘We should just keep an eye on them. Let’s not go into all this again.’

  ‘I’m g-going to go now.’ This was Tessie’s mum’s voice, the stammer sounding like she might have been crying. ‘Do you mind if I use your bathroom?’

  It was as if a bolt of electricity went through them all. Tessie stood to her full height and slid open the window above her.

  ‘Sure, it’s just over there to the left.’

  They heard the squeak of Lia getting off her chair.

  Tessie expertly hoisted herself through the window. Her head, legs and then feet disappeared.

  Footsteps.

  Fabian swung himself up from the toilet and was out as well. Oh God, there wasn’t time. There was no way they’d all get out.

  Her footsteps stopped right outside the door. Sam pulled himself out. The doorknob twisted in front of her and Michael, and the door began to open.

  ‘Lia,’ called Michael’s father’s voice.

  Michael pushed Emma towards the window. She got up on the toilet seat.

  ‘Yes?’ The door stopped, standing a few centimetres ajar.

  Emma pulled herself up, the window frame digging into her palms, but she didn’t stop.

  ‘Listen, I’m sorry for yelling.’

  She felt Michael push her feet and Sam grab her arm, and she half-fell down onto the grass. She rolled out of the way and Michael fell down heavily beside her, just in time. The bathroom door banged shut. They didn’t move. Michael and Emma were on the grass, Sam and Tessie were pressed up against the wall, and Fabian was still crouching underneath the window.

  Emma could see Tessie’s mum through the window. She stood in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection. If she looked to her left, she would see Emma. Emma desperately wanted to move out of the way, but the sound of her movement might make Tessie’s mum look over.

  Tessie’s mum’s head bobbed down. They all sat in silence, listening to her pee. Emma didn’t look at Tessie. The toilet flushed, she washed her hands and then left the room.

  CHAPTER 21

  MICHAEL

  They walked up the hill together in stunned silence. Michael knew what they were all thinking, because he was going through the exact same head-trip. Whatever crazy theories he had thought up, none were as bizarre as what they’d just heard.

  As they reached the top of the hill, they looked down onto the Winter Magic Festival. It was a sea of colour. People were dancing, music was playing, children were chasing each other through the crowds.

  ‘You know, my mind can’t even compute what just went on,’ Fabian said.

  No one replied. There was too much to say, too much. Where would they even start?

  ‘Maybe we can just talk about it later,’ Michael said slowly. ‘Why don’t we just forget about it all for a couple of hours and have a bit of fun?’

  He looked over at them. They all looked so sad, their hair whipping around in the wind as they stared down at the people. Unexpectedly, it was Tessie who turned to him, her eyes clearing.

  ‘I’m in. C’mon, let’s go!’

  She grabbed Fabian’s arm and pulled him down the hill. Michael shrugged at Sam and Emma, then they ran down the hill after them. They became part of the crowd where the music was bright and pounding. Emma started dancing and twirling and they all joined in, right next to the stage where the music was the loudest. They all came from the same place, they all were going through the same thing, and, right now, it felt like they all had the same heartbeat. They were laughing and doing dumb moves and moving in and out around each other. Michael danced with Tessie, with Fabian, even with Sam. And with Emma. He danced with Emma, and she smiled at him and his heart was on fire.

  CHAPTER 22

  TESSIE

  Tessie lay on the motel bed. It was the first time in a while she’d
been in here by herself. The last few weeks had been so busy, so packed with talking to the others, trying to figure out the truth. The thing was, it felt like the more they found out the further away they got from understanding what the hell was going on. But even in her wildest imaginings, she would never have expected what they’d heard yesterday. They found us in the caves. It was echoing around and around in her head, as though she could figure it all out if she just thought about it enough. She could almost see it. Pale babies in a dark cavern, their cries echoing.

  The others were coming to room twelve in an hour, but she’d snuck out from the bungalow and come here early. She’d thought maybe it would help to go back to having the room as hers alone. The last week she’d felt like she was only just gripping on. She was only just getting through all the situations that usually she’d go to the ends of the earth to avoid. She’d felt sick often, and it had taken all her willpower not to bolt. But now as she lay here by herself, she thought of the last time she’d been here alone. It was just before she’d gone to meet the others for the first time. It felt like an age ago. She’d spent an hour in here, sweating, vomiting, her thoughts getting more and more panicked as she imagined every possible way it might work out. Weirdly, even though she was stressed and overwhelmed, everything made a hell of a lot more sense than it had then. Weirdly, she actually felt a little better. Still not okay, but better than she had before. She’d been forced into situations she hated; yet she’d managed to survive them. Nothing terrible had happened.

  Looking around the empty room now, it almost brought back a feeling of nausea. She’d always felt like being here, alone, was the solution. But now it felt like maybe spending all her time obsessing over her problems, trying to think up ways to avoid being around other people, imagining every worst-case scenario and strategising ways to get out of it, never really helped. Maybe it was possible that was actually part of the real problem all along.

  ‘Is this room occupied?’ A strange high-pitched voice came out of nowhere.

  She nearly jumped out of her skin, but then heard a familiar laugh.

  ‘Got ya!’ said Fabian, climbing through the window.

  ‘You nearly gave me a heart attack!’

  ‘Sorry!’ He jumped down onto the bed and propped himself up on his elbows. ‘I know we weren’t supposed to meet until two, but I was going a bit crazy by myself.’

  ‘Me too,’ she sighed. ‘It just goes around and around in circles.’

  ‘I know. It makes no sense.’

  It was good having him here. She wasn’t even annoyed he’d cut short her alone time. It somehow felt better to share the burden of the confusion with someone else. She looked closely at him; his eyes were far away.

  She nudged him. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Nothing. Just, it was hard to listen to, wasn’t it?’ He spoke slowly, still not looking at her. ‘I knew my parents were lying, but it was so difficult to hear the words come out of their mouths.’

  ‘Hey, at least you didn’t have everyone listen to your mum pee!’

  He didn’t say anything for a moment, then he looked at her and a snort of laughter escaped him. That set them both off and they started giggling hysterically. Their laughter eventually piped down, and they both lay on their backs and looked up at the ceiling. He was right: it was hard. Her father had called earlier, but she’d sat in the bathroom with the shower running so that she wouldn’t have to speak to him.

  ‘The Winter Magic Festival was fun, wasn’t it?’ he said.

  ‘It was awesome,’ she said, remembering the feeling it had given her. It was like when she went running, but it was shared with the whole group. She shivered. It really had been wonderful.

  ‘Do you have a plan?’ he asked.

  ‘Nope. Do you?’

  ‘No.’ He sighed.

  ‘Maybe one of the others will?’ she offered.

  ‘Honestly, I’ll be amazed if any of them has a way we can figure this out. I feel like we’ve hit a brick wall.’

  He sounded so hopeless. She wished she could think of something, but she couldn’t and she was sure none of the others would either.

  After about half an hour, the others started piling in through the window. Emma came first. She pulled out a chair and sat down heavily.

  ‘Did you guys sleep?’

  Tessie and Fabian both shook their heads.

  Michael was next. When he came in, he looked around and then, hesitantly, took the chair next to Emma.

  ‘You okay?’ he asked her.

  ‘Not really. You?’

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’d feel better if we had some idea where to go from here. Did you guys have any brainwaves overnight?’

  They all shook their heads.

  ‘I hate feeling so powerless,’ Emma said quietly.

  They sat together in silence, waiting for Sam. When he pulled himself into the room, he was grinning. He looked around at them, as though their long faces bemused him.

  ‘How are you guys?’

  ‘Yeah, okay,’ Tessie told him.

  ‘Why do you look so happy?’ Michael asked. ‘Found a nice soft cow patty to sleep on?’

  ‘Michael!’

  ‘Sorry! He knows I’m just kidding. Don’t you, mate?’

  ‘Sure.’ Sam pulled out his phone; it didn’t seem like he was even listening. ‘I have something to show you guys.’

  He came to sit at the end of the bed and the rest of them huddled around him. There was a paused video on the screen of his phone. Once they were settled, he pressed ‘play’. For a moment, Tessie had no idea what they were watching. The lighting was so bad she could only just make out the figures standing near some trees. Peering closer, she recognised the height and breadth of Michael’s dad. A woman, although much shorter, was getting right up in his face. It was Emma’s mum. They all leaned closer.

  ‘Turn it up!’ Emma said, and Sam quickly pushed the volume up to max.

  ‘— should have done it back then.’

  ‘There’s really no need —’ Michael’s dad began, but another figure took a step out from the shadows. It was her mum. Tessie blinked in surprise.

  ‘They didn’t all have to die!’

  Emma’s mum nodded at her, then said, ‘They died because of those mines, and now we have to lie about it every day to our children. Tell them these ridiculous stories about a cave-in. We can’t lie forever!’

  ‘It’s impossible,’ came a man’s voice. Fabian stiffened beside her — it was his dad. Tessie recognised his slight accent.

  ‘No one can ever know — it’s not safe,’ he continued. ‘We all swore we’d never speak about it.’

  They all started talking on top of each other then, and the noise was too distorted through the phone speakers to make out anything clearly. Sam turned it off.

  ‘They died because of those mines,’ Emma said slowly. It made no sense.

  ‘Play it again,’ Tessie told Sam. He restarted the video, and they peered in even closer to watch it play out again. But the second time made just as much sense as the first: none. Sam slipped the phone into his pocket when it was finished and stood up to face them.

  ‘Do you see? The whole thing is a lie. There never was a cave-in.’

  ‘Where was this?’ Emma asked.

  Sam shrugged.

  ‘It wasn’t last night,’ she said. ‘My mum was home. The night before too.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Michael said, ‘my dad is always home, unfortunately. I can’t remember the last time he was out after dark.’

  ‘This was a while ago,’ Sam told them, ‘before we actually met in person.’

  They all just stared at him, trying to take in what he’d just said.

  Sam’s smile was wavering slightly. Tessie turned to look at the others. Emma, especially, was looking at Sam with bewilderment. ‘You’ve had that video this whole time?’

  Sam was looking between them, then the remnants of his smile slid away and his eyes turned intense. ‘I’m sor
ry. I’ve been trying to decide whether to show you guys or not. I didn’t know if it was relevant.’

  ‘You didn’t know if the whole town lying to us was relevant?’ Fabian asked.

  ‘Yeah, man. I mean, what does it have to do with adoption?’

  Tessie raised her eyebrows; she wasn’t buying this.

  ‘To be honest, it was more than that too,’ he went on, seeing her expression. ‘I wasn’t sure if you guys were ready to see it. You were all so upset about your parents lying to you, and you didn’t even seem sure if you wanted to try to figure it out. I thought this might be too much for you, I thought you guys might freak out.’

  Tessie stared doubtfully at him, then turned to look at the others again. She could see what he was saying, sort of, but at the same time it was unbelievable that he could have not mentioned something so huge sooner. Also, there was something in his tone that she hadn’t heard before. It kind of felt like he was judging them for being so slow to start trying to figure out the truth, for being hurt by their families’ lies. It was a side of him she hadn’t seen before.

  He looked around at them. Their silence said more than words could. What he’d done felt sort of like a betrayal.

  ‘I really am sorry. You guys don’t really get how weird this has been for me. I felt like I’d found my family when we met up, but you guys are so different from me too. You guys are so focused on your parents —’

  ‘Yeah, and what’s wrong with that?’ Emma butted in.

  ‘Nothing. Nothing wrong with it. It’s just . . . It doesn’t matter.’ He looked so unlike himself for a moment, so lost, but then he grinned again and looked up at them. ‘Can’t you guys see how close we are? It’s all starting to make sense.’

  ‘Really? I feel like it’s never made any less sense,’ Michael said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Tessie said. ‘I mean, apparently the cave-in never happened and the whole town is lying about it. But those people got killed somehow, right? And somehow, amongst all the carnage, they found five babies in the caves? I couldn’t make up a scenario that made less sense if I tried.’