Everywhere Everything Everyone

by Warner, Katy;

  The sky grew darker. The cheering faded away. Smoke streamed across the city. Sirens cried out. And in the distance, two figures got closer and closer and my heart thumped, thumped, thumped.

  And this is the part where I’d like to tell you that everything turned out all right. That the wall came crumbling down and families were reunited and the Regime was ruined and everyone was happy. The end.

  But that would be a lie. I think you knew that already.

  THE END

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  What an absolute joy and pleasure it has been to work with everyone at Hardie Grant Egmont. Marisa, thank you for your enthusiasm and belief in this book. Luna, I don’t know what I would have done without you. Thank you for your insights, feedback, encouragement, and skilful and thoughtful edits. And huge thanks to Emma, Penelope, Tye and everyone at HGE – THANK YOU!

  Aviva Tuffield, you saw a book in me when I thought I only had plays and a couple of short stories. Thank you for starting all of this. I am forever grateful.

  I am still pinching myself that I have the amazing Grace Heifetz in my corner. Thank you, Grace (and all at Curtis Brown) for your incredible support and for making this happen when I really thought it might not.

  Thank you to all my friends and colleagues at Arts Centre Melbourne who have been so accommodating of my crazy leave requests, and genuinely supportive of (and interested in) my writing endeavours. And to all my dear friends who have offered advice and places to write (Lyall and Adam, I’m looking at you) and have been so understanding.

  I wanted to be a writer because of my mum. Thanks, Ma, for a childhood full of stories and books and writing projects! Dad, thank you for instilling in me a strong work ethic and for your constant support. Thank you both for the long phone calls across the desert, for a bed in Perth, for your guidance and love.

  To my beautiful sisters, Claire, Jessica and Ashleigh – early readers, cheerleaders, spellcheckers, therapists, all-round wonderful humans and my best mates – thank you. And to my equally beautiful little brother and best mate and legend, Ethan – thank you for checking in on me. To Clinton, Chris, Luke and Caitlyn – thank you for your encouragement. To the best in-laws anyone could wish for – Sue and Paul and all the Barrons – thank you for understanding why I had to miss family dinner … again … and for your love and support.

  To my amazing nieces and nephews – this one is for all of you. Abby, you are one of the main reasons I started writing about Santee. I think you’d be friends.

  Finally, Steve. Thank you for nagging me when I needed it, for making dinner, for letting me off the hook, for your unwavering belief that I actually could do this. We make a good team. I love you and I appreciate you.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Katy Warner always thought she wanted to be an actor and for a big part of her life that’s what she did – until she realised she actually preferred writing the words herself. Now, she’s an award-winning playwright and the author of many short stories and a young-adult novel. Even though she misses the costumes, Katy is much happier as a writer. Her plays have been performed across Australia and in New Zealand, London and Edinburgh. Katy lives in Melbourne with her husband, their cat and a lot of books. Her debut novel is Everywhere Everything Everyone.

  For Mum

  Everywhere Everything Everyone

  published in 2019 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

  Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

  Text copyright © 2019 Katy Warner

  Illustration and design copyright © 2019 Hardie Grant Egmont

  Illustration and design by Jess Cruickshank

  Typeset in Galliard 10.5/16.5pt by Kerry Cooke

  We welcome feedback from our readers. All our ebooks are edited and proofread vigorously, but we know that mistakes sometimes get through. If you spot any errors, please email info@hardiegrantegmont.com so that we can fix them for your fellow ebook readers.

  eISBN 9781743586358