Watery Graves by Kelli Bradicich

alive. The front door was open and the windows were wide with the curtains pulled back. The 4WD was parked out front. She would love to go there but she hadn’t told anyone where she was.
    Emmy looked back down at their own cabins. Three of them spread out, made complete by grapevines knitting their way down the hillside and vegie patches lined with a thriving crop of tomatoes and spinach. Over to the side, the shed and the cellar seemed silent though Kristian was in there working. All it would take was for Ingrid to slip out of Maya’s room and into the kitchen cabin.
    The last they all needed was more stress.
    She stood slowly . Sebastian had moved. The pacing had stopped. He was striding towards the Bexleys’.
    Emmy jumped to her feet and took the last steps over the rise, trotting down the other side in full view.
    Sebastian looked furtively over his shoulder, his fists jammed in his pockets.
    She froze.
    He stopped. He was just near the front steps to the porch. He turned slowly to face her.
    She took several long strides down the path, not worried about the noise now. Instead, there was the problem of what she would say to him.
    Sebastian took a step back and shook his head at her, waving her away.
    She paused.
    He broke into a light run down the side of the house, out of sight.
    Emmy backed up the slope aiming to get to the top again, but not wanting to take her eyes off the Bexleys ’ house, searching him out.
    As she moved higher, the view widened. Paddocks behind the house opened up. There was Sebastian jogging down the bumpy dirt road through their property. He leapt over the bigger ruts. High at the top of the slope, she sat down and watched him.
    She was safe and within view of home.
    He didn’t turn back.
    The road led down to the river, right where it wound back around the lookout.  But she wasn’t able to watch him.
    Behind her, Ingrid and Maya walked out of the bedroom cabin and head ed for the kitchen.
    Emmy stood and bolted down the hill, not caring about noise now. She jumped over the gate and kept running.
    Ingrid flew out of the kitchen door as she clambered down the last of the potholes. She forced herself to walk, and look casual. It took all her effort to stop her chest heaving.
    “Emmy !” Ingrid called out.
    “I’m here Mum,” Emmy said , casually.
    “Oh . Hi.”
    Emmy walked to the doorway, dreading any questions about Sebastian.
    “How’s that map coming along?”
    “I’m a bit over it. I might do some maths or something.”
    Ingrid held the door open for them. “Where’s Sebastian?” she asked as they stepped inside.
    Emmy’s heart thudded. She nodded to his books . “He got sick of study and left to find something else to do.”
    Maya was making some tea. Ingrid took over from her immediately, nudging her away.
    “That boy of ours is more of an outdoors kind of guy,” Maya said, and her eyes sparkled.
    “Like his dad.”
    “That’s probably where he is,” Emmy suggested, focusing on digging out her books from the shelf. “I’d say at a guess,” she said absently.
    Ingrid placed a cup of green tea in front of her. The clock was still ticking and the fridge was buzzing. It was another forty-five minutes until four.
    Maya, Ingrid and Kristian would be heading to town soon to find out the news.
    *
    With her book tucked under her arm, Emmy wandered up the path through the trees. When she broke through at the lookout, she stopped. Sebastian and her best friend Libby lay side by side on the checked rug. She stood back and watched them. It was hard for her to walk any closer.
    While reading, it was Libby’s turn at drawing her fingers around Sebastian’s back. His book lay discarded in the grass. From the angle Emmy stood she could see his eyes were closed and a contented smile pulled at his lips. It was hard to work out exactly what made it difficult to intrude, but knew she couldn’t leave them there together like that.
    “Hey,” Emmy said, as she forced herself