THE RIVER 

By Tessa Harvey

    Elizabeth settled her niece into her pop-orange Kio Rio car. Already the girl was half-asleep, reassured they were on their way to rescue Joe. The woman switched on the engine, waiting as Bluey's eyes closed.

    Quietly she left the vehicle, checking by torchlight firm steel screens on windows and doors. The boot was stuffed with all they needed. Shielding the torch, she checked under the car. No tracker.

    The woman flung her phone into the river and made her way back and into her car. There was a burner phone in her emergency pack. Her brother had worked in law enforcement and somehow became entangled in something dark and menacing. The accident that had killed the children's parents was treated as accidental. She and her friend had believed otherwise.

    Both kids had been devastated. Joe had recovered sooner than Bluey, who had retreated into silence. The weekly fun gift, usually lollies, spinning through the trees  had drawn the little girl from the darkness of grief. Now Elizabeth was going to try to save Joe. She too, prayed, with much less hope.