Chapter 9
"…& Broken"
Emily
You survey the harsh unfamiliar landscape. Your initial relief to be on solid ground and off that plane which was far too small to be truly safe, was short lived. Dust covered everything in sight. Just mountains of pale dusty dirt as far as your eye could see in this desolate mining town .It was almost like stepping onto another planet, and you can understand instantly why the town is a favourite location for science fiction film makers. This hot dusty dump was a far cry from what you had imagined.
You've never felt so lethargic. 'It's the heat.' You tell yourself. Although you'd never noticed the climate to affect you in such a way, not even growing up in the middle eastern desert. Nothing as external, as meaningless, as uncontrollable, as weather had ever affected you. You've always been so far caught up inside yourself for any outside force to get through to you in that way. Perhaps you were just older now, perhaps your compartmentalising skills had been shot to shit. Perhaps you're just tired. You realise you've lost everything. What's the point in going on alone? Suddenly it seems so tiring just to keep going.
Piles of discarded earth covered the horizon, and deep holes that had been sunk in the search for opals. You can almost taste the broken dreams in the air, the men who had given up everything desperately seeking their fortune, those rare lucky ones who found it , and those who had not, those who were still here in this god forsaken place searching for a beautiful treasure in the midst of this hell. It seemed somehow fitting that such a precious stone should come from such a harsh ugly environment. Beautiful things are often found in such places. You wonder if you'll find the thing you're searching for here?
You remind yourself there is a reason to keep going. Just one reason left.
Deep inside your mind you wonder if that's the truth. You think over the impossible things you were told before you left the USA. It couldn't be true. They were just taunting you. The three of them. Lying to get back at you. Or to cover their own skin. Or just because they are completely insane.
You'd hadn't believed them at first.
He was crazy. You knew that. Cold, calculating, remorseless. He hated you. He was trying to hurt you. It was revenge. He made up crazy stories trying to get to you. You'd shrugged it off. Completely. It was that simple.
And then she told you the exact same thing. It was harder to walk away from her. You couldn't understand what she would gain from corroborating his story. She didn't hate you, not any more. But she did want something from you. Absolution. Something you couldn't give her. It was you angry at her, not the other way around. Was she trying to manipulate you somehow? She's crazy too, you decided. But it was harder to ignore her as she stood before you in tears, begging you to listen to her.
You couldn't let it go after that. And finally you'd confronted your mother. Expecting her to laugh in your face. Or to vehemently deny it. You hadn't expected her to flinch away from your words, then stand there silent for a moment. A flicker of annoyance in her eyes before telling you it was a long time ago, forget it. You stared at her in disbelief. She didn't deny it. There was guilt written all over her face. Guilt, but not regret. That's the moment you let yourself believe he might have been telling you the truth.
Still with your own eyes you needed to see it. And then?
It was fortunate this town was a dump. You stood out. You were counting on the fact they would come to you. You were lacking your usual resources, finances and courage. All you could do was wait. How hard could it be in this tiny town for them to hear that you'd come looking for them? Not hard. It won't be long.
You wonder how people can survive in this town. It is unbearably hot, there are no trees, no grass, no clouds, no rain. Nothing to sustain life at all. You wonder if there are even any jobs to maintain the population. Surely people were not still mining for opal other than as a hobby. Surely all the opal had been long ago claimed. Perhaps tourism brought people to this quaint town in the cooler months. Other than that you can see no means of living in this dead end desert place in the middle of nowhere. You ask yourself the question. What are THEY doing HERE?
There is no answer, and you comfort yourself this is all a trick. Just a cruel sick joke the three of them somehow concocted. You'd been pushed, and pulled, lied to, and threatened, blackmailed and manipulated. Why should any of them now tell you the truth? It was all lies and you were wasting your time in this dump. But you have to know for sure. There is no turning back now, even if you had somewhere to turn to.
