The Accident (25 page)

In bed, staring up at my ceiling as I listen to the storm outside. Tracing the different sections with my eyes, rolling their names over my tongue, comforted by the routine. Look for a place to store today’s experiences: long walk to school and the taste of not-enough-sleep. Exam hall. Car trip to Singleton with Tash whining in the back. That moment in Coles where I nearly had it. The crash, and the life I helped save. The death. The rain, flooding my parched soul.

I was wrong. How could I think abandoning Tash could be the best thing for her, when it’s the thing that screwed up my life the most? Nobody wanted the little girl abandoned in the freezer aisle. But that’s not me anymore, and it’s not Tash. Rose-Marie might be an annoying tight-arse sometimes but she meant what she said. We’re both wanted.

Reach for my bedside table, pulling the drawer open and digging through until I find the list from Mrs Perkins. Run my finger down the list of options. Psychiatry? Psychology? Neuroscience? Terry and Rose-Marie want me to go to uni. If I get my act together I can still get the marks for it.

Doctor Eliat Singleton.

Well, maybe.

acknowledgments

Many thanks to the team at Text Publishing and particularly my editor, the brilliant Mandy Brett, who knew exactly what I wanted to say, and how to say it better. Thanks to Irina Dunn for early manuscript advice and suggesting I submit to the Text Prize.

Thank you to my family for your support. To those of you who read early drafts: thank you for reading, and more importantly, for not laughing at my efforts!