Out There (20 page)

The bright light shone straight into my eyes. “Whoa, turn that off.”

“Oh sorry.” She flicked it off and the light disappeared. “We don't want anyone in those houses to see the light.” “But there are no back windows.”

“Do you really want to take that risk?”

“No.” She shoved the tablet back in her pocket.

“Do you have the stuff for Katelyn?” Bri asked.

“Yeah,” I said and rubbed the little plastic chip in my pocket. “Should we go?”

“Sure.”

“Let's get to it.”

“One second,” I said and reached over behind the tree and grabbed the large piece of bark. “We need this.”

“Not to get out we don't.”

“But how do you propose we get back in?”

They thought for a moment then Lexi widened her eyes with understanding and said, “Clever, Ava.”

“Aren't I just?”

“Come on, you first Bri.”

We took turns running through the Bubble and experiencing the momentary feeling of flying. I placed the bark on the grass saying, “Don't want to carry it all the way.”

“Makes sense.”

After we had gathered ourselves together, we all headed towards the thicket of trees and hiked uphill until we had put a fair amount of distance between the Bubble and us.

“Is it OK to switch on the tablets?”

I looked back towards where we came from and said, “I think so.”

“Thank goodness, I was worried I would trip over a tree or something,” Lexi said and reached into her pocket and pulled out four tablets. “Here.” She passed them around.

“Speak for yourself, I've tripped over the entire forest by now,” Jade complained as she took her tablet from Lexi.

“How do they turn on?” asked Bri as she held hers up.

“Like this,” said Lexi as she reached over and pressed the button on the side.

The light was even brighter in the dark of the forest. “Geez Bri, shine it somewhere else would you?”

“Sorry Ava,” she said and pointed it at the ground.

“Anyone else think it's really cold out here?” Jade shivered slightly.

“Yeah, I was thinking that,” I said and pulled down my sleeves. “Any ideas why?”

“Maybe trees radiate cold.”

“I don't think that's it, Jade.”

“Let's keep going, I think it's past that fallen building,” said Lexi and shone her tablet at a ruin.

We continued walking for a while until the ruins were behind us and it was only trees and shrubs. Before, I had little idea of what our surroundings were, but the tablets meant that I saw all the little details. Curves on the tree trunks, water settling on the moss, dirt smeared across the rocks. It was strange yet intriguing at the same time.

“Here it is,” Lexi called out.

“How do you know?” I asked.

She shone her tablet at a tree and I realised why. Dangling from the lowest branch was a little pink ribbon. It was frayed at the edges and slightly duller in colour but it was the same ribbon.

I fell to my knees and burst into tears.

“Oh Ava.” Someone ran over and hugged me. “It's OK.”

I wanted to stop, but someone had jammed the stop button in my eyes and the flood came out. Katelyn danced around in my memory, yet I felt her fading. I realised that as time passed, her memory became more distant, and that's what hurt the most.

“Come on, Ava.” I felt arms lifting me up and sitting me down on something cold.

“I'm sorry, it's just…”

“You don't need to apologise,” said Bri as she wiped my eyes with her hand. “Do you still want to have the ceremony?”

I sucked up my tears. “Of course, let's do it now.”

Bracing one hand on the surface I was sitting on, I stood. Bri, taking that as a sign, ran over and opened her bag. She combed through it then walked back over as we all huddled around her.

“So let's all put our memorabilia in the pouch. Who wants to start?”

“I will,” said Lexi and reached into her pocket and pulled out a short thin item.

“Is that a tablet pen?”

“I haven't seen one of those in years.”

Lexi laughed. “This was from back when we needed them for writing on tablets in school.”

“Look at us, all grown up, able to use our fingers like adults,” I joked.

“So what's it from?”

“Katelyn was sitting in front of me in class and the teacher asked us to write something or other, and I realised I forgot my pen. So I tapped on her shoulder, this must have been five years ago, and I asked if she had one I could borrow, and this is it.” She held it up. “And that's how we met. Been friends ever since.”

“That's nice,” said Bri with a smile. “Here, put it in the bag.” Lexi did as instructed. “Bye Katelyn.”

“I'll go next,” said Jade and extracted a thin tablet from her pocket.

“Your light-up tablet?”

“No, this is an electric document.”

“Of what?”

“When we went to the archives for Bri's birthday ages ago, Katelyn was trying to get me to visit the stupid music section. She gave me this brochure and said I'd enjoy it. I told her she was wasting her breath. I actually found this lying under a pile of stuff a few days ago so I went to see it. She was right, it was amazing.”

“I remember that,” Bri said.

“Well, here it is, proof that Katelyn was an incredible crazy mind-reader,” she said and dropped it in the bag.

“So here's mine,” I said and took out the plastic chip from my pocket.

“Hey, what's that?” Jade asked and leant in to look at it.

“This is a guitar pick. Katelyn dropped it before we left my house for Bri's birthday, so I guess it's the same age as Jade's brochure. We slept out in the backyard the night before and I guess she must have dropped it in the grass when she left. I found it the next night. It was the one she used at our show, you know at the Election.”

“That's a great memory, Ava.”

“Yep, Ava's dance moves are certainly memorable.”

“Don't make me show them to you, Jade.”

“Oh please, not the dancing!” she said sarcastically. “Anything but that!”

I did a little jump in the air and clicked my heels. “Prepare to face your doom.”

“All right you two, no dance wars here. Put your item in the bag, Ava,” Lexi said and pointed at the pouch.

I kissed the little piece of plastic. “Here you go, Kay.” It fell into the bag.

“Here, hold this,” said Bri and handed me the pouch and ran over to her bag. She came back carrying something in her hands.

“What you got there, Bri?”

“Forget-me-nots.” She held up the bunch of little blue flowers.

“From the goodbye ceremony?”

“Yeah, I saved some. Here's to Katelyn, someone we will never forget.”

“Hear hear!” we cheered as she dropped them in the pouch and sealed it.

“I also brought this,” Bri said and ran back to her bag and came over with a very thin tablet. She switched it on to show a photo of Katelyn. “It's an electronic photo.”

“I recognise this,” Lexi recalled.

“You took this photo, Lexi.”

“I did, didn't I?”

“Oh yeah,” I said as I suddenly remembered. “We were at the park and Lexi just got her new camera so we were taking photos.”

“That's it,” said Bri, nodding.

The photo showed Katelyn with a daisy chain in her hair and her head tilted back laughing. She looked beautiful.

“Wasn't Ava dancing around behind the camera?” Jade asked. “Oh, now I remember! We were having a dance-off, Jade.” “That's ironic.”

“And Lexi was trying to take pictures.”

“That's right – Katelyn was laughing at your Ava-special-flip-trip-turn-fall-over-on-your-face-kazam.”

“I did not fall on my face.”

“You did too.”

“How'd you get the photo, Bri?” Lexi asked as she turned to her.

“I asked you to put it on an electronic photo tablet for me, so you did, and here it is.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

She held up the pouch and attached the photo to the front. “I put a clip on it.”

“But that photo is from years ago.”

“I know, and I have tons of photos of her in the Centre, but I just thought that this one really captured how I'll always remember Katelyn – laughing.”

“She had a great laugh,” I said and smiled to myself as I heard it drifting through the trees.

“She did.” A lone tear slid down Bri's cheek and silently landed at her feet.

We all stood there for a moment to listen to Katelyn laugh. The gentle sound wafted in the breeze and tickled my soul.

Then her voice faded from my head. “Should we hang the pouch?”

“Uh, sure,” Bri said as she snapped back to reality. “Over there?” She pointed at the ribbon tree.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

We all walked over and Bri hung the pouch on the branch next to the ribbon. I took a moment to remember Katelyn in all her glory – hair streaming behind her, laughter in the air, eyes so kind and warm.

Then I heard something. A rustling noise came from the bushes behind me. I spun round. “Did anyone hear that?”

“The rustling noise?”

“I heard it too.”

“It came from the bushes.” “What do you think it is?” “We should go.”

“Yeah, it's probably the wild animal.”

The others all turned to go and collect their things. I stayed rooted to the spot. The sound came again.

“Hurry Ava, let's go.”

“Hold on one second,” I said and crept slowly towards the source of the sound.

“Ava, what are you doing?”

At that moment I wasn't really thinking straight at all. Something inside me just said walk.

“Ava, don't go there, it might be an animal.”

I kept walking, each slow footstep made a crunch as the fallen leaves were trampled. I didn't hesitate a second. After another step I reached the bush. Carefully, I placed my hand on the leaves and pushed them aside.

Then I saw two eyes.

I jumped back, startled. It was hard to see in the dark, but they were a beautiful golden green colour and they stared back at me with curiosity.

“What is it?”

“Ava, please come back.”

I looked into the eyes, trying to decipher what they belonged to. Then they disappeared. Without thinking, I stepped through the bush just as the creature took off running. I ran after it, following the sound of movement.

“Ava, come back!”

I kept going after it and I heard it running faster. I reached out to grab at it, but just as I did, my foot caught on a root and I fell hard on to the ground. My hands clutched dirt and I tasted it in my mouth.

The running stopped and the animal turned and walked back over to me. I could hear it panting directly above me. It was tall.

I spat out the dirt in my mouth and sat up, searching for my light-up tablet on the ground. The footsteps grew louder as it came closer and closer. My heart was pounding as I began to claw frantically at the dirt for my tablet. Soon I felt its smooth texture amongst the dirt and I flicked it on and shone it directly at the creature.

It shied away from the light, covering its eyes with its hands. It took a moment for my own eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did I was shocked.

Before me stood a human, not an animal, yet it was the strangest girl I had ever laid eyes on. She was tall, far taller than me, and her shoulders were broader than most. She had very short hair and thick muscles on her arms, legs and stomach. I noticed she was shirtless and I gasped, scooting backwards.

I heard the others yelling in the distance. She gave me a strange look, most likely similar to the one I was giving her. I shone the light at her face; her jaw was square and covered in little dots. It was the most bizarre person I had ever seen.

“Who are you?” I asked it.

“Are you OK?” she asked as she took a step forward and I jumped backwards. The girl froze.

Her voice sounded so deep, almost like…

Then it hit me. It wasn't a girl at all. It was a boy.

“Are you OK?” It started walking closer.

“Stay back!” I cried and crawled away from it.

“Ava, what's wrong?” Lexi came running up behind me

“It's a… a… b-boy,” I stammered.

“A what?”

The others came running over.

“It's a boy!” I screeched.

They looked at it for a second then we all screamed in unison and everyone took off, running away from it. I struggled to my feet, still keeping the tablet trained on it.

“Wait.” It grabbed my arm as I stumbled to my feet. “Who are you?”

I froze and stared at him for a moment. He looked back at me with total curiosity. Then I slapped his arm away, turned and ran.

I kept running after the screams of the others and the flashing lights. My feet were burning so hard I thought they might fall off. I turned to look over my shoulder but he clearly wasn't following me. I only ran faster.