The air was full of dust and flying things. Tiny sounds whirred around him, overlaid with deeper ones and occasionally interspersed with shrill high-pitched ones. Light came to him from sharp angles, harsh and soft. There was a scent. More than one. Strong and pungent, making his nose quiver. He was lying down, and above him was a murky white roof, around him four equally muted blue walls. He was in bed. Sitting up, he realised he was tied to the bed by a tube that skirted his neck and went down his throat. He pulled at it, scraping his throat and making himself gag. The sound roused a movement in the corner of the room and he turned to meet the eyes of a woman who was putting flowers into a glass vase. Dropping them immediately in a pile on the floor she leaped towards him.
‘Dominic!’
He narrowed his eyes. The woman had long, ginger-blonde hair, skimming her shoulders. Her face was full and round, and she smiled at him. He looked closely for a clue as to who it was.
‘Dominic?’
He noticed a string of crystals hanging around her neck, along with a pendant made from two wings. Angel wings.
‘Aunt Milly?’
She burst into tears as he said it, and put her arms around him, squeezing him tight. The sensation was so intense, his skin stung where hers pulled at his, his eyes struggled to deal with the dust in the air.
‘Can I have water?’ he croaked.
His aunt found a bottle in her handbag and gave it to him. His hands struggled with the plastic lid and his aunt took it back from him and smiled while she opened it.
Taking a long swig, he was astonished at how dirty and tart it tasted. And how delicious. ‘Can I have food, too?’
She laughed. ‘Oh, wait, I need to call your father. And your mother. They need to know you are awake. They are in Mumbai and they will want to come back immediately. Let me call the doctor.’ Millicent Mathers stood to leave.
‘Milly? Where is Kaide?’
Her smile vanished and she sat back down, her hand reaching for the side of his face. ‘Oh, Dom. Do you know where you are?’
‘It’s a hospital. We had a car accident. I remember.’ Dom watched her face tense as he mentioned it.
‘It was last year, Dom, seven, nearly eight months ago. You have been here, unconscious, for all of that time. Kaide, she . . . didn’t make it. She died a few weeks after the accident.’
Dom smiled gently at his aunt. ‘It’s okay. She’s fine. I promise.’
She looked at him worriedly, but nodded. ‘I’m going to get the doctor.’
By the time they returned Dom had pulled out half a dozen cords, cannulas and an intimidating catheter and was out of the bed testing his body. It worked well; there was no pain, just stiffness. The doctor, a slim Indian man, shook his head in disbelief.
‘I’m very surprised by the lack of atrophy. You have not used your body in months, it should not work at all.’
Dom smiled at him. ‘I guess I was sleep-walking or something.’
The doctor and Milly glanced at each other and she shrugged. ‘I’m just glad he’s awake. That’s all. That’s everything.’ She burst into tears and Dom put his hand on her shoulder, a woman he barely knew and who he hadn’t seen in almost two years.
‘Did you call Dad and Mum?’
‘No. I can’t get through. They were at the ASCON meetings, so no phones inside. I’ll have to wait till tonight.’
‘Can you take me to see someone, Milly?’
The doctor shook his head. ‘Oh, I don’t think so. Dominic will be weak for some time. And we need to do tests. We need to see if there is any damage to his brain.’
Dom laughed. ‘I’m sure there is plenty. But I’m fine. And I’m going. I’ll sign myself out if I have to.’
‘Well actually, you can’t. You’re only sixteen. But I will sign him out, Doctor, and I promise I will bring him back if anything happens. His mother gave me medical guardianship while she was away.’ Milly glanced at Dom apologetically. ‘In case, you know . . .’
He smiled at her. ‘I know.’
The doctor frowned again. ‘I don’t like this at all. It is not a wise decision, Ms Mathers.’
‘I want to go see Angie McCourt. She can check me out over at the clinic.’
The doctor remained unconvinced, but Milly was as officious as her brother and had already bustled to the drawer, scooped up Dominic’s clothes and was packing her own giant, fringed tote bag.
She had wiped away her tears. ‘I cannot wait for your father to see you. And your mother. They have been down here almost every day. Every day, Dominic. There is only that one set of clothes, will that be all right?’
‘It’s great. Thanks.’ Dom started to strip off the hospital gown and his aunt was instantly flustered, turning away. ‘Oh, I’ll just wait . . . over, there.’
Dom grinned. ‘Didn’t you change my diapers? Surely you’ve seen it all before.’
She blushed. ‘Well, yes of course, but you’re, you’re a man, Dominic. You aren’t a little boy anymore. Come on, let’s go.’
They left the hospital in his mother’s Mercedes and as they drove he observed the city through the deeply tinted windows. The noise was a force of its own, able to move his body physically. He tried to keep his thoughts clear, but noticed they were starting to feel thicker. He was alive. Again. Another chance to live. It made him smile and cry at the same time. He swiped away a tear and his aunt caught him.
‘I know.’ She rubbed his arm with her free hand. ‘I miss her too, Dom. Kaide was one of a kind.’
He smiled.
His aunt finally pulled onto the dusty road that led to the clinic and it felt like a lifetime since he had travelled it with Kaide.
‘You know they’ve been working here since the accident. Your parents.’
He looked at Milly in surprise. ‘Here? Doing what?’
‘Helping Angie with the clinic. Administration, giving vaccinations. I saw your dad cleaning the surgery the other day. I’ve never seen him clean anything in our whole lives. Your mother comes in every day.’ She squinted into the sun as she found a place to park.
Dom began to unfold himself from the car and was stopped by Milly’s hand on his leg. It was starting to age, the soft skin sun-spotted and crepey.
‘Dom. Something has changed about you, you know.’
‘What is it, Milly?’
‘It’s your Angel, Dominic.’
He suppressed a smile. ‘My Angel?’
‘Your Guardian Angel. He is smiling now. He knows you are happy.’ Her face was completely serious and her other hand was clasped around the winged pendant on her chest.
Dom smiled at her. ‘That is good to know, Milly. Really good to know. Are you coming in?’
She rifled through her bag for the giant old phone she carried. ‘I will. I’m just going to try your parents again.’
He walked towards the few stairs that led to the open door of the clinic. They weren’t so shiny or new anymore. They were as dusty as everything else and scuffed in places. Once inside he saw in his mind the moment Kaide had been held hostage by the man desperate for medication. It felt like a story he had been told. The front room was empty. There was a line of people at the back door, waiting their turn to see the doctor, but she was nowhere in sight.
‘Angie?’
There was no reply. There was a can of soda on the silver workbench and an open folder. He glanced inside. It was a medical journal. And a day-planner. She had been halfway through a sentence so she must be here somewhere.
‘Angie?’
‘She is in her office, Mister Sir,’ a little boy crouched in the doorway called to him in a high-pitched voice. Dom smiled at him. ‘Thank you very much. I think her soda here is going to get warm if she leaves it much longer. Would you like to finish it for her?’
Dom knocked gently on the bright red door of the small office where he suspected Angie spent most of her life. When there was no response, he opened the door and stepped through. It was a small room with a simple desk and a lot of shelf space, all of it sagging under the weight of paperwork. Angie was slumped over the desk, her head in her hands. At first he thought she might have fallen asleep, but then he noticed her body shaking and realised she was crying.
‘Angie?’ he said softly, reaching out to touch her shoulder. ‘Angie? Are you okay?’
She raised a tear-smeared face and her shock was apparent. ‘Dominic Mathers? What are you doing here? I’m not . . . dreaming am I?’ A worried emotion flickered across her face.
‘Not at all. I’ve just come from the hospital with my aunt. Are you okay?’ he persisted.
She smiled softly and burst back into tears. It took her several moments to gather enough strength to speak. ‘I’m more than okay. Much more. Did I tell you that I lost my daughter, Dominic?’
Dom nodded, his heart thudding rapidly until his head felt light.
‘Her name is Eva.’
He nodded.
‘She was lost in the jungle in South America. Colombia. Presumed dead.’
He nodded again. Waiting.
‘I just got a call from the US. She was found. Alive. She was found alive. A militia group had her captive for two years. And the Marines found her when they went in to find a missing journalist. She is being flown back to the States now, and I’m going to meet her there.’ Her face fell into her hands again and the sobs shook her.
Dom stepped quietly away and left the office, walking past his aunt and out the door of the clinic.
‘Is everything all right, Dominic?’
He ignored Milly’s query. The sun hit him in the face, warming his skin instantly and blinding his eyes. He put both hands together and lifted them into the dusty, dry, hot air. Alive.
‘Thank you.’