Jaddi
‘Wow,’ Samantha said.
Lizzie stepped up beside Samantha. ‘Very wow.’
‘Breathtaking, isn’t it?’ Al said.
‘Just a bit.’ Jaddi grinned, moving next to Sam with the giddiness of feeling utterly awestruck. From the viewing platform in front of them her eyes absorbed the endless undulating hills, tree-covered cliffs, and the rich green of the rainforest for as far as they could see.
It was a relief to stop. The small of her back had started to ache with the uphill climb on the narrow footpath, although the pain was easier to ignore than Harrison’s incessant moaning. First, it was his hair, becoming messy under the bush hat; then it was his denim shorts, chaffing the inside of his thighs. Finally, and for the last few hours since they’d crossed the shallow creek, it was his wet trainers, rubbing on the heels of his feet.
The forest had transformed with every kilometre they’d trekked. Tarzan-like swinging vines, as thick as rope, hung from the canopies overhead and looped over the treetops. Large birds with flashes of cobalt-blue and yellow perched on branches, their black shining eyes watching them from above.
The trees grew taller, wider and more elaborate the further into the rainforest they travelled. During a brief rain shower, they’d eaten their lunch in the cavern of a hollowed-out tree. Despite the gaping hole, the tree above was full of crisp green leaves, and was very much alive.
‘We’re making good time,’ Al said, checking his watch as Ben stepped around them, spinning in a slow circle to capture first their expressions, followed by a panoramic view of the rainforest stretching before them. ‘There’s just over three kilometres to go, so have some water, and let’s get moving.’
Harrison groaned and pulled off his hat, before raking his fingers through his hair and sweeping his fringe to one side.
Jaddi considered saying something peppy – We’re almost there, you can do it – but she stopped herself. Anything she said would be met with more huffing and griping. Silence seemed the better option as they fell into a steady walk behind the others, and quickly began to lag.
Besides, Jaddi had her own problems to worry about, and they far outweighed Harrison’s blisters. Just as she’d hoped, their journey so far had brought the three of them closer. Especially to Samantha. Samantha had spent the last couple of years working long hours and had spent most of her weekends with David. The days of the three of them lounging on the sofa, watching the Corrie omnibus were long gone. But with their renewed closeness came a sickening pressure to release the secrets she’d been keeping. All of them. The pressure was exhausting. She woke up every morning more tired than she’d felt the night before. How much longer could she carry on feeling like this before one or all of the secrets slipped out? Jaddi didn’t know the answer, and that only added to her angst.
‘I’ve gotta slow down,’ Harrison called out to her, his feet dragging and scuffing on the track.
‘We’ve only just started walking again.’ Jaddi sighed, watching the others stride ahead around a bend.
‘Hey, let’s cut through here.’ Harrison limped over to a path leading off to the left. ‘It’s a shortcut for sure. We can catch up by skipping that bend up ahead.’
‘No way.’ Jaddi raised her eyebrows and shook her head. ‘Al said we need to stick to the path.’
‘No, he didn’t. He said, “Your partner is your responsibility.”’ Harrison mimicked the deep voice of the walk leader. ‘And I’m your partner, and I’m going this way so you have to come.’
Jaddi sighed and glanced back up the main path. There was no sign of Al, or Lizzie, Ben or Samantha. ‘Fine,’ she said, striding ahead. ‘Let’s catch up with them then.’
‘Hang on, hang on, I gotta stop first.’ Harrison groaned, shrugging off his backpack and dropping onto a log. ‘It’s these blisters. It would’ve been fine if we hadn’t gone through that river.’
‘It was a creek. And my feet didn’t get wet.’
‘Well, I don’t have any special shoes, do I? No one said we’d be going through water, and now I’ve got, like, a gazillion blisters.’ Harrison kicked off his trainers and peeled away a damp, white sock, revealing a tanned foot with tuffs of dark fuzz and circles of raw pink skin.
‘How bad are they?’ Jaddi asked, placing her hands on her hips and fighting to keep the distain from her voice.
Harrison scrunched his face and closed his eyes. ‘Bad.’
Jaddi summoned her remaining energy and looked at Harrison. ‘Where’s the pack Al gave us?’
‘Here.’ Harrison unclipped it from his belt and held it out for her to take.
Jaddi sighed again. ‘I don’t want it. It’s for you. Get the plasters out of the first-aid kit and put them on your blisters. Do you have any dry socks?’
Harrison shook his head. ‘I’ve used them already.’
‘Right, just plasters then.’
Harrison stared at the bag in his hands for a moment longer before unzipping it. With infuriating slowness, he unpeeled the packaging of one plaster after another, before moving his focus onto his other foot.
Jaddi sat down on the far side of the log and tried to remember the Harrison who’d rescued her from the cockroach, rather than the Harrison drivelling over a couple of blisters.
‘Is that really as fast as you can go?’ Jaddi fought the desire to grab Harrison’s arm and drag him along.
She moved the light of the torch over her watch. They’d been walking, or hobbling in Harrison’s case, for over an hour, with no sign of the rest of the group or the campsite. Jaddi wasn’t even sure they’d turned back onto the main path after the shortcut Harrison had dragged her into.
‘Are you sure it’s this way?’ he asked, hopping beside her.
‘No, I’m not sure. Let me check the map and take a look at the compass. Oh no, that’s right, we can’t because you left it back at the log, along with the rest of Al’s pack,’ Jaddi replied. She made no effort to hide the mordant tone from her voice as heat pulsed through her.
‘I said I was sorry.’
Jaddi groaned and bit back the comment on the tip of her tongue. They’d had the same exchange of words an hour ago and it hadn’t gotten them anywhere then. Why did it seem that she was destined to repeat the same squabbles over and over again? She thought of Suk. How they would laugh about this little episode one day. If they ever found their way to the campsite, that was.
The problem was the light, or lack of it. She’d hardly paid attention to Al’s comment at the start of their day – it gets dark early in the forest – until the light had started to fade. At first the sun’s rays had danced through the leaves, casting intricate patterns on the path before them. Then it was gone and they were left with an eerie twilight, which had quickly given way to darkness.
She couldn’t see the trees on either side of her, or Harrison, or her feet for that matter. Only the orange circle of light from the torch kept them on the path, or from walking off a cliff edge.
‘Can you slow down a bit? You’ve got the torch, remember. I almost fell flat on my face back there.’
‘Can you speed up a bit?’
‘What’s the point?’
‘Pardon?’ She spun around, shining the torch at him.
‘Seriously, what’s the point of speeding up when we have no idea where we are, or if we’re going in the right direction. Surely the best approach would be to bunker down and wait to be rescued.’ Harrison’s voice shifted as he spoke. The whining, which she’d been subjected to for the duration of the day, morphed into a teasing suggestive tone.
‘We are not stopping,’ she said, with what she hoped was enough authority to shake Harrison into moving. ‘We’ve followed the path. The campsite is just around this corner, now come on.’
He smirked, shielding his face from the torchlight and taking a step towards her. ‘You’ve been saying that for the past hour. Come on, admit it, we’re lost, and it’s kind of funny.’
‘What are you on about? Nothing about this is funny. Do you know how many acres of rainforest there are here?’ She angled the torch at the ground and stepped back.
‘No,’ he said, with a shrug.
‘Neither do I, but I’m sure it’s enough for two people to get lost in and never be found.’
‘Relax. We’re on a footpath. They’ll find us in the morning.’
‘Morning? I’m not spending the night out here.’
‘I’m not sure we have a choice. I really can’t walk any further. I have to rest.’ Harrison continued towards her, forcing her to inch backwards until the coarse bark of a tree dug into her back. He brushed the back of his fingers down her cheek.
‘Harrison, whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t.’
‘You’ve been flirting with me since the moment you saw me at the airport,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Don’t bother pretending you haven’t. I’m surprised Lizzie hasn’t noticed. All those sly smiles and little winks you give me when nobody’s looking.’
‘Don’t kid yourself,’ she said as unease wound its way through her, speeding up the beating of her heart. ‘I’m like that with everyone.’
‘You can stop pretending,’ he said, gripping her arms in his hands. ‘I’m not going to tell Lizzie.’
‘Harrison, GET OFF ME.’ She shrugged him away, before striding back onto the path. The angle of the torch threw looming shadows on the ground in front of her.
A moment later, she heard his footfalls a pace behind her. ‘Fucking dyke.’
Her stomach reeled as his tone and his words cut through her.
‘You’re despicable,’ she said. ‘The second I see Lizzie, you’re finished.’
The sound of his laugh rung out beyond the trees. All of a sudden the flapping of wings filled the night as a flock of birds took flight from directly above them.
‘And you think she’ll believe your version over mine?’ he said when the noise had died. ‘You were the one that took my hand. You were the one that brushed up against me. You were the one that whispered in my ear, “No one has to know.”’
Jaddi drew in a sharp intake of breath. ‘Try it, go on. She won’t believe you.’
‘Oh, really.’ Jaddi didn’t need to point the torch at his face again to know he was grinning. ‘Well, according to Lizzie, you sleep with any bloke with a pulse. So, actually, I think she will believe me.’
Jaddi faltered. Hurt and uncertainty battled for space in her thoughts. Did Lizzie think that way about her? How could her best friend get it so wrong?
No, Jaddi decided. Lizzie may not know everything about her, but she wouldn’t have made such a crass comment to Harrison. He was trying to cajole her into keeping silent, and there was no way she was falling for it.
‘I’ll take my chances,’ she said.
They fell silence for a minute.
‘Hey, come on, Jaddi, I was only messing with you,’ Harrison said.
‘Right.’ She nodded. ‘Just messing.’ She shook her head but continued moving. Anger pulsed through her body, but she had to focus. The vulnerability she’d felt from Harrison’s advance had renewed her urgency to find the campsite.
‘Come on, Jaddi,’ Harrison said. ‘Lizzie knows the score.’
‘And what score would that be?’
He paused for a moment. ‘Never mind.’
Jaddi’s mind ran through their time in Sydney. Harrison’s instantaneous declaration of love, the easy manner with which he’d inserted himself into the group of reporters at the airport. The sudden appearance of the same news crew at the hospital, and Harrison there again, front and centre, harping on about his love for Lizzie and concern for her wellbeing, without actually bothering to go in and see her.
‘Is that all it means to you – fame?’ she asked.
Harrison didn’t answer.
‘So that’s it then.’ Jaddi nodded.
‘And, so what if it is? Lizzie’s happy. She’s in love with me. So what if at the end of all this I make a name for myself? I’m not cut out for office work. Just look at me. I’m meant for greatness. What’s so wrong with that? Lizzie won’t care, she’ll be dead.’
‘There’s so much you don’t understand.’ Jaddi clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms. Just then she heard a clattering noise. She shone the torch further ahead and noticed the widening of the path. Another clang. The unmistakable sound of a saucepan.