Naiyana was happy. Today had been a good day. And she had this place to thank. The rock bottom that had spawned this upsurge.
‘You look like you just won the lottery.’ Her husband was at the table fiddling with a small electric heater. For the chillier evenings. No doubt he would try and burst her bubble. He had accused her in the past of being insufferable when she was happy, impossibly chirpy. Forcing everyone else to query what was missing in their lives. But that was not her fault. It was theirs.
Dylan was sticking close to her, feeding off her energy, helping her pack the groceries into the old cupboard and stuffing food into the cool box.
Lorcan threw down the screwdriver. He looked worried and frustrated. She didn’t want to ask what was wrong. He would tell her soon enough. She intended to relish her own high while it lasted.
‘What do you want for dinner, little man?’ she asked, ruffling Dylan’s hair.
‘Snags!’
The expected answer.
‘Try the bottom of the bag,’ she said.
She watched him dig to the bottom and pull out a packet in each hand, grinning. Removing the plastic, she stabbed holes into the sausages with a fork before placing them into the pan.
Dylan helped her prep the hot dog buns, liberally buttering them so that the sausages would be swimming in a sea of fat. This was more like a proper family. Making food together. Then just like that, it all came crashing down.
‘We were down the tunnel today, Mummy.’
She flicked her head towards Lorcan, who visibly winced.
‘It was dark and I was scared.’
Naiyana drew a long breath. ‘Why don’t you go and get your toys from the backyard?’
‘But I was telling you—’
‘Can you get them, please?’ The remnants of her good mood allowed the smile to look genuine. Dylan nodded and ran off.
Lorcan got in first. ‘There was no rumbling. They weren’t there.’
‘That doesn’t matter. They might have been. And you took our son?’
‘It was safer if he was with me.’
‘Safer? It was better when we thought the rumblings were ghosts. Ghosts might be scary but they aren’t dangerous.’
‘We can’t just avoid the elephant in the town,’ said Lorcan. ‘They obviously have a greater purpose here than we do. It might be dangerous if we interrupt it.’
‘And going down that tunnel unannounced aids that?’
‘I was trying to confirm what they are doing.’
Naiyana shook her head. When had her husband lost all his sense? But it gave her an idea of her own.
‘What if we announce our presence here?’
Lorcan looked at her as if she was the one who had taken leave of her senses.
‘We let them know we know that they are here,’ she continued.
‘I don’t know about that, Nee—’
‘They knew about us long before we knew about them. If they were going to murder us, or attack us, they would have done so already.’
The mention of murder didn’t seem to give her husband much comfort. In honesty it didn’t give her much either.