That night, Jax waited nervously for the house to settle into sleep. Ma always said it was dangerous to go out after dark, that only homeless and drunk people were wandering about then. Jax shuddered at the thought of the rainforest, the lake and the park at night.
To pass the time and calm his fears, he watched two shadows sparring across the ceiling of his room, one blotting out the other. Finally, he heard the click of Ma turning off her bedside light. He would wait another half an hour. That would give her time to sink into a deep sleep.
At midnight, Jax got out of bed. He was already dressed. All he had to do was put on his jacket and shoes. As he tiptoed to the front door, he checked to make sure the torch was still in his pocket, yes, then, quietly lifting the latch, he slipped out into the cool night air.
Night changes everything, Jax thought as he walked along the road. It’s as if there were two separate worlds, one black, one white, mirrors of each other. He sniffed the air. Even the smells were sharper. The alleyways looked like dark tunnels and that rubbish bin like a monster ready to pounce. Jax had to keep his mind steady. Even the tree branch with its long spindly fingers looked as if it was waiting to reach out and grab him as he went by.
But to his surprise, Jax found that with his hood up and his hands in his pockets, and if he didn’t let his imagination run away with itself, he was almost invisible. The dark seemed to wrap around him like a thick cocoon, giving him a strange kind of comfort, changing him into just another shadow amongst many.
It took about an hour to walk the distance to the deserted pawnshop. By then, grey clouds had covered the sky and he could hear the sound of distant thunder. As he continued on towards the bridge that crossed the river, he heard some boys shouting and swearing. They jumped their skateboards up onto a concrete ledge, trying to knock over empty beer bottles like skittles. Some smashed to the ground, others rolled noisily across the road. Jax could smell alcohol and cigarettes in the air.
The boys were much older than Jax and he didn’t want them to see him, so he ducked behind a neat row of bushes on the other side of the road. Then, keeping his head low, he crept along undercover, until he came to the stairs beside the bridge. He was about to go down when one of the voices made him stop dead in his tracks. It was a voice he knew well.
‘My parents wouldn’t care if I was dead or alive,’ Buzzy said. ‘They only think about themselves. I’m meant to be at my dad’s tonight but he’s gone out.’
Jax thought Buzzy sounded like an injured animal, tired and desperate.
‘Yeah, know how you feel, mate. My parents split up when I was your age.’
So that’s why Buzzy has been acting so strange lately, thought Jax. Why didn’t he tell me? I always thought he came from a happy home, much happier than mine. I’d hate it if Ma and Ba wanted to get a divorce. I couldn’t imagine not being a family together. Poor Buzzy.
He watched as Buzzy took his skateboard and climbed up onto the stone wall of the bridge. It was about two metres off the ground.
What’s he doing? Jax was horrified.
‘Hey kid, you want to kill yourself?’ said one boy.
‘The wind’s pretty strong and the water’s pretty deep,’ another boy laughed.
Jax wanted to yell out but he was scared to show himself. All he could do was hold his breath as he watched Buzzy bend over slowly, and put his skateboard down on the top of the wall. The wheels only just fitted. At that moment, a big gust of wind caught him and he windmilled his arms, trying to regain his balance. Jax put a hand over his eyes, hardly daring to look. But Buzzy righted himself and pushed off with one foot. It was like watching a circus act but knowing there was no safety net. One slip and his friend would plunge into the water below. Maybe break his neck.
When Buzzy reached the big pylon at the end of the bridge, Jax breathed a sigh of relief. The older boys crowded around Buzzy, messing up his hair and patting him on the back.
How can I leave him here when he does a stupid thing like that? Jax thought. Buzzy was his only friend, the one who understood him more than anyone else. Buzzy was his hero. But he couldn’t stay. He had to go find Ma’s necklace. Glancing back at Buzzy one more time, Jax took the steps down to the river.
The moon’s half-light cast an eerie shadow across the track as Jax walked on, and the mark on his palm began to itch. He knew the feel of the little creature on his hand so well – the silky smoothness of its body, and the way its head lay snuggled into the fleshy part at the base of his thumb.
As he neared the park, the singing of night insects was so shrill there was not a break in the sound, unlike the still silence earlier on that day. One lone lamp, silk-wrapped in cobwebs, lit up the entrance into the rainforest. And the gate was still gently swinging on its hinges.
Jax turned on his torch and followed the path through the trees. When he came to the bamboo grove, the leaves brushed one against the other, adding to the call of the insects.
At the top of the rise, Jax saw the lake lying like a black inland sea, and in the distance, the umbrella shape of the ancient banyan tree. He hurried towards it.
When Jax reached the tree, two possums scampered down a branch, jumped to the ground and ran off along the shore, their bushy tails waving in the air. Jax began searching the lower branches just above Ruby’s grave. He found the root where he had left the necklace, but it was no longer there. At first he was calm and methodical, shining his torch in every nook and cranny, watching for that glint of gold. He went down on his hands and knees, pawing through the leaves and scratching the damp earth with his fingernails. But again he found nothing. How he longed to be home in bed with Ruby beside him. ‘Oh Ruby,’ he whispered. Tears came so easily now.
As he brushed them away with the back of his hand, he heard a loud splash from the middle of the lake. Jax stood up, startled, and looked out over the water, his heart pounding in his chest. Probably a fish, he tried to reassure himself. He waited, listening intently, straining his eyes. Could a crocodile have come up river then slipped into the lake? He shivered at the thought. Reaching down slowly to pick up his torch, Jax clicked it on then swept the beam across the water. The light fell on a large rock in the middle of the lake. But then the rock moved!
Jax flicked the light off and stood there in the dark. Small waves rippled out to the shore, wetting his feet, but Jax was rigid with fear. Then he heard a beautiful bell-like sound skipping across the lake towards him. The insects of the forest fell silent all at once, and the whole park seemed to quiver with delight. The sound was so pure the tight knot in Jax’s heart loosened. He was mesmerised by the song and no longer felt afraid.
But then a sharp painful cry filled the night. Jax turned in terror and ran into the rainforest.