Red by Libby Gleeson Page B

street tell you. They can be real friendly and they look out for you.’
    â€˜But didn’t you miss your dad? Didn’t he come looking for you?’
    â€˜At first. A couple of times I got picked up by the cops. Once when they took me home he was there and so was she. He was all right but she just yelled and yelled at me. She said I’d done all this stuff that I hadn’t done. She reckoned I should be put in a special place for bad kids and he just sat there and let her say all that. I wasn’t going to stay there. No way. I took off again.’
    â€˜Don’t you miss him?’
    â€˜Kind of. I miss Mum more.’
    They lay silent again. What’s he thinking? Is he glad he told me? I’m glad I know. Should I say something?
    â€¢ • • • •
    Peri was nudging her. ‘Wake up, Red. We have to go.’
    Tiny slivers of golden light slid through the vertical blinds. Jazz stirred. ‘What’s going on? Why are you …’ ‘Shh. We’re leaving.’ Jazz pushed herself up on her elbows. ‘What are you talking about?’
    â€˜We’re going to leave,’ said Peri. ‘Red and I reckon we should get a bus this morning. If we wait, Kate’s mum will dob us in.’
    â€˜We have to go, Jazz,’ said Red. ‘The sooner we get to Melbourne, the sooner we can go back to Sydney and life can be normal again.’ She took the notebook that Peri had passed her and scribbled.
    Kate,
Sorry to leave this way and for taking your money
but we have to get to Melbourne and the
Commission as soon as we can. Please, please don’t
tell anyone where we’ve gone. We will definitely pay
you back.
Red
    She tore the page from the book and left it on the pillow.
    She glanced at that last sentence. How would she ever pay anyone back?
    â€¢ • • • •
    The street was quiet.
    â€˜Do you know where we’re going?’ hissed Jazz.
    â€˜Back to the railway station. That’s where the buses go from.’
    â€˜It’s still night-time. You’re crazy.’
    â€˜Shove it, Jazz,’ said Peri. ‘We’ve just nicked money from someone. We think there might be police after us – or at least there will be by late this morning. Our plan is to get on a bus and get out of here. If you want to go home, fine. Go.’
    â€˜You’re always picking on me.’ Jazz looked to Red for support. She shook her head. Melbourne, that was all she could think of. If Peri and Jazz wanted to argue, that was their business.
    The faint light between the trees grew deeper. All was quiet, then suddenly screeching, raucous white cockatoos swept low over them. Other birds joined in a chorus that marked the sun’s rising. They saw their first cars and then a truck moving slowly along the street.
    â€˜I don’t like this,’ whispered Red. ‘What if one of those cars is the police and they’re looking for us?’
    â€˜Don’t be stupid. We’ll be at the station in a few minutes.’ Peri quickened his pace. ‘We can check the bus timetable and then if we have long to wait we’ll just go down to the river or somewhere where no one can see us for a while.’
    They turned a corner. The lights of the station were ahead of them. As they came towards a small shop, the truck that had been moving slowly stopped and a figure jumped out and tossed a couple of piles of papers on the step. The truck revved its engine and sped away.
    Red reached down and grabbed a paper from the top of each pile. The first one was only a couple of pages and the banner headline read Your Local News . She glanced at the photo that almost filled the front page.
    She stopped. She and Jazz were grinning, staring out from the verandah back in Burwood, their arms around each other. The headline:
    Three Teenagers Missing: Parents’
Desperate Search
Sydney Police Inspector Andrew Lucas and his wife