Chapter 385

• I stand furious in front of the camera. “I’m not watching—do you see this!” I scream. “I’m not watching. I don’t care what you do.” I throw an apple at the wall that the camera is attached to. “Go to hell you sick bastard.” I am so enraged that the veins are standing out of my neck and my breathing is laboured.
• The door opens, Carl appears and I instantly cower. He pulls the blanket off the television and leaves the room without a word. No hit, no kick. I slump to the floor and fall deeply into self-pity and sob.
• It’s about twelve I think. I am sitting at the window in a chair looking at the paddocks below lit by moonlight. I feel sick to my stomach, I don’t know if this plan is going to work and if it does how far away civilisation is from here. I could run for days and not see anyone. What if this is in fact a property and there are guards on the gates surrounding it? I don’t think that’s the case though because I can see the forest just over the hill. I wish the bushland came right up to the house because then it would be easier for me to run without being seen. I think it’s about 500 metres to the forest from the house but that is only on this side of the house. What’s the other side like?