Chapter 16
Falling
The sight of Kirrily’s father in the swimming pool haunted Megan all week and unearthed old memories. When she thought back to the moment before the accident, life had seemed so blissfully ordinary.
On that day Megan had been dozing in the sun before a piercing sound woke her. Through the sun-striped leaves she saw a tiny blue orchid. She was excited; she’d always wanted to spot the rare wildflower in the Blue Mountains. Then the shriek filled the air again – the kind of schoolgirl scream that horror-movie directors so loved. Like an air-raid siren it roused the sweaty adolescents from their post-lunch nap into a panicked-herd rush.
Leather school shoes cracked and flattened papery bark and tea-tree twigs. Notebooks and pens slid underfoot. Again the scream reverber
