Page 91 of Then She Vanished

Gina stepped forward. ‘May I have a minute or two?’

He nodded and stepped into the kitchen area with Jacob.

The girl stumbled off the bed as soon as Gina entered and closed the door. ‘We’re all going to die. We can’t leave. It’s safe here,’ she said, her voice crackly.

‘May I sit?’ Gina pointed to the bed.

The girl slowly nodded.

Gina smiled and sat at the other end of the bed, not wanting to panic the girl any more than she already was. ‘Is your name Luna?’

Again, the girl nodded.

‘Are all these drawings yours?’

‘Yes.’

‘You are really talented. Do you play chess?’

‘I played it with my daddy.’

Gina swallowed. Whatever she thought of Albie Hathaway, this life and that man were all Luna knew. She knew there would be years of therapy ahead for Luna. She wondered if Luna would ever be able to live a normal life. ‘Do you have a mum?’

Luna’s top lip came over her bottom lip before she spoke. ‘I killed my mummy when she had me, but she loved me. Daddy said she loved me and she wanted me so much, but it’s my fault she died. He said she’d died many times, but she’d never had a child in her past lives, so I was her miracle.’

Gina felt a lump forming in her throat. She pictured a captive girl giving birth in this hellhole with no medical help. Luna didn’t kill her, Albie Hathaway killed her. ‘It’s not your fault, lovely. I promise you that.’ Gina paused. ‘Do you know what is outside and up those ladders?’

Nodding, Luna put her legs out in front of her. ‘Nothing. Daddy goes out to get things so we can eat and live. He said it’s not safe out there; that everyone is dead except lucky people like us, people who have a bunker or a special home with special air,but Daddy hasn’t come back so I think he died.’ She scrunched her thin brows. ‘Do you have a bunker?’

‘No, I live in a house. I have a cat and a granddaughter who is a few years younger than you.’

‘I… I’ve never seen a real cat.’ She sighed. ‘How can you live up there?’

‘Because it is beautiful. There are trees, fields, shops, schools, beaches and lots of other lovely things.’

Shaking her head fast, Luna sat back in the corner of the bed against the back of the bunker and pulled her legs close to her chest again. ‘No, you’re lying. There’s nothing up there. Those things only exist in books. My daddy told me and he loves me. Mummy and he built this place together, for me.’

Gina’s heart was breaking. ‘Did Mummy have another name? A name that Daddy called her?’

‘Felicity, or Lissy. I have a picture of her when I was in her tummy.’ She reached under her pillow and pulled out a frayed photo of Felicity, Marie’s cousin. She, too, was wearing the same blue dress that Luna was wearing now, her stomach slightly protruded as she stood in front of the bed.

Heart banging, Gina shuffled back a little until her back was against the wall of the capsule and Luna seemed okay with her closer proximity. ‘I know of Felicity. She has a cousin called Marie. You have an aunt up there.’

‘Does she live in a bunker?’

‘No, she lives in an apartment.’

Scrunching her brow, Luna continued. ‘She must have a special apartment.’

‘Do you speak to anyone else, or have any friends?’

‘I have a grandad, but Daddy won’t let him come here. I talk to the children about the outside and what used to be there. The ones who live in another capsule. They are my cousins but Grandad tells them off for talking to me if he catches them.’

Gina imagined that Luna was talking about Eric’s grandchildren. ‘Do you know their names?’

‘Scottie and Janey, and there’s going to be a new baby soon.’ She frowned. ‘But the world is dying. Why is there going to be a new baby?’

Gina pictured Eric’s pregnant daughter. ‘Luna, do you trust me?’

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