Page 8 of Totally Shipped
Sometimes I think about Nanda and Nikau, and it hurts my heart so bad.
They must think Key is dead, that we all are. Poor Nanda, she already had it rough, with Nikau going through his chemo, but then to lose a daughter?
I should never have gone to Samoa. Me messing with their family put them right in the path of the Rex Malone curse.
“Please come, Rex. Nikau can’t manage, and he has the boat leased for another two years—we’ll have to keep paying whether we use it or not.”
I thought I was doing them a good turn, but I should have known better.
“It will be good for you, too. To have a change of scene…a change would be good.”
What she really meant wasyou have to change, Rex. You can’t keep going deeper and deeper into the darkness.
But the darkness is exactly where I should have stayed. Then Keyara would be at home with her parents, exactly where she belongs.
Fuck, I wish I could telepathically let Nanda know that Key was doing alright here.
LEANDER
Iwake to an odd noise.
The noise happens again and I realize it’s someone vomiting.
Uh-oh.
“Hey, everyone alright?”
It’s morning, but only just. The sun is just breaching the horizon when I exit the shelter. Then I smell something gross.
“Urgh, what’s going on…”
A few feet away, Daisy is leaning over and groaning.
She’s clutching her midriff and rocking.
This is all too familiar to my dance with the strychnine devil—fuck.
As I start moving towards my poor Daisy, she gives another groan and wretches again.
“Sweetheart!”
I grab one of the filled water bottles from the shelter, then hold Daisy’s hair and rub her back.
It doesn’t seem the same as the strychnine poisoning—more like regular food poisoning, but who knows?
“Daisy is sick?” Key emerges from the shelter and walks towards us. “Like you were?” She looks at me with big, scared eyes.
We’ve had such a peaceful and productive few weeks, we forget disaster is potentially around every corner.
“She’ll be OK, Key. Look at me, I got really sick and am fit as a fiddle now.”
Daisy is straightening up. “Ugh,” she groans, “I feel like I’ve a family of eels swimming around in my stomach.”
Ugh indeed, poor Daisy.
“Gross,” says Key. “Are you OK now?”
“Much better,” Daisy says, though she still looks a little green.
