PROLOGUE

Mummy is lost. She never came down in the morning like the other mums came. All the adults had worried faces but happy voices. It’s a trick grown-ups always play but children can’t be tricked as easily as they think. They kept on saying she’ll be back, and she’s probably taken a little morning walk and got lost in the bush, but I could see by their faces that they weren’t sure. Police ladies even came. They were nice. They told all the kids not to be scared but they looked like I feel when there’s a thunderstorm and I can feel the thunder grumbling in my tummy, like I’m sick but not sick. What if there’s another thunderstorm? It was the worst one I’ve ever been in. Mummy said it was because we were in a valley and the thunder was echoing off the cliffs. I called out to her in the night because I was scared being in this big old, strange house, with the thunder so loud I could still hear it under the covers. And she came and did that thing where she pats my head but now there’s no one to come and pat my head when I’m scared. And now that she’s gone, I’m always scared.

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