With a frown I accept the call.





Five


Dahlia Fury

She’s my sister. Break her heart and I’ll break your face.

-Dahlia Fury

‘Dahlia,’ my mother says urgently.

‘What is it, Mom?’ I shoot back, my stomach contracting with dread.

‘Has your sister been in contact?’ she demands anxiously without answering my question.

Thrown by the unexpected question, I blurt out, ‘Daisy? No. Why?’

‘When was the last time you spoke to her?’ she goes on.

‘Uh … four days ago. Mom, what are you panicking about?’

‘She hasn’t called me, she hasn’t updated her Facebook, and her phone is switched off.’

The dread becomes a cold clamp of fear deep inside me. ‘When did you speak to her last?’

‘She hasn’t called for two days.’ My mother’s voice has become high and screechy. ‘You know how she promised me that she will call me every single day. Day before yesterday she stopped. I was a bit worried, but I let it go because she warned me that some of those remote places she was going to would have bad Internet connection. But nothing again today. That’s two days, Dahlia. She’d never not call for two days.’

My mother holds back a distraught sob. ‘I’m worried, Dahlia. I know something has happened to her. I’ve got this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’ve had it for two days. Something’s wrong. I know it. I shouldn’t have let her go. Even at the airport I knew it.’

I clutch the phone hard. ‘Calm down, Mom. There’s bound to be a simple explanation. It’s probably as she said, she’s stuck in some little town where there is no Internet connectivity.’

‘What about her phone? Why has that been switched off?’ my mother fires back.

‘Maybe her battery’s run out.’

‘And she never got a chance to charge it for two days?’ she challenges. When my mother sounds more logical than me it usually means trouble.

I want to get my Mom off the phone and just think for two minutes. Obviously there is a reasonable explanation, but I can’t think with her close to hysterical in my ear. ‘Mom, can I call you back in half an hour? Let me see if I can contact Marie.’

‘I already did. Her phone is switched off too.’

I feel goose pimples start crawling up my arms. ‘What?’

‘Why do you think I’m panicking?’ my mother wails.

‘Have you tried Marie’s mother?’

‘No, I don’t have her number.’

I need to get my mom off the phone. ‘OK, I do. I’ll call her and call you back, OK?’ I coax gently.

‘Please hurry, Dahlia. I’m going out of my mind here. I’m so afraid. She’s only nineteen. She’s my baby,’ my mom whispers and starts sobbing again.

‘Mom, stop crying. Please. There’s bound to be a reasonable explanation. I’ll call you back in half an hour, or as soon as I know something.’

‘Yes, please, Dahlia. I wish you were here. Oh God! I wish I’d never let her go. I warned her never to hitchhike and she promised not to. I only let her go because she promised and she’s such a sensible girl. I don’t know what could have happened to her.’

‘Don’t worry, Mom. Like I said there’s probably a very simple explanation. I’ll call you back in half an hour, or sooner if I get some news.’

‘I’ll be waiting here,’ my mom cries tearfully.