Free The Story of Tom Brennan by J.C. Burke

heard. For louder than us, much louder, was the piercing silence of the dead.
    I had never seen a dead person but Luke and Nicole were so still. There was no mistaking it.
    'Tom?' The muffled cry again.
    'Fin?' Matt and I searched the wreck. 'Fin? Fin?'
    It seemed so crazy, but we couldn't see him in the car. The seats, the steering wheel, the windscreen, the bonnet, the doors, the roof – the whole car was crushed into itself, yet the headlights still shined on the ghost gums up ahead. We only had his voice to guide us.
    'Here,' he tried to call. 'I'm under here.'
    'Fin!'
    I could just see the top of Fin's head poking out of what was probably one of the back doors. It was like he was lying on the floor, the seats and metal crushed on top of him. At least down there he couldn't see the others: Nicole, her head resting gently on her shoulder, and Luke sitting quietly, staring into nothingness.
    I crouched on the ground so I didn't have to look at them. Gently I touched the top of Fin's head.
    'I'm here, Fin,' I choked, frantically trying to swallow my sobs. 'I'm here.'
    I ran my hand across his hair, touching the sticky wet blood like jelly on my fingers. 'Oh shit! Shit,' I cried, wiping my hands on my jeans.
    'I, I can't feel nothing,' Fin moaned. 'Nothing.'
    'Can you feel that?' I placed my palm firmly over the top of his head. 'Can you feel that, Fin?'
    'Kind of,' he whispered.
    'It's okay, mate.' I didn't believe those words but I kept saying them 'cause I didn't know what else to say. 'It's okay, Finny. It's okay. Help'll be here soon.'
    'Daniel?' His voice was shaking. 'What about the, the . . .?'
    'It's okay, Fin,' I wept. I couldn't answer that question. 'It's okay. Everything's okay.'
    Somewhere in the bush, hard to say how far away, I could hear the painful sound of groaning, retching sobs. It was Daniel but I couldn't go to him. Part of me wanted to, the other part didn't. I knew I had to stay with Fin, stay with the mess Daniel had made. Yet a voice inside of me was screaming, 'He's alive, he's alive. Daniel's alive.'
    Other sounds came in the distance. Sirens. Police, police rescue and ambulances following the Statesman down the track.
    'They're coming!' Matt shouted, running towards the noise. 'I can hear them, Tom. They're coming! They're coming!'
    It was almost morning by the time they cut Fin out of the car, the metal cutters breaking the laugh of the kooka-burras as dawn shed its light on the damage that had been done.
    I sat with Fin nearly the entire time, talking, trying to comfort him, even though the terror I felt inside threatened to choke and steal my words. Every now and then Fin didn't answer, and as panic overtook me the paramedic explained calmly that Fin was drifting in and out of consciousness.
    The rescue blokes had cut away enough metal for the paramedics to put in drips and tubes and enough for me to see the fear in Fin's eyes. Nicole and Luke had been taken away but Fin wasn't aware of that, thank God.
    Dad had arrived, and in the distance I'd been conscious of him and the police trying to coax Daniel out of the bush. I saw them leave in a police car. I think they said they were going to the hospital.
    I wanted to stay with Fin. No one seemed to mind. More police arrived and some of them crouched down on the ground whispering about tyre marks. Some took Matt and Snorter away. Someone even drove the Statesman. I didn't know if they'd taken the fellas home or to the hospital or where. People were telling me things but they made no sense.
    I just sat there with Fin, stroking his hair, watching it happen around me, listening to the paramedics who every now and then would whisper words like 'spinal' and 'injury'.
    'It's okay, Fin. It's okay.' I wept over and over. 'It's okay.'
    The atmosphere after a weekend of visits hung like a black cloud over Gran's kitchen. At least there was some noise to buffer it, even if it was Gran's voice complaining about the price of lamb and that no one knew how to