Free Digger Field by Damian Davis

looking like a chance again now I’m back in form and we have the river to ourselves again.

CHAPTER 21
DAY 20: Thursday
    Too early for skimming or thinking about tinnies.
    Still shaking. The scaredest I’ve ever been.
    I woke up so early it was still dark. The clock next to my bed said 4.00 am. I hadn’t slept much. I’d spent the whole night daring myself to check the sensor on the camera at the old house. I decided it was now or never.
    I crept out of bed. As I tiptoed to the door I tripped over a wetsuit that Dean had left lying on the floor.
    Dean sat bolt upright in bed and said, ‘Who’s that?’
    Busted, and I hadn’t even got out of the bedroom. I said, ‘No one.’
    ‘Good,’ he said and lay back down. Sometimes even I’m shocked at how thick Dean is. He was already fast asleep again, snoring his head off.
    I was afraid of waking everyone up. The house is so old it creaks every time you move. I timed my moves so that every time Dean snored I took a step towards the front door.
    When I got outside the house, the world was totally still. Not even the trees were moving. It was like the scene from a movie where someone wakes up and discovers everyone else in the world has disappeared. I wanted to go back to bed.
    I knew the only way of stopping myself from turning back was to start running.
    I ran down Phillip Avenue and up the hill of George Street. I pounded down Yarran Street and marched onto View Street. It wasn’t until I made it to the pathway down to the river that I got scared again.
    I crept down the path and into the clearing.
    It was so dark, I could only just make out the shape of the house against the river.
    It was so silent it was frightening. There was the hum of the cicadas, of course, and some frogs croaking, and the water lapping. But apart from that there were no noises at all. I think they call it ‘deathly quiet’ for good reason.
    All I had to do was go into the deserted house and move around a bit in the kitchen, to check if the camera was working. I’d be in and out in twenty seconds.
    I took in a huge breath, like I was about to dive into a swimming pool, and walked through the doorway and down the hallway.
    ‘Twenty seconds, twenty seconds,’ I kept saying to myself.
    I couldn’t see a thing inside the house, so I put my hands out to feel my way along the walls. I made it into the kitchen but then I heard a noise. It was from outside. It was an engine.
    I froze. I couldn’t stop thinking about Mr Black cutting me open and pulling my guts out, just like Wrigs had said.
    The engine kept coming closer and closer, until it sounded like it was inside the house. Suddenly a beam of light came through the broken kitchen window. It was a boat, a little tinnie, going past. Probably a fisherman going to catch the early tide. Phew.
    I waited until it motored past, then I crept in to the centre of the room where the camera would see me.
    I waved my arms around and did some star jumps. The camera was supposed to pick up the slightest movement, but I wanted to make sure it saw me.
    Then I heard another noise.
    A scraping noise.
    It was like a stick being scratched on metal. I couldn’t work out where it was coming from. It was close, but not in the room. It sounded like it was coming from below me.
    Then I realised it was from under the floor. Under Mr Black’s manhole.
    It sounded like someone was trying to get out.
    I was so scared I yelled out, ‘Oy!’ The scraping sound stopped.
    I froze for a millisecond. Then I bolted, out of the house, through the bushes, up View Street, along Yarran Street, down the hill of George Street, left into Phillip Avenue and straight into my house and into bed.
    I closed my eyes tightly. I hoped I had been asleep and that I’d wake up and find it had all been a dream.

CHAPTER 22
DAY 20: Thursday (later)
    My skims: 15
    Wriggler’s skims: 0
    Tearley’s skims: 8
    Mr Black’s skims: 8 (!)
    Money made for tinnie or Tearley: $0
    Am going to have to ring