Free Nowhere Boys by Elise Mccredie

‘Very high in omega-3.’
    Sam fell back to the ground. ‘Please let this be a dream. Please.’
    Andy took a bite of the dandelion leaves. ‘Delicious,’ he said, grimacing.
    ‘You’re not selling me, dude.’ Sam got up and walked out of the shack. His stomach rumbled. He wasn’t sure which was the worse torture: being permanently hungry, or being permanently forgotten. He walked across a small clearing to the river.
    Andy followed him, chewing on his leaves.
    Sam pushed through the eucalypts by the bank. Jake was swimming and Felix was sitting on a rock with his head in his weird black book.
    ‘Come in, guys,’ Jake called to Sam and Andy.
    Andy shook his head. ‘Mum says it’s not natural to go in beyond waist level.’
    Sam gave him a friendly shove. ‘Come on. Your mum’s not here now, is she?’
    Sam ripped his shirt off and, after a moment of hesitation, Andy followed him.
    The freezing water was strangely exhilarating. Sam splashed at Jake, who splashed back harder. They both turned to Andy, who had only managed to go in up to his ankles. They reached their hands up to splash him but Andy took a huge breath and dived under.
    Sam and Jake laughed. ‘Woo hoo!’
    Andy surfaced, spluttering. ‘I’ve never swum in non-chlorinated water before.’
    ‘Come on, Felix,’ Sam called.
    Felix shook his head. ‘I’m fine.’
    ‘What’s that book you’re always writing in?’ asked Sam
    ‘Just my diary.’
    ‘Seriously, you’re writing a diary?’ said Jake.
    ‘What’s the point of writing a diary?’ asked Sam. ‘ Got up. Got hungry. Stayed hungry. Went to bed. Still hungry . That pretty much sums it up.’ Sam didn’t really get why anyone would keep a journal, but he secretly wished he had a sketchpad so he could draw.
    Felix shut his book guardedly. ‘Maybe it will be a bestseller one day.’
    Jake laughed bitterly. ‘Yeah, a real feel-good read. The story of four boys who don’t exist.’
    Sam ducked his head under the water. He didn’t want to hear anymore that he didn’t exist. He did exist. He knew that. He swam away from the others.
    The river water was a dull brown. Sam flicked his eyes open underwater but he couldn’t see anything. He swam slowly. He could hold his breath for almost a minute. Being dunked by his brothers had some advantages. If you just concentrated your mind, you could trick your body into thinking it didn’t need to breathe. He felt his diaphragm expand, wanting oxygen. He let it contract and subside. See? He’d tricked his body. He didn’t need to breathe.
    Maybe that’s all this was. Some kind of trick. Maybe all they needed to do was pull aside the magician’s curtain, see what was really going on. Anything can appear to be a certain way when it really isn’t.
    He burst to the surface. He’d swum the width of the river. He could see Jake and Andy playing chasey in the water. Funny, from this far away, they almost looked like they liked each other.
    He was about to swim back when he saw a flash of blue in the trees. He swam down towards it and pulled himself up onto the bank. There, covered haphazardly with a few branches, was an old upside-down rowboat.
    Sam stared at it. He knew that boat. He and Mia had come here often last summer and rowed along the river. They’d shared their first kiss in that boat. He’d been so nervous that once they’d started kissing, he’d made the boat rock so hard she’d fallen in the water. How sketchy was that?
    Man, if he could have her back, he sure as hell wouldn’t do anything that dumb. He would hold onto her so tight. There was no way she would be going overboard.
    He shook his head and was about to dive back into the murky river when a thought occurred to him.
    He turned back to the boat.
    He and Mia had pledged their love for each other in that boat. He stared at it. Did he dare turn it over? Would knowing that he absolutely didn’t exist be too awful to deal with?
    He hesitated but then, in one swift move, he