In the afternoon we went out on another walking track. This time it was much longer, we didn’t get back to the campsite till four thirty in the afternoon and all the girls were exhausted. Ms Mitchell didn’t walk with us this time, she said she would be busy setting up for games night. As we walked back, we noticed that something was very wrong. Ms Mitchell looked like she had been crying and she called Lilly over to her tent.
A few minutes later Ms Mitchell came up to me, tearful. “Jess, I think you need to come with me,” she said and we both walked back to the tent.
Lilly was sitting down, worried, and we both assumed we were caught out from the night earlier. It turned out to be much worse.
Ms Mitchell’s voice was shaking when she told us the devastating news.
“There has been a plane crash, Lilly, I am so sorry, both your parents were on the plane,” she said, quietly.
My heart was pounding, I looked over at Lilly and saw her hands shaking and tears started rolling down her cheeks.
Ms Mitchell hesitated for a moment before continuing, “Oh dear, Lilly, I’m so very sorry to tell you this, but no one survived.”
Lilly just froze, more tears rolling down her face.
I placed my arms around her as she wept and tried to calm her as she was shivering with fear. Her heart was pounding and I felt helpless. She had lost the two most important people in her life and there was not a thing anyone could do to change it.
“Jess, please stay with Lilly. I need to go and make a phone call, I will be back in a few minutes,” Ms Mitchell said as she left us alone in her tent. I guessed she would call a doctor or someone who could assist with this sort of tragedy.
Lilly’s parents had decided to take the week off while we were at camp and were on their way to Hawaii. They often travelled to Hawaii and this was their twentieth anniversary celebration. Lilly had no other family, both her parents were only children and her grandparents had passed away years ago.
I didn’t know what to say except to just hold her. She hadn’t said a word.
Ms Mitchell came back with a cup of herbal tea. “Please Lilly, drink this,” she said, handing over the warm cup.
Lilly held the tea in her hands. She was shaking all over and still overflowing with tears. This was the most devastating day of her life.
Ms Mitchell gave Lilly two herbal tablets to help her sleep, and luckily the pills worked. At least Lilly would be able to get a good night’s sleep. After about half an hour I left our tent for some air. I couldn’t believe what had happened. It felt like our whole world had changed. Lilly’s certainly had. It was all such a shock, I needed to re-group somehow.
As I walked to the shore, I watched the moonlight, it was so beautiful and quiet. I just sat and wondered what would happen now. Poor Lilly, she had no one left, all she had was me. In that moment I started to cry.
I heard someone running up behind me and as I looked around I saw that it was Joe.
“Jess,” Joe yelled out as he ran towards me, breathless. “I found out who Jarrah is, he comes from a very dangerous family, the Jolmatta family. They are powerful underground drug dealers that have hurt a lot of people. He’s boasting to all the locals that he slipped Lilly a pill and took advantage of her on the island. Where is she? Is she alright?” Joe looked around, a worried look in his eyes.
“She’s asleep. What do you mean he took advantage? Lilly has never been with a boy.” As if we needed another tragedy on top of what had already happened.
“He’s saying that he was with her, properly with her, and I can’t do anything about it because he is dangerous.” Joe was breathless. It looked like he had run from the other side of the island.
“What?! Lilly can’t know about this, at least not yet, Joe.” I hesitated a moment before telling him the news. “She has just found out that her parents were in a plane crash and they were killed.”
Joe’s mouth dropped. “What! This is fucking crazy!”
“Ms Mitchell told her this afternoon, Lilly is in total shock. She was given a few sleeping pills to knock her out.”
“You’re right, she can’t know about Jarrah or any of this, at least not yet,” Joe agreed. I could tell he was shaken up and deeply concerned.
Joe sat with me for an hour on the shore, listening to the ocean in silence. We didn’t say anything to each other. I felt tired and angry and devastated for Lilly. What more could have gone wrong? Lilly was drugged, raped and didn’t remember a thing, and now both her parents had died.
Over the next few days, Lilly hardly said a word. Ms Mitchell told me it was best Lilly stayed at camp as we didn’t know what else to do, she had nowhere else to go. I thought of asking my parents if Lilly could come live with us. Lilly was hardly eating anything, which was worrying, and you could see she was looking drawn in the face. I couldn’t let her know what had happened to her with Jarrah. Firstly, we didn’t actually know exactly what had happened, and secondly, how could she even comprehend it at a time like this?
Joe came to camp and checked up on us often and was very sincere. “You know, Jess, Lilly will get through this. It will take time but she’s lucky to have you.”
I wanted to believe he was right about Lilly getting through this tragedy. I knew she needed me and I wanted to protect her from any more pain.
Our last day of camp was the first time I left Lilly alone. Joe sat with her on the shore while I went out for a paddle. Lilly still hadn’t said a lot, which was understandable. She smiled and clapped as she watched me ride in on a wave, but when I got back to shore I could see there was so much sadness in her eyes. I decided to ask Ms Mitchell that afternoon if I could ring my parents and tell them about Lilly. We had a spare room in our house. Lilly could stay with us when we went home for the holidays. I knew my parents would insist, because they loved her as I did.
Both my parents worked for the Governor’s office and had very high pressured jobs, although they made sure to never bring their work home. They adored each other and I don’t think I had ever seen them argue.
After I slowly told my mother what had happened, I couldn’t help the tears falling and I heard her sniffling through the phone.
There was a long silence before she spoke. “Of course, Jess. We will pick you both up tomorrow. Please give Lilly our love.” I heard the panic in her voice, even though she pretended to stay strong.
“Thanks, Mum, I love you,” I said and I quietly hung up.
We had one more week of holidays at home before we were due back at boarding school. Joe was waiting for me after my phone call, swaying from side to side, looking nervous.
“Jess, I like you a lot. I have every second weekend off, which gives me this weekend free. Let me take you to the movies on the weekend,” he kindly asked.
“I’m not sure my parents will let me,” I replied nervously, knowing that they would. My mum had been wondering why I hadn’t shown any interest in boys yet, so I knew she would love for me to start going on dates.
So much had happened in so short a time that I didn’t know how to digest and take it all in.
“Okay, well, I will call you anyway. Goodnight Jess, sweet dreams,” Joe said, and then he surprised me by leaning over to kiss me.
As I walked back, I wanted to tell Lilly about Joe and our kiss. I thought about how kind and sweet Joe was, and then I thought of Jarrah. How could he have taken advantage of Lilly like that and then boasted to his friends? It was all too awful. She didn’t even know about it, she hadn’t remembered, and so much had happened to her that it was best she didn’t find out. I zipped open the tent and found Lilly sound asleep. Understandably, the only time she seemed at peace over the last few