Chapter 6

 

Justin started school a week later. Karen still didn’t know that Justin was illiterate. He was no longer a Hanson – Karen had legally changed his last name to Andretti.

 

“Are you going to tell Karen that you can’t read?” I asked.

 

“What do you think? She isn’t my mum. She has no need to know. I will tell my mum, though.”

 

“Will you still go to this school?”

 

Justin shrugged. “I don’t know. Mum might want me to go to a different school. I know that Mum and my sisters are Catholics, and that both Liann and Jasmine go to a Catholic high school. Zoe goes to a state public school. I’m not a Catholic, though.”

 

“What are you then?”

 

“I don’t follow any religion. That’s definitely one of the conflicts between Karen, Josh, Damian and I. Damian is a Catholic, Karen’s an Anglican and Josh is a Baptist.” Justin tucked his hair behind his ears. “The fact that I’m not religious is one of the reasons that Taylor and I have our differences. He was always on at me to go to church, but nothing would make me budge. It got on my nerves so much that one day I just exploded. I started yelling my head off at him, and guess who landed the first punch?”

 

I shrugged. “It was Taylor. I hadn’t expected it from him, but he hit me harder than Karen ever did. I had a black eye for weeks after. It also broke my hearing aid. It just escalated from there. Damian had to pull us apart. I tell you, if looks could kill I’d be six feet under right now. Taylor was just looking at me with hatred and anger at the same time, so I hit him square in the face. We haven’t spoken since.”

 

“That’s not too good.”

 

“I couldn’t give a flying rat’s if we never spoke again,” Justin said. “I haven’t seen any of them since 1996, and I don’t care if I never see them ever again.”

 

- x -

 

The sound of the phone ringing woke me the next morning. Mikaylah answered it. After about ten minutes, she came into my room. “Katia, that was Karen on the phone.”

 

“It’s not about Justin, is it?”

 

“I’m afraid so. According to Karen, he’d gone to bed with a headache. She got up at midnight to check on him and found that he wasn’t breathing. She called an ambulance, but he was gone. I’m so sorry, Katia.”

 

I lay there, stunned. Justin was gone, less than three weeks before going to live with his real family. “You’re not going to make me go to school today, are you?”

 

“No, of course not.”

 

“Thanks, Mikaylah.”

 

Mikaylah left my room, clicking my light off as she left. I didn’t want to believe it. I knew that Justin didn’t have very long to live, but who could have guessed that he wouldn’t be alive one morning? I pinched myself and yelped. It was real. I wasn’t dreaming.

 

I went next door later that day. Joshua was asleep on the couch, clutching a ragged teddy bear and crying. Karen and Damian were talking quietly in the kitchen. “Hi, Katia,” Damian said. “I guess Mikaylah told you?”

 

I nodded. “I’m so sorry about all this,” I said. I shifted my weight onto my left foot. “Since I’ve never really seen Justin’s room, could I have a look?”

 

“I suppose,” Karen agreed. “Damian, take her up there.”

 

Damian led the way up to Justin’s room. “Mum hasn’t been in here since early this morning,” he told me quietly. “You should’ve seen her. She was hysterical. I know that Justin wasn’t really a member of our family, but she just went crazy. Until the cops got here, she was just holding Justin and crying. Joshua hasn’t stopped crying since this morning.”

 

Damian carefully pushed the door open. “Mum says it doesn’t matter what you touch, but you have to leave everything as it is. Go on in.”

 

I stepped inside and clicked on the light. Justin’s room was a little cramped, considering that he didn’t own much. A window that overlooked the Moreton Bay fig tree in the backyard took up one wall, and at this moment the curtains were shut. I was amazed that the room didn’t have a desk, until I remembered that Justin hadn’t been able to read. I picked up a note that was on the chest of drawers and read it. It was addressed to me.

 

Katia,

 

If you’re reading this, you know what has happened to me. I didn’t have a choice. I love you so much.

 

Love Justin Curtis Andretti.

 

I looked at Damian. “Who wrote this?” I asked

 

“Justin did,” he answered. “He always kept a tape recorder with him at all times so that he could take notes. I know he couldn’t read, but somehow he could write. I don’t know who taught him, but he’s always been able to.”

 

I refolded the note. Damian continued speaking. “Katia, if you need someone to talk to at any time you can come over.”

 

“Thank you, Damian.” I looked over at him. “Justin told me that when your sister died he went crazy.”

 

“That’s true. He locked himself in his room for about six weeks and refused to come out. That’s when Mum realised how violent a temper Justin had. He threw anything he could pick up. He was a wreck.”

 

- x -

 

While Joshua may have been upset over losing Justin, I didn’t dwell on it any longer than I needed to. I had a feeling that neither Damian nor Joshua had told Taylor about Justin, and I guessed that they wouldn’t want to think about it more than they had to.

 

“Karen, would it be okay for me to call Taylor and tell him about Justin?” I asked.

 

“If you want to, Katia. I doubt that any of us will. Go ahead.”

 

That night, I took the cordless handset up to my room, looked up Taylor’s phone number in my address book and tapped it into the phone. Zac answered the phone. “Yeah?”

 

“Hi, Zac, it’s Katia. Can I talk to Taylor please?”

 

“I’ll just get him.”

 

A couple of minutes later, Taylor picked up the phone. “Hi, Kat,” he said. “What’s up?”

 

“Not much. I’ll make this one quick.”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

I sighed. “Taylor, you know how you used to be friends with Justin?”

 

“Don’t you start. I don’t want to talk about it.”

 

“Taylor, please. You need to know about this. Neither Josh, nor Damian, nor Karen is game to say anything about it.” I drew a deep breath. “Taylor, Justin’s gone. He died about three days ago.”

 

“What? Oh, man, why did we have to fight?”

 

“You had nothing to do with it. He was dying anyway.”

 

“Okay, I believe you. I’d better go, okay?”

 

“Yeah, see you.”

 

I hung up.

 

- x -

 

I confronted my sister in the kitchen a few days later. “Mikaylah, you promised we’d go over to America. When are we going?”

 

“Probably over Christmas, Katia,” she answered.

 

I nodded and went up to my room. “Have you practiced your flute?” my sister asked.

 

“No!”

 

“Then do some! Your lesson’s tomorrow!”

 

I groaned. I had a feeling that Mum and Dad had made my sister promise I’d be looked after. Where learning flute fit in, I had no idea.

 

I picked up my flute case, sat down on my bed and opened the case. My aunt Lily had given it to me after my parents were killed. The initials K.S.L. were engraved on the silver, near the mouthpiece. Karine Siobhan Lewis. I ran my fingers over the letters and fitted the pieces together, then I spread out three pages of manuscript paper and played a song I had written. As I played, I could hear singing. I stopped playing and spun around. My window was open and my wind chimes were knocking gently against one another. As I looked, a figure materialised in front of the window – a figure of a teenage boy with long blonde hair. It took me a few seconds to recognise him.

 

“Justin?” I whispered.

 

He nodded. “Hi, Katia.”

 

I got up and went over to the window. “I’ve got some messages for you,” he told me. “You remember Jayden? Your little brother?”

 

I nodded. “Jayden’s your guardian angel. He took over from your cousin Gareth six years ago.”

 

“What about my parents?”

 

“Your mum’s always watching over you.” Justin looked at me. “Kat, I didn’t get to say this while I was still alive. I love you. Even though Jayden’s got the job of looking after you, I’m still going to be with you. I’ll be back soon.”

 

He disappeared. I picked up the note Justin had written to me and looked at the back. There was a new message on it.

 

Kat, I will be back to see you in a week. I promise.

 

Just then, I spotted a silver chain with a star charm dangling off it. I recognised it immediately – it was Justin’s necklace. I put it on, realising why he had given it to me. It was to tell me that he would always be with me, no matter what happened.

 

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