On Thursday morning, Gab rose and was surprised to find Gina up and awake, sitting on her throne. It really was quite a beautiful spot in the morning light, Gab thought, and a pity that the room had become so claustrophobic, with its dramatic imagery, the smell of incense and the years of worries, confusions, excuses and illusions that swam in there.

Gab and Jack got ready for school, and Gab went to grab her bike from the back shed. But it wasn’t there. That was odd, because it was always there.

“Jack,” she yelled to her brother, who was just coming down the front steps. “Have you seen my bike?”

“Shed!” Jack yelled back.

“Nah, it’s not there!” Gab called. She needed that bike for getting to school on time. She had a test that morning in her first period of biology; she could not afford to be late. Gab thought back to the last place she’d had it—same as always, she’d put it in the shed after coming home from school last night. But it definitely wasn’t there. Maybe it had been stolen?

Gab raced around to the side of the house where an old fence made a narrow passage against the wall and long grass grew—a haven for snakes. She stepped gingerly through but couldn’t see it there. Where was it?

Done with the long grass, Gab ran to the edge of the closest paddock and climbed on the fence to get a wide view of it. Dew laced the grass and had solidified into frost in round patches. It looked magical, but Gab was too agitated to appreciate it. The bike did not appear to be in the paddock and there were no tracks. So she jumped off the fence and jogged up the long driveway and around the turn, with increasing panic, hoping to see her bike on the gravel. But it wasn’t there. The clock was ticking. Maybe Mum would let her borrow her bike again … But she really didn’t want to have to ask.

Up to the road and back down the driveway again. Nearer to the road lay smaller paddock, lined with trees. In it sat a skip bin. Gab had a sick feeling when she looked at that bin. She’d been avoiding it, but she had looked everywhere else now. She ran towards it. She was about to jump up and look in when she noticed the rim of a tyre peering out from behind the skip. It was her front tyre. The bike was there.

“AHHHH!” cried Gab, with deep relief.

Jack rode up the drive, ready to be on his way to school.

“What’s your bike doing there, Gab?” he called, pulling up against the fence.

“No idea!” replied Gab. “You didn’t put it here, did you?”

“Nah, no way,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, even though she knew he wouldn’t.

“Yeah, promise!”

“How’d it get here?!” For a moment, Gab questioned her sanity and her memory. Had she left it in this spot for some reason? But she hadn’t been near the skip last night. Maybe she was finally cracking. That thought was a lightning rod of pain that landed somewhere in her guts, but she pushed it aside. She was sure she hadn’t left her bike by the skip. Wasn’t she?

That biology test was looming. It was time to think of other things. Gab jumped on her bike and she and Jack rode to school.

After the test however, the mystery of the bike stirred in the back of her mind again and plagued her for the rest of the day. Had someone come down the property and taken her bike out of the shed? Was it some kind of odd revenge? A prank? Surely Lauren or Jane wouldn’t … But then, Gab always locked the shed at night. And the lock hadn’t been broken when she’d checked that morning … unless …

When Gab arrived home that afternoon, she walked to the sunroom.

“Mum, my bike was out in the paddock this morning, hidden behind the skip,” she said.

“Was it?” said Gina, shrugging. “That’s odd.” Gab tried hard to detect any note of sarcasm in her mother’s voice; Gina was too hard to read.

“Yeah, it is weird,” agreed Gab. “Took me ages to find it and I was nearly late!”

Gina’s eyes flicked open.

“Do you … have any idea how it got there?” Gab continued. “I put it away in the shed yesterday, like always.”

“I have one word for you Gabrielle,” said Gina, fixing her gaze on Gab. “Karma.”

“What do you mean, Mum?” Gab asked quietly, her heart sinking. She had wondered about this but hadn’t wanted to believe it.

“You left my bike out in the rain.” said Gina, by way of explanation.

“So …”

“So I left yours out,” said Gina, as she lay her head back on the couch and pulled on a sleep mask. “Karma.”

“But Mum! It was an accident! Jack was screaming!”

“Oh, come on Gabrielle.”

“I had a Biology SAC this morning!”

Gina was silent. Gab felt like she was a volcano with lava rising, rising, rising to eruption point … she clenched her jaw, her fists, her back …

But just as she was about to explode … pfffffff. It was gone. She was numb and floating somewhere in the very heights of her skull. She walked quickly to the bathroom. As she went in, her feelings surged suddenly and she SLAMMED the door as hard as she could. The walls rattled and the soap fell off its shelf in the shower. Gab ran the bath, undressed, and submerged herself under the water time after time after time. She wanted to forget it all. Breathing was such an inconvenience.