STORY: Ashes

PUBLISHED: Aurealis  
FORMAT: Text | 4600 words | 15-min read

​The bushfires drew closer that morning, thrusting splinters of dirty-red daylight through gaps in the loungeroom blinds. I wasn’t surprised when the knock at the door came. If the fire brigade was here to hustle me along, at least I’d get to clap eyes on a firm jawline or two. That’d do me a world of good.
   I rolled off the couch, yanked open the front door and snapped, “What?”
   To their credit, they didn’t flinch, these two G-men sweating out the forty-degree heat through charcoal suits. The younger one squinted, his shades perched atop his crisp haircut. He took in my bare feet and tracksuit pants, my lopsided bun ejecting greying strands of unwashed blonde, and hesitated.
   “...Dr Brigitta Vogel?”
   “Speaking.” Unenthusiastically.
   He flashed a badge. “We’re here from NPWS Cryptozoology. I’m Agent Bread, and this is Department Head Windemere.”
   Department Head? Making house calls?
   The older man, all salt-and-pepper and steel, offered me a sturdy hand. “Mind if we come in? It’s about a job.”

KEEP READING...