The Long Way Home

By Jessica Solah

"Annie!" shouted Mrs Swamoon, "Annie Smith!" I looked up and saw her walking around the dormitory, searching for me.

I stood up and said, "What did I do this time Miss?"

She's always accusing me of something. Maybe it's because I'm blacker than everyone else. Everybody is black here.

When I was three, I was taken away from my mother to this Aboriginal settlement. It's horrible here. We're in the middle of swampland, the food's awful and we have to go to the toilet in a bucket. We are forced to speak English, imagine if you didn't know how.

Every morning we get up, make our beds and get dressed. We wear these white gowns that look like rags to me. Somebody takes out the toilet bucket and tips it out into a hole in the ground. The last time I took it out it spilled all over me and I threw up. One day I'm going to run away and never come back.

"Annie!" Mrs Swamoon was really mad now, "I've heard you have been speaking that jabber again". She looked like she was going to explode. I wish she would.

"If you mean Aboriginal, we're supposed to speak that, because we're Aboriginal." A few kids laughed. Mrs Swamoon, however, did not find this funny. She swelled like a balloon. She glared at me and I glared right back. I really hated her.

"That’s it!" She screeched, "You're emptying the toilet bucket for a month Miss Smith and if I ever hear you've been talking that rubbish again, I'm getting the whip out!" She was bright red in the face by now. She turned and stormed out.

"Yeah, goodbye to you too, Mrs Swamp," said my brother. I laughed. Martin, (my brother) gave her that name when he pushed her into the swamp. He's three years older than me, I'm thirteen and he's sixteen. It's good to have him around. If he weren't here, I would probably run away. I made my bed and walked over to the bucket, which was next to the door. I knew it was going to be another day of horrible food and arithmetic. I emptied the bucket into the hole and ran over to the dining hall for breakfast.

Today we had porridge for breakfast. Yuk! It was old and had no taste. You'd expect us all to moan and complain and say it tasted disgusting, wouldn't you? But we're not allowed to complain, we never have been. I ate it quickly; otherwise, I might have thrown up.

When we were finished, they checked us to see if we'd eaten it all and were clean. Some six-year-old boy spilled his porridge all over himself and smashed his bowl. Mrs Swamoon started going red, so we all blocked our ears. We couldn't hear her, but we could tell she was yelling the ceiling off. She looked like she had calmed down so we unblocked our ears.

"Now, will you please go outside, the whip is waiting for you." She said with a sickly smile to the little boy. He walked out in tears. I knew exactly how he felt; because I had got the whip, so many times I looked like a zebra. Mrs Swamoon looked very happy about something, which was never a good sign. She was almost always grumpy, except when she was just about to whip somebody. This is so cruel of her to do this, I thought. I decided to do something.

I stood up and said, "Miss, you can't do this! You could break his back with that whip!" Oops, she doesn't look happy now, but looked as though she had just been slapped in the face.

"I think, Miss Smith, you might need a whipping too." She said silkily. She beckoned me forward and I walked outside to the whipping shed.

The shed was dark and had spiders in it. I could feel one crawling down my back. I couldn't see Mrs Swamoon, which made me slightly uneasy. I wondered where the little boy was, probably in a corner trying to hide from the whip; he didn't know how painful it was. I wasn't scared, because I was used to it.

"Now, I think we should do ladies first, don't you?" said a soft voice behind me. I spun around and could just see the outline of Mrs Swamoon. I was going to avoid this whipping; she couldn't do this to the boy or me. I looked around but I couldn't see the little boy anywhere. Then I got an idea.

"Miss, I think the boy is hiding. Don't you think we should find him first?" I said innocently. It was so dark I couldn't see her reaction.

"Mmmmmm. Yes, he is definitely not missing out. Boy, get over here and stand next to Anni!" she shouted at him. He whimpered and I felt him next to me. Mrs Swamoon was fiddling with something, she didn't sound close. I grabbed him by the hand and we tiptoed towards the door. I groped for the doorknob, found it and opened the door as quietly as I could. We ran out and closed the door. Then, I did something very brave. I took the key and locked the door. We ran as fast as we could and wasn't called back. We stopped running when trees surrounded us. I didn't know where we were, but they couldn't see us. I looked down at the little boy; he looked very frightened.

"Well, we're going to be sticking together until they find us, you know my name so I want to know yours." I said to him.

He looked at me and said, very quietly, "My name is Scott." He still looked scared, but I don't why he should be. We're free; they don't know where we are. I wondered why he wasn't angry with me, even though I saved him back there in the whipping shed.

"Do you know why I told Mrs Swamp that you were hiding?" I asked him.

He laughed and shook his head. I thought it was pretty obvious what I was going to do, but he was still young and he would probably only understand if I told him.

"It's very dark in there, so Mrs Swamp couldn't see us. So, I got you next to me not because I wanted you to get whipped, but so we could both escape." I explained.

"Well, it worked, we both got out of getting whipped and we locked Mrs Swamp in there, with the spiders!" He said gleefully. He shuddered. He obviously was imagining himself with spiders crawling all over him. I didn't like spiders, either, but I have been in there so many times, I was used to them.

"Do you want to go back?" I said softly to him. He looked at me as if I was mad. He is not going to be happy when he finds out we have to.

"No way! Do you think I'm crazy? I'm never going back now!" He said, in a tone that told me quite clearly he would never be setting foot in there ever again.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters here too?" I asked him. He clapped his hand to his mouth.

"Yes! I have a baby sister; I guess we'll have to take her. You've got a brother; he's the one who pushed Mrs Swamp into the swamp, are you taking him?" He asked me

I nodded, there's no way I'd run away without my brother. I decided I would sneak him out when he was going to the toilet. I could offer to help put Scott's sister to bed, and sneak her out. I just hope it doesn't stuff up.

It was getting dark now. We were on the edge of the trees, waiting for Martin to come out of the dormitory to go to the toilet. We've been here nearly an hour and lots of kids have been going to the toilet, except Martin. We already have Scott's sister. I sneaked her out when I put her to bed. She was sleeping now; we brought some supplies for her.

Somebody was coming out of the dormitory. I squinted to see who it was. Yes! It was Martin. I waited until he finished going to the toilet then came out of the trees.

"Martin!" I hissed. He looked around and spotted me. I beckoned him wildly towards me. He looked around to check no one was looking and ran towards me. When he reached me, he seized me by the shoulders and shook me hard.

"Hey!" I shouted at him, "what are you doing that for?" I massaged my shoulders, where Martin had grabbed them. He glared at me in the darkness. I didn't see what he was so angry about.

"What are you doing out here?" He hissed at me. This was not like him; he never got all angry like this.

"Martin, we're escaping. I've had enough and so have you. Little Scott here has had enough too, he's bringing his baby sister." I said, very quietly. He stood there for a moment and then gave me a hug. Maybe he was just glad that I was alive.

"Well, we'll have to leave now. They're looking everywhere for you. If we stay here any longer, they'll find us." He said it with a sneaky grin. He was up to something. I knew it.

"What did you do?" I said. He opened his mouth to protest, but I put my finger to my lips. I heard shouting coming from the settlement. I recognised one of them as Mrs Swamoon's. I could hear very clearly, what she was saying

"I DON'T CARE IF IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!" She was yelling," JUST FIND THEM!" She was looking for us. But she wouldn't check in the trees.

"Should I check in the trees, Miss?" said a voice. It sounded as though the person did not want to help her find us.

"Yes, yes if you want to." She said. I looked at my brother, who looked worried. We had to get out of here.

"Let's go, before they find us." I said quietly. I grabbed Scott's hand, "Martin, grab the baby and the bag." He did as he was told, even though he was older than me. We hurtled into the swampland as fast as we could. I had a stitch and I was wheezing but I kept on running, pulling Scott behind me.

Suddenly I stopped. There were gunshots coming from the settlement. I heard another one; it sounded so close. I think it came from the forest. I was getting more scared by the second. Then I heard another gunshot from inside the forest, a yell and then silence.

"M-Martin?" I said, my voice shaking. I couldn't hear anything. "Are you there?" I still couldn't hear him. I was so frightened, I thought I was going to faint. I was getting angry with my brother for not answering me.

"Martin? Martin? This is not funny Martin, MARTIN!" I was crying now, shouting out my brother's name. I don't know why I bothered, he was dead, and I just knew it. I cried myself to sleep, hoping that when I woke up, it would have all been a dream.

When I woke up the next morning, I realised that it was not a dream, but a misunderstanding. Martin wasn't shot, but a person looking for us in the forest was just about to find us when he was shot. Martin didn't answer me because he fainted. When I told him I was crying and believed he was dead, he roared with laughter.

We were very far away from the settlement now and close to home. I knew this because we found the road in which the people that took us to the settlement from our home. Then I remembered the little boy.

"Where did your family live?" I asked him. He was very quiet for a moment. Maybe he didn't know, maybe he was raised in the settlement.

"My parents are dead, and I don't know where we used to live." He said very quietly. This is horrible; I didn't know what we were going to do now. But wait; I thought to myself, he could come with us! I bet somebody in the family could feed his sister, too.

"How would you like to come with us? You'll be very welcome!" I asked him. He looked up and smiled. Then he looked at his baby sister, and his face fell.

"How will Isobel get fed?" He asked. He would have no trouble at all getting Isobel fed. Now I knew her name, but I wish he had told me before.

"Easy," I said, "my family always have new babies, the women who have babies could feed her. They'd be happy to. Look, we're nearly there!" I walked through some bushland and came out into a clearing. No body was there, but they had to be here. We walked for a long time, and came out of the bushland at last.

"Anni!" said someone. I looked around and saw my mother for the first time in 10 years. She was much older and running towards me. I ran to her and hugged her. I felt my brother next to me, who was hugging our Mum too. I only let go when I heard a sob behind me.

Scott was standing there, crying. He was holding his baby sister. We invited him to our hug. I was the happiest I have ever been in my life, with tears of joy running down my face. This was the moment I wanted to be in. Right here, right now.

This story was written as part of an English assignment, where she received full marks. Please forward all comments to Benjamin.