Harry couldn't believe how quickly Friday had arrived.

She expected to feel different. It wasn't so much that being thirty automatically should make a person feel old, but more that no longer being in one's twenties removed the illusion of being young. Even before the enhancements bestowed upon her by the mysterious amulet, Harry had never looked overly old. Her skin wasn't overly well preserved, however her round features were synonymous with youth. Now, looking in the mirror hanging one her office wall,  the afternoon light painted an ageless face. If an outsider were forced to hazard a guess at her age, the smooth skin and glossy long hair, which caste a dark red aura around her face, could easily lead the individual to place her in her mid-twenties.

How at odds the amount of living she had done recently seemed compared with both her appearance and the number of candles that had appeared on the birthday cake Lucy Graham had unveiled for her only forty five minutes earlier. She felt like someone had pressed the turbo button on her life the moment she arrived in Mercy's Creek. Everything now moved too fast, and nothing happened as it was meant to. Fate had been skewed somehow. Harry chuckled to herself. Now she sounded like Troy.

She picked up her third piece of chocolate cake. Her birthday seemed like as good a day as any to start testing how far the enchanted necklace would protect her figure. 

Harry was interested to see how much junk she could eat before it effected her. She didn't know if she could still get fat, or if her body would even let her eat too much junk without her stomach doing somersaults, like it had taken to doing for any caffeine. She had been pretending to be on a health kick for the last week so that Erin would stop making her coffee, and for that reason she was eating her cake in the office so no-one would notice the amount she'd consumed.

Finishing her last mouthful, she gazed out the window. It was fifteen minutes into the final period of the day and Annelisse was wandering the school grounds with Casey in tow. Harry glanced at the master timetable. Year 10s had electives at that moment. It figured. Gayle had clearly lost control of her art class again.

Harry opened the window and called out, making her usually high voice, deep and level, "Annelisse, can you please come up here for a moment?"  

The look of surprise was written clearly upon the teenager's face. As the words ticked over, her expression moved to one of fear. "Can Casey come too, Miss?" she replied.

Harry was always tempted to correct the students for calling her 'Miss' instead of 'Mrs', considering it was out of sheer laziness, where they couldn't be bothered adding that one extra syllable, but part of her had never grown accustomed to being married, so she always let it slide. Today was no different.

"I really need to talk with you alone, if that's okay?" Harry asked trying to appear as welcoming as she could manage, without appearing to condone the students clearly doing the wrong thing. "Anyway, I should think Miss Trabecchi would be expecting to see Casey back in class some time soon. Casey, can you please advise her that Annelisse is with me and will be returning to class shortly." She hoped that would help set Annelisse's mind at ease that she wasn't going to be stuck with her for long.

Annelisse reluctantly ambled toward the building. Harry lost sight of her as she turned the corner, but knew it wouldn't take her long to walk up the stairs and along the balcony.

Harry pushed the plate aside and prepared the room so that Annelisse could sit comfortably without needing to get too close. Harry wanted her to be relaxed enough to confide in her.

It was a shame that the classrooms were all occupied, this would be the first time a student had been in Harry's office since Jake. She had tried to conduct all business outside of that room. She hadn't thought she would have been able to make it through a discussion with a child in those particular confines without bursting into tears prior to this. Still, she couldn't avoid it forever. In those few weeks before 'the incident' she had used her office for conducting all kinds of conversations. It just wasn't practical to have them anywhere else.

Annelisse knocked gently.

"Come in, Annelisse. Come in and take a seat," Harry said invitingly.

The girl shuffled in and sat quickly. Her eyes were downcast and her posture was stiff. Once again Harry had a pang of hurt that she terrified her students so.

"What's up? Why aren't you in class again?"

"I just don't see the point in art, Miss. We're not learning anything at all, and Trabecchi always yells at us." 

Harry forced down a smile, it wasn't the first time she had heard that response from a teenager that wanted to justify their misbehaviour. "Really? And why does she yell at you?"

"Because we don't listen to her. I mean... we would if she had something useful to say, but she never does, so what's the point in listening?"

Over the previous few years Harry had developed a bank of responses she used to gain compliance in regards to students' perceptions of other students, classes and teachers; some were through trial and error, others she had gained from overhearing colleague's conversations with students or parents. Harry gave Annelisse the general 'teachers need respect' speech with the inclusion of the 'you chose the elective' speech and the 'importance of the arts' speech. By the end of it the teenager was giving resigned nods.

Harry seized the opportunity to change the direction of the conversation.

"While I have you here, can you shed some light on what is going on with your brother? His personality has really changed lately. I'm worried about him."

Annelisse looked up at her. She sized her up, most likely trying to decide whether to trust Harry or not. She was still sitting as far away as possible. Harry wished she was game enough to ask her what she thought would happen if Harry came closer. Annelisse opened her mouth to respond, and then closed it again. She slid the chair a couple of inches closer. The small change in distance didn't really make a practical difference, but it still meant something to Harry.

"You know that Dad left not long after we were born, right?" Harry didn't, but she wasn't going to admit it and risk her clamming up. She nodded and let her continue. "Mum is a... hard woman to get along with. She has very high expectations. Things between her and Dad got messy. He was just too human. He tried to take us away from everyone here, but Mum with... help, managed to get custody. We never saw him again.

"Troy's always struggled without a dad. We aren't the most normal family, you see, especially with Mum the way she is. There was one man that Troy has idolised for years, who treated him like a son and Troy would do anything for but they had a... falling out recently. Troy didn't take it well. He's always thought it was his job to be a... catalyst in this town. Now he doesn't know where his place is in our world. Since Jake's d... since Jake left, he's seemed even more adrift."

Harry understood most of it. Troy was a child of a single mother, struggling to find a male role model who had just lost one of his good friends, but there were still parts she didn't quite understand.

"That must be very hard for the both of you. I can't imagine what life has been for you, Troy and Maddie, growing up without your dad" she paused. "You said Troy thought he was a 'catalyst'. That's a really interesting word choice. What did he think he was a catalyst for?"

Annelisse's eyes went wide. She thought for a moment before responding. Harry had seen that look from teenagers before when they had said too much.

She stammered, "I-I-I, it's just... it doesn't matter."

Harry could see the walls going back up. She wasn't going to get anything more from her at this point.

"Well, thanks for helping me to understand. If ever you need to talk, or you are worried about Troy, please come see me." She resisted the urge to put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "I guess I better get you back to class!"

***

Harry made the short trek across the playground only a couple of hours after the bell.

Apart from feeling stuffed from so much cake, she felt like the day had been reasonably successful. As she struggled to lift her feet high enough to ascend the stairs, the full weight of the week fell upon her.

Opening the door she was greeted by the full staff sitting in her lounge room. Matt looked up at her. "Hey, Harry, happy thirtieth! We were all going to hide and yell 'surprise' but it seemed a little cliche."

Ray handed her a beer. She smiled at him in thank you, attempting to mask her weariness and disgust at the choice of drink. Harry was yet to attempt drinking alcohol since putting on her necklace. Based on her experiences with caffeine, she hadn't thought that something that toxic would sit well with her. She dropped her bag on her desk and joined the celebration.

Lucy smiled up at her as she sat down. "I made you a second cake, but considering how much you ate today, you probably won't be able to fit it in."

Harry felt her face flush. 

David came up behind her and rubbed her shoulder. "Happy birthday, babe. Surprise!"

She stretched up and gave him a delicate kiss on the cheek. Maybe she wasn't so alone after all.

***

The night rolled on.

Lucy and Liz entertained the group with stories long after Charlie had been put to bed.

Working at Mercy's Creek State School had definitely provided opportunity for every staff person to gain a repertoire of unique stories. Even Useless John had shared a few. Most people nodded politely as he shared. Only Liz openly sniggered as he talked. 

She had been surprised with how much alcohol Liz had consumed. As the woman began sharing promiscuous experiences and her secret obsession for Sam Dupret, Harry started to worry that wrong story might slip out very soon.

She gathered up the empty bottles, pulling Liz into kitchen under the pretence of needing assistance.

"Maybe it's time to slow down. You don't want to get too comfortable and let the wrong thing accidentally come out."

Liz sat the empties on the bench. "Don't worry. I'm fine. I never tell secrets I don't want to share, no matter how trashed I get. Just relax and have a beer." She cracked Harry a new stubby, and with that, she flipped her red hair and returned to the lounge room. 

Picking up the beer, Harry poured it straight down the sink and filled the can with water as she'd been doing all night. She sighed and regathered the empty bottles and cans, adding Liz's share to the armful she already had. 

Harry slowly waddled down the back stairs, her arms overflowing with glass and aluminium. The laughter from inside followed her. She hoped that they didn't get too rowdy. Charlie was always hard to get back to sleep once she'd been woken.

She moved around the side towards the recycle bin. With the shadows of the big tree running along the fence line, and the blackness of the night, Harry wished that David had picked a different place for their wheelie bins. They had originally been underneath the stairs but the garbage was collected so infrequently they had given off too much of a smell. Though her eyes adjusted much faster than they used to, she still needed to pay close attention to the ground as she watched her steps to ensure she didn't get any prickles in her feet. 

She balanced the bottles between her body and her arms, in order to free her hand and open the lid of the bin. Her skin prickled. The nights had been warming up considerably lately, but tonight was a cold snap. A strange scent mixed with the smell from the rubbish bin. It was familiar but she couldn't place it. 

Behind her, something rustled near the big tree. She began to turn to see what it was.

A crack came of something heave came down upon her head. The bottles and cans dropped to the ground with a series of soft clinks. The neck of a different bottle landed on her shoulder. 

Harry staggered.

Someone grabbed her right wrist, and the smell became stronger. They wrenched it up behind her back, and locked their other arm around her neck. They were crushing her windpipe.

Harry tried to scream. Nothing happened. She was trapped.

She struggled for a means to escape.