THE SENTINEL 

By Tessa Harvey

    The whole school had watched as one of the younger women had admonished the boys. Seconds later, as they stood bewildered, the other young woman had borne down on them from another direction, reprimanding them for something else.
    Eventually the boys appreciated the joke and behaved a little better.

-----------------------

    Eliza was staring at the cream-white walls of her three-bedroom unit. Her daughter Sylvia had reluctantly agreed to stay, largely because she could not yet afford a place of her own.
    Now she was again in hospital. And her son was missing. Eliza wondered why. Was some god persecuting her? She had tried to be a good wife to Karl, searching for him, alone along the cold mountain trails. Finally forlorn and bereft, returning to care for her two children. Now she had been told he was not only alone but a cruel criminal who had many different aliases.
    The police had tracked him down. Unable to concede he had many foolish mistakes, this man had gone after his family. 
    It was bizarre, evil. It made no sense. Her boy, doing so well, was missed.
    Did other people ever know such pain?
    She heard a knock on the door and forced herself to answer.

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