The Lost Hours

Leura had always known she was braver than her brother.

He spent too much time thinking. That was his problem. When Leura wanted to do something, she just did it. Wentworth on the other hand, would always stop and think about all the things that could go wrong first. Sometimes this was a good thing, like the first time Leura had tried to run away from home. They were four years old, and Wentworth had reminded her she wouldn’t be able to fit all of her stuffed animals in her backpack, so she’d have to leave some behind. Leura couldn’t bring herself to lose any of them, so she decided to stay. Every year since, she’d try to run away again, but Wentworth would always think of a good reason for her not to. She’d never admit it, but she was glad he did. She’d learnt to rely on Wentworth’s overthinking to keep her from doing anything she might regret, but that didn’t stop it from being incredibly annoying.

“Come on Wenny, it’s just a skeleton. How many times have we talked about climbing it before? Now’s our chance and we might not get another one.”

“You’ve talked about climbing it, I just happened to be the one you were talking to,” said Wentworth with a nervous look around the room.

They were standing in the Hall of Skeletons, Leura’s favourite room in the museum. In front of them were the enormous bones of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The hall was huge, with dozens of skeletons, some from animals that were still alive today, like horses, lions, and snakes, and some that had disappeared long ago, like a mammoth and the dinosaurs. But the largest skeleton, sitting right in the middle of the room, was the T-Rex, and Leura had wanted to climb it for as long as she could remember. She knew Wentworth would try to talk her out of it of course. She gave him an exasperated sigh, and wondered for the millionth time how two twins could turn out to be so different.

Leura was short and stocky, with dark hair, eyes, and skin like their father. Wentworth was fair haired, tall and skinny. They’d never known their mother, but they’d seen pictures, and he looked just like her. Since Leura was the sort of person who liked action, and Wentworth was the sort who liked thinking, they fought all the time, but it never seemed to push them apart. Somewhere deep down, they knew they needed each other. That they had strengths their twin did not.

Every day after school, the twins had to come straight to the museum and wait for their dad to finish work. In the beginning they would join him on his tours, walking around the museum and learning all about the exotic items on display. The first few times they thought they were the luckiest kids in the world. By the hundredth time, they were getting pretty bored. By the time they’d lost count somewhere in the thousands, the boredom was beginning to break them. One day their dad caught them trying to count every single brick in the museum and was forced to admit that something needed to change. He arranged for them to be watched by the old security guard, Joe Foggity, who the twins called Froggy. He was short and hunched over with age, with thick grey hair and large glasses that made his eyes look much bigger than normal. Being watched by Froggy wasn’t exactly fun, but at least they could talk amongst themselves, or find a quiet corner to sit down and play a game or do some reading. Usually they had to stay in whatever part of the museum he was guarding that day. Sometimes that was fine, like when they were in the Ancient Egyptian exhibit, or the one with the frightening display of a sabre toothed tiger. Other times it was awful, like when they were stuck in the insect room, with nothing but spiders and beetles to look at for hours. But today was one of the best days, because they were in the Hall of Skeletons, and if that wasn’t good enough, Froggy had just run off to the main entrance to help them deal with a customer incident, leaving Leura and Wentworth alone for the first time ever, as far as they could remember.

“You’ll break it, Froggy’s always saying how much it needs fixing, besides, he could be back any second,” pointed out Wentworth.

“He only says the head needs fixing, and he won’t be back for ages, he’s probably older than most of the things in here. These skeletons could walk faster than he does.”

“What about dad then? His tour group hasn’t come through here yet, they must be getting close.”

Wentworth definitely had a point, but there was a part of Leura that really wanted to see the look on her dad’s face when he saw her sitting on the back of the T-Rex. She’d been angry with her father her entire life, though she’d never been able to fully explain why. It wasn’t just because he used to drag them around on his tours. It was something deeper, something about the person he was that frustrated Leura beyond measure. Knowing how upset he’d be if he caught her only made her want to do it more, but there was another part of her, an even bigger part, that was afraid of him. She knew he wasn’t like other dads. That there was also something wrong with him. Something broken.

Leura grit her teeth and stepped up onto the podium, with the sound of Wentworth’s hissed warnings at her back. She placed a hand on the thick bone of the T-Rex’s leg. It felt cold, and rough against her skin. Looking up at how far she’d have to climb to make it to its back, she realised it might not be as easy as she’d thought. Just as she’d reach up to grab a handhold on its upper thigh, a loud voice echoed through the room.

“And here we have our famous Hall of Skeletons. Largest collection in the southern hemisphere, and the only place in the country you can come face to face with the king of the dinosaurs,” Tony did an extravagant gesture with his arms towards the T-Rex in the centre of the room. He caught a flash of movement as Leura jumped down off the podium and landed next to Wentworth, trying to look as innocent as possible. Tony stood there for a moment in shock, then turned to his tour group. “Why don’t you all take a few minutes to soak it in, then we’ll meet back at the mammoth skeleton to your left there, and I’ll share some of the fascinating history behind this collection.” The tour group shuffled off around the hall, and Tony walked over to the twins.

“Hi dad,” said Leura, forcing her voice to sound as cheerful as possible.

“Where’s Mr Foggity?” asked Tony at once, “he didn’t leave you here alone did he?”

“He got called off, but it’s only been a minute. We’re fine on our own, honest.”

Tony didn’t seem to be listening. “I’ll be having a word with him, that’s for sure, leaving you on your own, what was he thinking, anything could’ve happened.”

“We’re thirteen years old dad, we can take care of ourselves,” said Leura, trying to keep her rising anger under control.

Tony was talking more to himself than to the twins now. “Should’ve never let you be watched by such an old man anyway - how he’s supposed to guard anything at his age I’ll never know - will have to keep you with me on my tours from now on, yes, I think that’s for the best.”

The twins were used to Tony freaking out over every little thing they did. The only place Tony let them out of his sight was when they were at school or being watched by Froggy, and Leura wasn’t about to lose what little freedom they had without putting up a fight.

“Froggy’s been looking after us since we were little kids dad, and nothing bad has happened. We’re just as safe here with Froggy as we are on your tours. Probably safer. He’ll be back any moment now you’ll see.”

“And Froggy’s a security guard dad, he’s got a radio he can contact the police with. Even you don’t have one of those,” added Wentworth.

Tony seemed to be lost in thought. Whatever he was thinking about was clearly bad, because a few seconds later a look of panic washed over his face and he grabbed both of the twins by the arms and marched them over to the mammoth skeleton with him. The twins hung their heads gloomily as he berated Froggy when he came back a few minutes later, and he kept them by his side for the rest of the day. They dragged their feet from room to room as they listened to Tony telling his tour group things they’d heard a million times before. Wentworth glared at Leura the whole time, blaming her for getting them in trouble once again. Leura glared right back. She could never understand why Wentworth wasn’t angry with their father, like she was. He’d been trying to control them their whole lives, always giving them the same old excuse whenever they wanted to try anything new. That it wasn’t safe. Wentworth might be okay living in their boring little bubble, but she would happily risk falling off the back of the T-Rex just to have something different to do.

When they’d finished the last tour for the day, Leura thought their punishment would end, and that whatever had frightened Tony would vanish from his mind after a good night’s sleep. But it went on like this for weeks. Every day, Tony would pick them up from school and drag them along with him on tours for hours. It was like being in a recurring dream you can’t wake up from. The same rooms, the same objects, the same details, again and again, constantly on your feet and no talking allowed.

“I’m not sure how much more of this I can take,” whispered Wentworth as they were passing the same statue of the Egyptian god Anubis for the fourth time that day.

“He’ll have to let us go back to Froggy eventually,” said Leura, trying to sound more confident than she felt. “He must be getting sick of having us around all the time.”

Wentworth didn’t look hopeful, but as the days dragged on, Leura began to notice a change in Tony. Slowly but surely, whatever had frightened him seemed to be fading into the back of his mind. More and more Leura caught him watching them as they trudged along on his tours with a guilty look in his eyes, rather than wariness. She’d seen this happen before, the first time he’d realised that going on endless tours was slowly driving the twins mad. She knew their punishment would end soon, but one day, after another very long evening of tours, Tony said something neither of them could’ve ever expected.

“I know it’s been tough, coming along on all my tours lately. So I’ve been thinking, maybe you both deserve a break. Something fun, you know. How would you like to go to Luna Park this Friday night? We can go on some of the rides, and I’ll buy you both some candy floss.” He smiled down at them, looking somewhat nervous.

“But, you’ve always told us Luna Park is dangerous,” said Wentworth, a stunned look on his face.

“Yes, well, it is. But I’ll be with you the whole time, and I’ve been thinking about what Leura said, you know, about how you’re not little kids anymore. I think we can start having a little fun every now and then, don’t you?”

“Yes!” said Leura quickly, worried that if she let her dad think about it for any longer he might change his mind.

“Great, that’s settled then,” said Tony, still looking nervous but also rather pleased with himself.

The twins had always wanted to go to Luna Park. Kids at school talked about it all the time. It was an amusement park right on the harbour, with all sorts of rides, games and delicious food. Every day when Tony was driving them home from work, they crossed the harbour bridge and could see Luna Park out the left hand window, and the twins would stare at it longingly, knowing that their dad would never let them go to a place where so many things might harm them. But now it seemed as though all those evenings of walking around the museum in misery had been worth it.

The rest of the week dragged on, feeling longer than all the others combined. The twins thought of little else other than Luna Park. The rides they wanted to try, the food they wanted to eat. It was like waiting for Christmas and their birthday rolled into one. Yet, despite her excitement, Leura couldn’t help but feel a growing anxiety as the day drew nearer. She wanted to believe in her father. She wanted to trust him. But somewhere along the way, over countless little letdowns and disappointments, she’d lost all faith in him. Now she feared what would happen if he failed her again. How much more could be lost between them? She wasn’t even sure if there was anything left to lose.

When Friday finally came, the twins had one more surprise waiting for them. Tony was booked all afternoon on tours with very important people who worked for the government, which meant the twins were going to be looked after by Froggy again. The bad news was that he was patrolling the worst room in the whole museum, the one filled with thousands of dead insects in glass cases. Leura couldn’t figure out whether this was a good sign or not, and her anxiety continued to creep upwards. The twins found a quiet corner to wait in and didn’t take their eyes off Wentworth’s watch the whole time, counting every second until 6:30pm, when they would finally be going to Luna Park.

Each second that ticked by felt longer than the last, and towards the end they could’ve sworn the watch went backwards a few times whenever they blinked or glanced away from it. Then, with only ten minutes to go, it happened.

“There you are,” said Tony, hurrying towards them. The twins shot up like a rocket at the sight of him.

“You’re done early!” shrieked Wentworth, almost jumping up and down in excitement.

“Ah, no actually, the opposite,” said Tony with a grimace.

The twins felt their insides deflate like a balloon. All the pent up fear and doubt that Leura had barely managed to keep contained beneath the surface was suddenly threatening to erupt. She could hear a ringing in her ears, and the edges of her vision started to blur.

“There’s been a last minute change, we’ve got some very important people coming from the Office for the Arts, they fund the museum you see, so we need to make a good impression. The museum director himself will be on the tour. I’ll have to stay another hour, two at the most, really can’t be helped…” He trailed off at the sight of their faces. Being told they had to spend another two hours here felt like they were in a nightmare.

“But, Luna Park closes at nine, we’ll hardly get any time there at all,” said Leura, her voice thick with disappointment and not bothering to hide it.

“We’ll still have time for a few rides, I promise, and extra candy! I really have to go but I’ll be back as soon as I can and we’ll head straight there.” With that Tony hurried out of the room, leaving the twins standing there in shock. How could they wait two hours more when the final ten minutes had already felt like an eternity?

Wentworth slumped back down to the floor, his eyes beginning to water as his shock turned into sadness. Leura’s shock went in a different direction. Like most emotions she didn’t enjoy feeling, it quickly turned into a white hot rage.

“I’m not sitting here for another two hours,” she said through gritted teeth. The rage building deep inside her was stronger than anything she’d felt before, yet it wasn’t directed at her father. It was all for herself. How could she have been so stupid? She knew something like this would happen, it always does. She hated herself in that moment, which made her hate her father in return. It was like pouring fuel on a fire, turning her rage into something completely out of her control. Her vision blurred. A strange crackling sound split the air. Wentworth looked up to see her tensed and hunched over like she was trying to stop her body from exploding. He reached out instinctively and grabbed her around the ankle. Then everything around them seemed to collapse in on itself, like the room was being crushed together from all sides. A loud crunching sound and Wentworth’s yelp of fright, carried around the room.

Then there was silence.

“What just happened?” Wentworth’s voice was squeaky, and he sat perfectly still, afraid that any sudden movement might make it happen again.

Leura stood beside him, just as still. What had happened?

The fire inside her had burnt down to embers. She was more confused now than anything else. The room around them looked exactly the same. Yet, something felt different about it. She scanned the room, looking for anything out of place. A few seconds later she realised what was missing.

“Froggy’s gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?”

“He was over there, near the tarantulas, and now he’s not.” Fresh fear washed over her. “We should go look for him, if dad finds us alone again we’ll be in big trouble.” Leura took a step towards the door and nearly tripped over because Wentworth was still holding onto her ankle. “Let go Wenny, this is serious, we’ve got to find Froggy now.”

Wentworth climbed shakily to his feet. “But, that noise, and the way the room sort of… fell on us. What was that Leura?” But Leura didn’t give him an answer, mostly because she didn’t have one, and was choosing to focus solely on the problem of the missing Froggy. They did a lap around the huge room to make sure he wasn’t hiding behind one of the displays, then they headed out into the corridor, peering into other rooms as they went. They kept quiet though, afraid to draw too much attention to themselves in case it was their dad that heard them.

“Let’s check near the entrance, maybe he got called there again like last time,” said Leura.

“And dad won’t be showing people around the front desk,” added Wentworth with a nod.

They came down the main stairwell, and the moment they stepped foot in the entrance hall a booming voice rang out that made both of them jump out of their skins.

“There you are!” Tony was marching towards them. Standing with a large group behind him was Froggy and what looked like the entire museum staff. The twins stood rooted to the spot, fear and confusion crashing over them like waves. It was like they’d all been down here waiting for them.

“We’ve been tearing this place apart trying to find you! Worried out of my mind, I even called the police! And you’ve been what? Hiding this whole time?” The twins had never seen their dad this angry before.

“We’ve been in the insect room, where you left us,” said Leura with a quiver.

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” bellowed Tony, with his eyes wide open and looking more than a little crazy. The twins could see the other staff turning away awkwardly, most of them heading towards the exit. “I had to leave my tour half way through when Mr Foggity told me you’d disappeared. We’ve searched the entire museum back to front, so where were you?”

“How could you have searched the whole museum dad, it’s only been ten minutes since we saw you,” said Wentworth, holding up his watch so that Tony could see it read 6:30pm.

“Don’t play dumb with me Wentworth, it’s nearly nine now, you’ve been missing for hours.”

Leura swayed on the spot, fighting back against a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Wentworth looked like he was on the verge of losing that battle himself. How could they have been missing for over two hours and have absolutely no memory of it? Could she have blacked out in her rage? Stormed off and forgotten all about it? The thought sent tendrils of fear shooting through her body, like her blood was turning to ice in her veins.

“Dad, I swear, we were in the insect room. We must’ve just… fallen asleep in the corner, or something, and you couldn’t see us.”

Tony was shaking his head. “I searched every inch of that room Leura, you weren’t there. Mr Foggity said he heard a crashing sound like you’d broken something. Were you trying to hide whatever it was you broke? Did you think I was going to get you in trouble, is that it? Just tell me the truth.” But all Leura could do was stare back at him with a gaping mouth, her mind sinking further and further into confusion as it tried desperately to give her the answer to an impossible question.

The drive home that night was the most miserable the twins had ever felt. As they passed over the harbour bridge, they saw Luna Park glittering below them. Tony never needed to say out loud what their punishment would be. The twins knew they were never going to Luna Park now. In fact, they knew it would be a small miracle if they were ever allowed out of Tony’s sight again.

Leura tried desperately to figure out what had happened in that insect room. She searched her memories, moment by moment, looking for anything that could help explain how she lost two hours of her life. But the longer she dwelt on it, the more she forged an unshakeable belief that this was all her father’s fault anyway. So what if she’d disappeared? She was supposed to be at Luna Park, like he’d promised. He was acting like they’d done something horrible, but he’d done something horrible first. He was the one that made her lose control. He was the reason everything had gone wrong. He did this to them.

As they drove silently towards home, Leura felt the last tendrils of love she had for her father wilt and fade away.