After a long, anxiety-inducing summer spent isolated with my parents in our family home on the burning NSW South Coast, it seems I learned some lessons about dread and impending doom that have come in handy.
A car radio plays nearby, feeding through evacuation information and the phone numbers of relief services. A few feet away, my boyfriend watches a press conference by Daniel Andrews, who tells us that, as of 9:30am, 28 people are missing.
