But the talk soon shifted to other subjects. Courtney's usual response to questions about work – she'd only just finished her shift at Woolies – was to utter "beep, beep, beep", mimicking the monotonous sound of the checkout scanner. Over dinner the night before – her favourite, chicken carbonara – Courtney mentioned she might duck down to Hungry Jack's in the morning to grab one of their $1 large frozen Cokes. On a bedside table sits a pile of timestables flash cards, which she's using to practise her maths for her job on the checkout at the local Woolies. Blu-tacked to the wall above her long white desk, where she commits her deepest thoughts and fears to her diaries, is a poster with a list of one-liners under the heading "Everybody Knows Shit Happens". It's here she pulls on her headphones and soaks up everything from classical to heavy metal music while constantly pacing up and down, a habit that's comforted her since her teens. This bright, airy space, with its large white bookcase jammed tight with Harry Potter books and Frankie magazines, with its stuffed panda tucked into one corner and Winnie the Pooh in the other, is Courtney's sanctuary. "Okay, see you then Zac," she piped back. "See you tonight," he yelled out before leaving. She was still in her bedroom at 10am when Zachary, the last out, knocked on the door. In their rush to get out the door, none of the tight-knit Topic brood – Courtney's mum Leesa, dad Ron and brothers Kristopher, Zachary and Brodie – had a chance to kiss her goodbye. ![]() The 22-year-old, lathered in sunscreen against the hot rays – she's become very fearful of skin cancer – takes care to triple-peg every item, just in case a southerly gust blows up later. ![]() On a sweaty, still Tuesday morning in February 2015, only 90 minutes before she'll be shot dead by police outside Hungry Jack's in Sydney's Hoxton Park, only six hours before her face will flash across nationwide news programs, Courtney Topic is hanging the family's washing out to dry.
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