The Story of Us

by Dani Atkins

  The seat didn’t give much, but at the first small protesting moan from the metal, I got ready. Then, when finally I felt the smallest of movement and lessening of pressure, I whipped my legs up, and suddenly I was free. Amazingly, apart from cuts and the kind of bruises so horrible you end up taking photographs of them, my legs were intact.

  Almost as though the car, hungry for my blood, knew I was about to get away, a shower of sparks flew out of each of the vents on the dashboard. The world’s smallest and deadliest fireworks display.

  ‘Go,’ he urged, gripping hold of my upper arm and manhandling me over the reclined seat and into the front of the car. I clambered through the front windscreen cavity and crawled on all fours up the slippery incline of the bonnet. Jack was following close behind.

  ‘That gas is going to blow, stand on the edge of the hood, I’ll push you up.’

  ‘Petrol and bonnet,’ I corrected.

  ‘You are one very bossy woman,’ he replied, pushing me up the car with a hand placed quite unashamedly on my backside. He hauled me to my feet on to the bumper and then had to catch and steady me when I tried to apply weight on to my legs, which were still numb and tingling from their ordeal. I hung on to his arm and looked up at the sheer sides of the ditch in concern. I hadn’t actually realised how deep it was; the road had to be at least three metres above my head. How on earth had Caroline managed to climb up it so easily?

  ‘I don’t think I can—’

  He was way ahead of me. He dropped to his knees at my feet as though he was about to propose. ‘Stand on my shoulders.’

  ‘I’m too heavy.’

  There were sparks flaring almost continually from the dashboard. We didn’t have long.

  ‘Are you fishing for compliments? Because I really don’t think this is the time. Now get up there.’

  I placed my hands in his outstretched ones to gain balance and placed one bare foot on each broad and solid shoulder. He got to his feet so easily, you’d think he did this every day of the week. I tried to help, grabbing on to whatever roots or foliage I passed for a handhold, as the top of the ditch came into view.

  I was almost there.

  I looked down at the man who I was literally standing on to secure my safety. ‘What about you? Can you get up here?’

  ‘Don’t worry about me. I’ll be right behind you.’

  I was still crawling away from the ditch on all fours, when the sparks and the fumes stopped their teasing courtship and made their first and final deadly encounter. Caroline’s car exploded like a bomb in an inferno of flames.

  CHAPTER 2

  The blast knocked me flat on to the road, and in its wake I felt a hot wave crest across my body. I glanced back over my shoulder before crawling once more on to my knees. There was certainly no problem in seeing anything now. The fire from the blazing car lit up the surrounding area almost as brightly as daylight. I felt a hand cup my elbow and raise me to my feet.

  ‘Are you all right, are you hurt?’

  I shook my head dumbly, wondering why everything sounded wrong, then realised the explosion had left me with a muffled ringing sound in my ears. I looked up gratefully to face the tall – I’d been right – man standing in front of me. Had it not been for him, the explosion would have left me dead! Mild tinnitus was a small price to pay.

  ‘I’m fine. Thank you for… for everything.’

  He shrugged as though it was nothing, which we both knew was untrue.

  ‘Amy and Caroline. Where are they?’

  In answer, Jack took hold of my shoulders and turned me around, so I was facing the direction we had been driving from, and there, about forty metres back down the road, I could just make out two silhouettes in the shadows. I hadn’t realised our car had travelled so far after the impact. Jack held out his hand and I placed mine in it, unthinkingly. ‘Come on.’

  From a distance I had thought that Caroline, kneeling beside Amy on the side of the road, had actually been praying. As we got closer I could see that wasn’t the case; she was in fact rocking back and forth on her knees, moaning. Not good. Not good at all. We covered the final metres at a run, but when we were just a little short of the place where Amy had been thrown from the car, Jack pulled me to a halt. ‘Emma, you need to know, Amy’s injuries are pretty… severe.’ I nodded back dumbly, and then pulled away from his hold and covered the remaining distance alone.

  I knew he was trying to prepare me, I got that. But he might as well not have bothered. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I looked past Caroline at the third member of our trio. Suddenly I was very, very glad that the light was poor, because what I could see made my heart lurch and my stomach drop. Her face, her poor face.

  I fell to my knees beside Caroline, gripping her hand and squeezing hard. I don’t think she even knew I was there. But it wasn’t Caroline who needed me now, anyway.

  Amy’s injuries were so bad; I literally wouldn’t have known it was her. I tried to stifle the cry of despair that seemed determined to force its way out through my lips, especially when I realised that she wasn’t unconscious. She turned her face slowly and painfully in my direction.

  ‘Mmmemma?’

  I nodded, unable to trust my voice, then realised her eyes, virtually swollen shut into bloodied slits, probably couldn’t see me.

  ‘I’m here, Ames, I’m here.’ I reached for her hand, hesitating when I saw the raw and angry cuts and abrasions that covered almost every inch of visible skin. I took it anyway, she needed the contact. ‘Don’t try to speak,’ I urged as I saw her cut and distended lips struggle to formulate words.

  ‘You… kay?’

  That’s what started me crying. She was lying there on the cold road, with injuries so horrible who knew how long it would take her to recover from them, and the first thing she asked was if I was okay. ‘I’m fine, just fine.’

  She gave a small nod, her head cushioned on a makeshift support of a folded leather jacket, Jack’s, I guessed. He had joined us by then, walking around to the other side of Amy and hunkering down near her head. ‘You doing okay, kiddo?’ he asked with a smile, and I recognised the tone he had used on me in the car. For just one stupid, unthinking moment I felt jealous. He reached down and laid his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. ‘Help’s on the way.’

  Amy’s face contorted as a spasm of pain ripped through her, and I looked up at Jack in desperation. ‘Did they say how long? She needs to get to a hospital.’

  There was a look I didn’t like in his eyes when he answered solemnly, ‘I know,’ but nevertheless he got to his feet and pulled his mobile out. ‘I’ll call again.’ But before he had dialled even the first digit, a distant sound of a siren cut through the frosty March night air.

  Amy’s eyes had flickered shut, so I reached down and gently touched her face. ‘Listen, Amy, they’re coming. Can you hear them? They’re almost here. Just hang on.’

  ‘Hurt…’

  That had to be the understatement of a lifetime. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend the level of pain she must be in. ‘I know,’ I crooned, ‘but they’ll give you something for the pain. Just stay with us for a minute or two more, they’re almost here.’

  I had hoped to console and comfort her, but my reply seemed to agitate her further. She shook her head violently from side to side and opened her mouth in a moan of despair. I tried not to let the fact that almost all her teeth were broken show in my face as I looked back at her.

  ‘Hurt… you.’ She was confused, and with very good reason.

  ‘No, Amy. I’m fine.’ I looked across at Jack, and saw the naked sympathy on his face. ‘This kind American man got me out of the car. I’m not hurt.’ Not like you, I finished in my head. But still my words didn’t satisfy her.

  ‘Good fren… you forgave. So… so… sorry.’ She was rambling and getting distressed, so I did the only thing I could think of; I pretended her weird comments made complete and absolute sense. I was good at doing that; I’d had more than enough pra
ctice.

  ‘Absolutely, Amy. Don’t worry, everything’s good. Rest now, please rest.’

  She gave one last small nod, as though a heavy burden had just been passed on, and I swear I felt some of the tension relax from the bloodied hand which I still held in my own.

  They sent just about every type of emergency vehicle they had. They arrived in a siren-blaring cavalcade: a fire engine, two ambulances and several police cars. The relief that professionals could now swing into action and take charge had the opposite effect on me to the one I was expecting. As I got to my feet and stepped out of the way of the two paramedics who had briskly flanked Amy, I felt my knees buckle beneath me. Jack caught me instantly, taking my entire weight. I began to shiver violently in his arms, like someone in the throes of a raging fever. He pulled me closer against his chest, to warm me with the heat of his body. By now my teeth had begun to chatter uncontrollably.

  ‘It’s just shock,’ he soothed, his hand stroking my hair from the back of my head to the nape of my neck, as though I was a frightened animal that needed to be pacified. That wasn’t far off the mark.

  It seemed to take them ages to attend to Amy and get her in a stable enough condition to be transported. The longer it took, the more agitated I grew. ‘Why don’t they just put her in the bloody ambulance and get going?’ I said in a voice that probably wasn’t quiet enough not to be overheard by the intently working paramedics. I saw the apologetic look Jack offered the two medics, before he gently guided me further away from them.

  ‘Let’s just give them some space to work, shall we?’ he questioned equably.

  It was easy for him to sound so calm. We were, after all, total strangers to him. He had nothing invested in the outcome of this night, in us. Nothing at all.

  Jack steered me over to his car, which he’d brought to a stop halfway across one lane of the road. I didn’t want to get inside the vehicle, even though I was still shivering violently. If Amy was out in the cold, then I should be too. Strangely, Jack seemed to understand this very twisted logic and came beside me, leaning back against the bonnet. We watched the paramedics hard at work as a drip was inserted into Amy’s arm, an immobilising neck brace applied, and then finally a wheeled stretcher was brought from the back of the ambulance.

  Without asking permission, Jack put an arm around me, and I gratefully allowed myself to be held closely against the side of this total stranger. ‘I’d give you my jacket… but there was a prior claim on it.’

  I nodded, my attention fixed now on Caroline, who was currently in the care of one of the paramedics from the second ambulance and two police officers. When I saw one of the policemen produce a breathalyser kit for her to blow into, I pushed rapidly away from the car. There was absolutely no need for that! I could testify that she’d been stone-cold sober. There was no way she was the one who caused all this. If they had to blame anyone, blame the sodding deer! It was only Jack’s restraining hand that stopped me from launching into the fray with a loud and noisy protest.

  ‘They’re just doing it by the numbers. It’s not an accusation. Don’t go charging in there like a prizefighter.’

  He was right. I knew that. And in normal circumstances it wouldn’t occur to me in a million years to be this aggressive. I settled back against the front of his car with obvious reluctance, still disgruntled.

  ‘Are you always like this, or have I just caught you on a bad night?’

  I gave a small humourless laugh that turned into a sob. ‘One of my best friends is about to be stretchered into the back of an ambulance, the other looks set to be taken off in a Black Maria. I’ve known better evenings.’

  ‘Black Maria, eh? Just how old are you?’

  ‘Twenty-seven,’ I answered automatically, totally missing his sarcasm at first. Then I got it, and gave a wry half-smile. ‘I watch a lot of old films.’

  ‘Me too,’ he confirmed companionably, and it struck me that if we’d met in any other circumstances than these, I would really have liked this man as a friend.

  ‘Now then, my love, can we take a little look at the pair of you?’

  I’d been so distracted by Jack’s diversionary tactics, I hadn’t even seen the paramedic approach us with her bag in hand. Slipping on a clean pair of latex gloves, she raised my face to examine the injury on my forehead. There were still bits of windscreen glass stuck to the wound, which had thankfully almost stopped bleeding by this point. ‘We’re going to have to leave cleaning this up until we get you to hospital, my lovely, and get it X-rayed too. Are you hurt anywhere else?’

  I shook my head, and beside me Jack made a small hissing sound. ‘Her legs were trapped by one of the car seats. She’s got some pretty bad bruising on both of them.’ The paramedic dropped to a crouch, while I gave Jack a small glare; it seemed wrong for them to be spending any time at all looking after me, when Amy was in such greater need.

  ‘My colleagues are three of the best in the county – they’ll look after your friend,’ the medic reassured, following my worried gaze to the flurry of activity beside Amy’s stretcher. ‘Your boyfriend is right; we need to look after you now.’

  ‘He’s not my boyfriend,’ I corrected automatically. The paramedic got to her feet and took in Jack’s protective arm, which was still holding me close to his side, and then her eye fell to the large diamond solitaire on my wedding finger.

  ‘Sorry, your fiancé,’ she amended.

  ‘He’s not—’ I gave a weary shrug, it was suddenly too exhausting to bother explaining. Let them think whatever they liked. There were far more important things to be concerned with just then.

  ‘And you, sir,’ continued the paramedic, balling up the rubber gloves and slipping on a clean pair before reaching out her hand for Jack’s wounded arm.

  ‘Me? No, I’m fine. I wasn’t involved in the accident.’

  ‘Then how did you get that?’

  All three of us looked down at the bloody gash on Jack’s arm.

  ‘Shaving,’ I supplied succinctly.

  The paramedic eyed me suspiciously as though perhaps she hadn’t assessed my mental state accurately enough. But Jack interceded before things got even more confusing.

  ‘I just caught it on a bit of metal in the car when I was helping Emma get out.’

  Just? Like it was something you could dismiss that casually. Suddenly it was important that everyone should know precisely what he’d done. ‘He saved my life,’ I declared solemnly.

  Jack looked embarrassed.

  ‘Did he now? Well then, it’s even more important that we get him properly taken care of, isn’t it?’

  ‘Can’t we just stick a plaster on it? Just something to make sure I don’t bleed all over my hire car?’

  ‘Nonsense,’ the paramedic replied, clearly horrified at the suggestion. ‘We need to clean the wound and it looks like it’ll probably need a few stitches. And then you’ll probably need to have a tetanus injection too.’

  Jack sighed, sensing resistance was going to be futile. Our conversation was halted briefly as the ambulance bearing Amy finally departed from the scene, its sirens like a town crier, ringing out the severity of the patient within.

  ‘Scared of hospitals, are you?’ I challenged, desperate to divert my attention to any topic I could latch on to, any topic which didn’t involve the fate of my friend.

  ‘I think I might be more scared of you,’ Jack played along. ‘I was right, you are bossy.’

  There wasn’t enough room in the second ambulance for all three of us. Jack walked with me to the rear steps, and smiled at Caroline, who was looking much calmer sitting on one of the beds in the back of the vehicle. She gave us a slightly woolly look, and I guessed they had given her something to calm her down. The paramedic climbed into the ambulance and reached out her hand to help me in.

  They had wanted to summon a third ambulance to transport Jack to the hospital, but he’d been absolutely insistent that he was able to drive his own car. So they’d just put a temporary bandage
on his arm, and accepted his assurances that he would follow us. I eyed him suspiciously from my position on the second bed.

  ‘You are coming, aren’t you? You’re not going to do something stupid like just drive off and not get yourself checked out?’

  He saw my concern, heard it in my voice, and although I knew it was probably the last thing he really wanted to do, he gave a small nod and a smile, repeating the phrase he’d already said to me once before that night, ‘I’ll be right behind you.’

  The hospital was busy and chaotic, in a way you somehow never expect in the early hours of the morning. In the windowless Accident and Emergency Department it could easily have been the middle of the working day and not three o’clock in the morning.

  Like a well-oiled machine, the medical staff had sprung into action, wheeling, assessing and processing us with practised speed, separating Caroline and me almost instantly. I’m not entirely sure where they took her, but I was wheeled into a triage area for further assessment and then, after that burst of initial activity, was left for what seemed like for ever, for the arrival of the duty doctor.

  As the minutes ticked by, my agitation, a small thing at first, grew into a hard angry knot lodged somewhere in the pit of my stomach. I appreciated that they were busy, that much was obvious from the flurry of activity I could hear beyond the cubicle curtains. But surely someone could spare just a minute to tell me what was happening with Amy? It was the question I’d asked every member of staff who’d come within a few feet of me, one of whom I was pretty sure was actually a cleaner, who didn’t even speak English.

  I was also aware of an ever-pressing need to phone both home and Richard and let them know I was all right. It was really late, and my dad had started worrying about me like a teenager out past curfew since I moved back home. It was irritating, infuriating and completely understandable, so I lived with it. There were bigger issues to concern him and I’d moved back to lessen not add to them.