Bellman Tower

Chapter 2

"Hey, do you know what?" Dad suddenly bursts, as we accelerate round a tight corner.

"What?" I immediately respond, my eyes lighting up as they always do when Dad has a suggestion to make.

Mom just rolls her eyes and sighs, "No more races with SUVs on the highway, John."

"Okay." Dad sighs, slumping his shoulders. I chuckle. Dad clears his throat, "Actually, I was thinking we should eat out. You know, save you the trouble of cooking us a late tea."

"Oh, right." Mom looks surprised that Dad has said something faintly sensible for once, "Yeah, we should. Do you know what I'm thinking?" Mom's face lights up as she turns to Dad expectantly.

"Valentine's Day?"

"Exactly. That take out was amazing." Mom giggles and Dad gives her a wink.

Hhhmmm. Seems as if the take out wasn't the only thing that was amazing. But let's just pretend I didn't see that. I look out of the window as Dad turns left.

There's the sharp sound of air whistling and then I'm being pelted around the car, my body being twisted into strange positions. It's as if I'm flipping over... no, the car is flipping over. We forgot to put our safety belts on, that's why we're being thrown around like rag dolls in a cardboard box. I cry out in pain as a shard of glass lodges itself in my lower leg. I hear mom's screams and Dad's horrendous cries of agony as we roll to a stop... upside down. I feel a hot, sticky, liquidy substance running down my cheek.

Everything is blurry. I crawl out of the car and reach down for the shard of glass, hot tears of pain rolling down my cheeks as I pull it out of my leg. It's pitch black. I can't see a thing. I look around, trying to make out Mom and Dad's shapes in the blackness. Then I see them as my eyes adjsut. Blood splattered and pummelled to bloody pulps, they both start dragging themselves closer to each other, a hand outstretched to meet the other.

One last attempt at unity.

I try to get up and go over to them, try to tell them it'll all be okay. Tears are streaming down their faces; I've never seen them filled with so much grief. Then they stop moving altogether. They lay there, their faces slack, glassy eyes wide open, hands motionless, outstretched to each others'. Dead. "NO!" I screech, "Mom! Dad!" I struggle against everything, I try to stay awake. Fatigue weighs me down and I slump to the ground, unconscious...

"Mom!" I jolt upright in bed, sweat making my hair stick to my face. With a shaking hand, I push all of the loose strands back. Ever since that night, these nightmares have haunted me. Made me restless even in my sleep. I untangle myself from the silky sheets and go over to the window. I push the curtains aside and watch the sun rise. At nine thirty am, there's a knock at my door. Aunt walks in, her expression one of fake joy. I've seen a lot of that in the last two weeks. "Good morning, Nikki." She says, "Do you want to come down for breakfast now? We want to discuss things with you."

I stand up and follow her downstairs into the kitchen. I look around the clinical room, feeling nothing but numbness and trailing terror from my nightmare. Uncle is already sitting down, his hands clasped on the table. I sit down opposite the two of them, looking down at the table. "We've decided to send you to the local high school. Everyone's really kind there and this village is small, Nikki. So small, it's not even on a map. Everyone's excited about someone new. We don't get many new people. So you might find yourself the centre of attention."

"I don't want that." I declare, as if saying it will change it.

"Yes, you probably wouldn't." Uncle cuts in, "But there's not much your aunt and I can do about that. People are going to talk, it's what they do. We can't really stop that. You're just going to have to put up with it, Nikki."