Changing Lives by Mabel Marsters

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 :: 11 :: 12 :: 13 :: 14 :: 15 :: 16 :: 17 :: 18 :: 19 :: 20 :: 21 :: 22 :: 23 :: 24 :: 25 :: 26 :: 27 :: 28 :: 29 :: 30 :: 31 :: 32 :: 33 :: 34 :: 35 :: 36 :: 37 :: 38 :: 39 :: 40 :: 41 :: 42 :: 43 :: 44 :: 45 :: 46 :: 47 :: 48 :: 49 :: 50 :: 51 :: 52 :: 53 :: 54 :: 55 :: 56 :: 57 :: 58 :: 59 :: 60 ::

Chapter 9

Two weeks had passed in seemingly the blink of an eye to William; he’d had a great time. Rich, James’ best friend, had proven to be as good company as James was and the three of them had been practically inseparable. The only cloud over William’s happiness was the fact that Buffy hadn’t called him. He hadn’t said much to James about it but he felt hurt. He’d really believed she’d call after talking the whole ‘Angel’ scenario out with James. Now he was dreading the end of the summer, wishing he could stay in England with James. He’d been accepted wherever he went without feeling any awkwardness at all, feeling much more confident in himself. He didn’t want to end up back at Sunnydale High with Angel picking on him all the time again, especially since it looked like Buffy didn’t want anything to do with him.

Today was his birthday and since his uncle Thomas had gotten the week off work the five of them were going to go out for the day. They were gathered in the dining room for a traditional full English breakfast to start their day and to give William his presents.

His Aunt Julia and Uncle Thomas had bought him a laptop computer. They all laughed at his face when he opened the parcel. He glanced at his mom to make sure she was ok about him getting such an expensive present; she smiled at him to reassure him it was fine.

When he opened his mom’s present he realised why she’d been so happy about it, she’d promised him a year’s Internet access.

“That’s great, now we can keep in touch really easily,” said James.

“Here, William, there’s another part to your present,” said his mom, handing him another brightly wrapped parcel.

He took it from her and opened it. He had to blink back tears when he saw it, it was a new hard back copy of Pride and Prejudice. He opened the front cover where his Mom had written in the first page, ‘To William, for putting up with me, all my love, Mom x’. He swallowed hard before thanking her; he gave her a hug and a kiss.

“’Ere mate, enough o’ that,” joked James, handing him another present.

William opened it and grinned at his cousin.

“Cheers, mate,” he said, this time not even realising he was copying his cousin. It had been weeks since he’d heard another American accent and his inbuilt compulsion to blend in meant he almost sounded English himself. The present was a set of speakers for his iPod.

Once the breakfast things were cleared up, they all got their coats and made their way to the large ‘people carrier’ that Thomas had hired for the week so that the five of them travelling together wouldn’t be such a squeeze.

“Oh James, you’re not wearing that today?” said Julia as she saw her son run down the stairs with his leather duster billowing out around him.

“Yeah I am, nuthin’ wrong wiv this coat, Spike likes it, don’t yer?” he replied looking to William for support. He’d called William nothing but Spike since the night of the Karaoke.

“I do, it’s really cool,” said William, remembering how good he’d felt when he’d worn it.

“All right then, if you must,” sighed Julia, “but I’m not sure it’s the most appropriate thing to wear walking round castles and such in the middle of summer.”

The three of them walked out to the car together.

“I’m having the back seat!” said James, climbing into the rearmost seats of the seven-seater vehicle.

William and his mom sat in the second row, with Julia and Thomas in the front pair, Thomas behind the wheel. The boys immediately put in their ear-phones and started listening to their iPods, William’s was now full of music he loved and since now he’d got his own computer he’d be able to access anything he wanted to download himself.

Ooooooo

Of all the places they visited that day William loved Bodium Castle the best. The medieval castle had a moat around it still full of water; its sense of history was tangible. James gently took the mickey out of William, saying he was a typical ‘American’ tourist, obsessed with anything old; William threatened to throw him in the moat.

Their visit was cut a little short by a sudden thunderstorm; they ran laughing back to the car through the torrential rain. James was the only one not soaking wet thanks to his duster that, despite the warmth of the day, he’d refused to take off.

William claimed the back seat for the journey home and stretched out, enjoying the extra space. He soon realised why James had given it up so easily - the heater didn’t seem to reach back there at all and William was starting to feel pretty cold.

“Here, Spike, have this,” said James, offering him the use of his duster, “It was cold enough back there on the way here and I wasn’t wet.”

“Cheers,” said William, taking it and gratefully putting it on.

The weather was still awful as they hit the motorway heading for home. Thomas was concentrating hard and driving carefully with the windscreen wipers going as fast as they could.

“Do you boys want to finish off the sandwiches?” asked Julia, passing them to James.

“Want one?” James asked William.

“Yeah, what’s left?” William unbuckled his seatbelt and knelt on the seat leaning over the rear of James’ seat to peer into the sandwich box.

“Oh Christ!” screamed Thomas, as a bus they were overtaking suddenly veered into their path as one of its tyres blew out. The collision was unavoidable.

They ricocheted off it, their vehicle spinning around, and another car ploughed into them. The jolt threw William against the back window, his left shoulder hitting it with such force that the window shattered. He was flung out of the car as it spun out of control, landing with a sickening thud onto the shoulder of the road. His momentum sent him rolling head over heels part way down the grassy bank that bordered the road, before laying there in a crumpled heap like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

The combination of the slick wet road and poor visibility meant that vehicle after vehicle slammed into the now stationary cars and bus, some vehicles so badly mangled that they didn’t even resemble cars anymore.

After the squeal of the tyres on the road as the drivers frantically tried to stop and the screech of metal against metal, for a few seconds there was silence until it was replaced by the cries and moans of those who were injured. People climbed out of their vehicles anyway they could, others were trapped in the wreckage of what had been their cars. Drivers who had managed to stop in time called the emergency services and tried to help the injured.

Eleven vehicles were involved in the crash: the bus that had caused it, a huge truck and nine cars of various shapes and sizes. Police and fire-fighters were first on the scene, swiftly followed by a fleet of ambulances. Paramedics worked efficiently, assessing the injuries of those trapped in the cars and the walking wounded. They prioritised which order the fire crews should cut people free from their vehicles and grimly had to count the tally of the dead, which numbered seven at the scene and was thought likely to rise as several more were severely injured.

Ooooooo

The last of the victims from the motorway pile-up was wheeled into the Accident and Emergency Unit at the nearest hospital. He was strapped to a ‘back board’, a collar around his neck and head taped to prevent it from moving and possibly causing further injury. He was unconscious and had a tube inserted down his windpipe at the scene to help maintain his breathing, as his face was badly bruised and the swelling was causing problems. The paramedics relayed what drugs he’d been given and then he was handed over to the hospital staff.

The team quickly assessed him and numerous x-rays were taken - his spine was intact. He was unstrapped from the board and the neck brace was removed so they could tend to his other injuries. He had a fracture of the skull and the next few days were critical. They needed to monitor any swelling that could cause pressure to build up in his skull and the brain to be damaged. His other injuries were a broken shoulder blade, broken left ankle and facial injuries - a broken nose, cheekbone, and a dislocated jaw. A gash stretched from the corner of his left eyebrow in a crescent shape around the outside edge of his eye and along the broken cheekbone underneath it. He was lucky to keep the eye. He remained unconscious and on a ventilator as he struggled to breath unaided, most probably due to the trauma around his face and throat.

Once his injuries were attended to he was taken up to the Intensive Care Unit - the next twenty-four hours or so were critical for him. He’d been stripped of his own clothes and dressed in a hospital gown. A nurse looked for identification and found it in the form of a travel card in his jacket pocket. She wrote his name on the top of his records – James Norman.

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