5 comments/ 15164 views/ 6 favorites Waking From a Nightmare By: Cromagnonman I returned to my home town a vastly different person to the one that left it. Probably the only people who were pleased to see me were my immediate family, the rest of the town hated my guts. When I left here I took the best looking and most popular girl with me. She returned without me, in a box, and I was blamed for that. I pulled my specially designed car into their driveway and parked in front of the door that I knew wasn't the one that Dad would drive through on his return with Mum from church. I opened my door and pressed a button on the dashboard and waited while this amazing contraption moved my chair, cradle and all from the rear of the car, around the side of the car before depositing it beside me. I unclipped the chair from its cradle and pushed the button again and the hydraulically operated arm returned to its position once more. That out of the way, I opened it out, turned it to an angle of 45 degrees before locking the wheels. I climbed into it and dragged my now useless legs out of the car before backing away, shutting the door and wheeling myself down the side passage to the back of the house where I knew that I could negotiate the single step up onto the back porch. I was becoming more practiced at this, given that it has now been six weeks since I was given a new car with all this gear attached and allowed the freedom to get out and about again. Apart from all of this gear the car was identical to my old car, except that is, for the hand controls that replaced the pedals. The accelerator was a simple lever on the steering wheel, while the brake was a longer lever fixed to the transmission tunnel, similar to the hand brake lever used in race and rally cars. The gearbox was the standard Subaru lineartronic box that could be operated by a console lever or flappy paddles on the steering column. I chose the latter because I could operate it like a manual shift and it gave me more control over the car. I decided that the sunshine and gentle breeze was more attractive to me than the inside of the house, so I decided to wait here for my parent's return. I had my eyes closed and was almost asleep when I heard the familiar sound of the garage door opening and Dad's car purr into the garage, followed by the connecting door opening and hurrying footsteps coming toward me. "Gavin, Darling, what are you doing out here? Come inside immediately." The way she said it conveyed the impression that World War Three was just starting on the front lawn. I spun the chair around and wheeled into the house. "How long have you been sitting there?" "Long enough to realise that I've missed it. Hi Mum, how are you?" "You asked the wrong question Son." Dad had come in and chucked his keys into the dish on the buffet. "Are you prepared to spend the next hour listening to everything about everyone in town? How are you son, feeling better?" "Henry, sometimes you distress me with the way you speak to me. Yes Son, how are you?" "I'm getting there, they've given me some time off from my therapy on the understanding that I use the local hydrotherapy pool and keep up my lap swimming, I do several kilometres a day." "Training for anything in particular?" "Yes, apart from the day that I can walk again, I thought the Paralympics team might be a good start, it's something to work towards. I need all the motivation that I can get to get through this mentally." "How thick's your skin?" "Henry, don't scare the boy." "It's all right Mum, I know that I'm the most despised person on the planet, at least this part of the planet, and I'll just have to live with that. I've been beating myself over the head about it since I emerged from my coma. I still don't know exactly what happened. I was told that I had veered onto the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with a truck. The one redeeming thing that came out of the investigation was that I was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. I can't understand how I could have veered onto the wrong side of the road, the lane change warning system should have been screaming like a banshee loud enough to have woken me from the deepest sleep and the collision avoidance system should have applied the brakes (I was driving the top of the range Subaru Forester XT that had all of that technology installed). If the truck was travelling at the speed limit, and the driver hit his brakes, we would have had a reasonable chance of survival. That Rachel wasn't wearing her seatbelt was because, being seven months pregnant, she was uncomfortable with it on and the law didn't require it. For that reason alone I would have been driving carefully, and certainly not at the speed that I was accused of driving at. I need to get at the car and access the trip computer to find out what my maximum speed was for that trip." "Why haven't you done that?" "Because it's currently in the police compound, they tell me that it is there to be examined for evidence, but I believe that they just don't want me to have access to it for fear that I may find evidence that will contradict their version of events." "Why would they do that?" "I don't know. I've read their report on the accident and it's pretty damning for me, and the insurance company jumped on it to deny me the full payout on my claim. God knows that I've given them enough money over the years, I even have a rating one classification on my insurance policy, but for some inexplicable reason, not only have I lost my rating one, but my excess as well." "Is there anything that I can do?" Dad asked. "I don't know, I don't even know where to start, I've never been in the situation of having to make an insurance claim I don't know where I stand in all of this, and the company has retreated behind the usual interpretation of ambiguous fine print to avoid paying up." "Leave it to me, I'll get my people on to it tomorrow." "Thanks Dad." "What are you going to do while you're here?" Mum asked. "I need to keep up with my rehabilitation. The swimming centre, does it have a hydrotherapy pool?" I knew that it did, I'd been told that I had an appointment to meet the Physio in the morning. "Yes, and they have a qualified physiotherapist there to supervise the therapy." "Good, I'll go down first thing." "That takes care of tomorrow, what about today, is there anything in particular that you want to do?" "No, but I do need to get out of this chair, I might go and have a lie down if that's okay." "Sure, do you need a hand?" "No, I think I can manage." I backed the chair away from the table and headed for my old room. It was pretty much as I remembered it from before I left, there was just enough room beside the bed for the chair. I locked the wheels and lifted myself up using the arms of the chair, and swung my now useless legs over onto the bed. It looked clumsy but it was the only way that I could manoeuvre myself onto the bed. I pulled myself around until my head rested on the pillow and wriggled under the covers. I was soon sort of asleep. Every time I closed my eyes I relived the accident based on the police report, and every time I came to the conclusion that it just could not have happened the way that they said it did, and I could not for the life of me figure out why that could be. One day I hoped to be able to actually get to sleep properly, but it didn't look like happening at any time soon. My half sleep was disturbed by my Mother's voice from the kitchen, "Gavin, dinner's ready." I threw off the covers and manoeuvred myself into my chair. I needed to empty my colostomy bag before dinner so I headed for the bathroom. My chair almost fitted under the table, the arms hit the frame of the table so Mum got one of those tray things that you put in your lap if you were doing crafts or eating while watching TV. She hadn't forgotten my favourite meal and I hadn't forgotten how good it was, especially after hospital food. "There are some people in town who haven't forgiven you for Rachel's death and the police report didn't help, it laid the blame entirely on you for the accident. Rachel's family have taken it well, and her father has told me that they don't agree with the report, he told me that you were a good driver who didn't take risks and loved her too much to have taken any chances. I think you should go and see them, I know that they would like to see you." "I'll go see them after I've been to the pool tomorrow." "That's good because I told Beth that you would, she'll be waiting for you." "You were sure of me and what I'd do weren't you?" "I know you only too well. Speaking with them may help you to come to terms with your pain and maybe learn to sleep again." "That'd be good, speaking of which, I'd better get my beauty sleep." The night was virtually devoid of beauty sleep. My thoughts went back to the day my world ceased to exist, Rachel was my world and we were heading back home to visit our families, our last visit before the birth of our child. Something was bothering her but she wouldn't tell me what it was. "You'll have to wait until we get home, I want both our families to get together and discuss this, it concerns us all." "No hints then?" "No hints, just be patient for a little while longer." I had been patient for six months now, and my patience could not last. I was looking forward to speaking with Rachel's parents, I knew that they had visited me in hospital while I was still in a coma and I know that they had spoken to Mum and Dad on a number of occasions, now I wanted to know whether they had any idea what was bothering Rachel. Before breakfast I went to the pool and some of the collective anger was directed at me as I swam my laps. My progress was halted when someone 'bombed' me. (Bombing is when someone leaps into the water bum first in a tuck position, causing as big a splash as possible) As he surfaced he spat at me. "Fuck off arsehole, you're not welcome in this town." I pushed past him and continued for another ten metres before another bomb halted my progress followed by a similar message delivered by a different person. I began to get the message that I was not welcome here, but decided that I was not going to allow that to stop my therapy. I kept swimming. They kept it up for several minutes before they got tired of not making an impression on me and left, but not before 'keying' my car (scratching the paintwork with a key or similar metallic object) and bending the arm of the chair mechanism. I called the police. He was about as much use as a one legged man in an arse kicking contest. "Did you see who did this?" "No. when I finished my laps I came out here and found this damage. I have a fair idea who did it, a couple of 'ferals' were intent on interrupting my lap swimming and made it abundantly clear that I was not welcome here." "Did you recognise them?" "No, but then it's been a couple of years since I've been here and they were probably little kids back then." "I don't think that there's much we can do." "You could at least try." "Without any witnesses we don't have anything to go on, and your evidence of these young guys disrupting your swimming may have nothing whatever to do with this." "I guess that's it then?" "Pretty much, see you later." The way he said it was not in a friendly manner that left me wondering what I would be subjected to next. "You've met our friendly neighbourhood arsehole I see." I turned to face the voice of Melanie Daniels, Rachel's sister. "How are you Gavin?" "Physically surviving, just, psychologically I have a long way to go. How are you Mel, and what are you doing here this early in the morning?" "Early, I'm the late shift I'll have you know. I work here as a Swim Instructor as well as running the hydrotherapy sessions. I was expecting to see you in my session when I heard that you were back in town." "The grapevine must be overheating, it seems that everyone knows I'm back." "I gather that your welcome hasn't been that welcoming." "You gather correctly, I'm about as welcome as a ham sandwich in a Synagogue." "If you want, you can join my next session and then I'll take you home to meet Mum and Dad. In the mean time I'll get Richard (her brother) to take a look at that contraption you've got on your car to see what he can do about getting it straightened out." "Thanks Mel." Her hand was resting on the arm of my chair, so I naturally had to place my hand on it. She made no effort to remove hers for some time. "Come on, let's get you into the pool and see if we can encourage your legs to move." I felt a little ridiculous with a harness on, and myself attached to this movable crane thing that provided me with a little extra support, and moved with me as I slowly placed one foot in front of the other, and worked my way from one end of the pool to the other. Melinda pushed the frame, patiently keeping pace with my slow progress. I reached the end of the pool and was just about to call it a day when I heard her voice. "One more lap." I pushed myself around and headed back the way that I'd come. At the end of this lap she relented and allowed me to be lifted from the pool. While I was still in the harness she took a towel from the bench and dried me off. "Now let's get you dressed and home." Getting dressed was a joint effort, she slid my track pants up and when it reached my waist she had to remove the lower section of the harness that went under my crotch. In doing this her hand brushed against my cock, that, because of my injuries felt nothing. She fondled him. "Do you feel anything?" "Unfortunately, no." "I see that I'll just have to keeping working on him, therapeutically that is." "You can do whatever you want with him, but I'm afraid that it'll do you no good at all." "You know that you can't blame a girl for trying. You do realise that I was devastated when you chose Rachel, don't you?" "Were you?" I knew of course, Melanie and I had the kind of relationship that allowed us to flirt outrageously without any real expectation of it going anywhere, at least that was what I thought. Rachel told me after we were married, that she and Melanie had talked about it and Melanie had given her blessing. Richard was waiting beside my car for us. "It doesn't look that bad. I can straighten the arm and replace the straps that they cut off and it'll be as good as new." "Thanks Mate, I owe you." "No, there won't be a charge for this, it's the least that I can do to make up for the fuckwits of this town. I suppose the long arm of the law is moving heaven and earth to track down the little shits that did this?" "I expect an arrest any time now." He laughed. "He doesn't have to look any further than his little brother, who was probably following orders." "I thought as much. He still hasn't forgiven me, has he?" "I don't think that he ever will. He has had a lifetime of playing second fiddle to you, and now he's relishing the chance to avenge some of that. Can you drive this around to my workshop so that I can make a start on it? Melanie can drive you home, Mum and Dad are waiting to talk to you." "Sure thing, I'll follow you. I will however need a hand to get in and out of my car." "Melanie can help you." I noticed the wink that he gave her. "Can you just hold the chair steady while I lift myself in?" I asked her. She stood behind the chair and as I went to lift myself she leant forward and kissed me. I was caught off-balance and flopped back into the chair. "Oops, sorry." "No you're not, now let me do my thing. Can you slide the chair into the space between the front and back seats?" "Sure." She folded it deftly and stowed it. "I'll follow you, you do know where Richard's workshop is don't you?" "If it's still in the same place I do." I drove, and when I got there Richard signalled me to drive straight into a work bay. Melanie arrived right behind me, lifted my chair out, opened it and held it steady for me to climb into. "I should have this ready by tomorrow, do you want me to drive it around to your place?" "If you could that would be great." Melanie wheeled my chair around to the passenger's side of her car and I had to use different muscles and technique to get into a different side of a car. "You remember where we live don't you?" Melanie asked as she drove off. "How could I forget, I spent a lot of time there, if you remember." "How could I forget?" She gave me that wicked smile that she used to use on me back then. She drove, and soon was pulling into the driveway where her parents, Donald and Beth, were waiting to greet us. Richard must have rung and told them to expect us. "Hello Gavin, how are you getting on?" Her father asked as he opened the door. "Getting there slowly, it'll take some time before I'm back on my feet. My Doctor hasn't given me much hope but what does he know, he's only a Doctor?" "Actually he's doing quite well, if this morning's effort is anything to go by." Melanie told them. She had my chair out and was holding it steady for me to climb into it. "Richard said something about someone damaging your car, any idea who it was?" "No, although I've a good idea who might be behind it, but I can't prove anything." "It was Wayne, I watched him doing it, some day he'll get a brain and work out that he never had a chance with Rachel, so he shouldn't get all bitter and twisted over her marrying Gavin." "Did Rachel mention that she had a stalker?" "No. I knew that something was bothering her, which was why we were heading home when the accident happened. I've always thought, when I was capable of thinking, that the accident wasn't an accident, and that the truck driver deliberately crashed into my car. I wouldn't mind betting that he was either a friend of Wayne's or that he was on a promise of not losing his licence if he pulled it off." "The accident hasn't damaged your reasoning skills at all. We have managed to get the evidence that we need to have Wayne arrested for stalking Rachel, it has taken a lot of time and a considerable amount of money to get hold of some CCTV footage that shows him hanging around outside her work. He had a bunch of flowers in his hand and was just about to confront her with them when you pulled up right next to her. He was very angry, you could clearly see his expression change and then he literally hurled the bunch of flowers into the gutter before storming off. What he was thinking, hanging around an obviously pregnant and happily married woman is anyone's guess, he couldn't have thought that she would leave you at that stage of your lives. We wanted to speak to you before going to the Police Internal Affairs with this evidence, we wanted you to know that we never held you responsible for the death of our daughter and unborn grandson, you did know it was a boy, didn't you?" "Yes I did, we even had a name for him, Duncan, after his great-grandfather." "We thought as much but were waiting for you to tell us. We can now have that on Rachel's headstone, at present it just says 'Rachel Robinson and unborn child'." "We need something more than the stalking charge on Wayne, at the most it will get him suspended from the force and maybe a slap on the hand, I want him to face a charge of attempted murder. If I can gain access to my car I can prove that I wasn't speeding as it was alleged in the police report, and I can prove that it would have been virtually impossible for me to have been on the wrong side of the road and not having taken evasive action." "How are you going to do that?" Donald asked. "My new car is identical in almost every way except for the contraption hanging off the back bumper, to my old car. It has features that are not in most cars of its price range that Wayne wouldn't have reckoned on. If we can get him into court we stand a chance of totally discrediting the police version of events, and as he was the one that prepared it, discrediting him. From there we should be able to convince the police to conduct a review of the circumstances with the view to the laying of further charges, hopefully that of attempted murder." Waking From a Nightmare "I would advise you not to get your hopes up, knowing Wayne, as soon as interest is taken in re-opening the accident report, the evidence will mysteriously disappear." "That's why I have spoken to my insurance company's legal department and requested that they conduct their own inquiry. I suggested strongly that a separate inquiry could establish that I was in no way to blame and they seem to have taken me seriously. They would love to pin the cause on someone else so that they are not responsible for covering my hospital and rehabilitation expenses, and I can get my excess and rating one status back. They have raised questions about it to the police without letting on the reason for their interest, just tying up some loose ends, and have requested a copy of the police report and any corroborating data, like accident scene photographs, that would provide confirmation of the police report." "When do you expect that they'll have that?" "Today, or tomorrow at the latest." "Good. What are your plans for while you're here?" "Apart from catching up with Mum and Dad and you guys, not a lot." "Good, you're having dinner here with us tonight, nothing formal so you can leave your three piece suit and patent leather dancing pumps at home, jeans and tee shirt, it'll be a barbeque, so sitting around and eating from a tray on your lap will be it." "Good, if there's one thing that I'm getting good at it's eating from a tray on my lap." "I'll take you home, I'm sure that your parents are wondering where you are." "Okay, I'll see you tonight." I told her parents as I wheeled myself towards Melanie's car. "Shit!" Melanie was looking in her rear vision mirror. "What's the problem?" "Stupid fucking Wayne, when will he ever give up? I just wish that he'd leave me alone." "Don't tell me that he's been giving you a hard time as well." "Yes, ever since you and Rachel got married he has been trying to hit on me, I'm sick of fighting him off." "Hopefully you won't have to for much longer." "Oh fuck." "What now?" I couldn't look over my shoulder at what she was looking at in her mirror. "He's going to pull me over." "Do it, don't give him a reason to give you a hard time." His siren went and she pulled into the kerb. He pulled his car in front of hers and stepped out. I recognised his swagger as he walked back to us. He didn't pull in behind us so that the in-car camera wasn't recording what was about to happen. He stopped beside the car and tapped on Melanie's window, indicating that she should wind it down. "What's the problem officer, did I do something wrong." "Don't be smart Melanie, I could make life tough for you. What are you doing with the murdering cripple here?" He said, indicating me. "If by murdering cripple you mean Gavin here, I'm his sister and have every right to be with him. I'm also his therapist while he's in town, I have been asked by his treating doctor to take over his rehab while he's here. Is there a problem with that?" "Just be careful, don't get into his car with him or he'll murder you as well." "I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself, and choosing whose car I can, and can't, get into." "Don't say that I didn't warn you." He swaggered off. "Well that was intriguing, I must say. The guy has lost any smarts he might have had if he thinks that he can push us around like that." "He's been getting plenty of practice. I can't even have dinner with a guy without him inflicting himself on us. I have to wait for a new guy to come into town to get a date these days." "Why have you allowed it to go on like this?" "I'm biding my time, when I make my move I want maximum impact, I want him crucified. I want him to pay for what he has done to you. He can't do that to the man I love and get away with it." "The man you what?" Was I hearing her correctly? "I've been in love with you for as long as I can remember, don't tell me you never realised that?" "I sort of got the impression, going by the way that you and I carried on, that you and I had a special kind of relationship, but love, no, that one slipped by me." "Well you'd better get used to it, I don't have a rival anymore." "I'm afraid that I won't be much use to you, sexually that is, I can't get it up any more." "You have fingers don't you, and a tongue?" "Well, yes, I have those and they work, but what about kids, you'll probably be wanting kids in due course." "There are ways around that. In my training we were taught how to assist paraplegics to have penetrative sex with their partners. They mightn't be able to feel much but their partners can feel something and they can ejaculate successfully. Para's have fathered children in the past, so there's absolutely no reason why you won't be able to." I was saved from responding when she pulled into our driveway. Mum was out the door even before we stopped. "Beth rang, what's been happening?" "I had a small run-in with the long arm of the law. Honestly if his arm was any longer he'd be dragging his knuckles on the ground, the guy's impossible." "The sooner that he gets transferred out the better." Mum said. "But he's been told that he was to be transferred out on a number of occasions and he's managed to avoid it by telling the powers that be that he has to look after his sick mother." "That's bullshit, apart from having to put up with the stress of his stupidity, there's not a thing wrong with her. If he was to be transferred she'd be a lot less stressed." "Now, now," Dad broke into the conversation. "If you can't say anything good about someone, don't say anything." "It's going to be a quiet night." Mel said, and then laughed. "We shouldn't be bagging him like this, he can't help it." "You worked with Gavin this morning, how is he doing?" Dad changed the subject. "He's a long way off, but if he applies himself like he did this morning he'll get there. I'd like to see him stay here instead of going back to the rehabilitation centre, I'm sure that I can keep him motivated." There was that look again. Mel stayed for dinner and when it came time for me to go to bed, insisted that she was needed to help me get ready and into bed. Mum and Dad either found nothing wrong with this or decided that I needed expert help. The help that I got was nothing like the clinical assistance that I got from the nurses at the centre, she insisted on showering me, and of course she had to strip off so that she could support me and wash me at the same time. There is nothing wrong with my eyes, she looked great, and this depressed me, I could do little about this. I thought that I could do nothing until she kissed me, and that changed everything. She kissed me on the mouth before moving down my body. "I want to see how far down your body has feeling." "You're doing fine so far." I told her as she nibbled my neck, sending shivers up my spine. There was no loss of feeling in my nipples and I was enjoying this, but then I already knew that I had feeling north of the L3 vertebrae where my spinal cord was damaged, south was the problem. The doctors had told me that it was damaged, and not completely severed. How much it was damaged was yet to be determined, and Mel was determined to find out for herself. She helped me, still naked, onto the bed. "I'll give you a massage, it'll stimulate your muscles and keep them working. Your legs in particular need work if you're to ever walk again, and then there's this." She lifted him up and let him drop helplessly onto my balls. Before I knew it she was trying her hardest to resuscitate my cock, but he wasn't co-operating at all. I was wishing him to but he was ignoring my wishes. I did however ejaculate, something that pleased her. She sucked him clean, swallowing it all down. "See I told you that you could make babies, we just have to manage it inside me." Again with the look. "What do you mean, inside you?" "You don't think that I'm going to miss out this time do you?" "This time?" "I wanted you inside me long before you chose Rachel. God I was jealous of her when I found out that she was pregnant." "Look, what we had was a fun relationship, we teased each other unmercifully and that' was pretty much it, at least that's what I thought, but it appears that you had other ideas. Hell Mel, you were just a kid and I wasn't much older, I treated you as the little sister that I never had, but wished I did have. It was always Rachel that I was interested in as a long term, stable partner, I couldn't see us getting serious enough to stay together for any length of time." "You have a lot to learn about us women. Oh I know that Rachel was very much in love with you, but then so was I. I know that she saw you as her perfect partner, but then so did I, but for different reasons. She saw your serious side, and that was perfect for her, I saw your fun side, and that was perfect for me. Right now you need my fun side to lift your spirits and to keep you motivated to walking again. Somewhere in there I will make my move on you and you'll not be able to resist me. I will have you, all of you and all for myself." To emphasise her statement she leaned over me and kissed me, a long, wet, kiss, filled with tongue driven passion that left me in no doubt as to the strength of her feelings for me. Somewhere, way back in the depths of my sub-conscious, pealed the muted calls of an alarm bell. I either didn't hear it or heard it and chose to ignore it, I had never experienced such passion. "Wait here a second." She jumped off the bed and scurried out the door. I would have asked her how she expected me to go anywhere, but then I would have been wasting my breath, she was no longer in my room. It didn't stay that way for long, she was back, along with that look again. "I've spoken to your parents, I'm staying the night with you. Shove over." As I struggled to wriggle over to one side of the bed she was shedding her clothes. There was nothing fancy, or sexual about this, it was her getting her gear off as quickly as possible. Then she was in my bed, in my arms, holding me fiercely in her arms while she laughed and cried, all at the same time. "I have waited for far too long for this." Then it was back to the passionate kiss, in a way I was glad that I was incapable of fucking her, at least my sleep wouldn't be one of exhaustion. My life changed when I went to the Insurance Company's legal office the next day. "Mr Robinson, I don't know what to tell you." Stanford Morrison looked at me over his glasses, he held the report in his hand. "I have looked closely at this police report and at the accident scene evidence, and there are inconsistencies in them. We eventually, after applying not so subtle pressure, gained access to your vehicle. Not only did your trip computer back your statement that you were not speeding at the time of the accident, but we checked the lane change warning system and the collision avoidance system, and both were working fine, at least the circuits and chips were working, we were unable to carry out real life tests due to the damage to the car." "So where does that leave me?" "Where it leaves you is this, I have recommended that my company pay out your full claim, including restoring your rating one. I have also recommended that they pursue legal action against the police and the officer that prepared this report, we will seek compensation to cover any and all costs, while at the same time, if you wish, seek compensation for your pain and suffering, as well as your present and future lost earnings. I am going to enjoy this." "I think I might as well. Will I have to give evidence?" "Yes." "There are other aspects to this that may impinge on this case." I explained to him about Wayne and his stalking of Rachel, and how it was because of this that we were heading home at that time. Indirectly it was this that caused the, I couldn't really call it an accident, incident. "I can understand why you are so bitter about all of this, I can also understand why you want your revenge, but first things first, we need to prove our case and then look to the reasons. I believe that we will be better off separating the two and leaving it up to the police to investigate and prosecute the root cause, his stalking of your wife." "Whatever you say, I just want this over so that I can move on with my life." "Leave it with me, you just work at getting better, emotionally as well as physically." "Thanks, you have given me the strength that I thought that I'd never find again. I believe that I'll be walking again in no time." I left him and returned home, I had to use one of those cabs fitted with wheelchair access. I had no sooner sat down with Mum and a cup of coffee when the front door bell rang, it was Mel. "Hi Darling." That brought a puzzled look from Mum. "How did it go?" "Good. The Insurance Company is going to press to have the case re-opened, they have enough evidence to have the police report discredited, and action taken against Wayne. They are seeking compensation from them to cover their losses as well as representing my case for a claim for pain and suffering as well as lost earnings. This is going to be a battle of the Barristers, I can see that, and I'll have to give evidence of course, something that I wouldn't miss for the world." "I'm going to enjoy this almost as much as you." Mel was standing behind my chair, her arms around my neck and her face against mine. Mum had accepted this. "Now, you're late for your rehabilitation session. Richard has fixed your car and I've brought it over. It took some getting used to no pedals, but once I got the hang of it I was fine." "Does that mean that I have to take you back to work so that you can retrieve your car?" "No, I could stay here all day and rehabilitate you in other ways." There was that look from her and another look from Mum. "Let's go." I said as I swung my chair around and headed for the back door." "You're no fun." Mel followed me out, she was followed by Mum's expression. I don't know whether it was my improved confidence because of my meeting with Stanford, or Mel's enthusiasm, but the water in the hydrotherapy pool didn't seem as dense, I was moving more freely and Mel was smiling as I was lifted out. "You seem to be moving much better today, come on, I'll give your legs a massage to try and restore muscle tone." I knew from the tone of her voice that the massage would not stop at my legs, it would proceed north to him, my poor, pathetic excuse for a him. She began with me laying on my stomach and working on my hamstrings and calves, kneading them with a strength that would have come close to hurting me if I had any feeling there. From there she moved to my arse cheeks, my glutes, I couldn't feel the oil running down my crack and onto my balls, but she must have seen it. "Oops, I got a little carried away with the oil there. I need you on your back." She grabbed me and pulled my side as I tried to roll over, with a little combined effort we succeeded and I was there where she wanted me. She began with my ankles and slowly worked up my legs. I got the impression that she was dragging this out for as long as she could, and her smile confirmed this. Hours later she arrived at my flaccid cock, she kissed him on the head, but he ignored her, she caressed my balls and they ignored her, she sucked him into her mouth and worked on him with her tongue and her suction, but he continued to ignore her until, eventually, he spat at her tonsils. This brought a smile to her face as she swallowed my sperm. "One day you'll be unloading in another hole." "It doesn't seem fair to you to devote all your time to a helpless cripple like me. When I look at you I see a young, vibrant, and dare I say it, sexy young woman who has her life ahead of her, too much life to be tied down to someone like me. I can't do this." "What do you mean you can't do this? Is there someone else? Please tell me that there's no-one else in your life." "There's no-one else." I said softly, my thoughts brought jarringly back to my loss. Rachel was still in my life, not in the physical sense, but emotionally there was no getting away from her presence. She was my life, and from the time we first began going together no other woman existed in my life, not even Mel, at least not in my emotional life. Mel was there in the physical, we laughed and joked with each other, and she was fun to be with, but she didn't meet my emotional needs, or my physical for that matter, we had never made love. "That's a relief, here I was thinking that I'd have to fight someone off to get you in my clutches." "There'll be no fighting." "Does that mean that you're giving in to the inevitable?" "Is it? Is it inevitable?" "You'd better believe it, and the sooner the better." She started work on my cock again. He continued to ignore her. To all intents and purposes Mel moved in with me, to share my room. It wasn't official, she went home on occasions to wash her clothes, but she slept with me, she ate with us, she drove herself to the pool every day, only because I couldn't face the prospect of hanging around like a bad smell until it was time for her to come home, so I drove myself. It wasn't a lonely drive, I had company, a police car followed me to and from the pool, I couldn't see the driver but it couldn't have been anyone other than Wayne. A month went by following this routine until I got a phone call from Stanford Morrison asking me to come to his office the next day. "It's good news." He said in response to my query as to what it was about. It was good news. "We have filed an injunction calling on the police to re-open the matter, we have cited new and compelling evidence as our reason for this. The police have countered, saying that the evidence of the initial enquiry supported the court's decision in laying the blame on you. We shall see how they react to what we're going to present, it will be like taking a 6 inch naval gun to a tinny (a small aluminium boat)." "I can't wait to see his reaction, Wayne's that is." Mel and I sat in the courtroom as the preliminaries were dispensed with. Wayne sat beside the Barrister representing the police department. Every now and then he snuck a look across at us. The gavel banged on the block and the show had begun. Wayne was sworn in and began to give his recollection of the accident. "I received a call about a motor vehicle accident and attended along with Constable Bradley Rickets." He indicated the other uniform seated at the table. "We found that there had been a collision between two vehicles, one a large tip truck, the other a small SUV. The occupants of the SUV were a man, Mr Robinson who is seated here, and a woman who was later identified as his wife Rachel Robinson. The evidence of the driver of the truck was that the SUV had veered across the road into his path and that he tried to avoid it without success. He stated that, as the SUV was continuing to travel across his path and showed no sign of deviating from this direction, he swerved to his right, and across to the wrong side of the road. (This is set in Australia where we drive on the left) If he had not done so Mr Robinson would have been killed outright along with his wife." "You examined the scene of the accident and came to the conclusion that the driver's version of events were an accurate explanation of the events?" "Yes." "Did you observe any skid marks that would suggest that Mr Robinson had made any attempt to stop his car or to deviate out of the path of the oncoming truck?" "No, there were no skid marks on the road." "Not even from the truck, no brake skids or swerve marks to indicate that he had taken the actions as stated in his statement to you?" Waking From a Nightmare "No." He was beginning to look worried. "Doesn't that strike you as strange?" "No." "Did the truck driver make any attempt to warn Mr Robinson, did he sound his horn?" "I presume that he did." "You presume. Did you ask him if he had?" "No." "Why not? Surely if a vehicle suddenly veers across the road there is a reason for that, such as the driver had fallen asleep, or had a medical emergency, you'd do something to warn him." "I suppose so." "So based on this evidence and the lack of skid marks on the road surface, you came to the conclusion that Mr Robinson was entirely to blame for the accident, is this correct?" "Yes." "And you have not given thought that there could be another explanation?" "No." Bradford turned to the Judge. "Your Honour, I would like at this stage to call an expert witness, one who will cast doubts as to this version of events." "Objection Your Honour." "Yes Mr Beresford?" "Your Honour, we have not been given notice of any witnesses in this matter." "Mr Morrison?" "We, in our injunction stated that we had new and compelling evidence to prevent, we offered to give a list of witnesses that we would be calling to support this evidence. My honourable colleague opposite did not take us up on our offer, he obviously thought that no such evidence existed." This brought a muttered reaction from Beresford. "I over-rule the objection, you may proceed." "Thank you Your Honour. I would like to call Mr James Emerson to the stand." The witness walked into the courtroom in response to the summons out in the corridor and was sworn in. "Mr Emerson, for the record would you state your occupation." "I am an Automotive Engineer, I specialise in the analysis of crash damage." "What can you tell, if anything, about the damage to Mr Robinson's vehicle?" "The damage was consistent with the truck driver's evidence." "Is that the whole picture?" "No, not by any means. To understand the chain of events, you would have to understand the technology that was fitted to Mr Robinson's vehicle." "In what way, what was fitted to his car that would suggest a different scenario to that in the police report?" "Two things in particular. To fully understand these, I would like to show the court a video taken when we tested an identical vehicle." "Your Honour, I would at this time ask that you allow this video to be shown." "Any objections Mr Beresford?" "No Your Honour, although a little warning might have been proper." "I understand that you were offered the opportunity to look at this. Let's see what this is." A large TV screen was brought in along with a DVD player. It burst into life, firstly showing that the vehicle was indeed a Subaru Forester identical to mine. It then showed a technician fixing a small video camera to the inside of the vehicle's windscreen adjacent to the right hand A pillar. The vehicle was then driven down a road with a marked lane line. It began to veer to the right but as soon as the wheels had crossed the lane line a loud alarm sounded. "What this does is that an alarm sounds, a loud alarm, if the vehicle crosses a lane line without the turn indicators having been activated. If Mr Robinson had fallen asleep, this device would surely have woken him. Apart from that, his wife would have noticed it and made an attempt to wake him. It is highly likely that this alarm would have succeeded to wake him in time for him to take evasive action to avoid a collision." The video continued, the vehicle was driving down the road when a vehicle coming in the opposite direction started to cross onto the wrong side of the road. The nose of the SUV dipped as brakes were applied, and while it didn't prevent the accident, it slowed the vehicle sufficiently to moderate the impact. "This device is a collision avoidance system built into this car, it automatically applies the brakes if there is a danger of a collision, at first it slows the vehicle down, but if the oncoming vehicle is getting too close, it applies greater pressure to the brakes. This is standard equipment in this model of the Subaru Forester, a fact that should have been investigated in the original enquiry. Having said that, if the other vehicle does not slow or stop, a collision is unfortunately unavoidable but the effects would be greatly reduced and Mrs Robinson may have survived." "You have read the police report of this accident, could there be another explanation for it?" "Yes. Mr Robinson was travelling in the centre lane of the carriage way that had three lanes in each direction, now if an oncoming vehicle, in this case a large truck, suddenly veered across the dividing line onto the wrong side of the road, and continued in that direction, Mr Robinson would have had only one option, and that would have been to veer to his right into the right hand lane. The safety features of his vehicle would not have helped him avoid the collision, but does cast serious doubts on the police version of events, especially if the truck driver made no attempt to slow his vehicle." "Are you suggesting that this collision was in some way deliberate?" "I would stop short of that without corroborating evidence, but I certainly cannot rule it out." "Mr Morrison, would you like to ask this witness any questions?" "Your Honour, I would request an adjournment at this time so that we can examine this evidence in detail and call our own expert witness." "That would be me." Emerson said. "I have been called on a number of times as an expert police witness in road accident cases. If it was good enough then I suggest that it should be good enough now." This brought on a heated discussion between Wayne and Morrison. Morrison was not amused at the way that he had been assured that the police report would stand up to even the most stringent of scrutiny. It clearly failed to do so and Wayne was about to be subjected to the wrath of his superiors. Stanford then addressed the Judge. "Your Honour, we have made a concerted attempt to contact the driver of the truck to interview him to see if he stood by his statement, unfortunately we have been spectacularly unsuccessful in our endeavours. A search of Motor Vehicle records has failed to reveal anyone of that name being the holder of a current Drivers licence in this state. A check of the vehicle registration records has raised a vexing problem, the vehicle that is registered with that number is in fact a forty seat bus that has been converted into a mobile home and is currently in Queensland where it has been for the past year because it has broken down and become a temporary resident of a caravan park. Its owner has continued to maintain it's registration be renewing it over the Internet, as it is registered in South Australia, it doesn't require an annual roadworthiness certificate. It would appear that the police made a mistake when taking the driver's statement, or this whole episode was staged, a thought that quite frankly frightens me." "Your Honour, my learned colleague opposite is indulging in flights of pure fantasy, I have to question the relevance of all of this." "I believe that Mr Morrison is merely putting forward a hypothesis that should have been investigated by the police before they accused Mr Robinson of causing this accident. I will hear final submissions and then I will make my judgement based of the evidence before me. Mr Morrison, you can go first." "Thank you Your honour. This case has perplexed me from the very beginning of my involvement with it. We have here a man who has not only lost his life, but has himself suffered horrific injuries that could, in all probability, see him confined to a wheelchair, unable to do the things that he was once able to do, live the life that he was once able to live, have a fulfilling relationship with another woman. Not only that, but he was forced to live with the stigma of causing the accident that took his wife from him, took his life from him. He has been subjected to physical and verbal abuse from people in this town who have formed the opinion that he was the cause of the accident based entirely on this police report, a report that is patently deficient, that in no way follows procedural guidelines, not to put too fine a point to it, is a disgrace to the good name of the police force. I submit that my client, Mr Gavin Robinson, be cleared of all charges that have resulted from this police report, and be compensated for his physical, emotional and financial losses as a result of this. Oh, and an apology would be appreciated. Thank you." "Mr Beresford." "Thank you Your Honour. I have to admit that, on the surface of it, Mr Robinson would appear to have a very good case against the police. However, if you look closely at this so called evidence that his counsel has submitted here today, it is nothing more than supposition, pure guess work. The demonstration of the warning capabilities of his vehicle did nothing more than tell us what, in a perfect world, should have happened. He should have been woken by the alarm, but was he? Was it in fact working as designed? We don't know. The same goes for the collision avoidance system, it was supposed to stop his vehicle, but did it? We don't know. This is all supposition, it is not proven fact, Mr Robinson does not have anyone who was there at the time who can verify his version of events. There were only three people who were a witness to this accident, Mr Robinson, who spent some time in a coma because he suffered some brain damage, the extent of which is not yet known, but it does bring into question his recollection of events. Then there is the truck driver who gave the police a perfectly credible description of the events of that day, and then there is, or was, Mrs Robinson, who unfortunately is unable to give her version of what happened because she is no longer with us. The fact of the matter is that we have here a case of two different versions of events, one given by the truck driver, who we are told in the police report, suffered no concussion, was not driving under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs, and that of a man who has suffered significant brain damage, sufficient to impair his recollection of that fatal day. This is a case of one man's word against that of another, the word of a man who suffered no trauma that could have distorted his recollection of events, and that of a man who has been severely traumatised, and whose judgement could be seen to be suspect. Who are we to believe?" "I will adjourn this hearing until tomorrow morning, at which time I will bring down my judgement. Court adjourned." The gavel ended proceedings with the same loud bang as it had begun it this morning. "Well, what do you think?" I asked Stanford as we left the courtroom. "I'll give Beresford this, he never gives up, even in the face of almost insurmountable odds he's still in there fighting. Whether he said enough to sway the judge is anyone's guess, but the way things stand at this moment, I'd say we've won." "Thank god for that." Mel said as she grabbed my hand. "I was beginning to worry, I almost began to believe what Beresford was saying, but when he brought Rachel into the mix I began to hate him with a passion. How dare he!" "He dares because he had only one dice to roll, and he rolled it to the best of his ability. The thing is, he played it as he should have, he didn't have to believe what he said to the judge because he wasn't under oath. I would have done something similar if I'd been in the same situation. I'll see you guys in the morning, go home and get some rest." "I think Beresford over-stepped the mark with his reference to Rachel, although I can understand him tossing her into the mix, he was hoping to provoke a reaction from me to show the judge that this was all about me lashing out and blaming someone else for the accident to cover my guilt. It was all I could do to stop myself from saying something that I would later regret." "I know my Darling, I could feel your hurt, and I would understand it if you had jumped up and clobbered him." We drove home in silence, me deep in thought, what if it did happen the way that Wayne had reported, what if I was in the wrong. Life was full of 'what if's', many of them would never find an answer. Reality was Mel's hand on my thigh as I drove, I knew it was there, just as I could feel her head on my shoulder. This raised another 'what if', what if I'd chosen to marry her instead of Rachel, would my life up until the accident have been as settled as it had with Rachel? Probably not, there would have been fights and wild make up sex, we would have done things that Rachel and I would never have thought of doing. The one thing that it would never have been was dull. Now I needed Mel, I realise that, it is she who is giving me the motivation to walk again, I needed to walk again to give her the life that she needs. I could not see life with her having any future if I was to remain this useless lump of meat that she has to help to do anything. "Oh my god." The sound of wonder from her voice woke me from my half dream. We were in bed and she had just massaged my legs and had taken him in hand. "Darling he moved, I felt him move!" She kissed me, a laughing and crying kiss. "There's life in the old boy yet." She began to stroke him and he was halfway between ignoring her and responding to her, he wasn't even half way erect, but I'll give him this, he was trying. Her mouth engulfed him, sucking him while her fingers gently kneaded my balls. He was maintaining a half erect state when she straddled me and fed him into her pussy, her muscles gripping him as she slowly caressed him. "Oh my god." She cried again as he emptied himself inside her, it was as if all her Christmases had come at once. She turned around and this time straddled my face. She bent to him and licked him clean. "Lick your come from me, I want to feel your tongue inside me." I had only just got into the swing of things when she orgasmed. "This is the best day of my life, my man has just made love to me, his dick has come inside me, my dreams for so many years have been answered at last." Another swivel and she was lying beside me, holding me, crushing her breasts against my chest, a leg over me pulling my groin into hers. "Do you realise what happened just then?" "I think so." "There is life down there, tomorrow, no, why wait for tomorrow, I'll do it now." She jumped out of bed and ran to where she had left her things. When she returned I thought that I felt something. "A reflex, I poked your foot with this nailfile and there was a reaction, not a huge one, but a reaction. This means that there is hope of a recovery, this means that you'll be up and about again. We'll have to be patient and not rush things, I've got to talk to your doctor and plot a new course of therapy to take this into consideration. My Darling I'm so happy right now I could cry." Her enthusiasm was getting the better of me and I was in danger of joining her tears. Mum and Dad were overjoyed with the news, all that remained was for the judge to rule in my favour and life would be on the mend for me. The judge looked suitably sombre as he looked from one to the other of us. "It gives me no pleasure to deliver my findings." My heart sank. "Giving due weight to the evidence presented here yesterday, I have no hesitation in ordering that a new investigation be carried out into the circumstances of this matter. My hesitation in not ordering that Mr Robinson is completely without fault is in the lack of proof submitted by his counsel. We have been presented with a hypothesis that contradicts the report prepared by the police. It is nothing more than a hypothesis, no proof, other than the technical evidence of the capabilities of Mr Robinson's vehicle to warn him of an approaching vehicle, and to stop his vehicle in time to at least minimise the force of the impact, that the events happened as if all of these features were functioning as planned. This hypothesis also hinges on the assumption that the actions of the driver of the other vehicle were in some way premeditated. While this cannot be ruled out entirely, there is no proof." There was a relieved smile on Wayne's face. "On the other hand, the report prepared by the police also presented me with concerns, concerns at the lack of professionalism in the gathering of evidence and the presentation of that evidence. This report was predicated on the guilt of Mr Robinson, based only on the evidence of the other driver, who, it must be said, would have had a strong motivation to slant his statement in his favour. It appears that no attempt was made to seek other data, such as the read-out from Mr Robinson's car trip computer that would have shown that the evidence, provided by the witness, that Mr Robinson was travelling at a speed well over the speed limit, was incorrect. The officer concerned should have known, given his vast experience in traffic matters, that it is virtually impossible for someone to accurately judge the speed of an oncoming vehicle, yet he gave great weight to this evidence. I have had to ask myself why? Why would an experienced officer ignore the possibility of an alternate scenario? I leave that to his superiors to ascertain. My findings are that this matter will be adjourned while a new and comprehensive investigation is carried out into all aspects of this case, I also order that the officer concerned with the initial report take no part in this investigation other than to give evidence. I will make my judgement based on the outcome of this investigation. Court adjourned." Things got very interesting indeed. Wayne was suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry. Mel and I would both be called to give evidence as to the events leading up to the accident, in particular the fact that Wayne was stalking Rachel. My condition was improving under Mel's capable hands, and mouth and pussy. Feeling was slowly returning to my lower extremities, and my cock was achieving great feats in expansion and hardness under her tender ministrations. Life was looking up, and I had her to thank for it, I was even looking forward to her coming home at the end of the day, with its kisses and cuddles, and, I'll just leave the rest to your imagination. I was now able to sort of walk between two parallel bars, putting more and more weight on my legs and swinging one in front of the other. It looked clumsy, and was, it looked painful, and the expression on my face said that it was. The return of feeling to my legs also meant the return of pain, and at times I didn't know which would be the worst, the not walking, or the pain of walking. I put up with the pain, mainly because of Mel, I wanted to get better for her so that she wouldn't have to devote her life to a cripple. She told me time and again that this was what she wanted to do, but I would catch the occasional glance that cast doubts on this. I made an appointment to see my Psychiatrist to discuss my mental progress. "What do you want me to say?" She looked at me, her gaze had softened as I outlined my progress, but there was still some reservations. "You seem to have put your demons behind you with the decision to re-visit the accident and the thought that Wayne might be in trouble for his part in all of this, you say that you are now able to sleep at nights, but is that because you no longer have dreams of Rachel and the accident, or is it that you have a new woman in your life?" There was no couch Cecelia Winslow's office, just two comfortable chairs in the centre of the room and a desk, complete with computer to one side, at the side of which was a filing cabinet. I had often wondered, during my previous visits, why there was the need for filing cabinets if she has a computer, surely all files would be kept on the computer and whatever backup system she used. Several visits to this office over the past months had, despite my initial scepticism, help me cope with my loss of Rachel and the use of my legs, she had shown me that the end of that phase of my world wasn't the end of my real world, and that there was life, a real and fulfilling life, after these losses, all that I had to do was embrace what I had rather than what I had lost. I found that I could talk to her and she wouldn't judge me on what I was saying or feeling, she didn't come out with hollow platitudes to show that she cared, this was in her actions and expressions. Waking From a Nightmare "It could be a bit of both except. . . " "Go on." She wondered at my hesitation. "It's Mel. I know that if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be in the position that I am today, but quite frankly she scares me." "How?" "I've known her since, well since she was a kid. She and I flirted outrageously all the time, but for me that was all it was, I was going with Rachel and there was never any doubt in my mind that Rachel and I would be with each other for the rest of our lives. I now find out that to Mel it was more than flirting, much more. She claims that she was in love with me right from the first time we met, and that she and Rachel had talked about this. When she realised that it was Rachel that I loved, she relented and gave us her blessing. Unfortunately it seems that it didn't end there for her, she never gave up on her hope that one day she could have me for herself. Now that she has, now that she has helped me to get to where I am now physically and to some extent emotionally, I'm beginning to have doubts, I'm beginning to think that she is not the woman for me. There is something about her that scares me, and that if I try to break up with her, I'm afraid that she'll do something bad to me." "Do you really think that she would be capable of harming you in some way?" "Yes, I do. What can I do?" "I suggest that you behave as if you have no doubts about your relationship, at least for the time being. What I would like to do is for you to bring her to your next appointment and I will have a private word with her after your appointment, I will tell her that it is so that I can give her ideas as to how she can best manage your recuperation. Shall we say this time next week?" "Yeah, sure." She buzzed the receptionist. "Trudi, would you schedule a double slot for Mr Robinson for this time next week?" She came around the desk to help me into my chair. I could smell her perfume as she bent over me, it was a sort of florally, musky fragrance that caused a reaction down there. This didn't altogether come as a surprise, during previous visits I got the feeling that she was somehow more gentle with me, more coaxing with me, but then it could have been my vivid imagination. But the hand on my shoulder as she stood behind me while I shuffled sideways to my chair, told me that my imagination may not be so vivid, it was soft and her fingers brushed my face. This can't be happening, it was totally unprofessional, but it was. She took her hand from my shoulder and grabbed the handles while I lowered myself into the chair, then, as she bent forward to push it, her breasts pressed into the back of my head. I had not lost any feeling up there, I definitely felt them so I reached up and placed a hand on one of hers. She made no effort to remove it until we had reached the reception area. "I'll see you next week then." She waved good-bye as I wheeled myself towards the car park. Fucking hell what a mess I'm in, not only do I have a lover who has helped me physically, but who scares me to death, but I have a woman who has been responsible for much of my emotional healing, and who it now appears, has feelings for me outside the boundaries of a doctor/patient relationship. After I'd settled into my car and the chair had been stowed, I rang Stanford, I needed to be brought up to speed about the investigation. His secretary ushered me into his office. "Something's happened to you, not bad I hope." "That depends on how you look at it. I'm having second thoughts about my relationship with Mel." "Not cold feet is it?" "No, it's something deeper than that. I get the feeling that I'll find myself trapped in a relationship with a woman that, quite frankly, scares me to death. She is so intense and volatile that I'm afraid for my safety if anything should go wrong between us. She has this propensity to violence, I've seen it in her, especially when we're talking about Wayne, and she has even said that she could quite happily kill him. At first I laughed it off, but lately there just seems to be a depth to her feelings that frightens me." "It's funny that you should say that." "Why would that be?" "Something has emerged during Wayne's evidence to this new inquiry. You know that, before you came back to town he was seeing Mel don't you?" "No I didn't." "Since you've come back she broke it off with him and he has taken it just as badly as he did when you and Rachel hooked up. I believe, and I have no proof for this yet, but I believe that Mel may have been the catalyst that encouraged him to arrange for the mysterious truck driver to deliberately run into your car. He did mention that it was she that had given him your address so that he could stalk her. He hasn't gone as far as tell us that she told him to arrange for the accident, but a competent Psychiatrist would probably say that, by telling him where you were living caused him to take the actions that he did." "This is so unreal, but then I can believe it, I can believe that she could manipulate him to doing what he did. Now of course I'm going to have to be doubly careful. If I upset her she's likely to do something stupid and set him against me again. The fact that he is under investigation won't enter into his thinking, and it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't tip off the police in time to save me and have him arrested. She will probably see this as sending me a message to never upset her. This is really scary." "Unfortunately I have no proof of this and this is one of those situations where the police will have to wait until after the event before they can act on the information." "I haven't told her yet, but I've arranged for her to come with me to see my shrink next week. The excuse is so that she can discuss with Mel what needs to be done to further advance my recovery. The real reason is that I discussed the fact that I was scared of Mel and she wants to assess her and see how dangerous the threat is." "That's a good idea, just make sure that you take care for the next week. In the mean time I think that I'll put someone on Mel to see what she's doing." I tried, and I think that I succeeded in behaving as if there was nothing bothering me. There was a slight speed bump when I told Mel about the appointment with Cecelia, I didn't mention her by name, I'm not that stupid, and once she accepted that this was in my best interests she calmed down. The rest of the week went by in the, now usual, way she would drive to work and I would go down later, after her Hydrotherapy classes, so that I could receive personal therapy. This was all above board, no fooling around, that happened after she got home, yes she had officially moved in. After dinner, we sat and watched the TV and chatted with Mum and Dad, and then it was off to the bedroom for my therapeutic massages. After an hour or so of this we crawled into bed for a different therapy and then to sleep. If anyone tries to tell you that lightening doesn't strike the same place twice, you can tell them that is total and utter bullshit. I drove into the swim centre car park to find it alive with police vehicles and flashing lights. I was met at the door by a senior officer. "Mr Robinson, would you come this way please." "Why, what's going on?" "It's your girlfriend Mel, I'm afraid that she's dead." "What? How? Why?" "It was Wayne that did it. He was seen entering the building and walking towards the locker rooms. There was the sound of two people arguing, the last thing anyone heard was him yelling, 'If I go down for this I'm taking you with me,' and then two shots. By the time one of the other staff got there it was too late, he had shot her in the head at close range and then turned his gun on himself. I'm sorry, but we'll need to talk to you to see if we can establish a reason why he did this." "I think I might know. I can't prove any of this, it's just a gut feeling, but I believe that they had been lovers before my return to town, and that she dumped him for me. This is the second time that he has lost out to me when it came to women, the first time he was never in with a chance, but if he and Mel had been an item then I can understand that he would be angry enough to do something like this. The fact that she was with me during the recent court case wouldn't have helped." "Yes, we were aware of that, just as we are now aware that he was less than professional with his original report. You were put through a great deal and I will support any claim that you might make for compensation. The investigation into his involvement in that accident report has just reached the stage where we were about to dismiss him, and he knew that. That in itself would have been enough to trigger some sort of response and this is why we had him under observation. If he had got too close to you he would have been arrested." "Bloody hell." It had just hit me that my world had come to an end yet again and I slumped to the floor. "Can someone get an Ambo in here, now!" He yelled at no-one in particular. This was followed within seconds by the sound of running feet. I didn't hear this, I was off with the fairies. I came around in hospital with Mum and Dad hovering over me with worried looks on their faces. I muttered something to them and even I realised that I wasn't making any sense. "Don't worry Son, we've contacted your Psychiatrist, she's coming in tomorrow to see you. You're to stay here at least until then." Dad said. "Sand shoe." That was as near as I could get to 'thank you'. A doctor bustled in and carried out a series of tests. "You'll survive, there doesn't seem to be any physical damage, your lower extremity reflexes as still functioning as well as can be expected given the progress of your recovery, we'll keep you under observation for the time being and kick you out as soon as we can." Donald and Beth walked in, worried looks clouding their usually happy faces. "How are you Gavin?" Beth asked. I tried unsuccessfully to answer. "My god lad, you must think that you're a jinx to have lost two women in your life in such a short time." He broke down and wept. Dad comforted him. "We understand, we don't know the full story but we can sympathise with your loss. It's going to be hard on all of us, just getting through this, so, if you need any help, even if it's just to sit on the back porch, chatting over a cold beer." "Thanks for that, I know that it's difficult to work out why this has happened, and I hope the full story, when it comes out, doesn't cause any more trouble for us, all of us." They had a group hug. I saw them and smiled. Life as I knew it hadn't come to a screeching halt, I would somehow get through this, with their help. Cecelia came in the next day with my chair. "Come on lazy-bones, we're going for a walk." She helped me into the chair and I wheeled myself out into the courtyard and sunlight. She sat on a bench and held my hand. "Gavin, I heard what happened to Mel, I'm sorry. I want you to remember that I'm here for you if you need me." "Thank you for this, and yes I need you, I need you to tell me why this is happening to me? What have I done to deserve this?" "You've done nothing. I have gone through the initial reports on the deaths and what led to them and I can tell you that none of this was your fault. This was the work of a couple of very twisted minds distorted by one of the most basic of urges, jealousy. Both Wayne and Mel were jealous of you and Rachel, and Mel used Wayne's jealousy to get Rachel out of the way. What she wasn't counting on was your injuries, and she blamed Wayne for that. Then she dumps him just when he thought that it was all going well between them, it wasn't of course, it never was but he didn't know that, and this caused him to react in the way that he did. If he couldn't have her then no-one could, his hatred of her was greater than his hatred of you because he had come to realise that she had used him all along, and now that you were back on the scene, he was surplus to requirements. Almost anyone would have flipped over that." "I'm beginning to understand that I'll never understand women." "We're not all that complicated." She leant over and kissed me in a most unprofessional way. "You'll see." I was confused. I was not unhappy with my confusion, of the two of them I would have chosen Cecelia over Mel any day. "Now let's get the hell out of this hospital, I'll take you home. I want to have a chat with your parents. In my professional opinion you should get right away from here, this place has been the source of a great deal of hurt for you. I think that you should have a holiday and I also think that you should have someone with you that can look after your emotional needs." She had a smile on her face when she said that. "And I suppose that you're going to volunteer for the job?" "How did you guess? I know that this is unprofessional of me, but I am after all human, and not a robot. I have feelings along with everyone else, and I need a holiday myself. Did you know that Psychiatrists were the most likely members of the Medical profession to commit suicide?" "I suppose that you're asking me to stop you from ending it all." "See, we're not that complicated at all, you saw right through my scheme." For the second time in my life I had found myself in the middle of a nightmare, and for the second time I have woken from it to find myself in a better place.