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The car jerked forward and Lucy’s heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t stand being in cars any more. She couldn’t trust then. Her dad helped her out of her secure seat and positioned her in her “eye-catching” new accessory. As they made their way towards the youth centre she caught a glance of a tear falling from his face. She hated the pain her family had went through, more than the pain she had been put through. They were getting so close to the local “rejects dump,” that her eyes automatically fell and she stared at the legs that had let her down so badly. But she heard steps coming eagerly towards her, steps she’d heard a hundred times. Steps she hadn’t heard in so long. She paused; She wondered how he’d react.
Lucy forced her eyes upwards, and saw his face, so familiar, yet so changed from the tears that were coating his eyes. She knew what was coming, the same old questions that had been asked a million times over. And right on queue he said “What happened!?” Lucy breathed deeply, taking in all the cool crisp air she could, to stop her tears from escaping. “There was a driver coming up the road, their first drive ever ‘cause just past their test. I felt so bad for them. They had sped up to catch the light, and we were pulling out of our drive. I was in the front of the car, and took the full hit.” She could hear the screams in her head and see the blood and smell the fuel. At that the tears began to free-fall down his face and her dads. It was all so over whelming, but she kept it together, she had to. She could feel her dad shaking with fear, as he held the handles to her wheelchair. Her new transport. Her “eye-catcher.”
Jack managed to push back his tears and convinced Lucy’s dad that he would look after her until pick up. He steered her through the main building, people staring for a moment and then snapping back to their conversations. Lucy was used to the stares, but Jack was too protective of her, he got them out through the back door as fast as he could. As soon as they were in the court yard, Jack found their favourite spot and made sure no one was in sight. His face crumbled; he broke down in tears. “Why didn’t you call! Why didn’t you tell me!?” She heard the fear and anger in his voice, but only saw love and sadness on his face. “How could I call you and tell you I was paralysed from the waist down! Imagine telling someone you……telling one of your closest friends over the PHONE that you’d been smashed up!” She couldn’t help yelling. Right now she despised him. No one had heard from Jack in over 2 months. No one had had a phone call, an email or a simple text from him. And he hadn’t given an explanation yet either.
To save herself from running over him with her chair, Lucy manoeuvred herself, aiming squarely for the “dumps” doors, and began to push away. But Jack grabbed the chair and swung her round to face him. She looked him straight in the eye. She used to look and feel love, but all she saw now was hate. His eyes were red; filled the brim with sorrow. At that her heart softened. She could never stay mad at him for long. It was one of the things that made their relationship work so well. “ I’m so sorry! I know I’ve been a lousy friend but I’ll fix that I promise! What ever I can do, I will…..No more half hearted friendship!” She felt the sincerity in his voice and saw it in his harrowing eyes. He was holding on to her arms, and she prayed he wouldn’t feel the deep scars that would never fade. He parked her beside the bench, under the archway and they sat out all night talking. They talked about where he had been, what he’d done, everything he missed from his “disappearance.” Lucy almost felt like she was whole again. The darkness fell and they went inside as the wind swept all the heat from their bodies. And Lucy’s dad was standing inside. Looking quite concerned because no one had seen her all night. He took her from Jack quickly and got her into the car, and as he did that Lucy heard something crackle. She waited until she was safely in her room at home to open the note that Jack had snuck into her jacket pocket. It simply read, “I’ll also be there for you, no matter what.” And a the bottom was Jack’s unique signature and his trade mark smiley face., that also brought a smile to Lucy’s face.