Chapter Twenty Seven

Though over tired, Daniel rushed to his sister's hospital bedside.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Daniel Cooper shifted the gear lever into top gear and roared up the motorway. This bit of the road was straight, and it was not too busy. Everybody else was exceeding the speed-limit anyway.

His mind was only half on the road; he drove more by instinct than with any skill. Images of the two most important people in his world vied with each other at the forefront of his thoughts. Torn between his love for Emily and for his twin sister Robyn, Daniel's mind was a maelstrom of raw emotions. They tore at his very core, threatening to rend him in two. Even so. he knew without knowing how, that these feelings would endure a lifetime, and beyond.

As the car ate up the miles, Daniel tuned his thoughts to Emily and their recent parting in Richmond Street. She had been right to get mad about the article he had written. He should have told her about it from the start, and that he had Jennifer's full co-operation. Emily had rocked his world, but her reaction to his proposal had turned it on its head. He no longer knew which way was up, or which way was down.

It had never been Daniel's intention to keep anything from Emily. It had just never crossed his mind to tell her; there was no reason. He had been so busy writing the piece and training for the run, it had simply slipped his mind. He knew he should have let Emily read what he'd written, before it went to print. In future he would let her read everything he wrote, when, if, they got back together.

But it was Robyn who needed him right now.

“The medics think she may lose her leg” his father had told him.

The thought of his beautiful, athletic sister being crippled tore at Daniel's heart.

'Don't think of it!' Daniel warned himself, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. 'They can do marvels for amputees these days'.

He had not hesitated on hearing the devastating news.

“I'm on my way” he had reassured his father. But he hadn't given Emily a second thought. He would call her later, after he had seen Robyn at the hospital.

Daylight had begun to fade and the street lights were flickering on. A misty rain was falling, making it difficult to see clearly. Cars were switching on headlights in the increasing doom.

Daniel was past being tired now, beyond sleep. He was on auto-pilot. He wasn't even aware that the seatbelt had failed to fully engaged with its receiver.

“Robbie!” he willed his twin sister silently, “hang on sis, I'm coming!”

The car's lights illuminated cats eyes, denoting a turning, red ones, then green. This section of the motorway was busy this evening. Drivers were required to keep a distance of two chevrons apart; it was clearly marked on the road. They flashed beneath the Lotus as it sped on its journey; but only one chevron separated it from the car in front, an Audi. Daniel signalled and pulled out to overtake it, but the Audi's driver had the same idea, and veered over in front of the Lotus, causing Daniel to swerve so as to avoid rear ending it.

Everything accelerated to light-speed. As the Lotus swerved it glanced off the central barrier and overturned. The airbag only semi-inflated, and Daniel's seatbelt jerked free from the socket, hurling him forwards into the windscreen.

Daniel's final fleeting thought was of Emily, before the world faded away......