Welcome To Crete Chapter 62

A Chapter by Repgreece

Fay confesses her feelings for Adam, but is she too late?

At ten o clock the following morning Fay was awakened by the sing song sound of her mobile phone ringing on the bedside table. She reached out groggily to pick it up and answered with a gravelly voice.

"Hello," she said simply, lying on her back with her eyes still closed.

"Fay, it's Adam. Listen sweetheart, are you up to working today because I could really do with a hand? Some fires have broken out on the mountainside above Elounda and it looks as though we might have to move some guests in one of our properties out there to another hotel."

She opened her eyes then and struggled to a sitting position. "Oh hell, they must have started because of the high temperatures lately. Yes, I'll come in now if you need some help."

"Thanks Fay. See you in a bit then," he said.

"Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can," she confirmed, hanging up and springing out of bed.

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Fay entered the office and Adam looked up with relief to see her.

"I'm having trouble finding another hotel that has room to take the guests," he said, staring down at his computer screen. "I thought you might know of more places than me. You'd be doing me a huge favour if you could ring around and find some rooms. These are the details," he said, passing her a slip of paper. "I've written the hotels that have already been contacted on the back. If needs be we will have to split the guests up, but if at all possible I'd like them to stay in the same hotel."

"I'll find somewhere, don't worry," she reassured him, sitting at her desk and picking up the telephone receiver. "How close is the fire to the property?" she asked as she dialled a number.

"It's at the top of the mountain at the moment but luckily the wind is blowing it in the opposite direction. The hotel owner is concerned though and I don't want to take any risks." His eyes moved over to her then anxiously.

"Fires break out all the time in this weather you know, it isn't the first time this has happened," she pointed out sensing his concern. "It'll be alright," she mouthed as the person on the other end of the phone picked up the receiver.

After a quick phone call to Susie, Fay had scribbled down the telephone number of a hotel in Agios Nikolaos, contacted the owner and secured enough rooms to accommodate the guests.

"You're wonderful," Adam said, moving across to take the hotel details from her and kissing her on the cheek.

"Look, I'll come with you to the hotel and reassure the guests," she offered, looking up at him.

He frowned. "I'd rather you stay here, I'd feel more comfortable with you in Agios Fay."

"You said that the fire was moving in the opposite direction and besides I know the hotel owner in Elounda, she doesn't speak much English so you're going to need me there," she reasoned.

He hesitated. "I'll phone the owner and see what the situation is like now. I think she was offering to transport the guests for me from what I can work out."

Fay picked up the phone again. "I'll speak to her for you, I'll understand more."

He smiled at her. "Thanks. If I was right and they can transport the guests you'll need to give her the details of the other hotel you've found. And find out how close the fire is to the hotel now," he said, moving back to his desk.

She nodded.

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Adam got into his car and reached across to open the door for Fay.

"Let's get this over with, I'll be a lot happier when we are all out of the area," he said, starting up the car.

"The fire isn't that near to the hotel at the moment and it's still blowing in the opposite direction," she reminded him.

Nevertheless, he still looked nervous fifteen minutes later when they neared Elounda. The hotel was sat halfway up the mountain on a turning just before the main road descended into Elounda village, and clouds of black smoke could be seen staining the sky from the mountain above. They made the turning onto a dirt track, which lead up the mountain towards the hotel, and pulled up into the car park in front of the building. When they got out of the car to their suprise there was an eerie silence and, on entering the hotel they found that it appeared to be empty. Adam shouted for the owner and popped his head around a few doors but their first impressions had been correct, the building was indeed deserted.

"The owner must have already taken the guests," Adam frowned. "Right, there's no sense in staying here, let's go," he said, doing an about turn and heading back out into the car park with Fay.

As soon as he was out of the building however his face fell and he ran to the car park, looking about him in confusion to see that his car had vanished.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" he said, running agitated fingers through his hair.

Fay looked at a loss and they stared nervously at each other for a while before Adam grabbed her by the hand and began to walk back down the dirt track towards the main road. The track was flanked either side by two rocky slopes which had been created when the path was cut into the mountainside. Adam held tightly onto Fay's hand and strode rapidly down the path, tugging at her arm and encouraging her to speed up when she lagged behind.

"I can't walk that fast," she complained, having to run to keep up with him.

"Yes you can," he contradicted her. "Come on, I want to get us out of here. I have a very bad feeling about this."

They had only progressed a few yards back down the track when Adam abruptly came to a halt as a couple of large boulders rolled down the slope at their side and crashed onto the road in front of them. He pushed Fay behind him and moved backwards defensively, straining his eyes up the slope in search of an explanation for the fallen boulders. His face drained of colour when he saw what was following the boulders however and he grabbed Fay's hand, running back up the path a few metres to put some distance between themselves and the burning tree trunks that were flying towards the ground. He tried to quell the rising panic inside himself but the sweating hand holding onto Fay's gave away his fear.

"What's happening? Do you think it's them?" Fay asked, grabbing onto Adam's arm with both hands.

It could just be a coincidence.

Their worst fears were realised moments later though when from out of nowhere a succession of objects came hurtling towards them, smashing on the hard ground and causing flames to leap into the air when the fire in the bottles found any form of dried vegetation. Adam covered Fay's head and tried to shield her as much as he could as they ducked the flying bottles. He glanced back towards the hotel then, wondering if they should make their way back there, but it was then that the full horror of the situation hit him when he saw that the entire horizon was glowing orange.

"Adam!" Fay cried out in terror. "There's fire everywhere."

He turned to see that in seconds the fire had begun to spread, jumping from the olive trees above them as the flames carried on the wind. A dense, acrid smelling cloud of smoke started to form in the air, filling their nostrils every now and then as the wind dispersed it. Ignoring the rising fear inside him, Adam assessed the surroundings and noticed a patch of ground above them where the fire seemed to have burnt out, leaving them a possibility for escape.

"Listen to me," he said, turning to Fay and taking her horrified face in his hands, "I think we may be able to escape up there," he pointed up the slope, "but I'm not sure. Stay here and keep your eyes open, I'm just going to take a look up the slope to see if it's safe."

She grabbed onto his hands in panic, reluctant to let him go.

"It's okay," he reassured her, "you'll be able to see me from there."

He moved away and began to clamber up the rocky slope on all fours however the next couple of moments were filled with a sickening horror for Fay when she witnessed Adam's fall. He had made it halfway up the slope when the rocks gave way under his weight and he slid down to the ground, bringing the boulders with him.

"Adam!" she screamed, running towards him and throwing herself onto her knees when she reached his spread eagled body. She looked down at him with disbelief as he lay lifelessly on the ground.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" she implored, waiting for a reaction. "Adam! Adam!" she shouted, shaking him.

Please don't let this be happening! Come on Adam, come on!

She stared down at him, feeling nauseous with terror and trying to focus enough to think of what to do next. She went into her bag and took out her mobile phone. Her hands were trembling so much that she found it difficult to press the correct buttons on the pad and it was only when she put the phone to her ear that she realised she had no signal. Tears began to stream down her face when it hit her then that she was going to have to leave him to get help, and she had never felt so completely alone than at that moment as she sat next to Adam's unconscious body.

"Why couldn't you have just stayed with me?" she shouted at him unreasonably, delaying the time when she would have to leave him. "Adam come on, just wake up will you?" She dropped her head onto his chest and indulged in the tears that she's been holding back. "I'm going to get help now," she sobbed into his shirt, "but I'm scared Adam so please wake up so that I don't have to leave you here!" She lifted her head and stared at his pale face, willing him to open his eyes. "You'd better be okay, you hear me. Adam, you'd better not die." The possibility of that suddenly overwhelmed her and she screamed his name out suddenly. The sound echoed around the mountain and finally faded leaving only the hissing and crackling of the fires around them. She stared at him for a few long moments as visions of times they'd spent together flashed through her mind.

"Adam, I don't know what to do! Will you just bloody well open your eyes and tell me what to do!" she cried. "Adam, open your eyes, open your eyes, open your eyes!" she shouted. She looked around her at the raging fires and her fear escalated then as she wondered how she was going to get help anyway. "You have to wake up Adam because I'm frightened! If you love me you'd wake up," she whimpered. "You said you loved me, so wake up! I don't want you to die, I don't want to die and I can't do this without you." She lay her head on his chest again and wept with terror. "How could anyone do this to you? You're the most wonderful man I've ever known...by far. Put your arms around me Adam. I need you. You can take me away from here, away from all of this if it means we'll be safe. I'd go with you anywhere, I don't care. I just want to be with you Adam. I'm so sorry for everything I did to make you sad, I want us to be happy and if you wake up I promise that I'll make you happy," she agonised, burrying her face into his shirt. " I did a bad thing because I wanted to send you a message back when you said that you loved me but I didn't. I don't know why because I do love you Adam, more than I've ever loved anyone." She sat up and gathered him into her arms then, putting her head next to his. As she sat there rocking him she could feel the intensity of the fires increasing around them, although the waves of terror shooting through her body prevented her from looking up again to witness the full extent of the danger they were in. Instead she looked down into his face, trying to gain strength and courage from his presence. "Don't wake up now Adam," she whispered, kissing his cheek,"you're better off asleep now my love."