Waking From a Nightmare

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."