Until Dawn

Until Dawn

  Kate Amedeo

  Copyright 2016 Kate Amedeo

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  - 12 hours till dawn -

  What would you say about a white Christmas, Jen?

  Yes, that’s certainly something to look forward to. Can’t even remember when was the last time we had snow during this time of year.

  Two more days left on the countdown. I hope that all you folks at home are tucked under a blanket with some hot cocoa as it’s going to get really freezing out there. And we are going to keep you company with our holiday cheer. And now, let’s listen to Chris Rea and his old seasonal classic.

  The voices on the radio changed to music.

  Sarah looked at Jim. He held one hand on the steering wheel, staring up ahead through the windshield wipes as they cleared large snowflakes away from the glass. She smiled and put her hand on her belly, feeling a faint kick. Jim must have felt her eyes on him and turned his head.

  ‘Hey, gorgeous,’ he returned her smile and threw in a wink.

  ‘How’s my baby-girl doing? Practising karate kicks again?’ his eyes fixing on her hand, covering the bump.

  ‘Punching away. Like father, like daughter,’ she stroked the belly.

  He moved his left hand from the gear lever onto her hand. She turned the palm upwards and gently squeezed it.

  Driving home for Christmas…

  ‘Just look at the weather,’ Jim said, shifting slightly forward and placing both hands on the wheel. The wind hurled myriads of snowflakes against the windshield, making it difficult to see the road up ahead.

  Sarah reached back and took a gift bag from the back seat. From it she took out a hat shaped as a reindeer’s head with green braids hanging from the ear flaps, a red nose and two eyes on the front and the stuffed antlers at the top. She put it on.

  ‘How do you like your new style?’ she said, grinning and posing as if in front of an imaginary camera.

  ‘I always knew Angie never liked me,’ Jim observed her antics with a smile on his face.

  ‘Stop, you know she loves you. Besides, it will look good together with that reindeer sweater I got you,’ she giggled.

  ‘Not wearing it. This either,’ he indicated the hat. ‘Not in this lifetime.’

  ‘Oh, come on, mom’s going to love you in it’ she laughed.

  ‘Admit it, you two had it planned all along.’

  ‘Maybe. Maybe not. A twin never snitches on her sister,’ she flung the hat back onto the seat, reaching for another present.

  ‘It’s a shame we can’t go to Italy together with them,’ she said while digging in another gift bag.

  ‘Well, I don’t know. I’m kind of looking forward to spending Christmas with my girls. Just you, me and little Maggie,’ he smiled.

  ‘You mean Lily,’ she rustled the wrapping paper inside the bag.

  ‘Yup,’ he gave her a sideways glance, ‘Maggie it is.’

  ‘Hey,’ she playfully punched him on the shoulder.

  ‘Ouch, stop the violence, woman, or I’ll be forced to call the police.’

  Driving in my car… Driving home for Christmas…

  ‘Angie’s an angel! Just look at this. Isn’t it adorable?’ she put a pink bodysuit with Mummy’s Little Princess embroidered on it on her belly.

  Jim gave a look and nodded. Next she placed a matching pair of shoes on her palm.

  ‘My gosh, they’re so tiny…’

  ‘You know, I was thinking that we could buy that crib I showed you on Amazon. The dark brown one, remember? It comes as a set together with a nursing chair.’

  Jim clenched the wheel and drew a deep breath. She had felt some tension during the dinner. He never was the talkative type but today he’d been all too quiet. But she decided not to ask him what it was that bothered him. He’d tell her eventually.

  ‘Hun, there is something I’ve been meaning to tell you.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’ she put the shoes back into the gift bag.

  ‘Um,’ he faltered, ‘remember I told you that they were planning to make some changes in the company?’

  She had a feeling where this was going.

  ‘It turns out the thing they decided to change is, well, me,’ he looked straight ahead, not daring to face her. She almost could read his thoughts, they had so many plans and now he was the one letting her down.

  ‘I know this is a bad time. I’ve already started to look for something else. I promise that we will get whatever is necessary…’ he felt her hand touch his.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ there was no reproach in her voice.

  He turned and saw her brown eyes with a fleck of golden dust right around the pupils. Those were the same eyes he had fallen in love with from the first sight when he’d seen her in that student cafeteria.

  ‘We’ll make it. As we always have,’ she smiled.

  And feel you near me…

  ‘Do you think we’ll make it home with this blizzard?’ she looked out the window where the wind was thrashing a thick snow curtain. The snowstorm seemed to have gained in strength. All she could see was snow dust as if someone had scattered flour into the wind.

  ‘We’ll be there before you know it,’ he sounded happier.

  ‘Good, ‘cause I’ll need to wee soon. Can’t remember if I’ve ever seen it snow so much,’ she said and her voice changed into a scream as the car jerked all of a sudden, then sharply turned to the left, abruptly changing the direction to the right when Jim tried to turn the wheel.

  ‘Hold on!’ she heard him yell out.

  It seemed like forever, the car drifted, sliding from side to side, the wheels spinning and slipping, until finally they came to an abrupt stop.

  The front of the car dug itself into a snow bank. Jim was still clenching the wheel with both hands and pressing his foot onto the break pedal. Everything froze still, only the windshield wipes were moving repeatedly, accompanied by the music coming from the radio and the roaring wind.

  For a moment they did not dare to move. Then Sarah gasped and large tears streamed down her face. Jim undid his belt and leaned towards his wife.

  ‘It’s OK,’ he whispered into her ear, holding her tight. He felt her body trembling in his arms.

  ‘Shh, everything’s all right,’ he kept repeating as she sobbed, covering her face in his jacket. Jim brushed her soft brown curls and kissed her on the head.

  When she seemed to calm down a bit, he let her out of his embrace and slowly took her left hand off the door handle. Her fingers had dug into it like an eagle holding its pray.

  ‘Look at me,’ he said as calmly as he could, gently turning her by the chin so she would face him.

  ‘We are all right, all three of us,’ having said it he put one hand on her belly. Sarah took a deep breath and nodded.

  Sharp gusts of wind coughed snow dust at the windows. Another song had started on the radio.

  Oh, the weather outside is frightful…

  Jim tried to reverse and back out of the snowbank, the engine roaring under the hood, but to no avail. Finally, he pressed the button with the red triangle symbol on it and the clicking of the turn signals came on.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Sarah’s voice, unusually quiet, slightly trembled..

  ‘Call for help,’ he took out his phone and dialled 999. She could hear there was no signal.

  ‘Damn it, there’s no coverage,’ Jim tried to dial the emergency number again.

  ‘Shit…’

  Let it snow… Let it snow… Let it snow…

  Jim stretched out his hand, looking at the screen, but there still were
zero bars.

  ‘Jim?’

  ‘I’ll try to go outside and see if I manage to call from there,’ he opened the door and the freezing wind immediately used the opportunity to put its icy claws inside the car, scratching at the skin with its bony fingers. He had already put one foot outside when he felt her tugging at his sleeve.

  ‘Please, be careful,’ she held on to him with both hands.

  ‘A little snow never killed nobody,’ he smiled and pecked her on the cheek before closing the door and disappearing into the darkness, white whirlwind swallowing up his shape as he moved further away from the car.

  Sarah hugged herself and sighed. She reached to the buttons on the dashboard and raised the temperature of the heater. The she tried to dial Angie a couple of times but the signal was absent.

  - 11 hours till dawn –

  Another song had ended but Jim was nowhere to be seen. She lost track of how much time had passed since Jim had left. The bright numbers on the digital clock on the dashboard showed twenty-four minutes past nine.

  A special hello to everyone who has just joined us. This is Rick and you are listening to radio Northsound, your local friendly radio station in Aberdeen. This was Frank Sinatra, wishing all you lads and gals a Merry Christmas. We’ll continue our Christmas carol marathon right after some traffic messages.

  A short jingle followed the voice of the radio host.

  ‘Driving with Northsound…’ a womans voice stretched the last word.

  It seems that all this snow has caused some trouble for the drivers.

  Yeah, we’ve received a couple of messages from our listeners. One of them is from Jenny. She says that she’s been trying to get into the city for the past twenty minutes but the the streets are jammed, and with