Chapter Seventeen: An Accident Waiting To Happen (Daariah and Nausheenah)

“Well, I guess I'll have the dorm to myself this weekend then,” said Calipso as the girls walked to lunch after their last lesson on Thursday afternoon.
“What do you mean?” asked Charlotte.
“Well, our dorm is my only home besides Peru and that's a little far to travel for two nights. So while you're all away for the weekend, there'll be peace and quiet for once,” she teased.
“Don't worry Calipso, I spoke to my mom this morning and she said we can all go back to the cottage in Shelley Bay. So no such luck I’m afraid. Besides, you didn't really have the chance to enjoy it properly last time after being knocked out by that huge wave. So girls, if you haven't made any arrangements to go home yet, you're all invited!” she said cheerfully.
“That would be great Jade. It is a bit far for us to go all the way home since it is nearly the end of the term anyway,” said Roxanne.
“Yes, that would be great because my parents are away on a business conference for the whole weekend, so I can't go home anyway,” said Annie.
“And I'd hate to miss out on all the fun you might have without me so I’m definitely in!” said Charlotte.
“Ok then, Shelley Bay it is!” Jade cheered loudly.
They were all given permission by their parents and then packed their bags before getting into bed on Thursday evening. Their bags were piled in a heap against the wall in the corner of the dorm so that they would be ready to leave straight after school the next day. As always, Jade had twice as much luggage as the others but they had all given up asking her why she needed so many things for only two days. They had all just accepted that there was no changing Jade.
“I can't wait to sleep in that luxurious bed again, with those lovely soft pillows and that puffy duvet,” said Annie.
“Ooh me too,” said Roxanne. “I can't remember when last I had a proper night's sleep, with all these dreams we've been having lately,” she added.
“I haven't been able to sleep much lately either but that's because I can’t stop thinking about the Valentine’s Ball,” blushed Chelsea.
“Well, the rest of us could be fast asleep right now if you’d all stop jabbering!” moaned Jade in frustration.
The girls woke up the following morning to pouring rain. Annie opened the blinds to look outside and it was clear from the expression on her face that she was nervous about something. But what? Chelsea and Roxanne’s eyes met briefly as they climbed out of bed but neither of them said so much as a word to each other. Once seated at their table with their breakfast of toast and a cup of tea, Calipso cleared her throat.
“Um, I had quite a scary dream last night,” she began.
She was about to explain in more detail when she was interrupted by a tap on the microphone and then the loud voice of Mrs Dothesplitz.
“Good morning ladies, I do apologise for interrupting your breakfast.
There will be no class swimming today due to the heavy rain. You are to please bring your gym kit to the hall instead,” she informed them.
“Darn, I was so looking forward to swimming today, I need to work on my butterfly for the gala next week,” said Roxanne.
The girls all turned back to Calipso to hear about her dream when they suddenly realised how late it was and they had to walk all the way to Mr Thornton’s classroom for Maths. They stacked their plates and cups and raced out of the Dining hall to make sure they weren’t given weekend homework for being late for class.
They didn’t have much of a chance to talk to each other during the day. After the last bell rang, they all met back in the dorm to collect their bags and then carried them down to the common room to wait for Jade’s mom.
“Ok Calipso, now you can finally tell us about your dream!” said Charlotte, settling into the couch.
“I also had a freaky dream,” interrupted Jade, looking nervously at her friends. “I dreamt about a car swerving on the road, and it was pouring with rain.”
“Mine was similar,” Charlotte blurted out, “but mine was just of a highway which was very slippery from the rain.”
“Hmmm, I dreamt about a road, also slippery from the rain, and there was a sign showing a speed limit of one hundred,” added Roxanne.
“There was an ambulance and a police car in my dream. People were being carried and lifted into the ambulance, and everybody was soaking wet. It was terrible!” said Annie.
“I dreamt about a hospital. I couldn’t see the name of it above the entrance but there was a blue emblem on the door,” added Chelsea.
Calipso waited for all of them to finish talking and as she was about to add the final piece to the puzzle, Jade’s mom burst through the door, dressed in a raincoat down to her ankles and holding a large umbrella but somehow still drenched from the rain.
“Sorry I’m late girls, dreadful weather,” she said out of breath and shaking out her umbrella.
They all jumped up to hug her, grabbed their bags and ran to the car. Once they had left the school and were on the road, Jade felt she should warn her mom about what they’d all dreamt about.
“Awful weather isn’t it mum, not good for travelling on the roads. Just drive carefully, there might be other cars on the road that could lose control on these slippery roads,” she said, trying not to sound too worried.
“You should also be careful of...” Calipso started, but Mrs Thompson didn’t hear her over the heavy drops pelting onto the car.
“Thanks Jade, you’re quite right, I’ll keep my eye on the other cars,” she agreed.
The girls didn’t really discuss what they thought the dreams meant but they all sat in silence, watching the road for any sign of a swerving vehicle. Calipso was feeling very uncomfortable and decided that she had to speak up.
“Mrs Thompson,” she called from the back seat, trying to speak over the rain.
“Yes dear,” she replied and looked at Calipso in the rear view mirror.
“You should also look out for...”
Just then Mrs Thompson's mobile phone began to ring. She reached for her handbag and gave it to Jade, asking her to please find it and answer it.
A few moments later, Roxanne saw the sign with the speed limit of one hundred from her dream and just after that she caught a glimpse of a large tree branch that had obviously blown into the road during the storm. The car suddenly swerved to the right as Mrs Thompson tried to avoid the branch, and then again to the left as she tried to miss the car that was travelling towards them. And then everything went black.

***

When the girls opened their eyes, they found themselves in a hospital ward at St. Catherine's Hospital.
“Welcome girls,” said Dr Barnard, who had just walked in to check on his patients.
“Where are we? Is everyone alright?” asked a frightened Annie.
“Just relax Annie, everyone is fine. There were no serious injuries. It could have been a lot worse, but luckily Mrs Thompson was able to avoid the tree branch in the road and the oncoming traffic, and the car veered relatively safely into a muddy bank. The worst thing you’ve all suffered from is shock,” he said in a soft and gentle voice.
He turned to face Annie and continued.
“Annie, you’ve also sprained the index finger on your right hand.”
“What?” she gasped, staring at the bandage she had just noticed on her hand. “How I am going to write exams in two weeks time?”
The doctor laughed. “It should be as good as new by then.” He turned to his next two patient in the beds next to Annie.
“Chelsea, you sustained a slight sprain to your right ankle and Roxanne, you’re absolutely fine.”
“That’s a relief, I have hockey trials for next season and swimming champs next week and there’s no way I would miss either of them!” she replied.
The doctor then turned around to face the girls on the other side of the ward.
“Charlotte, you have a bruise on your left arm and Jade, you have nothing but a scratch on your forehead,” he said, staring at Jade's pink tracksuit and immaculate hair.
“What? Did you say forehead?” She jumped out of bed and ran to the mirror to assess the damage to her face.
“Oh, that’s not too bad. It’s nothing that my new Revlon foundation can’t fix. What about my mom, is she ok?”
“She’s absolutely fine, she’s just gone in search of some coffee,” he reassured her and then told them that they could leave whenever they were ready.
The Super Six climbed out of the small metal beds and Annie suddenly realised that Calipso wasn’t in the room with them.
As if she had read Annie’s mind, Calipso came rushing into the ward a moment later.
“Calipso, there you are! Are you ok?” she asked.
“Yes I’m fine, not even a scratch. But this is what I was trying to tell you about this morning at breakfast and then again in the common room and in the car, but I was interrupted every time. I dreamt about the tree branch in the road and then the six of us were lying in hospital beds. I knew our car was going to be the one swerving on the road, not someone else,” she explained at last.
“Calipso, we’re so sorry, we should have listened to you. I suppose we were all so excited about our weekend away that we didn’t really give our dreams enough thought,” said Charlotte.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m just glad none of us was badly hurt and we can now go home to the cottage to enjoy the weekend,” she replied.
“We need to be more careful when it comes to these dreams. We must discuss everything that we see as a group in case we leave out on an important piece to the puzzle,” warned Annie, also feeling guilty about not listening to what Calipso had dreamt about.
That evening, safely home at the cottage, they all sat around the fire drinking tea. Mrs Thompson decided that they needed the warmth to comfort them after their accident. It was still pouring with rain and the wind was howling.
“Where’s dad?” asked Jade, wondering why he was taking so long to get to the cottage after work.
“He went to fetch...”
All of a sudden there was a loud bang as the front door opened and slammed shut. An icy draft blew into the lounge followed by four wet faces.
“He went to fetch the boys,” finished Mrs Thompson.
“What are you guys doing here?” Jade asked her brother, full of surprise to see Adam and his two best friends.
“We’ve only had one weekend out of school this term so we thought we would come home and check on you girls,” replied Adam, leaning over the couch to give her a hug.
The boys sat quietly on the floor while the girls told them all about what had happened and how well Mrs Thompson had driven to avoid what could have been a much more serious accident. Eventually they all fell silent and watched the flames as the light and shadows danced in the fireplace.
“Well, I think we’ll all sleep very well tonight,” yawned Charlotte, the events of the day starting to weigh down on her.
“That’s for sure,” agreed Annie, unable to stop a yawn herself.
“Come on then, let's go to bed,” said Jade, standing up and stretching before stumbling towards the stairs.
The others all followed her lead but Chelsea winced as she stood up, forgetting about her sprained ankle.
“What’s wrong?” asked Kyle anxiously, immediately at her side.
“I’m fine, it’s just my ankle,” she replied. “It's slightly sprained.”
“Well I can help you there,” he grinned. Kyle then lifted her off her feet and held her tightly against his chest.
“Is that better?” he asked, carrying her gently up the stairs to her bedroom.