Taylor's POV
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The highway has been gritted, but little help it's doing in the storm where even on a clear flat surface the 4x4 is struggling. The road slick with ice in parts, black ice that is currently hard to detect in the low light. Ross hasn't passed me on his motorbike, he isn't tailgating me and I'm constantly checking my mirrors for a glimpse of him. Worried sick, I cannot pull over as even though the highway is empty of any traffic, everybody else has considered driving to be unsafe in these conditions. And should I sit stationary I will be a hazard in the fog. I dial up Matthew, my phones connected to the car.
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"Babe you okay?" Matthew asks, answering after one ring.
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"Matty do you think I should have offered Ross a ride because of the snow?" I ask him slowly.
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"Are you driving right now?" He asks me seriously.
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"Yes but slow, the visibility is poor and I keep thinking what if somebody doesn't see him on his bike and drives through him. I'm going to circle around and see if I can find him" I say almost crying.
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"Ok calm down and pull over right now" he tells me and he's serious.
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"I'm on the highway" I explain and he curses slightly.
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"Can you see a lay-by ahead at all" he asks me softly.
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"I can't see anything at all Matthew, the fog is thick" I explain.
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"Okay what I want you to do is just concentrate on getting to your junction. I'm going to call his phone, he should be home by now. He's not far from town and the way he drives..." he says getting worried himself.
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"Okay" I say shakily gripping the wheel the heat blasting at me, making me hot and heady.
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"Okay I'll call you back. Love you" he says and hangs up.
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Focusing on the next junction and trying to remember where I can turn around to head back to find him, I drive maintaining speed and keeping the fog lights on. The music on low, waiting for a call from Matthew. A call whereby he will tell me that Ross is fine so that I can continue my drive and stop worrying my socks off. I should have pulled him into the 4x4 and taken him home myself.
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My phone rings and I answer it by clicking the steering wheel promptly, I'm approaching a junction whereby I'm going to head west. Double loop on myself on a small side road and head back to town. In the now darkening sky, the snow falling heavily I up the wipers and gain a little more visibility.
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"Matthew" I say slowly.
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"Yeah he's probably driving slow and won't answer. I think he would have driven down the quiet road back to his." he explains.
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"I've rung Jay" he says slowly.
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"He's driving to find you. He will be quicker than me with his car. Meanwhile I am going to try to get hold of Ross okay. So do not worry" he explains softly and I exhale.
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"Matthew I have looped around" I tell him and he curses. He wants me home and safe.
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"I'm heading back to town to find him myself" I say to him, he will protest this idea. He begins talking and I interrupt him.
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"I will see you soon. I will be fine okay. I love you, I should have put Ross in the 4x4 and that's on me. So I must find him" I say defiantly.
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"Let me call Jay" he says softly before telling me that he loves me and hanging up.
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My lights highlight the highway and I accelerate now panicked to find him. To get there and solve the worry that is tangling up my tummy. The upside is that the roads are all dead quiet, Jay will spot me instantly. Progressing much more quickly and steady back to town I tell myself that the 4x4 has got this. I have got this. I exit the highway and loop around town, past the car park where I left him.
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Indicating down the lane, my headlights shoot a beam of light through the un-gritted snow laden streets. My tyres get a bit uppity with me and I groan slightly accelerating, set on my mission. The lanes are not even residential. Just trees either side and dark forests, winding tracks with huge bends. I must be careful not to drive myself into a ditch I remind myself nervously. And if I wasn't so scared and full of nerves I would appreciate the beauty of the snow landing on the trees. I would be thinking about Christmas. And what to get everybody for presents. Armani shirt for Jay I say to myself, a novel for Ross, a brand new makeup set for Rachel I laugh. The light drops under the tree cover, there are no street lamps, the only light is emanating from my 4x4. Keep it together. Concentrate, I'm travelling at ten miles per hour, making Christmas lists in my head in order to keep myself rational.
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It's like being in one of those nightmares, where you are lost. I can only see white, the snow has buried the road. Why is it snowing so much I sigh frustrated. A quick sharp bend throws me off guard and I recover the wheel spin immediately.
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My phone beeps, and Gilbert Scott pops up on the display, I answer it instead of being childish.
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"Taylor" Jay says simply, I imagine him driving through the snow for little old me and I almost laugh.
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"Mr southern Viking" I laugh and he scoffs.
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"Where are you baby?" He asks half laughing.
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"I'm not your baby" I tell him and he sighs exasperated.
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"I'm on the lane past the main town, there's a lot of snow and zero light" I explain and he curses.
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"I need to get there" he says softly.
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"Lord" I say narrowly missing a dear. It's bright eyes looking at me alarmed before it rushes into the trees.
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"You okay?" He asks worried.
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"Babe?" He says when I don't answer immediately, I’m concentrating on the winding nature of the path.
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"I'm okay sorry there was a bit of a bend" I say and he curses.
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"Okay slow down, I'm almost there." He explains softly and I begin to panic looking into the trees. How will I find my way back out of this maze I wonder, it’s oddly claustrophobic.
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"I'll see you in ten" he says softly, his southern voice a welcome distraction from my panicking.
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"Taylor" he says slowly.
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"Mhmmmm." I say fighting sobs.
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"I've got you, don't worry. You will be fine" he says before hanging up. Focussing on the road gets difficult again, the snow is not letting off and if anything it's getting heavier. Visions of Ross laying in the road injured flood my brain and I cry again. Big tears that cover my vision as I frantically wipe my face.
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Matthew calls me and I answer the call pulling myself together. Checking in my rear mirror for headlights. It's dark either side of my car, nothing behind me and nothing ahead.
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"Taylor" Matthew says frantically as I take my time to respond.
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"I'm proud of you, you always do the right thing, has Jay got to you yet?" He asks and I sob.
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"Not yet" I say softly.
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"I just wanted to keep you safe." He admits absentmindedly.
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"I can't see anything Matty" I tell him.
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"The road or the trees it's all just white" I explain.
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"I've got you I'll stay on the line now" he reassures me as I cry.
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As I slowly head around a bend, which seems to take me in a complete 360, I progress into yet another dark road. Narrower than the last, my headlights sweep over a motorbike and I gasp.
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"Matthew it's his bike" I say and he just waits for more explanation.
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"It's on the road turned over" I say crying.
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"Slow your car down now, pull over and put your hazards on" he tells me and I'm glad he's here in my ear talking me through it.
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"I can't see him" I say, sure that I'm in shock.
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"Text me a screen shot of the sat nav. I will ring an ambulance now." He instructs me. I send off the image of the sat nav realising my hands are shaking.
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"Okay got it babe" he says softly.
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I tentatively get out of the car looking up and down into the darkness, the snow landing silently as I crunch through it over to the bike. Taking in the wreck with my eyes, I gasp wiping my face. Registering another car approach and park behind my own.
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Pacing around the bike and rushing over to a body which I can only assume is Ross, I run over to him. Kneeling on the floor and scraping the settled snow off of him. His face visible through the lifted visor and his hands and fingers blue.
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"Do I take his helmet off?" I ask Matthew as I feel Jay approach me from behind.
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"No, if he can't breathe then undo the strap under his chin." Matthew says.
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"Babe you can do this" he reassures me as I place my phone down in the snow hearing him talking to the ambulance service presumably on the house phone.
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"Thank God you're okay" Jay says kneeling next to me and I grab a hold of his hand. He looks at me alarm in his eyes before pulling me into him and holding me.
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"Matthew I'm here" he says registering my phone on the floor, I sob uncontrollably into his chest clinging onto him, feeling his arms around me.
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"Thanks man ambulance on its way" Matthew explains.
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"Taylor I love you, I'm so proud of you. I'm grabbing a cab now to the hospital" he explains softly.
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"I love you" I tell him and he reassures me some more before we hang up. I breathe in, realising I'm in Jays lap, my head pressed to his chest as he checks over Ross.
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I look down at Ross, of course he's scratched up. He's breathing I tell myself over and over again looking at his chest in order to reassure myself.
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"Ross. I'm sorry this is all my fault. If you can hear me at all please show me" I tell him feeling like an idiot. I place my hand on his heart. It reassures me feeling it beat against my hand. Jay pulls me in close and tells me that it's going to be okay. That I did magnificently, that he's here and is not going anywhere.
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The ambulance approaches I hear it first, before I see it. I briefly wonder how it's going to get down such a narrow lane. Jay stands me up and holds me in close as they pull up behind us.
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Several emergency service members filter out and begin talking frantically. Jay guides me back, his hands around me, as they place Ross on a stretcher. I glance up at Jay his glowing blues eyes watching me and wiping my tears away.
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"He told me that he loved me and then I just let him drive off in the snow like a selfish horrible person" I say to Jay and he shh's me. Stroking my face his arm around my waist and lower back.
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"Were you involved in the accident?" A male paramedic asks us, he has short hair and tan skin. A pair of specs on as I stare at him wildly.
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"I came to find him. He was already unconscious." I say as they lift Ross into the ambulance.
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"You need a checkup accident or not, very stressful thing to go through. Do you recall how long you were out in the cold" he asks.
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"No idea" I say holding onto Jay, shaking.
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"He's very lucky you went looking for him, these roads are treacherous almost unused. Bears surround the woods" he explains softly when I stare at him.
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"Please" he smiles eyeing the engagement ring on my finger and then Jay.
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"Take your wife to the hospital, we've got this here" he explains softly, it's feasible for him to assume that I am with Jay. My body language, the way he is holding me and the ring on my finger. Instead of correcting him, Jay simply nods guiding me to his Land Rover defender and settling me in the passenger seat. He buckles me up leaning over me as I'm still shaking violently either from the cold or the shock.
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"Jay" I say before he leaves me to park Matthew's car safely.
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"Thank you" I say softly as he looks down at me. His face softens and he strokes my hair back before shutting the door.
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