The Red Dress chapter twenty six

    








 Lisa was beginning to get annoyed. She had been ringing Alan's mobile for over an hour, and she cursed him for being so reticent about keeping it with him. She assumed that he'd probably left it in the car, knowing how often he did.
 
     Feeling tired because they had talked late into the night, Lisa realised Alan probably was too, so she gave up, thinking he might have gone to bed. She couldn't wait for the following afternoon when she was due to arrive at the school when she knew he would be waiting for her call. Lisa convinced herself  he would understand about her reading Carla’s letter, and everything would be all right.
 
     She took the school brochure out and looked at it again. It really did look wonderful, with acres of beautiful grounds containing stables, a new gymnasium, swimming pool and fitness club, all set in fabulous countryside. The pictures of students lounging in common rooms or studying in their spacious bedrooms gave the impression of teenage luxury organised by happy looking staff, who Lisa was glad to see looked very unlike nuns.
 
     The pictures of the social evenings showing boys in dinner suits from the associated boy's school five miles away, brought a smile to Lisa face. The boys were trying to look cool and laid back, and the girls sophisticated- but Lisa knew from experience at her last school, those kinds of events involved a lot of drink-spiking and out-of-sight groping. It was all part of boarding school life and for the first time since she'd left, she missed it. The boarding school she had been at in the Borders had only eighty-three pupils, and she had always been happy there, safe from her mother.
 
     The headmistress there had, for the four years she’d been there, been more like a mother than her own. It was as though she knew what Lisa had to endure when she went home, and she made the effort during the term to seek Lisa out and give her special tasks for which she could be praised. What Lisa didn't appreciate was the fact that her mother's lack of interest had been the give-away. She never wrote, never visited, and never showed any regard for her daughter's well-being, unlike Lisa's father who, whilst not showing any interest in the usual school events like sports day and prize giving, wrote the occasional note enclosing some money. Lisa's obvious pleasure in being at the school had been another strong indication that all was not well, as the only time she looked miserable was when she had to go home. If only the school had been able to offer the facility to take pupils up to ‘A’ level exam standard, Lisa would have happily stayed for another year, instead of leaving at the end of June, as she had.
 
     This school would be different, and she wouldn't have to endure the lonely weekends without visitors and watch everyone else going out with their families. This time she would be able to work hard during the week knowing Alan would be visiting her at weekends. This time she would have someone to ring when she felt down or lonely from the phone in her room, and he would be able to contact her any time he liked, and tell her how much he loved her. This time she would be able to send and receive emails from someone she truly adored, and imagine his arms around her when they were apart. This time she had Alan…
 
 
 
 
     Alan could feel himself floating over large open fields. He looked down and saw Lisa walking through a field in her red dress, her face upturned to the sky. She looked so, so beautiful. He called out to her, but she just kept walking through the long grass in a trance. It was as though she was oblivious to everything around her as she made her way towards something in the distance. He tried to swoop down to her, but an invisible wall was in the way and he couldn't break through it to reach her. He watched as she walked further and further away from him until, eventually, she disappeared…
 
 

     The police were at the scene of the accident very quickly, forcing their way through the crowds of people who had gathered, some to see if they could help, some just to stare. Fifty metres behind where the car had landed lay the body of a lad, his face and shoulders covered with blood. The paramedics put him into a body bag, before placing him gently on a stretcher. They then took him away in one of the waiting ambulances. 
 
     Further down, at the bottom of the hill, firemen were using cutting gear to try and release the driver who was trapped in the overturned car, but they doubted they could get him out in time. The paramedics managed to get a line into his right arm through the smashed side window, but until the firemen managed to cut him free, they couldn't assess his other injuries. It didn't look good.
 
     One of the policemen recognised Alan from the night he'd picked Lisa up and taken her back to Alan's flat, two weeks before. He was just relieved to see she wasn't in the car beside him. His partner was shaking his head as he looked down at Alan.
 
     “When will they learn? It never fails to amaze me what youngsters think they can get away with...”
 
 John Boyle looked back at him questioningly.
 
     “Get away with what?”
 
     'Drinking and driving, of course,” he replied accusingly.
 
He indicated towards Alan's upturned hand lying with the drip attached to his arm above it.
 
     “This one's stinking of it-- Bacardi, I reckon.”
 
John was surprised. He'd thought Alan seemed like quite a sensible guy that night. It just showed you, he thought to himself-- you could never tell.
 
     The firemen worked on, and it was forty minutes before they managed to cut the necessary metal away to free Alan and let the paramedics do their job.
 
     His head had taken the worst of the impact when the car rolled, and the roof had flattened. The rest of his wounds seemed fairly superficial. Anna, the senior paramedic, called over for the stretcher. She didn't hold out a lot of hope for the poor lad.
 
     When they got him into the ambulance he was still unconscious, and Anna was glad one of the policemen had recognised him, at least she had a name. It somehow made her job a lot easier. She looked down at him in the ambulance and squeezed his hand.
 
     “Alan, love, we're taking you to the hospital-- hang on for me, okay?”
 
There was no response, and she squeezed his hand again, trying to communicate with him. Anna watched in dismay as his blood pressure dropped down to a dangerously low level.
 
     “Come on, Alan--- don't give up on me,” she urged as her colleague closed the doors.
 
      Alan muttered something, and she put her ear near his mouth to hear him.
 
      “Lisa, I'm here…”
 
Anna looked anxiously up at the other paramedic in the back of the ambulance.
 
     “Who's Lisa? Christ, that wasn't the girlfriend who was taken away in the other ambulance, was it?”
 
The paramedic shook his head. As far as he knew it was another boy who had been killed. Anna was relieved. Alan called out Lisa's name again. This time he seemed to be pleading with her.

The monitor changed to flat line, and Anna heard the all too familiar sound of the alarm. She jumped into action and picked up the paddles, shouting to her colleague.
 
     “He's in VF. Shocking to 200-- Stand clear....”
 
 
 
     Lisa was holding him, and he felt scared and very cold. She cradled his head in her lap and looked down at him with such love and compassion in her eyes; he thought his heart would break.
 
     “Am I dying, Lisa?” he heard himself ask.
 
Slowly the tears rolled down her cheeks, as they had so many times before, and he felt himself slipping away from her as they stared into each other's eyes.
 
    “Lisa, hold me-- hold me, I need you...” he cried out.
 
She was standing with her hands outstretched, reaching for him as he felt himself being dragged away. He managed to grab one of her hands for a moment and tried not to let go, but it was no use. One by one, her fingers slowly unfurled, and he couldn't hang on any longer. She was gone, and only darkness took her place…
 
 

 
     The next morning, when Lisa woke up, she was drenched in sweat and had this gut instinct something was wrong. She didn't know what it was, but she had slept really badly, and kept dreaming about Alan all through the night. She put it down to missing him so much and tried his mobile again, only to be disappointed. Lisa cursed the fact that the only way she could contact him wasn't working, and she regretted not taking a note of Mike's mobile, or even Karen's. Now Alan was the only one who could give her that information. She calmed herself with the knowledge that he wasn't expecting her to call until the afternoon, and eventually gave up and got dressed.
 
     Her mother looked pleased with her when she came down to breakfast because she was wearing one of the new outfits they had bought in Harrods' the previous day.
 
     “Now that’s more like it," she announced triumphantly. “I hate to see you looking a mess...”
 
Lisa had thought she looked fine when she arrived, but she didn't say anything because she didn't want to start an argument. It was only a couple of hours before her train left, and she couldn't wait to get away. To fill in the time, she left her mother at the hotel and went to Boots to buy various toiletries she might need for the school. It was typical that her mother had concentrated on clothes shopping the day before, and had given no thought to the essentials she would need.
    
When they got to the station with only twenty minutes to spare, Lisa was just amazed she'd managed to spend the twenty-four hours with her mother without having an argument. She didn't want her mother to wait for the train to leave, just in case they fell out in the short time that was left. Sadly, Fiona had other ideas.
 
     There were several girls on the platform with their parents, and some were already on the train, looking for the classmates they hadn't seen for two months. Fiona Collins was not going to miss the opportunity of talking to some of the parents while they waited for the train to go, and Lisa had to stand patiently on the platform by her mother's side, while she chatted to complete strangers. It was as though being a parent gave her the right.
 
     “I think I better get on the train, mum. It'll be going in a moment,” Lisa interrupted, picking up her bags.
 
Fiona wrapped her arms around her, and gave her a hug befitting any doting parent.
 
     “Okay, darling, we'll miss you-- be good!” she added, before turning back to the parent she'd been talking to before.
 
     Lisa nearly burst out laughing, but she managed to suppress it, and walked towards the door. She was just getting onto the train when Fiona remembered something and started searching in her handbag. She gestured to Lisa to come back, and handed Lisa a small cream envelope. It was a letter addressed to Lisa at her parents address in Scotland with "Please forward" written across the top. Lisa recognised the writing immediately.
 
It was from Nick...