by Mukheled Al-Amiry

Created on: June 05, 2009

The sleepwalk trespasser - Chapter one

July 1998

They couldn't often contrive to cover the same hospital shifts. Junior doctors had little or no say on working rosters, but god-bless thoughtful friends like Jules ... as always Julia was there for her on that Friday night.

Carla's shift was to finish at midnight when John's would start, and when Julia Sorensen, her close friend and colleague offered to cover for her and let her leave 20 minutes earlier to meet up with John in the doctor's parking zone; she gratefully grabbed the chance of spending a few extra minutes with her beloved fianc.

John was on A&E duty at midnight and that meant that being on time was sacrosanct. The Accident and Emergency department on Friday nights was like the foyer of a lunatic asylum; where the inmates had full access to the drugs-cabinet and had taken over running the show; so twenty minutes were all she had to spend with John and no time to get changed out of her drab and ill-fitting doctor's garments.

With head full of -what she called- "happy bubbles"; Carla ran through the rain toward her parked Polo, skipping over countless puddles with the ebullience of Gene Kelly in his classic rendition of "Singing in the Rain", got into her car and turned the engine and the CD player on. She had texted John to meet her at the car park and he must be on his way by now ... Carla then turned her mind on to the wonderful weekend they had been planning for some considerable time.

It was the first time in twelve months that they had both managed to get the same weekend off work, and John's parents had thoughtfully arranged a two-day visit to his grandma's in Blackpool and leave the house to their only son and his fianc.

Carla found herself giggling like an excited teenager anticipating a great event ... they were going to savour their last weekend together as an unmarried couple, cooking some less than average meals -but who cares- sipping on mediocre wine -but it'll taste like nectar- and indulging in a lot of unrestrained loving; and that will be heavenly...!

Her driver's door was yanked open and she turned expecting to see the beaming smile that she adored ... she didn't. The rage distorted face she saw, at first mystified and then terrified her ... The steel-like grip which clamped around her neck shut-down her larynx and windpipe in an instant and she could neither breathe nor produce any sound beyond a choked whimper, as she was yanked out of her car like a rag-doll...

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