Part 34

Although they left at nine, it took longer than Max expected to get to their destination. An hour's bus ride and twenty minutes of picking their way through ice and snow, she and Iggy finally arrived at the destination.

The town hall.

The building was used for a lot of things, including a free, government run kindergarten all the kids had attended one time or another, usually taken by their Dad's current carer, since they usually had cars. Now they were all in school, they never visited the place anymore, but other functions also went on here.

As she led Iggy through the front door, she smiled at the woman who held the door open for them. She was shorter than Max, maybe only five feet tall and rather pudgy, but she had a friendly smile. She gave Max's back a gentle pat as she walked past and closed the door silently behind them.

"Here we are," Max stated as she led Iggy into the main hall, a room no larger than twenty feet square. It felt colder in the old brick building than it did outside, and she could see her breath in front of her face as they made their way to the back of the hall.

Least they wouldn't be here long.

"It's freezing in here," Iggy observed, rubbing his hands together as he followed Max blindly. "What are we here for?"

Guiding him to the floor, Max flopped against the wall beside him and finally unhooked her arm from his. Both teens pushed their hands between their knees to warm them up. "I already told you. We're here for your birthday present."

Looking up, Max smiled at thee woman on the other side of the hall. She had opened the door into the main hall just enough to see around it, and her leg was stuck across the bottom of the opening. Iggy frowned and looked up as well.

"Who's whining?" he asked, looking almost directly at the smiling woman. "Where are we?"

Max nodded to her, and the woman pulled her leg from the gap and slipped back behind the door. There was a few seconds silence. Iggy lifted his head up and turned an ear towards the door, frowning as he strained to hear the whining again.

Instead he was met by the patter of paws on floor.

He opened his mouth to ask something, but he didn't get the chance to say anything before five puppies descended on him and his sister, covering any exposed skin in licks and wet noses as they scrambled for attention. Iggy was almost knocked sideways as a particularly chubby pup called Truffle launched itself onto his lap and began to lick his face and neck.

Carefully, Max picked up the small puppy sat next to her, it's little fluffy tail going crazy. It had been pawing at her side for a few seconds, but was no where near as bouncy as the others. Studying it she noticed it had a smaller frame than the others, and was a little skinnier.

She gave the pup, Toffee, a tickle behind the ear, and she murred.

It was hard for the woman across the room not to smile at the pair as they pampered her puppies, trying to give them all the attention they clambered for. The dogs were about eighteen months old now, give or take, and half way though their training, but the harsh routine had yet to take the puppy out of them.

Max smiled at Iggy as he laughed and tried to keep the chubby puppy in his lap at bay. It had its front paws on his collarbone and was happily licking his ear, which Iggy was finding hard to avoid, as the puppy was taking great joy in following his head when he tried to evade the wet, slightly sandpaper-like tongue.

She decided she would wait a bit longer to explain, until he asked why they'd been bombarded with puppies, and went back to scratching her little puppy behind her ears. Toffee tilted her head to the side and her eyes glazed over a little, her back leg twitching uncontrollably as Max scratched a bundle of nerves.

By the end of the day, one of these puppies would have Iggy's name on it. It was about time he got a guide dog.

As an ambulance blared down the road, Nancy looked up from her magazine and watched the flashing lights whiz past their window. It wasn't uncommon for accidents to happen in their city, but not many of them occurred down their road. A small smile touched her lips, just for a second, before she looked back down at her magazine.

At least they lived in a safe street, her and her son. Even if the house itself was anything but.

Upstairs, Fang looked up from his sketchbook as the siren blared, telling cars to get out of the way. It was the first one he'd heard actually go down his street since they moved here, but it didn't mean anything to him, and soon he was back at work on his newest picture.

The ambulance screeched to a halt just a mile from their house, the paramedics jumping out of the doors before the vehicle had even stopped. On the side of the road and surrounded by people was a shaken up looking teenager, a towel around his shoulders and a woman rubbing his arm as she watched the paramedics do their thing.

The young lad had been the one driving the car. He'd been going too fast for the icy conditions, and had been terrified of hitting the girl as she stepped out in front of him. He jammed his breaks on, but to his horror his wheels just locked and he skidded about on the icy, ungritted road.

After hitting her his car had slid a little way with Nadia trapped beneath it, dragging her like a rag doll while one of the wheels crushed her arm. He'd been trying to wake the girl and having a panic attack when a kindly neighbour, the one now rubbing his arm comfortingly, had called 911 and then rushed out to tend to them both.

Deeming she could do nothing for the girl, she'd taken to calming the hysterical teen down instead.

With the towel around his shoulders warming his frozen shoulders, the teenager was beginning to relax. He was still shaking, and had a cigarette clamped tightly between his quaking fingers as he watched the ambulance crew carefully move the crumpled girl from the floor and get her into the back of the van.

Once she was safely strapped in, one of the paramedics walked over to him and the kindly woman, the hat he usually wore in his hands. The boy's heart rate began to rise again at the solemn look on the guy's face.

"How is she?" The neighbour asked, a hand gently massaging the boys shoulder. The paramedic looked at the snow for a few seconds before taking a deep breath, looking the woman in the eyes.

"She's unconscious, and has a wound on her head. Her right arm is fractured in numerous places, but her breathing is regular and her heartbeat is strong." He explained, and the woman nodded. He dropped his eyes to the teen next to her, who looked up at him with worry in his eyes. The man smiled and laid his own hand on the lad's shoulder.

"Unless she contracts a virus in the next twenty four hours she should be walking out of the hospital within a week." He added, trying to reassure him. "The police will want to talk to you both, and this young lady when she waked up."

The woman squeezed the lad's shoulder, pulling his eyes to hers. "Come on," she said gently, nodding towards her house with her head. "You come and have a cup of tea, and we'll call your folks and let them know where you are, ok?"

The bewildered teen looked back at the paramedic, his smile still encouraging, before he finally pulled himself to his feet and followed the woman up her driveway. He took one glance back at the paramedic and the ambulance, but he was already jumping in the back of the van while the driver started it up. He paused in the doorway to watch the vehicle speed off, and sickness rose in his throat.

If he'd killed her, he'd never forgive himself.