25th May, 2014. The day before Peter and Tina were going to run away together.
"Carla? Hey, what's up?" Michelle questions, highly concerned.
She'd been working at the bar in the Rovers alongside Tina and Steve when Carla came in. The pale complexion, red watery eyes and her shaking frame gave an obvious message that something was really wrong.
"Car? Has something happened?"
Michelle walks over to her best friend, who stands still at the door. Her eyes are so wide and her body looks paralysed in shock, or is it fear? She wondered whether something might be wrong with the baby. Carla already had a scare once and Michelle knew that she was more sensitive at the moment.
However, Carla wasn't saying a word. She couldn't.
Back behind the bar, Tina watches on in horror. She was ready to make an escape if needs be but she wanted to be sure whether Carla's state was linked to their secret affair. Peter swore he wasn't going to tell her, they were going to move away very soon.
Steve caught on to Tina's shifty movements, he glared at her and prayed this wasn't anything to do with her. He sighed; wondering if he should go over and help but decided against it.
"Carla. Speak to me." Michelle says more forcefully. She held onto her arm and gently shook her.
"It's...it's Peter." Carla's weak voice stutters.
"What about Peter?" She frowns.
"I-..." a sob escapes Carla's lips, not being able to keep her emotions under control with the shock revelation she was about to say. "I can't do this. No, no..."
"Darlin' you need to tell me what's happened. Is Peter okay?"
"Do you want to go out in the back instead? People are watching." Steve pipes up.
"We will in a sec, Steve." Michelle replies. "Carla, do you want me to go to the flat?"
"Chelle..." Carla cries. "I...I was in the bath which he made me after work a-and I stayed in their for an hour or so and then I-I came out afterwards and..."
Michelle narrowed her eyes. A bath? What's that got to do with anything? She looked and saw Carla wearing joggers and a vest top, this told her Carla had clearly gotten ready for bed so she needed Carla to go on with the story. What the hell happened next?
"And?"
"He...he was laying on the sofa...on his back." She chokes on a violent sob.
"Ugh, I need to sit down." She takes a deep breath and shakily holds onto Michelle.
Steve moves a stool over to Carla where she sits, a hand to her mouth also.
"He was grey in the face...sick everywhere...I-I didn't know what to do."
Michelle, Steve's and Tina's eyes widen in shock.
Tina walks over to them, "where is he now?"
"I left him in the flat." Carla sniffs.
"Right, lets go." Michelle orders, the four of them leaving the pub in a hurry.
The door of the flat was open ajar, Carla and Michelle walk in first followed by the other two.
As soon as the pregnant brunette spots him, she turns around and gags.
"Oh...no, no, no."
"Someone call an ambulance, now!" Michelle shouts. "Steve, help me move him onto his side."
"Ambulance please. Umm...can you get here as quickly as possible, it looks like someone has choked on their vomit. Yeah..." as Tina carried on talking to the emergency services, the others tried reviving him.
"Has he got a pulse?" Michelle mumbles.
"Well I don't know, do I? I'm no paramedic."
"Oh for god sake." Michelle huffs, looking for one herself. "I can't find one."
"It's all my fault, it's all my fault." Carla whispers, repeatedly.
"I thought he stopped drinking now!" Tina sighs, tearfully.
"Heya, love." Peter smiles, watching his wife take off her coat.
"Hello, mister." She walks over to him, kissing him passionately.
"Good day at work?"
"It dragged. Ey, I thought you'd of come in for a little bit."
"Oh I was going too but...something came up. Dierdre wanted help with something stupid." Peter lies.
"Right." Carla nods. "My back is killing, I could sleep for a week."
"Aww, baby. You're only at the four months mark too,"
"I know right, imagine how much worse it's gonna get." She groans.
"It'll all be worth it though, won't it?"
"Definitely. I think everything's turning back on track." She smiles, optimistically.
"Yeah, I know I've let you down countless times recently. What with the drinking and missing the scan but that's all in the past, okay? I want this baby and I want you. I'm in it for the long run."
Carla sits on the arm of the sofa, leaning over and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I love you so much." She whispers.
"And I love you." He replies, sweetly.
"I'm so excited to spend the rest of our lives together. Just imagine you know, picking up our litte son or daughter from nursery. Or all those parents evenings we'll go too. Walks to the park, playing foot ball. We've got so much to be excited about."
"I've never seen this side of you before, not properly."
"What side?" She frowns.
"Your maternal side. And I must say, it's beautiful to watch. You've made me love you even more and I didn't think that was possible."
"Wow, full of the compliments today."
His phone buzzes.
"Look, why don't I run you a bath and we can settle down for the night?" He offers.
"Mmm, that sounds like just what I need."
He returns to the living room after making Carla a bath and sits back down on the sofa, putting his head in his hands.
Listening to the quiet sound of Carla's music, he looks at his phone and sighs,
Tina: where are you? You said you'll meet me during my break. Peter we need to talk about leaving tomorrow. Call me back ASAP or I'll come knocking.
He didn't want to leave Carla but he knew he didn't deserve her or the baby. If she knew what he'd been up to, he wouldn't have neither of them ever again. And as much as it was tempting getting away from all the stress in Weatherfield, it'd just be taking his problems on tour. There was no easy way out of this. Whatever he does, he hurts somebody. It was just too much for him to handle.
Since the scare the other day, he realised just how much Carla meant to him. It was near enough impossible for him to just get up and go, never to see her again. They'd been through too much together and it couldn't end like that. Truth is, he didn't want it to end at all. He made his mind up; it was Carla he wanted.
His phone buzzes.
Tina: I know you're ignoring me. If you carry on doing this then I'm going to tell Carla everything. And I mean it. Stop being so pathetic.
Missed calls from Tina (6)
He stands up, furiously throwing cushions around and opening all the cupboards in the hunt for booze. A few days ago, he hid a bottle of whiskey somewhere but can't remember where because he was so drunk at the time.
After looking for a good 10 minutes, he finally finds the bottle behind the tv screen. Smiling in relief, he turns the cap and sits on the sofa.
Peter chugs it all down.
"He's dead, isn't he?" Carla cries, leaning forwards and putting her palms onto her thighs as she tries to steady her breathing.
"We can't confirm anything until we get him to hospital." The paramedic that arrived four minutes ago says. "Get the stretcher."
"Just tell me!" She shouts. "He's dead!"
"We can't find a pulse, no."
"Car, come here." Michelle walks over and hugs her, practically holding the poor woman up.
Carla didn't know it was possible for her to make these sort of sounds. The scream sounded like it was coming form another person, then she realised it was her.
She collapses into Michelle's, panting for breath as her tears fall rapidly down her contoured cheeks.
Next to the devastated woman was Tina. She had a hand to her mouth, trying her hardest not to look overly heartbroken. But in her head, she loved Peter just as much as Carla did.
"We're going to take him to the hospital now. Would you like to come into the ambulance with him?" The paramedic asks.
"Y-yeah." Carla murmurs, nearly inaudiblely.
"We'll drive over once we've told Tracy and Deirdre, okay?" Michelle says.
"I want to come." Tina blurts out.
"Why?" Michelle frowns.
"We got on well. Please." She whimpers.
"Ugh. Come on, Chelle." Steve glares, walking off with his girlfriend.
Some time has passed since then, Carla is walking in circles in the relatives room at the hospital. She is joined by Michelle, Steve, Tina, Deirdre, Tracy and Rob.
"Carla, sit down. You'll make yourself sick." Rob says.
"I can't believe this is happening." She hyperventilates.
"Calm down, okay?" Michelle sighs, softly, as she rubs her back. "Come and sit down."
"No. I just want Peter." She cries. "I want my husband."
"Why was there even alcohol in the house?" Tracy pipes up. "You were supposed to make sure it was all gone!"
"Ey, don't have ago at her!" Rob snaps.
"He must've snuck it in or something." Tina mumbles.
"Excuse me but what are you even doing here?" Tracy snaps. "You're nothing to do with Peter so get out!"
"Oh, am I not?" Tina glares. "I could teach or a thing or two."
"Okay, that's enough. Tina, shut up." Steve says.
"He's right. Shut up." Rob warns.
"Carla is going through hell here and you two and squabbling like a couple of kids." Michelle snaps.
The nurse walks over the the family.
"What's going on? Is he okay now?" Carla asks, impatiently.
"Do you want to talk somewhere privately?"
"Whatever you've got to say you can do it here. We're his family." Tracy whines.
"Unfortunately, we were unable to revive Mr Barlow. We tried everything we can." the nurse reveals, sending shockwaves through the room.
They all knew that this was the most likely outcome considering he was out cold in the flat but hearing it officially come from trained professionals was way too much to comprehend.
"No..." Carla sinks to the floor. "No, no, no, no"
She sobs so loudly, almost an ongoing scream.
Everyone was devastated. You could hear Deirdre crying in the arms of Tracy who was also upset but no one was in Carla's position of downfall right now.
Tina leaves the hospital, leaning outside on the wall and letting her tears go free.
How had it come to this?
"Chelle...what am I going to do?" Carla murmurs.
A few hours later, the pair were sat away from the other relatives. Carla was holding a cup which she'd been biting on to reduce stress and Michelle is trying to comfort her the best she can, rubbing her back and kissing her forehead.
"Don't think about that now, darlin'."
"I'm gonna have to sooner or later." She suddenly starts crying again, just when she thought she'd stopped. "This baby is never gonna meet its dad."
"You can show it photos, videos, we can all talk about him." She reassures her.
"But he won't be there. He was telling me how excited he was, he wanted this baby with me."
"I know." She sighs, she felt so useless.
"I can't be a single mother."
"We'll all be here to support you."
"But I just want Peter. I've only ever wanted Peter. Why does everyone I love die."
"I don't know..."
"D-Do you think it was accidental?" Carla questions.
What? You can't say he wanted-..."
"No, no I'm being silly. We just told eachother how excited we both were for the future...It's not fair."
Her bath had been just what she needed. Peter had lit candles, played her music, put her favourite lavender scented shower gel in the bath and made bubbles. She was fully relaxed and believed she could've stayed in it longer if she'd wanted too but was desperate to curl into Peters body and snuggle for the rest of the night.
She put on some lounge wearing clothes and turned sideways to see her body in the mirror. It'd changed so much but she was so glad it had.
Carla was always the kinda girl who stuck to diets and needed to have the 'perfect figure'. She was always careful with what she ate to make sure no weight was added on. But now, she was happier to be getting bigger. It meant her child inside her was getting bigger and stronger every single day. Her new life with Peter and this baby was so exciting, it felt so much more real now she had a little, but noticeable, bump.
She opened the bathroom door and called, "Peter!"
"Peter, look how big I look!" She chuckles, walking into the main living area and standing still on the spot.
It sent chills through her.There lay Peter, looking grey almost with sick surrounding him. It was all over his mouth, his white top, the sofa, everywhere. Carla immediately notices the empty whiskey bottle which now is on the floor.
"No, Peter, no!" She whispers to herself, rushing towards him and going onto her knees.
She holds Peters lifeless head in her arms and shakes him.
"Baby, wake up! Wake up! Don't go scaring me like this, come on!"
With no success, she places her head onto his chest and silently sobs.
"Peter..." she repeats inbetween each sob.
"You can't leave me. Please don't leave me. Please."
"We're meant to be together forever."
"I need you."
She stands up, holding onto the sofa for support as she starts feeling queasy. She looks down at him again and can't prevent herself from gagging. Jogging over to the kitchen sink, she empties out her stomach to the point where it's just dry heaves.
Her head was spinning, she didn't know what to do.
Without thinking, she runs out of their flat whilst still wearing her slippers. She didn't even shut the door. Deciding that she needs Michelle, she makes her way to the Rovers.
Now, the love of Carla's life had been ripped away from her so cruelly. She couldn't help but blame herself, why didn't she watch him more?
Carla didn't know how she was going to carry on but she had to try for her little baby. The only part of Peter she had left.
However, Tina was stomping through the hospital corridors. Ready to make her feelings known, she had to grieve for Peter too.
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