Chapter Thirty- Seven
Dad had been driving to the restaurant when a car ran a red light and hit him head on.
He amazing survived the crash.
We saw his car and the truck on the drive to the hospital. I'll never forget the gut wrenching scream Ella let out at the sight of it. I had convinced myself he was gone when I saw the damage to the cars. I thought no one can possibly survive that, so when the doctors finally told us he was alive, I broke down then and there sinking to the floor sobbing.
Sobbing. Shaking uncontrollably. I lay on my side on the cold tiled floor gripping onto my shirt over my heart, with hands tightly curled into fists, knuckles turning white.
With the way I carried on, onlookers would have thought I had lost my dad, but I was just so unbelievably relieved. What if those mean things I had said to him were the last things I ever said to him? I don't think I would have been able to live with myself.
Angel and Nudge ran up and crouched down in front of me, taking my head in their hand's whispering hushes and heartbroken sympathies. Fang had called them to meet us at the hospital before he called me. He knew that in times of disaster and heartbreak we all needed each other.
I clutched at the back of Nudges blouse, as Nudge lent over me holding my shaking body still. I saw her send a desperate look over her shoulder at Fang who moved forward taking me into his arms and carried me into the private waiting room, Ella, Angel, Iggy and Nudge following behind us.
Dad suffered three broken ribs one of which punctured his lung, he also broke his right leg which needed resetting, his right wrist was also broken, but he was alive, and that's all that mattered to Ella and I.
Dad was kept in hospital for a week before he was released. Ella and I took it in turns going up to the hospital and sitting with him. After the week was up Dad went home with Ella for a couple of weeks before deciding he needed a change of scene. He moved interstate.
Ella and I were shocked when he told us he would be moving, Ella more then I though. He didn't ask Ella if she wanted to move with him, which she was hurt about, he just told her she'd have a couple week to find a new place to live. I don't think he had done it to hurt her, I think he had just assumed she would want to stay in Melbourne with the rest of us, so he didn't bother to ask her. He didn't do it to be mean, he just didn't think. It all happened so fast.
With the baby on the way Nudge and I didn't have enough room for Ella to live with us, but she stayed with us on the couch for a week.
Ella talked to Angel and the two of them decided to rent a student apartment near Angel's school, since Ella was to start there the following year. Since there was only four months until Ella finished school she decided the hour long trip by public transport wouldn't be that bad just for a little while, though she did complain about it a lot.
"I'm going to miss this place." I say to Fang as I pack the content of the bookshelf filled with the books of Ella and my childhood into a cardboard box.
Dad moved away to Sydney a week ago, he packed up most of the stuff leaving a few things for Ella and I to sort out, like our books, Mums cook books and jewellery and the toys and bikes from in the garage and cubby house.
"So will I." Fang answers with a small half smile. He holds up a book and I point to the throw out box. We have three large cardboard boxes in front of us. One of the books Ella and I want to keep, one of the books we're going to get rid of, and one of the stuff we're going to send to Dad.
Fang and I have been working on these book shelves for a good hour. Nudge, Angel and Ella are up in Ella's room helping her pack up her stuff- well Angel and Ella are working, Nudge is 'supervising' as she calls it. Iggy and Gazzy are out the back cooking sausages on the barbecue for lunch. Gazzy's down for the weekend, we wanted to help out and say good bye to the place like the rest of us. We have so many good memories here.
I look at the bookshelf, lean forward and take the last couple books down.
"There." I say as I put them into the appropriate boxes. "All done."
"And just in time." Fang says looking over at the window that over looks the backyard. I look as well and see Gazzy laughing at something and Iggy throw one of the sausages at him with amazing aim.
"Lets get out there before they waist our lunch on a food fight." I say with a roll of my eyes.
"When do the new people move in?" Ella asks sticking her head into the lounge room. Fang and I turn to look at her.
"Wednesday." I say.
Ella frowns. "That doesn't give me much time."
"How long do you think it'll take to pack up your room?" Fang asks.
"Oh, not long, but it's the grieving process. It doesn't give me much time to say goodbye to the house." She says looking around the room, her eyes settling on me, she smiles sadly. "It's weird isn't it? The thought of someone else living here."
"Maybe another family will move in and they'll have kids and the kids will have best friends that they'll play with in the cubby house. Well... that's what I quite like to imagine." I tell her shrugging my shoulders.
Ella smiles brightly. "Hmm. It's better to think that way. Yes, a family with kids will move in and they'll have adventures like we had in that backyard." She pointed a finger over at the window.
"Guys!" Gazzy called as he came into the room. "Lunch's ready... where are Angel and Big Momma?"
Gazzy had started to call Nudge Big Momma this weekend. He had left before she had started to show in her pregnancy, so it came as a shock to him to see Nudge in person looking so very pregnant.
"Oh, they're still up stairs." Ella answers.
"Okay, I'll get them. We'll meet you guys out side." Gazzy says before running off. We can hear his footsteps as he runs up the stairs.
Fang, Ella and I head out side and sit down on the lawn; the outside furniture's already been shipped over to Dad.
Iggy hands each of us a sausage in bread, and sits down as well, putting his hand on Fangs head to guide his way.
We had eaten in silence. I think we were all thinking the same thing. That in a way this was the end of our childhoods. The house was a pivotal part of our history. Heck, it was literally written on the wall.
We went into the cubby that night with touches and sleeping bags, like we had done so many times before, and we lay there looking up at the ceiling reading over all that we had written. We didn't read them aloud. It was as if they were so intimately ours that we didn't want them said out loud.
'One day I will belong' Ella, Age Ten, written along the bottom of the wall, hidden behind the boogie boards.
'I see what others can't see' Iggy, Age Fourteen, written in Fang's hand on the ceiling.
'Gazzy Stinks' Angel, Age Six, written under a picture carved into the wall of a girl with angel wings and devils horns and a tail.
'Hey Maxi,
Hi Nudgey,
You tired?
Not even a little!
Let's play a game
OK
I spy with my little eye something beginning with M
Map
No
Mouse
Do you see a mouse!?
No...
I'll give you a clue; I spy with my little eye 'someone' beginning with M who 'loves' Fang.
Oh ha ha, very funny
I thought so
My turn. I spy with my little eye someone beginning with N who loves Iggy.
No comment...' Nudge and Max, Age Fifteen, written low on the wall hidden behind the poster of the map of Australia.
'One day Max will be a famous writer!' Fang, Age Eighteen.
'Fang... the greatest artist to ever live' Nudge, Age Eighteen, written under a carved portrait of Max sleeping.
'Gazzy was here' Gazzy, Age Eight.
'We will always be friends. No matter what happens and were ever we go. We will always find our way back to each other' signed by Angel, Max, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge and Ella.
'What's up? Ig my Bro' Max, Age Twelve.
'Fang was here' Fang, Age Six, written on the window ledge.
'One day it won't hurt so much' Max, Age Fourteen.
'Angel loves Gazzy' Angel, Age Four.
'Baby loves Mummy, Daddy, Uncle Gazzy, Aunty Angel, Aunty Ella and Godparents Aunty Max and Uncle Fang. Let the next chapter begin' Nudge, written on the inside of the door the following morning, when she had gone back for the last time when no one else was around.
So So So Sorry for the time it's taken me to update! I've been crazy busy with Exams and Work and such... anyway, enough excuses. I hope you liked this chapter!