Never Let You Go

[jack+martha=trooluvv]

^^

Two months

[QUIET ACHIEVER]

Great update! I hope that we will see an update before you go, otherwise have a good holiday and hopefully those creative juices will continue to flow whilst you are away.

[KaitieL]

Two whole months without an update ? What am i going to do?

[stephyrose4]

I love this fic.

I've always read it but never commented.. wtf? What is wrong with me..

Anyway hope Jack and Martha get together

Update sooon.

Oh wait i take that back.. I have to wait 2 months!

[jack+martha=trooluvv]

Thanks for all your wonderful comments.

I'd just like to say goodbye, and I'll see you in two months.

Ciao!

[matticus01]

YAY . . .

MATTIE CHOSE GEOFF ! ! !

Thanks Meggie!

Have a great time while your away hun

[jack+martha=trooluvv]

Well hello everyone again! It's great to be back! My holiday was really great, Britain is absolutely awesome, especially Scotland, which is SOOOOO beautiful, go to the Highlands if you can on your next holiday there!! I hope you like this chapter. It was really, really hard to write. My first death scene and I don't know if I did it well, whether I made it over-dramatic or unrealistic or what. Please let me know what you think LOVE YOU ALL!

Chapter 19

There was a knock on the door. Miles, who had been impatiently waiting, quickly jumped up and answered it. There stood Sally, with the biggest, warmest grin on her face, and beside her was…Julie-Ann. Miles’s heart jumped, his stomach jumped, pretty much every internal organ jumped.

She was about thirteen, average hight and very slim. She was wearing a light pink T-shirt with a black roll-neck jumper over it, and light blue jeans that had wide turned-up cuffs. Her hair was long and wavy, and was brown. She had Amanda’s wide, beautiful blue eyes but her features were the friendly, regular ones of Miles’s. She was staring inside the house with a curious look on her face. As Miles came close to her she looked up at him, those blue eyes searching his face.

She laughed a little. “Dad,” she said softly, her Irish accent beautiful as ever. Miles shook his head a little and tried to say something, but it didn’t quite come out. Instead, he hugged her. It was the only hug ever equivalent to the one he had shared with Sally when they were reunited. He felt as though his heart was overflowing. Miles held her tight, not wanting to let her go. Eventually she pulled away and smiled at him.

“So this is your place…it’s nice,” she commented.

Miles grinned. “Glad you think so.”

She turned around to Sally. “Thanks for picking me up, Auntie.”

Sally giggled. “No problem.”

Julie-Ann stepped inside, looking around with curious eyes. She went to the mantelpiece and fingered several of the photographs. “So this is my family, hey?”

“Yep,” Sally said. “Actually, it’s the tradition for newcomers to Summer Bay House have their photo taken with all the people in the house, then we frame it and put it up. I guess we’ll wait until Belle, Ric, Alf, Cassie turn up.”

“Who are all they?” Julie-Ann asked.

“Well, Alf is one of my oldest friends, he’s sort of like my granddad, Belle’s your sis as you know, Ric is my foster son and Cassie is my foster daughter,” Sally replied.

“Oh, speaking of which, where’s Belle?” Julie-Ann asked. She seemed a little shy and reserved but the smile she flashed Sally was warm and friendly.

“She’s just gone to the city for a job interview that she had to have today, she’ll be back in about ten minutes.”

“Oh,” Julie-Ann nodded. She sat down on the couch, pushing a brown curl of hair behind her ear. “That’s good. I really want to meet her. She’s the one who convinced me to come here.”

“Actually, I’d better text everyone to tell them to come home now,” Sally replied, taking out her mobile phone.

***

Belle drove along in her car. The window was down and the air whoosed in, fluttering her short, dark hair around. She was grinning. Not only had the job interview gone extremely well, but Julie-Ann was coming today, and she couldn’t wait to see her. If she did get this job, it would only be on Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and she had a friend she could stay with in the city during that time. A job as a real-live photographer for a major Sydney paper! It was too good to be true. “Now, Belle,” she said aloud to herself. “Don’t automatically assume that just because the first interview has gone well that you’re going to get the job,” she told herself. “They’ve got enough staff, so they’re not desperate, it’s only a casual job and they’ve probably got much better and more experienced candidates for it.” Still, she couldn’t stop the hope buzzing around in her stomach.

Suddenly her mobile beeped. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel she pulled it out of her bag which was lying on the passenger seat. The glowing screen read: 1 New Message. She read it. It was from Sally.

Hey Belle. U on ur way back? J-A is here. She cant wait to c u.

Belle grinned, and holding the phone in one hand, while turning a sharp corner with the other, she started to text back.

Awes

As Belle was texting there came up ahead a very sharp turn on a steep hillside. It was one of the most dangerous driving spots in New South Wales and many people had lost their lives coming fast around the corner and losing control, falling down the hill. Belle was going fast and not paying attention, as she searched for the O button on her mobile. Suddenly the car lurched sideways, and Belle screamed as it teetered over the edge of the road for a second then crashed down the hill, the scream of tearing metal resounding through the air. The car spun and rolled over time after time. Belle’s screams were silenced as the door crashed open and she fell out, losing consciousness and injuring herself seriously – fatally.

***

John Burns concentrated as he went around the sharp corner at the hillside. Slowly he inched around. There was no one else on the road. It was very quiet.

“Be careful, John,” his sister Eliza said.

“Relax, Eliza. What do you think this Summer Bay place will be like?”

“Probably great – hey, look! Oh my god…” The twenty-one-year-old Eliza Burns clapped her hands to her face and gasped as they saw the skid marks on the side of the road. Looking down the hill they could see a smashed car and a limp body lying a little way away from it in the grass. John kept going. Once they were around the corner and the road was straight and safe again he pulled over and quickly got out.

“Come on, Eliza!” he yelled. They ran along the edge of the road, and then carefully went down the grassy, bumpy hillside to where the car was.

John ran to the body. It was a girl, who looked maybe eighteen, with short dark brown hair and pale skin. She was bleeding terribly from a wound in the head and numerous cuts and gashes were staining her clothes with red. Her leg seemed to be broken – it was stuck out at a funny angle. Her bag was lying a little way away from her, and her mobile phone lay open in the grass.

“How is she?” Eliza asked. It sounded stupid, but she didn’t care.

“Well, I think she’s broken a leg and she’s got heaps of cuts, but it looks like there might be something worse than that going on.” It was true. Her lips were blue and she looked as if she were dead. John pressed an ear to her heart.

“She’s alive, but only just, I think,” he said. “Thank God we came in time.”

Eliza grabbed her bag and found a wallet. She pulled out the drivers license. “Belle Taylor,” she read slowly.

“Sorry?”

“Her name’s Belle, Belle Taylor.”

“OK. There’s her mobile, call someone on it.”

Eliza grabbed the mobile and flicked to contacts list. The first on the list was simply: Alf. She pressed call and held the phone to her ear.

***

“G’day, love!” Alf said enthusiastically. Julie-Ann grinned at him. She felt at home with this cheerful, pot-bellied oldie at once.

“Hi,” she smiled. “I’m guessing you’re…Alf?”

“That’s me,” he said. “The kids haven’t turned up yet?”

Miles shook his head. Suddenly Alf’s mobile went off. “Hold on,” he told the three.

“Hello, Alf here,” he said into his phone.

“Hello, this is Eliza Burns. We were just driving to Summer Bay, and we found a car that had crashed down a hillside, there’s a girl who’s fallen out of the car and we think she’s dying, she won’t wake up, and we looked at her drivers license, her name is Belle Taylor and we found her mobile phone and you’re the first on the list. We’ve called an ambulance, so…please come!” The voice on the other end sounded desperate and spoke in a rush.

“S…sure love…where are you?”

***

“You may go in now,” the doctor told Irene, Miles, Sally and Julie-Ann. Eliza and John Burns sat on two hard plastic chairs, watching. “She may not recognize you, though.”

“Okay,” Irene said, running a hand through her hair. Her mascara was smudged and there were tear tracks on her face. Julie-Ann stood quiet, pale, no tears, no lamenting. “But…she is going to be okay, isn’t she?”

The doctor looked down. “I’m afraid not,” she said quietly. “The crash has damaged her brain badly, she is also paralyzed from the legs down, there’s nothing we can do, even if we did manage to save her, she would not live a very long life, and it would be an extremely unhappy one.”

“How long?” Miles asked. “How long has she – she got left?” Sally put her arm through Miles’s, trying to hold back her tears.

“Not very long. I would advise you to go in now. Is her mother coming?”

“Yeah, I called Amanda, she’ll be here as quick as she can,” Miles replied. They opened the door, and in they went.

Belle lay on the bed, pale, connected up to many machines, her eyes closed, her hair spread out on the bed, bandaged and blue-lipped. “Belle,” choked Irene. “Oh, Belle…” She had never felt agony like this. It was like someone was pulling on her heartstrings till they had snapped. She had seen many people go, but none had hurt as much as this eighteen-year-old hot-tempered rebel. She rushed forward and grabbed her hand.

At that moment, Amanda ran in, breathless. “How is she?” she asked, grabbing at her chest and trying to regain breath.

“The doctor says she hasn’t got long,” said Irene quietly.

Still Julie-Ann stood muted, pale, staring at her weak, lifeless sister.

Amanda rushed forward and grabbed Belle’s other hand. “Belle…it’s me…your Mum…I’m so sorry for everything, darling, please, answer me Belle!!”

Belle’s eyes flickered open, gently. “Mum…” she murmured, very quietly. “Irene…” Then she saw Julie-Ann, standing beside Miles. “Is that…is that Julie-Ann?”

“Yes,” said Julie-Ann clearly. “It’s me, Belle.”

Irene and Amanda stepped away, to let the two sisters finally meet. Julie-Ann stepped up to Belle’s bed, and for the first time, tears started to form in her blue eyes.

“Sis…sis…” murmured Belle, taking Julie-Ann’s hand. “You…you look like your dad.”

“I know, Belle. I love you.” And the tears overflowed, falling down Julie-Ann’s face faster than she could wipe them away.

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry that I had to leave you now…” Belle said quietly, still looking into Julie-Ann’s eyes.

“No, no Belle!” Julie-Ann’s voice was urgent, frantic, desperate. “No, Belle, Belle! BELLE! Don’t leave me, sis, please!”

Julie-Ann’s chest heaved, she struggled for breath as the racking sobs shook her body. Belle’s eyes closed, and the machine recording her heartbeat started beeping frantically, as the zig-zags gave way to a flat-line, and Belle Taylor, so full of life before, so energetic, so loving, so pasionate, so loved, was gone.

Chapter 20: Summer Bay's in grieving for Belle, but her death is bringing a lot of people together. Someone stays and someone leaves...also a couple that has had the worst luck in the world finds a new start.

[maccaz]

:o Belle...

Update soon. Good to see you're back at long last.

[Red Ranger 1]

Yay, you're back!And...oh my god, I can't believe that just happened...

[Inactive User]

Welcome back, Meg! We missed you so much!

Great chapter. Noo Belle gone!