Everything to Nothing

by Mark Henthorne

  ‘Oh my God Michelle, oh my fucking GOD!’

  Screaming, Sally ran down the verge to the car but Michelle did not follow. It looked like it was not too badly damaged from the angle she was looking at it from. She was viewing it from the right hand side and the main shell of the car looked like it was intact and the numerous airbags had deployed which obscured her view through the car. She could see David though, and as she approached she heard him moan. ‘David! David don’t move, please don’t move!’

  She stuck her head through the side window that was down when they crashed, and moved the airbags off David. It was then that she realised all was not right with the car. ‘Oh my God, where’s the other half of the car!’

  Length ways the car had been ripped in two straight down the middle. Frantically she looked around unable to see where the other half of the car was, and then she looked back up the hill to where Michelle had not moved. For some reason she seemed to be staring at a tree. ‘Michelle? Michelle?! David, please don’t move!’

  At a fast run Sally moved back up to Michelle, stood next to her and followed her eyes. At the base of the large oak tree was a twisted, crumpled, crushed lump of metal that could not be described as resembling anything like a car.

  ‘Sally, oh my God Sally...’ whispered Michelle, her voice shaking.

  ‘It’s okay Michelle, it’s okay! He would have been thrown clear!’

  Ripping her eyes from the base of the tree she looked at Michelle who was shaking from head to toe and shaking her head from side to side. Slowly she raised her shaking hand and pointed. Sally quickly saw what Michelle was pointing at.

  A solitary arm was lying on the ground and glinting in the sun, clearly visible around the wrist, was the watch Michelle had got Simon for his twenty-first birthday.

  Without saying another word Michelle collapsed next to Sally in a dead faint.

  Chapter 42

  Simon’s funeral took place on a Saturday, two weeks to the day after his wedding to Michelle should have occurred. For the first week Michelle had been in hospital on a strong sedative to calm her because every time she woke she was hysterical. After the week the doctors slowly brought her off the sedative and Sally was by her bedside to offer her support whenever she could be away from David’s bedside.

  He had got through the accident relatively unscathed considering the force of the impact. With cuts and bruises his most serious injury was a broken leg and a fractured wrist. The airbags and the fact that Simon’s half of the car had taken all the impact spared him from more serious injury. For him though, like Michelle, the most serious injury was psychological.

  The toxicology report had shown a high concentration of chemicals usually associated with the drug crystal meth in David’s blood. Everybody of course remembered the encounter with Sarah and the blame for the crash was laid firmly at her feet, but the police had been unable to trace her.

  David though was still taking full blame for the crash because he knew he was driving too fast. He had screamed at Sally one day that if he had been driving slower when the drug took its hold Simon would not have died. She stated once again it was not his fault but David became hysterical so the doctors had to sedate him again.

  Later, the police spoke to David about the incident as he lay in hospital and when the questions turned to drugs one of Mr. Gallagher’s top lawyers swiftly intervened stating that David had never shown any evidence of drug taking, not even a cigarette never mind such a vile substance as crystal meth and that the police had a name to follow up. Confronted by one of the best lawyers in the country whose reputation went before her, the police did not press the matter and David was formally exonerated of all blame for the crash.

  This did not help him though. He stayed away from the funeral hiding behind the excuse that it would not be appropriate and it would upset Michelle and Simon’s family. Michelle was relieved when Sally told her that he would not be coming, but she would of course be there to support her.

  Michelle was relieved because she knew that if he saw him she would end up trying to kill him. In her heart and in her head the blame for her fiancé’s death lay firmly with David for driving too fast and she knew that she would never be able to forgive him. Her opinions were never voiced to Sally but they were voiced openly to Simon’s family.

  But they were not concerned with attributing blame. All they cared about was the fact they had lost a loving son and that the driver had been illegally drugged by a crazed drug addict. That fact was enough for them; they did not want to ruin another young man’s life by openly blaming him.

  *

  For the next few months David’s physical wounds healed but his mental scarring did not. He slumped into a severe depression and nothing that Sally could do or say could bring him out of it. Despite numerous vacations to luxurious hotels and appointments with psychologists, David’s depression seemed to deepen. Mr. Gallagher noticed it at work but did not do anything about it, deciding to give David whatever time he needed.

  Sally did see a slight improvement but one day she walked in on him unannounced at work and caught him drinking from a bottle of whiskey at his desk. Furious she ripped it from his hand and smashed it against a wall where it left an inkblot pattern that a psychologist might have liked to analyse.

  The argument raged for over an hour, which included David missing an important meeting, and he pleaded with her not to tell her father. When she had slowly calmed down she reluctantly agreed, knowing that if he lost the job he loved it could finish him off. She did clearly state that if she saw anymore evidence of him drinking that it would be the end of not only his job but also their relationship. So David invested in the strongest mouthwash he could find and carried on drinking.

  The numerous private investigators they had hired to try and track down Sarah had so far turned up nothing. All the investigators came back with the same story, that the streets were awash with drugs and trying to find one drug addict out of so many was, well, it was needle in a haystack time.

  Without this closure of justice that everybody craved for, David slumped even more into a severe depression. His drinking picked up and Sally suspected this, but in her heart she still loved him and supported him as best she could.

  One day though, for the first time David came to work drunk. And not a little drunk either, a lot drunk. The first action he took that day was to swear at his secretary and make a lewd comment about the size of her breasts. The next action he took was to consult his calendar on his computer which showed him that he had a meeting with an important South Korean company about a huge contract that his boss had been negotiating for months. With a loud belch he reached into the bottom drawer of his desk and took a swig from a bottle of vodka. Wiping his hand across his mouth, he farted and then chuckled his way out of his office up to the boardroom.

  As soon as he entered the room Mr. Gallagher knew there was something seriously wrong but the South Korean representatives were already present. Desperately he tried to make eye contact with James but he was deep in discussion with one of the Korean directors and before anyone could react David was introducing himself to the Chairman of the massive South Korean conglomerate that could have bought Mr. Gallagher’s company at breakfast, Microsoft at lunch, Apple at dinner and Shell at coffee and mints.

  ‘Pleased to meet you. And your name is?’

  ‘Chairman Kim.’

  ‘Chairman Kim. Well at least that’s going to be easy to remember. Why are you all called Kim? It’s like those fucking Indians; they’re all called fucking Patel. Why is that? Well hello legs! And who do we have here?’ Brushing past the Chairman who looked at Mr. Gallagher in total surprise, David sat next to a beautiful Korean woman. ‘And what is your name? Hang on, let me fucking guess. Kim, right?’

  ‘I’m sorry, but I find you very rude. Please apologise to Chairman Kim or this meeting will go no further.’

  Without even bothering to turn round David lifted his hand and waved it in an arrogant fashion. �
��Sorry Chairman. Didn’t mean to be rude. Hey,’ he then said, turning his attention back to the female executive, ‘I’m not too keen on being here today. I know the manager of the Hilton who can get us the Presidential Suite right now. We could have a day and night there of some serious fun!’

  With a look of total surprise she turned to look at the Chairman and then her eyes met Mr. Gallagher’s. He had a look of horror on his face and they all heard him say, ‘James, in the name of all that is holy get him out of here!’

  James though had not needed any prompting. He was already at David’s shoulder by the time Mr. Gallagher spoke and he gently laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘David, why don’t we go up to your office and we can talk about this?’

  ‘Fuck you old man,’ and he shook his hand off. ‘I’m talking to this lovely lady. We’re bonding, getting to know each other.’ Now in a stage whisper from behind his hand he said, ‘I think she kind of likes me.’

  ‘David, please. Let’s go and talk about this outside.’ Again, very gently, he laid his hand on David’s shoulder.

  Quick as a flash David was up out of his seat and he pushed James hard and shouted, ‘Stop fucking touching me!’

  James went flying and crashed into the solid oak boardroom table and there was a crackling noise as five of his ribs cracked and snapped with one being pushed firmly inwards puncturing the delicate tissue of one of his lungs. Everyone let out a cry of astonishment and without saying another word David straightened his jacket and walked out of the room.

  For a moment nobody moved, but then the Korean female executive leapt out of her seat and rushed over to James. ‘I think you’d better call an ambulance, and quickly! He’s hardly breathing and his pulse is faint. Quick, call an ambulance!’

  Another member of the board called for an ambulance while Mr. Gallagher tended to James and made him as comfortable as he could. Soon the paramedics arrived and after they had stabilised him they carefully placed him on a stretcher, wheeling him out and down the elevator to the waiting ambulance.

  Mr. Gallagher saw him down and then had an argument with himself about going to the hospital with James or going back upstairs and trying to calm the Koreans. Thinking about what James would have wanted him to do, he returned back to the boardroom only to be greeted with empty seats where the Koreans had been sitting and flustered members of his own board.

  ‘I’m sorry Mr. Gallagher,’ apologised one of his directors. ‘I tried to stop them but they stormed out without saying a word.’

  Also without saying a word Mr. Gallagher sat in his chair at the top of the table and discreetly snapped a pencil in two. He was beyond angry.

  *

  ‘James is lying in hospital with a collapsed lung which the ribs that David broke punctured. This is it Sally. I’ve supported him for as long as I can. He is no longer part of the family.’

  Mr Gallagher had returned home not too soon after the Koreans had left and had called Sally up to his office in the mansion.

  ‘What?! You can’t possibly mean that, surely you can’t?’

  ‘I’ve paid for him to have the best psychologists money can buy and they have had no effect. He is not going to snap out of it!’

  ‘So that’s it. You’re just going to abandon him?!’

  ‘Yes, and so are you. I want you to break up with him.’

  ‘You want me to do what?’ Sally’s voiced screeched. ‘I don’t think that is a decision you have the right to make!’

  ‘As long as you live in my house with my ongoing support you will have nothing more to do with that man! If he had not been driving like a lunatic none of this would have happened!’

  Before he could stop himself the words were out. Straight away he cursed himself but rallied instantly preparing for the onslaught that he knew was about to happen. But it did not come. Instead, across the face of the daughter he loved more than life itself, was a look of so much hurt he thought his heart would break. But he needed to snap her out of it, to get rid of this man who was like an anchor around the family and the company, dragging them down.

  ‘I cannot believe you just said that.’ Tears were now welling up in Sally’s eyes.

  ‘Oh wake up and smell the coffee Sally! Everyone blames him for Simon’s death, everyone. Michelle does. Simon’s family does.’

  ‘They don’t. It was Sarah’s fault, everyone knows that.’

  ‘No, what everyone knows is what everyone read in the police report which stated that to have such a catastrophic collision that actually ripped a car in two length ways, the car would have had to be travelling at over seventy miles per hour, maybe even over eighty. Eighty miles per hour on that narrow, twisty stretch of road. Eighty Sally, eighty. The police only let him off with my intervention. I only intervened because I thought he and you had suffered enough! If he’d just been driving at thirty or forty… Now you tell me who is to blame?’

  ‘Sarah. He’s a good driver it wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t spiked his drink.’

  ‘I don’t care if he’s Michael fucking Schumacher! He should not, should not,’ he hammered his fist into the desk for emphasis, ‘have been going at that crazy speed!’

  ‘So you blame him?’

  ‘Yes, as does everyone else. And now he’s drunk in meetings and he’s assaulted my best friend, a sixty year old man, putting him in hospital with fractured ribs and a punctured lung. He’ll pull through, but the doctors say he’s been lucky. Unsurprisingly that is not the kind of man I want my daughter to be associated with so you will break up from him.’

  ‘No, I won’t. He needs me.’

  ‘No, he doesn’t. He needs a five year one on one session with a psychologist in a padded room! Where are you going?’

  ‘To see David.’

  ‘At last you see sense!’

  Sally had one hand on the door out of his office and she turned to look at him. The tears could not hide the fierce look of determination in her eyes. ‘No, you misunderstand me. I’m going to see David to tell him that I’ll be there for him, forever, and that we are going to get through this, together.’

  She opened the door and made to exit the room but her father’s voice stopped her. ‘You step out of this room now in this manner and you can expect no more support from me. You’ll no longer be allowed to live in my house. Your bank accounts that I am trustee of will be frozen which will leave you penniless. You need to realise the mistake you are making and the actions I take will make your life unbearable until the day he has nothing more to do with your life. Do you hear me?’

  Without responding Sally stepped out of the room and gently closed the door behind her.

  Chapter 43

  She stepped across the threshold of the small flat and managed to avoid stepping on the mail that had been sitting there all day. With one hand full of bags of shopping and her heavily pregnant body hindering her even more, she managed to stoop and pick up the letters. Walking a few more steps she turned right and entered the kitchen which consisted of second hand appliances and battered old work surfaces.

  Dumping the shopping on one of them she opened the letters and was not surprised that they were rejection of employment letters along with a couple of red utility bills. Without giving them another thought she dumped them all in the bin and took the few paces into the small living room where she lowered herself onto the settee with the faded upholstery and broken springs.

  For a moment she contemplated the unshaven man sat in a scruffy old armchair staring at the television. His once slim body now had a beer belly and his once olive coloured skin was pale. He looked sad and scruffy and the beard on his face did nothing to detract from this look.

  ‘Did you make it out to the job centre?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Oh well, never mind. Maybe you can make it out tomorrow. I managed to get us some food with the last of the benefit money but that’s it now until next week so we’ll have to make it last as long as we can. I had a small modelling job today. Of course given
my current condition it was for a facial product.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. I’m trying to watch this.’

  ‘But as I was leaving they received a call and said that tomorrow’s shoot had been cancelled.’

  ‘That’s a shame. We can talk about it later. I’m watching this.’

  But Sally knew they never would talk about it later. The stack of rejection letters was from modelling agencies refusing to represent her. Sally could not even get work at a supermarket stacking shelves. Everywhere she turned she saw the hand of her father hovering over her like a phantom. As promised he had thrown her out, frozen her bank accounts seemingly in the attempt to leave her destitute so she would come crawling back to him and beg for his forgiveness. But what her father did not know was that she still had the money she put away from modelling work but this had not lasted them long.

  David was no help. Again her father’s hand hovered over his life, but eventually David managed to get some labouring work for cash on a building site until he lost his temper with the foreman and hit him with a spade. Since that day David had rarely left the tiny flat that they were renting.

  Over the following months their relationship had hit rock bottom. They had not made love since the day that David had got the job and was for once full of life. Unfortunately in their short lived happiness they had forgot to use birth control so Sally was now heavily pregnant with twins. Despite Sally’s best attempts they had not made love for eight months since that night the twins were conceived and now David barely looked at her and rarely slept in their bed with her.

  Now conversation was practically non-existent between them as he slumped further and further into a depression that he had not been able to get out of since Simon’s death. And Sally was close to breaking point. She was at a loss as to how she could support him through this time in his life when he was not willing to support or help himself. Her last hope was the twins. If they did not snap him out of it nothing would and she might as well give up.