Natalie walked through the door. “Cait?” she called, no answer, “She must be out with Jenna,” she said. She went and cooked some food for her and James, he’d be over in an hour.



Caitlin was with Jenna, at the park and they had been there for hours, they found it was a good place to get away and relax, to just stay silent or just talk. It was nearly eight now, so they’d have to go soon. Caitlin looked behind her to see a car with blacked out windows, it had been there a while. She thought nothing of it and went back to talk to Jenna.

“Right, we better be getting home, don’t your parents get worried when you’re not home after eight?” Caitlin asked. “Oh god yeah, we better go, it’s been great talking… and thank you for today,” Natalie said, “You were the only thing that kept me sane” and they hugged for the fifteenth time that day and they went their separate ways.

They walked in different directions, like the usual and they waved goodbye. It was pretty dark now, so Caitlin gave a text to her mother to say she’d be home in about twenty minutes-half an hour. The car that was there earlier left around the same time, Caitlin thought it was probably a coincidence, but after a few sharp turns, she now realised…

...it was following her.



She ran a little bit to find that the car had stopped now and pulled into another road. She sighed with relief saying, “must’ve been my imagination, keep it together, Cait” and she walked home a little further. She nipped into a small corner shop on the way home to grab a drink and some food since her mother had already cooked, when she came out, she walked to a bench.

Back at home Natalie was eating with James. She tried to bring the subject up. “So, having a child feels nice, you know” she said. He slurped his spaghetti and swallowed it. “Yeah, I feel that life feels so perfect and complete now you have Cait in your life. We can finally settle down and just relax for a while with nothing to ruin it”

‘Oh great’ she thought.

Caitlin went on her phone on the way home to calm herself down, she texted Jenna about funny things and tried to cheer herself up with Jenna in the process. She stayed by the corner shop for a bit so she could sit down and text Jenna. After a few minutes she got up and decided to continue her journey. In her phone screen she saw something zooming towards her.

…

CRASH




Everything went black. Caitlin instantly lost consciousness. The car carried on zooming away before it could be caught. The woman in the shop rushed out to go and help Caitlin in the road…

She ran out screaming “Oh my god,” and she ran to her “Can you hear me?” she put her hand to her neck and relieved, she heard a pulse, faint but there. She rushed back to the shop to grab her phone and then dialing 999, she went back on the floor to help Caitlin onto the pavement.



“999 what’s your emergency?”
“I need an ambulance! A girl has just been run over on Wednesday Road near the corner shop, the guy just drove off with no care, please hurry!”
“Is she breathing? Can you get any response?”
“She’s breathing, I found a pulse but it’s weak and she won’t respond to anything I say… she’s unconscious and I can’t see any life in her...”
“Okay we’ll send the police and an ambulance over as soon as possible”

The woman sat with her a while, waiting for the ambulance. She looked over the road and saw a letter that had fallen out of her pocket during the crash. She walked over and grabbed it. It was the letter her dad sent her a few days ago. She kept it to give to the police, she now had evidence that this was purposeful…

She looked at Caitlin again, this time, she had stopped breathing. There was no time to worry, she went on her chest and repeated the same rhythm as she had been taught. She pounded on her chest for what felt like an eternity. Suddenly she felt her heart beat and there was breathing. She sat there and relieved, watched the ambulance rush down the road with a loud sound.

As they arrived she gave the letter and they found her identity. She was in a bad way, her whole body just wrecked. The ambulance team were shocked that the woman gave CPR so easily, but they thanked her for saving her life, then they put her on a stretcher and took her away in the ambulance. The police looked at the evidence and said: “This is no longer a hit and run, this is attempted murder…"



Not only had the woman saved Caitlin’s life…

… she had just found the clue to making sure her dad was going to be locked away for this.

…

James and Natalie were sitting on the sofa together. It was finally time to tell him.



“James…” she said, “I want to tell you something… something important”
“Go ahead, Nat,” then he started worrying, “You’re not leaving me, are you?”
“Oh god no,” she hesitated a little, hoping he would be alright with it.
“So what are you going to say,” he looked at her frozen face, “Nat?”
“That’s it…” she said, “James, I’m p-”

BRING BRING

The phone loudly rang, interrupting her. She walked over and answered it.

“Hello?”
“Hello, is this Natalie Anderson?”
“Yes, why?”
“Don’t panic, but your daughter’s just been brought into A&E and she’s been put into intensive care”
“What!?” she yelled, “How?”
“Road traffic accident, a collision with a speeding car”



James didn’t hear much but he knew instantly something was wrong when her face turned to panic.

“I’m on my way,” she said

She grabbed her coat off the sofa, “Nat, what’s wrong?” he said, worrying himself now. “Cait’s been in a hit and run. We need to get the hospital…” she put her hand on her mouth and took it away again, “James, she’s in intensive care”

“We’ll take my car…” and he grabbed his keys and grabbed her and pulled her, “come on!” but Natalie was frozen, “What if she dies? James! I can’t lose her all over again” and she went into hysterical tears, he grabbed her and said “She’ll pull through, I can’t make promises, but if you don’t go, there’s less chance of her pulling through” she grabbed his hand and said “okay, let’s go” and they went in the car to drive to the hospital.