Gillian Jackson - The Accident

The day that changed everything for Hannah Graham began in exactly the same way as any other. Not unusually, she overslept, showered at record speed and shouted at her kids at least three times before either of them took any notice. Her daughter Mel’s eventual response was to slam the bathroom door and her son Sam shouted an obscenity which he knew his mother hated him to use.

‘If you want a lift you need to be ready in twenty minutes!’ Hannah yelled up the stairs.

Sam stomped into the kitchen in his boxers, reddish-brown hair mussed above a scowling face. At seventeen, he was at an age where he appeared to be all arms and legs protruding from a skinny body, with features which he’d not quite grown into yet. He’d also recently been afflicted by acne, which he hated anyone mentioning.

‘Mel’s got in the bathroom before me again — she’ll be ages!’ he moaned. ‘Why can’t you wake me first?’

‘Why can’t you get up the first time I call you and then you’ll get there before your sister?’ Hannah replied. ‘You can use our en suite if you like?’

‘But all my stuff’s in that bathroom!’

‘Well, have some breakfast while you wait. If you want a lift this morning I need to be prompt — there’s an early meeting at work.’ Hannah placed a cup of coffee in front of him.

‘There’s not a lecture until eleven, so I’m good.’ Sam poured cereal into the bowl his mother passed him. ‘Is Dad not home yet?’

‘No. He rang to say he couldn’t make it last night — there are miles of roadworks on the M6 and the forecast’s not good, so he decided to stay over until today.’

Hannah’s husband, Mike, worked in sales and seemed to be constantly on the road, staying away for up to four nights at a time, on an all too regular basis. It was certainly not ideal in the kind of weather they were currently experiencing, and caused Hannah to worry for his safety. She hated him being away but had long since ceased to argue with him over the hours he worked. It was true that at almost eighteen the twins were of an age where they were capable of looking after themselves, but she still maintained that his unsocial hours had a negative effect on their family life.

‘What family life?’ Mike would argue. ‘They’re teenagers; they don’t want to be around us!’

Hannah suspected that it was really her husband who didn’t want to be around them, or maybe it was just her he wished to avoid? Perhaps it was natural for them all to do their own thing, but she was sadly aware that Mel and Sam would be going off to university in a few months’ time, and what kind of life would she and Mike have then? She supposed her work would take on greater importance. She did love her job as office manager at a large estate agents, but when the twins were gone, there could be precious little else left.

Increasingly, she anticipated their leaving with mixed feelings; frustrating though they were at times, she adored having them at home, and knew she’d miss them terribly. On the other hand, she secretly nursed the hope that when there was just her and Mike, they would be able to recapture some of the sparkle which had escaped their marriage over the years. In her heart she hoped that perhaps, if they devoted more time to each other, things might improve between them. Maybe they could even travel to some of those exotic places they used to dream about before the children came along, but while Mike was working such long hours, it seemed unlikely that this would ever happen.

Hannah hadn’t always been stuck in the rut of domesticity. After she and Mike married they’d made plans and promises, determined that whatever life threw their way they would always appreciate each other and the joy they shared. Midnight picnics, impromptu snowball fights and surprise gifts were just some of the little things which kept their relationship spontaneous, and laughter had always filled their home. There was no reason to think that life would ever be any different.

When the twins came along naturally things changed, but Hannah tried hard to keep the romance alive in her marriage, even throughout the constant exhaustion of those early years. Exactly when things began to change she couldn’t quite pinpoint, yet she still thought of their life as being good; they were financially stable with a healthy family and Hannah was always one to count her blessings. The magic of those early days had simply matured into something different; a contentment perhaps? Yes, that’s what it was for her, contentment, and for Mike too, she hoped.

‘Mel!’ she shouted up the stairs. ‘Do you want a lift this morning? I’m leaving in ten minutes!’

‘No, I’m not in until lunch!’ her daughter shouted down the stairs.

Honestly, they were hardly ever at the sixth form college — Hannah didn’t know how they’d get the required grades for university when they didn’t seem to do any work. Still, they were old enough to know what they were doing — or were supposed to be.

Mel almost ran into the kitchen as Hannah was pulling her coat on. She was a pretty girl with her mother’s rich auburn hair framing a well-proportioned face, high cheekbones and lively green eyes. Mike used to say their daughter was the image of Hannah as she’d been when they first met.

‘Can you leave me twenty pounds, Mum?’ she asked. ‘I need some new mascara.’

‘You’re not going to pay that much just for mascara, are you?’

Mel rolled her eyes, an all too common expression which made Hannah smile; she’d perfected precisely the same eye roll for her own mother’s benefit when she was a teenager, and knew exactly what her daughter was thinking.

‘No, the mascara’s only twelve, but I need some money to get the bus into town.’

‘What happened to your allowance?’ Hannah was already fishing in her bag for her purse, knowing that her daughter went through money like it was going out of fashion.

Mel tutted. ‘My allowance is barely enough to last the week.’ She took the twenty pound note almost before her mother pulled it from her purse. ‘Thanks, Mum!’

Hannah checked the time and hurried to the door, her parting remark being a mundane reminder: ‘Remember to stack the dishwasher before you leave.’

Outside, the atrocious weather hadn’t improved, the snow was now tightly packed onto the roads, the temperature barely reaching zero, and freezing rain was beginning to fall. It looked as if the gritting lorry hadn’t made it again either; the council was quickly running out of salt for the roads. ‘The Beast from the East’ they were calling it, which seemed a spot-on description to Hannah; she couldn’t ever remember a colder start to February. The wind was biting cold, chilling her to the bone even though she’d only just left the warmth of the house.

Rosie, her neighbour and best friend, was also leaving for work.

‘You still on for tonight, Hannah?’ she called out.

Hannah stopped suddenly; she’d completely forgotten that she’d agreed to a girls’ night out with Rosie and a couple of their other friends.

‘Oh, sorry but I’ll have to pass on this one. Mike didn’t get back last night so I can hardly go out and leave him when he hasn’t been home for three nights.’

‘Why not? He’s big enough to look after himself!’ Rosie was obviously disappointed.

‘Next time, Rosie, promise! Anyway, it’s hardly fit to venture out unless you have to.’

Hannah hurried to the garage to get out of the freezing rain, clutching her coat to her neck against the bitter cold, and reversed the car out, feeling bad at letting her friend down.