The New Year's Wish (2 page)

It was almost 1 in the morning before Bobby arrived. We all hugged him, with relief flooding through the house and breaking up the tense atmosphere. The blizzard had made it im
possible for him to see the road and his phone had no connection. He'd stopped driving and waited until he could see the road again before continuing.
"Sorry if I scared you, it's crazy out there right now" Bobby pointed toward the door. His hair stood out to all sides like always, and he rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"You're here now, let's celebrate!" I said and gave him a friendly punch on the arm.
Jackson grabbed a new round of beers and his guitar. We spent a good few hours playing music and eating leftover sandwiches and catching up on each other's lives. Bobby had come from a tour in America and he and Jackson compared notes on life on a tour bus.

At 5 in the morning I was just about to drag my sorry tired ass to bed when Bobby said "That's right, wait
´til you hear this! When I drove up here, right before the snow got so wild I stopped driving, I ran over something!"
"An animal?" Tom asked looking like he could use a bed too.
"No wait, it was so strange"
Bobby got up and went outside.
"What's he doing?" I asked the others, thinking that if Bobby had run something over and stashed it in his car, I definitely didn't want to see it! I was right.
"Here it is!"
He came barging through the door with a dirty, bent-out-of-shape suitcase. Jackson looked at it.
"A blue suitcase? What was it doing in the middle of the road?"
Bobby held up the blue suitcase. Something fell apart inside of me. He was holding Kayla's suitcase in his hands.
"Let's open it and see what's inside"
Tom got up and moved over to Bobby who was trying to open the suitcase.
"NO!"
Why were they all looking at me?
"Are you okay Matt?"
It was me who had screamed. I didn't want them to open the suitcase. I didn't want the bloody suitcase to be here. WHAT was it doing here? Where was Kayla?
"It's...it's Kayla's!"
I moved towards the suitcase, hoping that if I touched it, opened it, she would appear and scold me for rummaging through her stuff. I touched the blue handle, and noticed the name tag. Kayla Simpson.
"He's right, look at the name tag!"
Bobby held out the name tag to the others. I picked up my phone.
"Does anyone know the number for the Police in France?"
I asked around and looked at 4 dumbfounded faces.

If Kayla was here, she'd known exactly what to do. How cruel the irony it was, that she was always there for me, and now I couldn't figure out how to be there for her. I couldn't even ring the bloody police! The phones didn't work, even tho
ugh the snowstorm was beginning to settle. The night was turning into day outside, but my heart was pitch dark. What had happened to her? Why was she suddenly MIA only hours after dropping me off? Somehow it never occurred to me that something could happen to Kayla that she wasn't in control over. She worked the world around her to solve my problems, day and night as easy as she was breathing. To me she had always appeared bullet proof. Solid, strong and dependable. Why was she suddenly not in control? Why wasn't she on the phone scolding me for accidentally switching our tickets, or in the midst of persuading someone at the airport to let her fly with them without one? Why wasn't she calling me back? Why was her suitcase lying on the road? A strong clammy hand held my heart in its grip and all I could think was
please, don't let her be dead.
I had excused myself after the realization that we were stuck here at the chalet for now, and now here in my room I found myself with only one thing to do.
Pray.
Please God, let her be alive. Please...don't let her be dead. Please give me a sign...some sort of...please God, let her be alive.
I don't know how long I sat there on my bed, praying to God to help me, when the door slowly opened and Kevin´s grave face popped in.
"The snow is not so bad right now, do you want to drive to the place where Bobby found the suitcase?"
I couldn't speak, I wanted to keep praying to God, so I said nothing but nodded and got up.

As we drove away from the house I kept praying silently. Th
e snowing had stopped and the landscape was picture perfect. Eerily so, when I thought about what horrors the serene snow might be hiding. No one was talking, except when Bobby gave directions to Kevin. Soon we were there. We got out of the car and I intensified my praying inside.
PLEASE GOD! Let her be alive PLEASE!
There was nothing to see. No tyre tracks, no nothing. The new snow had covered everything with a new layer of white powder.
"It's hard to tell with all the new snow, but it was right about here."
Bobby circled his hand and pointed at a place in the road.
I avoided looking into their eyes. I didn't want to see the fright in their eyes. I knew what they were thinking. I was thinking it too.
What are the chances of finding her?
"Ok, let's start by looking over here."
Kevin led the way and walked away from Bobby's car. For a while we walked up and down the road looking in between the trees. There were no cars on the road so if her car was anywhere it might be in the forest. It was bloody cold and I couldn't bear the thought of Kayla alone somewhere out there for a whole night in this freezing weather, let alone a snow storm.
Please God, let me find her.
And then I saw it. In between some trees, covered with snow from tonight, but there it was. Kayla´s car!
A sign.
Running as fast as I could through the forest, branches covered with snow hitting my face, I got to the car and began to remove the snow. The car was lying on the side. The trunk was open and the rear end of the car was wrecked. I heard Kevin and Bobby behind me.
"Is she ok?"
They began removing the snow with me and I felt some sense of hope and relief when we could begin to see into the car.
"She's not there! She's not there...she's....Where is she?"
My panicked voice echoed in between the trees. All color left Kevin´s face. Bobby shot him a nervous look. Kevin grabbed my shoulders and looked me straight into the eyes.
"She probably got help. Maybe some passer-by took her to the hospital."
He was just saying these things to calm me. To calm himself.
"I found her cell phone!"
Bobby came out from the car holding her phone in his hand.
"Give it here!"
I took the phone from his hands. It was dead.
Please God!
I took to praying again.
In the car, I sat in the backseat rubbing my thumb over the screen on Kayla´s phone. It was stone dead and icy cold. Was Kayla the same? The tension in the car was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I hadn't told Bobby or Kevin about how I felt for Kayla. I hadn't told Kayla
. Dear God please let her be alive and I promise I will never let a day pass where I don't tell her how much she means to me.
"STOP THE CAR!"
Kevin screamed at Bobby causing him to swerve the car. We were only about a mile from the chalet now. I leaned in towards the driver's seat.
"What's going on?"
"There!" Kevin pointed towards the trees and before I could see what it was he was out of the car.
We followed him as he ran towards something we couldn't see. He disappeared in between the trees. I saw it too now. Something purple. Kayla´s coat. She was sitting up against a tree. Her face looked frozen and her lips were as pale as the snow. Her arms lay limp by her sides. She looked dead. I couldn't move a muscle. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't pray.

Kevin was shaking her gently but got no response.
Then he checked to see if there was a pulse. Bobby and I just stood there, watching. I still wasn't breathing all I could do was watch.
"There's a pulse! Come on we´ll get her back to the house and call a doctor."
Bobby rushed to Kevin's side and began helping with the lifting. I exhaled and felt my body give in. I had to bend down and steady myself, hands on knees. I was trembling and I felt dizzy and nauseous.
"MATT! FOCUS! GET THE CAR!"
Kevin's voice brought me back and I began to walk as fast as my legs would take me towards the car. My legs were jelly and I was praying to God that they wouldn't snap from underneath me. I was willing them to go faster but they wouldn't. It was like one of those bad dreams where you're running from something, and everything, even your running is in slow motion. I got to the car but before I could even open the door I heard them behind me. I decided to open the door to the backseat instead so they could put her in. I crawled in to receive her.
"Here! I've got her!"
I barely recognized my own voice, all weak and crackling. They laid her next to me and slammed the door shut. She was like a block of ice and I tried to give her all my warmth. I held onto her icy cold waist with one arm and held my other hand on her hair. She had ice and snow on her eyelashes and her skin was a blueygrey tone. I choked up. Bobby turned around from the passenger's seat.
"Matt, we'll put her in your room and get the fire going. Your room is the smallest so it shouldn't take long before it's warmed up."
I didn't even nod at him, just looked him in the eyes and hoped he would understand my facial expression as a yes.

Everything happened so fast when we got into the house. A lot of frantic moving around to get logs and paper for the fire, scrambling
for phone numbers for doctors and more. I gently put Kayla on my bed and removed her coat and her shoes. I took off her gloves.
"You need to get her naked" Jackson was right behind me.
"What?"
"You need to get her naked and take off your clothes. If you lie really close she'll get warmer faster."
I began removing her shirt.
I'm so sorry Kayla, it's for your own good.
I took off all her clothes except her bra and panties. I had to focus and remove my own clothes quickly and not lose my grip by the sight of her lifeless body. I lay down next to her and pulled her close. Jackson covered us with blankets. Bobby came into the room.
"The phone works, does anyone speak French? Should we call someone at home?"
I blocked them out, trusting them to figure out the answer. All my attention was on getting Kayla warm. If she was breathing I couldn't hear it or even feel it. It scared me.
What happened to you Love?
I could feel the tiredness creeping up on me as the fire started to warm up the room. I was sweating but I didn't want to move myself or the blankets and the duvet because Kayla was still cold. I hadn't slept in over 24 hours but I wanted to stay awake to make sure she was alright. I tried to focus by thinking about her first day as my PA. The first time those deep dark brown eyes had looked into mine from underneath her bangs, and had created that now familiar sensation of tingling in my stomach. It was in a posh hotel room in Australia.

"
Hi I'm Kayla!"
"Matt, so good to meet you, did you have a nice flight down here?"
"Yeah 'twas alright, I slept most of the time"
Big bright smile all the way up to her eyes. Dimples so cute I wanted to trace them with my thumb.

“
I hope I can be as good a PA as the last one you had, from what I heard from your manager Nick, she was some sort of Superwoman?"
"I'm sure you'll be just as good as her, you have one thing she didn't."
"Oh yeah? What?"
"A British accent."
Her low but deep laughter and the way she flicked her hair had me interested right then and there.
"For you Mr. Peterson I can have any accent you'd like.” She'd winked at me.

I caught myself smiling at the memory. I loved her sense of humor. And I loved her for always using it at just the right
time. When I was tired, irritated and a grumblyhead she'd know exactly what to say to get me to cheer up. I could see some of the color had returned to her face and I relaxed a bit. I must have dozed off because I was woken by Jackson.
"The doctor's on his way." He handed me a piece of paper. "It seems Kayla had a new plane ticket." He handed it to me.
I thanked him. I didn't know what solution they'd come up with and I didn't care as long as a doctor was coming to check on Kayla. Why was she in the snow frozen to near death, if she had a new plane ticket? I checked the date, the 30th, she must have been coming back to stay with us for a couple of days.

The doctor came into my room and I slipped off the bed pulling one of the top blankets around me. I stood
back and joined my friends in looking at Kayla and the doctor.
She began to stir a little which caused the walls in my heart to give in. A warm ball of energy came from my chest and moved up through my throat, making my eyes watery. Kayla's eyes were barely open; she was sighing, tiny sighs, as the doctor prodded here and there. He asked us in his broken English what had happened and we answered the best we could throwing in every French word we'd ever learned, hoping to make him understand better. Slowly Kayla opened her eyes and whispered something. I couldn't make out what it was. She could barely find the strength to whisper but she did again. The doctor started speaking to her in French and it dawned on me she was whispering something in French!
"Water!"
The doctor gesticulated to us that he wanted some water for her. Kevin got it and we all watched as the doctor helped her to sit up and take a sip. She only looked at him and the few words she spoke, was to him, in a language I didn't understand much of. The doctor started gathering his things and Kayla lay back down closing her eyes. I could tell she was fatigued and I stepped forward to gently put the duvet up around her shoulders. I kissed her forehead.
"I'll be back, I need to talk to the doctor, just sleep Kay"
She let out a small humming sound and instantly fell asleep. I went into the living room where the doctor was talking to the others.
"Is she gonna be alright?" I asked.
"She's very exhausted, she needs a lot of rest, but she should be fine. She told the doctor the crash happened last night, she was driving back to us from the airport."
Jackson filled me in while Tom gave my arm a squeeze.
"He said as long as she eats, drinks and sleeps she should be fine in a couple of days."
I felt the room spin and how every bone in my body was begging for rest. All adrenaline had left me, feeling like a used punching bag and I needed to lie down.
"I'll be with Kayla, ok?"
Tom nodded and I turned around and returned to my room. The fire was still blazing and I slipped under the covers, this time keeping a small distance between her body and mine. I fell into a troubled sleep, waking up every half hour. At some point one of the guys must have slipped in and placed a tray with food on the nightstand and I decided to wake her up to get her to eat something. In her weakened state I could barely wake her up, and I felt bad for doing so, but she needed to eat.
"Hey."
I propped her up against my chest and leant over to get the glass of water. She kept her eyes closed and her lifeless body felt heavy.
"I'm sorry baby, but you need to drink some...here we go..."
I spilled some water on her chin and down her chest. I took the duvet and patted her dry. She made little noises; again I couldn't make out what she was saying.
I tried to make her eat some of the sandwich but she wouldn't take it.
"Maman."
"What? Say it again Kayla...I can't hear you."
She snuggled into my chest and I felt her breath on my bare skin.
"Maman."
She'd never mentioned her mom before and why was she speaking French? I gave up trying to make her eat for now and let her sleep. I put on my t-shirt and went to join the others.
"How is she?" Tom looked up at me with eyes wide open.
"She sleeps all the time; occasionally I can get her to drink some water. She says mom in French all the time."
"Is her mom French?"
Tom asked as he handed me a sandwich and a beer. I saw they were eating leftovers. My stomach grumbled and I wolfed down two sandwiches.
"I don't know we never talk about her parents."
Bobby got up from the couch and went into the hall, when he came back he was carrying the blue suitcase.
"I've opened it, but it's broken so...but I thought she might have a t-shirt in here, you know to sleep in?"