Chapter 8 - Dangerous roads

Jenny took a deep breath as she watched how her husband flirted with Catelyn. How he pulled out the chair for her and only paid attention to her. Hadn't he said that he was here to make connections with some possible investors? And though Jenny initially liked Catelyn with her shy demeanour and seemingly trying to ignore the whole staged play in front of her, but Jenny couldn't see how Catelyn in any way could be a possible investor. Not even her aunt and uncle, the Basiles, were possible investors, as they had already poured a lot of money into Ezra's business.

A man pulled out the chair for Jenny, but she didn't sit down. Instead, she picked up her handbag and walked out the door. If Ezra intended to embarrass her, she wouldn't try to avoid embarrassing him either.

She hurried down the stairs and grabbed the car – the Ferrari they had arrived in. Ezra would just have to find his own way home if he even needed to return. Hopefully, he would walk the entire way, too ashamed to allow his friends and connections to see, that his wife had taken the car home without any thought to his needs. Hopefully, they would see that she didn't care for him anymore. And hopefully, they would feel so much sympathy for her, that they frowned upon Ezra's decision. If, of course, they had heard about his mistress. The women might have gossiped about it, she thought. And the men might have been told by Ezra himself. He might have bragged about how he could juggle both a wife and a mistress.

She bit her teeth down into her bottom lip, trying to distract herself from the slight pain. The car slit a little, as she took a quick turn in a roundabout.

Of course, now she was just imagining the women talking about her. They would comment about how strange it was for her to leave so suddenly without any explanation. They would say she was a drama queen, though she had never called attention to herself before.

Her eyes were watering a little and she blinked rapidly to make them go away. She took another turn, trying to keep her focus on the road, but the colours of the world around her were starting to blend together and the colours of the traffic lights seemed like the shine from distant stars.

And Ezra would tell Catelyn that his wife was a bit jealous of nature and that she was quite insufferable to be around. He would make Catelyn pity him, and she would like him out of some deranged need to protect and comfort him because his cruel wife treated him so poorly without any love or affection.

She took a deep breath and just for a moment closed her eyes to collect herself. The car drove on and that moment was just enough for her to drive a little too much to the side in a turn and the car headed straight for the roadside bar. She could feel the car suddenly stopping by the force of the sidebar. The car started spinning and sliding to the side, and her head felt dizzy. Her hands grabbed tight around whatever she could grab, as she tried holding on to herself, but the chock sent through her hit the air out of her lungs and then she couldn't see anything.

She came back to consciousness completely outside of the car. Someone had pulled her outside and dragged or carried her away from the car, where she had been placed up against a small and weak roadside tree. The first autumn leaves had already fallen off the tree and her perfectly white dress was taking colour from the grass and the dirty, wet leaves.

"Relax, I have taken care of everything," a calm voice spoke close to her. Normally she wouldn't have been comfortable with a stranger being this close to her, but at this moment this was exactly what she needed to hear.

"Can you confirm that you can hear me?" the voice asked.

"yes," Jenny tried to say, but it came out as something more of a confirming sigh.

"all right, good. I'm going to be taking you to the hospital." The was silence for a moment, "that is of course, if I may. I can also call an ambulance."

Jenny shook her head slightly. This was way too much. Surely, she was barely hurt – she couldn't feel any pain after all. She would just take a cap home and rest until tomorrow. "I would like to go home."

"No," the voice said promptly, "I'm sorry, I know that you would like that – I would probably say the same myself, and that is precisely why I know you need to go to the hospital. Just to be sure."

Jenny nodded; the voice did sound very convincing. "Alright. You can take me. But I can walk myself," she said, as she tried to crawl to her feet. She managed, but she could feel a hand just a few centimetres behind her, ready to catch her, if she had been wrong.

"Good," the voice said, "I'm parked just over here."

Jenny finally opened her eyes and saw a man with a caring and put-together appearance that perfectly matched his voice. "My name is Silas by the way," the man said and opened the passenger's seat for her.

"Jenny," she said as she got in the car, trying to hold back a sigh of pain.

"alright Jenny, we will get you to the hospital asap and out again in no time."

Jenny let her head fall back against the seat and rest and closed her eyes.

"Keep your eyes open please, do not fall asleep we will be there soon," Silas said in the moment her eyes fell shut.

Jenny quickly opened her eyes back up and stared at the road in front of her. "Yes," she said, not able to formulate any other words.

"Good," Silas said. "Keep yourself awake, alright, keep talking, tell me something, anything,"

"Eh," Jenny said, "what would you like to know?"

"Tell me about your hobbies, or what you do for a living, or your family… Your favourite colour?"

"That would be beige," Jenny answered.

"Beige?" Silas asked, "Isn't that a bit… dull."

"Dull?" Jenny asked, now very awake and offended.

"Alright, alright, never mind," Silas said with a laugh, "continue, tell me something more – possibly not something as dull as beige though."