|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Laura | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Holly Miles wriggled uncomfortably in her car seat. Having been sat in this same position for hours her back was aching like anything and she'd forgotten what it felt like to feel her feet or hands. No matter how far she rolled her windows up there always seemed to be a draft that blew directly onto the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. Holly rubbed her hands together in an attempt to keep warm and began the search for a sandwich she'd brought earlier and had to be around here somewhere. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Eventually Holly located the sandwich and began eating it as fast as she could: all the time keeping her eyes on the stretch of road opposite. Through the gloomy light that the street lamps poured out she saw the figure of a woman unloading her shopping from the back of her car. A baby lay in a pram near by. The baby began to cry and the woman sighed and went over to comfort the baby. He couldn't have been more than a few months old and he wouldn't like being left out in the cold while this woman dragged bags of shopping back and forth. Even Holly knew that much. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| One of the bags split open. It was one of those cheap ones that you get from the supermarkets because no one else would give them away. She heard a bottle smash on the ground and the woman swore very loudly which Holly thought wouldn't have a positive influence on the baby at all. It must have been her three bottles of wine that smashed on the floor. It was one of those buy two get one free offers. Holly had watched the woman buy the bottles along with all her other shopping. Holly watched this woman do everything, just as she was watching her now. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Laura her name was. Holly had found out earlier today. She'd been watching her for months now but had only found out today when someone called out to her across the car park. Laura didn't really suit this woman, no. Holly had always pictured her as more of an Emma or Jo. Something strong and out going like her. But Laura it was. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Holly thought that maybe she should get out of the car and help her but it would be slightly strange if a stranger came up to you outside of your house and offered to take your shopping in or look after your baby. But this Laura wasn't a stranger to Holly. Sure, they had never actually met but they didn't need to. Holly new everything about her:� everything from where she lived and worked to what time she took a shower in the morning. Every day Holly would watch her get up, get herself and her baby ready and then she would follow her while she dropped the baby off at the child minder and went on to work. Some days Holly would go into her work with her. Amongst all the crowds she never got noticed, everyone was to busy with their own problems to bother about her. But then on other days she would sit out in her car, watching people come and go. Un till the working day was over and it was time to go home. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| �Holly knew how silly this all was. She knew that it was becoming an obsession and every time she felt the need to go through this Laura's rubbish to find out what she'd eaten or break into her house or something stupid like that she drove herself home. She took a few hours out and tried to watch TV or read a book or do something normal. But she couldn't help wondering what the woman would be doing now or what small thing she was missing in the woman's life and would have to head back and find her again. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Holly still stared at the woman who was now walking steadily up the stairs to her house with her baby balanced on one arm and the buggy on the other. She would put the baby to bed after that then watch the ten o clock news and she would have had a glass of wine if she hadn't smashed the bottles. Holly kept telling herself to leave this woman alone. She of all people should know how horrid it is to be watched, for someone to know more about your life than you do. But that was the difference. She didn't feel like she was watching someone else's life she felt like she was watching her own. Or, what her life could have been. This woman was everything Holly could have been. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| It had all started after Patrick's funeral. Holly had been as low as she could get and she felt like her life had no meaning any more. She'd received a phone call from a very distressed Duffy at 3 in the morning telling her all that had happened and her life went down from there on. For days on end she'd just sat in her flat and drank and cried. Un till eventually she woke up in a bed in hospital after having fallen down a flight of stairs and banged her head. That was when she first saw this Laura. She was walking across the hospital towards the maternity unit with her tiny little bump that later turned into the baby. Once Holly got out she'd started to follow this woman, as she looked very interesting. Even though it seemed she everything you could want (or at least everything Holly could want) she still looked sad. Infact Holly only found out why this woman was sad quiet a few months on when she visited the cemetery and put fresh flowers on a grave as Holly had done every day since the funeral. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Holly tore her gaze away from the window where Laura was now sitting gazing at a photo on the fireplace. Holly had seen and recognised this photo instantly and found that it was another thing she shared with this woman leading her life. AS she looked over by her car something silver caught Holly's eye as it lay in the middle of the pavement. Curious, Holly got out of her car and went to look. When she got there she saw that it was a wallet. And on closer inspection she found that it belonged to Laura. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Holly stood staring at it for a bit. Wondering what on earth she was going to do. She could leave it and hope the woman remembered where she'd left it and no one stole it or she could give it back. Eventually Holly decided on the second option. She thought about just leaving it on the doorstep, ringing the bell and then running back to her car but realised she would never make it in time. So slowly she walked up the stares and rang the bell. She heard the TV being switched off in the other room and soft footsteps approaching the door. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "Hi." The woman said as she opened the door. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "Oh, yeah. Hi." Holly replied, slightly shocked at hearing the woman talk for the first time. "I found this outside and thought I'd better give it back." Holly said, holding up the wallet. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "Oh thank you." The woman said greatfully as she took the wallet. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "It's Laura, isn't it?" Holly asked, hoping she'd sound like someone who'd read her name inside a wallet. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "Actually it's Lara." She corrected her. "Would you like to come in for some coffee?" She asked Holly politely. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "No thank you. I've got to go home. Lots of stuff to sort out." Holly told her as she walked back towards the car. If this Laura- Sorry, Lara- could get on with her life then so could she. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| This is a peice of FanFiction that I wrote using 2 characters from the Tv show Casualty. These were Holly Miles and Lara Stone. I would like to state that neither of these characters belong to me and I was merely borrowing them for the perpose of this story. Hope you enjoyed reading it, comments greatfully recieved. | |||||||||||||||||||||