They find what they came for, and what they didn't...

The tile wholesalers in Cherryville contained far more that Darcie could have possibly imagined. An entire warehouse full of different colours, sizes and shapes of porcelain, ceramic, slate, glass, marble and a hundred other different materials. She was lucky Spencer was there or she wouldn’t have known where to start. The owner seemed to know Spencer quite well and was able to show Darcie some truly beautiful tiles that she thought would look amazing in Kimberley renovated bathroom.

The owner of the warehouse was more than happy for Darcie to take several great armfuls full of samples, well Spencer’s armfuls, and promised to coordinate in with Darcie’s contractor when she had come to her decision and was ready to begin. He would organise delivery and happy to refund her on any unused quantities. Darcie could see why Spencer had taken her here.

Loading the samples into the trunk of Spencer’s Mercedes, the weather had become quite unsettled. Darcie was also surprised at how much time it had taken for them to look through almost the entire warehouse. It had gone 12 o’clock already and with the hour drive it would take them to get back to Avonwick, Darcie, and Spencer were very keen to get started on the other item on their itinerary for today.

They had passed a motel a couple of miles outside Cherryville on their way in. Driving there the clouds opened upon them in a sudden downpour. It took all Spencer's concentration to keep them on the road, his visibility greatly reduced under the heavy precipitation. The wipers were struggling to clear the water from the windshield which is why perhaps Spencer missed the big buck deer running onto the road until the very last second. Darcie screamed her warning at the very same second, he slammed down on the breaks. The host of safety features in his car not enough to prevent them from sliding in the wet as Spencer served to avoid the deer.

Straight into the path of a doe. There wasn’t enough time to avoid this one as they slammed into it. The many airbags on the SUV immediately deploying in a percussive bang as Spencer’s vehicle speared off the road, into a culvert and into a tree.

Darcie came to a moment later, her ears ringing as if she just been caught in an explosion.

“Kirsten! Kirsten! Kirsten!” she could hear someone shouting as she was being shaken by her shoulders.

“It’s me. It’s me Spencer, Darcie,” she managed to say a little groggily as he panicked beside her. The shock of the car crash making him confuse her with his departed wife.

Turning to him, Darcie could see that Spencer was ashen white, his eyes far away as his consciousness was overlapped with another time. She hugged herself to him, shushing him comfortingly as she tried to calm him down. Spencer’s breathing hyperventilating as he freaked out at the sudden trauma.

“Darcie. Sorry!” Spencer choked as realised what he had been saying. A great racking sob at what happened. “Please tell me your alright,” he begged as he brought his hands to Darcie’s forehead. She was bleeding from a cut caused by splintering glass from the windshield.

“I’m fine. Honestly,” she told him as they both heard a grunting call of pain and the sound of metal being twisted.

They both attempted to get out of the crashed car then, Darcie’s door had been compressed shut and wouldn’t open. The impact of the car and tree towards her side of the car bonnet. Spencer was able to get his open and lean a hand in afterwards to help Darcie climb out after him. The rain had almost stopped falling, coming to the front of the car, Spencer had to look away as he saw the poor deer trapped between the car’s smashed grill and the tree. Its eyes were wide in fright and pain, blood pooling from its significant injuries.

Facing away as he was, Spencer jumped in fright when he heard three enormous gunshots go off right next to him. Spinning back around, Darcie had retrieved her handbag from the wrecked car which contained a handgun, putting an end to the deer misery.

“Darcie!” Spencer said without know he was meant to say.

“It had to be done, Spencer,” Darcie said simply.

Getting their bearing, Spencer thought they would be closer to the motel than the town. Finding they could both walk, if not a bit tenderly, they headed in that direction. Sure enough, around the very next corner they could see the neon signs of the roadside accommodation not more than 300 yards away.

Looking up from his book behind the counter, the attendant was shocked to see the state of Spencer and Darcie when they walked in, having not heard them drive up.

“What in the world?” he breathed, “are you two alright?”

“We just had an accident a little way down the road. Our car hit a deer and ran off the road,” Spencer told the gentleman.

“I’ll ring the sheriff,” he said picking up an old landline phone. “Do you need an ambulance?” he asked before making the call.

Spencer shook his head and went to sit next to Darcie in a waiting chair. Her hands were starting to shake now with the shock and adrenaline starting to wear off.

“I need to ring Tony and let him know what happened,” Darcie told Spencer. She was trying to press the buttons on her cell phone but couldn’t get her fingers to hit the right ones.

“Amy!” Spencer gasped. He wouldn’t be able to make it back to pick her up from school this afternoon.

“She can stay with Tony and Kim tonight. Don’t worry Spencer. I’ll get Tony to ring the school and pass a message to her,” Darcie told him, her mind starting to work as it got clearer.

“Sheriff will be about 15 minutes,” the motel employee told Spencer having made the call.

Spencer stood up to give Darcie some privacy to call her husband and let him know what had happened.

“Thank you,” he told the clerk.

“Not a problem. I’m just glad you're alright. Will you be needing somewhere to stay tonight? I can help you out with a room,” he offered helpfully.

Both Darcie and Spencer were wet through from the rain and the walk to the motel. He didn’t know how long things would take with the sheriff and filing an accident report. They had been intending to get a room at the motel for the afternoon, looks like it would be overnight after all. Spencer had left his wallet in the car after what had happened but the clerk was fine with seeing it in the morning when they checked out. He kindly went to fix them both a cup of coffee while they waited for the local sheriff to arrive.

“How is Tony?” Spencer asked returning to Darcie after her call.

“He’s concerned, of course, but just glad we're both safe. He’ll pick Amy up with Kimberly and give me a call so you can let her know you're alright,” Darcie told him.

“Darce, I’m so sorry at what happened,” Spencer began.

“Spencer! Honestly it not your fault. No one could have avoided that. I would have probably hit the first deer and God knows what would have happened then. I’m just glad we were in your car. My car and we’d probably be dead. I’m really sorry about your car too though, I mean it honestly,” she told him as she put her arm around his comfortingly.

Spencer didn’t care about what had happened to his Mercedes. Vehicles can be replaced, people cant... Just like poor Kirsten…