Free Silent Treatment by Jackie Williams

again. Even though the summer holidays were coming up, she was going to be so busy she would hardly have a moment at home and then he would be going to America for at least three years. She felt her face crumple and her throat constrict. There was a burning knot in her stomach that she couldn’t shift. She stopped dead in the hall and Daniel bumped into the back of her, nearly knocking her flying.
    “You okay?” He asked over her shoulder, suddenly concerned.
    “No,” she whispered as she shook her head. “I think I really do feel ill after all. I don’t think I can eat any dinner.” Her voice shook as she tried to hold back the nearly overpowering emotions that gripped her heart.
    Dan iel came round in front of her and bent to look in her eyes.
    “Perhaps we overdid it with the exercises. It’s not an exact science. You’re not in any pain are you?” He was so close that she could feel his breath on her face.
    She couldn’t trust her voice. It felt as though her throat was full of splinters. She shook her head.
    And then a tear spilt down her cheek. She felt so desolat e that for a moment she didn’t try to stop it, and after the first tear had escaped from the corner of her eye, a positive deluge seemed to follow. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and tried to stop them as she saw Daniel standing there staring at her, looking appalled.
    He suddenly whipped out a tissue from his pocket and handed it to her. She sniffed into it and wiped some more tears.
    “Carrie, what’s the matter?” He asked, his voice so gentle she almost cried some more.
    She shrugged awkwardly and stammered for a few seconds as she gulped back the tears.
    “I…I don’t know Dan. I just feel sort of odd, almost lonely. I keep on thinking about this tour. Maybe I’m just homesick already.” She covered herself as quickly as she could and then Daniel did the worst thing possible.
    He stepped even closer to h er, lifted his arms to her shoulders and pulled her into his chest. She could feel his heart thumping hard and hear his breath filling his lungs. His huge arms were so warm around her, his hands pressing into the small of her back. She sank against him, moulding her body to his, thinking that if this was all he could ever give her, she was going to take as much of it as she could. 
    He rested his chin on top of her head and they just stood there for a while, not speaking, not doing anything at all and then Daniel lifted his head again. He kept hold of her as he spoke softly.
    “I’m homesick already too. I’m going to miss everyone so much. At least you get to come back here after the summer. I’m going to be somewhere where I won’t know a soul except Paul, for at least three years, and if I don’t like it there or don’t do well, then I’m going to have to work like crazy to get back home because I can only afford a one way flight.”
    Carrie looked up at him, blinking her eyes dry.
    “Oh Dan. Don’t sound so miserable please. You know it’s what you want to do. It’s a once in a lifetime chance, a fantastic opportunity, you have to take it. You would be completely mad not to. And then there’s Paul. How will he feel if you suddenly back out of it? You’ll make friends easily enough. Everyone loves you here, it’ll be no different there.”
    Dan iel let go of her suddenly and spoke bitterly.
    “I don’t want everyone to love me, Carrie. I only want…” He paused and took a deep breath.  “It’s okay, I’m not backing out of it. I just wish I had more time to think, to do the right thing. To tell you the truth, I didn’t really expect to get the placement but Simms wrote a brilliant reference for us both and filmed us at trials. I wasn’t really ready to make this kind of decision, especially not right now…” He tailed off, stepped back and looked down at her for a long moment, his ocean blue eyes wandering over her face, her hair, her body. Then he looked up again as he heard the sound of