Friday 10 June 2016

The Phone Call from Hell (Part Four)


What the guy told me next was something so bizarre, I thought he was joking. He had to be joking. There’s no possible way that he could be still alive. Right?
As he was telling me, I relayed everything to Robyn, Lynley, and everyone else in the office. There were looks of astonishment, amazement, and horror on their faces. Most common was a look of disbelief, which made complete sense because it beggared belief.

As it turns out, “The Guy” wasn’t a drug lord. Not even a criminal, in fact. He was the next door neighbour of Robyn’s boyfriend, and was the first to arrive after what had happened. There was a second person, a truck driver, which would explain the multiple voices I heard in the background for the past little while.

So.

There’s two more important things to introduce into this story before we get to the end.

The first is the boyfriend’s bed. I found out later that it was a King Size waterbed, with a solid timber frame. It was situated in the main bedroom, which was at the front of the house. The bed itself was against the wall furthest from the front window. These small details are important, so pay attention.

The second is the truck driver. More specifically, his truck. It was one of those big 18 wheeler things, the kind which when you were a kid and you saw one roaring down the street you’d pump your fist in the air and hope that the driver would pull on the horn.  I think it was a Kenworth or a Mack, but the make and model isn’t important.

The truck driver had parked his truck up the street and got out to go to the worksite he was delivering to. The problem with it was that he didn’t engage the handbrake of the truck, and so it began rolling down the hill.

Gaining speed as it went, it reached the bottom of the hill, crossed over the road, and launched itself like a missile directly at the front window of a house - the house in which Robyn’s boyfriend was laying on his waterbed, chatting happily to his girlfriend.

The truck crashed through the front window and landed right on top of him.

The weight of the truck burst the membrane of the waterbed, gushing hundreds of litres of water all over the room. The solid timber frame withstood the force of the crash, which Paramedics later said was the one thing that saved him from being crushed to death.

Having a several tonne vehicle landing on you, at speed, wouldn’t be a healthy way to spend an afternoon, as I’m sure you can guess. It broke both his legs, in multiple places. Several ribs were crushed, as was one hip. He also had quite severe internal injuries. Lastly, one arm was also broken, which coincidentally was the one holding the phone.

The phone ended up across the other side of the room, which is why it took so long for anyone to see/hear it.

Robyn left work that day, and drove down to be by his bedside. He spent many months in hospital, trying to overcome the horrendous injuries he suffered that day. I have it on good authority that he made a full recovery.

I never did get to call my girlfriend that day.

The End

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