Disabled.

Thirty-Seven

Previously

They said their goodbyes before Nadia pushed herself towards her house, opening the door once she was close enough before entering. As soon as she entered, she heard the voice of her parents as well as an unfamiliar voice.

She quietly made her way to the living room to find her parents speaking to a stranger as they each had a cup of tea before them. Her father's head turned towards her as soon as she entered.

"Hello sweetheart, how was school today?"

She forced a smile as she lied, saying,

"It was okay."

Her eyes moved away from her father and focused on the back of the stranger they were talking to.

"Who's this?" she asked.

And as soon as the person turned around, she felt as if she had the wind knocked out of her, as she found her mind going back to the night of New Year's Eve. The man stood up and walked towards her, a small smile on his face.

"We already met before but I don't think I formally introduced myself."

He reached out his hand.

"Hello Nadia, my name is Clive Archer and I am the detective who has been assigned to the case of your accident."

- - -

Thirty-Seven

Nadia couldn't find the strength within her to reach out her hand to shake the detective's hand. All she could do was continue to look at his outstretched hand, her mind going back to when she had first learned that Mason's dad was responsible for the accident. 

When she saw the detective returning his hand to his side, that was when she was finally able to say something.

"Why are you here?" she asked, looking at him. He opened his mouth to answer her question but her mother interrupted him.

"Why don't you have a seat Mr. Archer? And Nadia, come and join us."

Nadia watched the detective return to his seat before she pushed herself further into the living room, positioning herself beside the couch, beside her mother.

"Now, can you please tell us why you're here?" her mother asked. The detective nodded his head before leaning forward.

"About a month after the accident happened, I was assigned to the case. And after several months, we have been able to piece everything together. We were able to determine that a Michael Simmons was responsible for the accident. He had been driving under the influence of alcohol when he lost control of his car and unfortunately," he turned to look at Nadia, "crashed into the vehicle that you and Mr Cooper were in."

Nadia felt her eyes sting as she heard Jackson's name. 

"He was drunk driving--some people are unbelievable. How could he do that to someone else's child? And he's going to get away with it because he's dead," she heard her father say as he shook his head as a pained expression covered his face.

"That's not completely the case as you are eligible to take his family to court in his place. Of course you can't sue them for what happened to Mr Cooper but you can sue for the paralysis that occurred to your daughter as a result." 

"How can we when we don't know anything about them? For all we know, they may live in a completely different country," her father said.

"Actually, Nadia knows them quite well," the detective said.

"What does he mean?" her mother was the first to speak now. Nadia swallowed in an attempt to get rid of the lump which had suddenly formed.

"Remember when I came home crying on New Year's Eve?" she said and both of her parents nodded before they realized what she was saying.