Chapter 29 #2
He was pacing in a tiny circle, wearing a hole in the matting beneath his feet.
She raised her eyebrows. ‘You seem very worked up about what is likely a minor incident involving crew you’ve probably never even spoken to.’
‘So I can only have concern for people I know personally?’
Jennifer sat up. ‘Maybe that’s it. Is there someone you know personally on that bus? Is that what you’re worried about?’
Her eyes flashed with curiosity.
‘You heard Leanne. We don’t know who is on the bus,’ he muttered.
He wished she’d go back to Instagram, commenting, Yas Queen! on the photos of celebrities she barely knew.
The awning zip slid up, and Leanne reappeared in the entrance to the green room.
‘Ooh, come in and close that back up,’ Jennifer said, shivering.
Leanne stepped inside. ‘We’re going to stop shooting and cut the day short,’ she said. Her face looked pinched. ‘Some people were injured in the accident, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to keep going.’
‘Oh fuck,’ Jennifer said, sitting up.
Finn stepped forward. ‘You said people were hurt. Is it bad?’ He desperately wanted to ask who was hurt, but he hoped Leanne would tell them without him asking. Especially with Jennifer’s gossip radar now on full alert.
‘Well,’ Leanne swallowed. ‘The minibus went sideways over a bank and slid down about 20 or so feet into the woods.’ She looked pale.
Finn wanted to shake the details out of her but clenched his hands at his side.
‘It was a steep bank, so the bus ended up more on its roof than its side after it fell.’
Jennifer stood now, concern seemingly genuine now that she understood the gravity of the situation.
‘Who was on the bus?’ Jennifer asked.
Yes, Leanne, Finn screamed in his head. Who was on the fucking bus?
‘Well, the driver.’
Okay, Leanne, that’s a given. Who else?
‘One of the catering team, a runner from the production office, Mike, our on-set photographer.’ Jennifer’s hands flew to her mouth. ‘And Violet.’
Time stopped, and there was a loud buzzing sound in his ears. He felt like he was swaying on his feet, but he was stock still. Jennifer was asking something, but he couldn’t hear over the buzz of the white noise in his head.
Violet was on the bus.
Jennifer looked truly worried now.
‘How are they all? You said that there were injuries.’
Leanne’s face was pinched.
‘I don’t know specifics, but I know one of the ambulances has already left to take someone to hospital.’
Oh god.
‘Who was in the ambulance?’
His voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere outside himself.
‘I don’t know, I’m afraid. I’m not sure if it was one or two people. The other paramedics are still there assessing the other people who were on the bus.’
Was Violet in the ambulance, or was she one of the other people still down there? His feet itched to take off out of the little easy-up, across the field, down the track to the spot in the trees where he could see the blue lights flashing.
He grabbed his phone and messaged Violet. For the past couple of weeks, he had done exactly what she had asked. He had respected her wishes to have only professional and necessary contact and to keep their distance, but this was different. He frantically typed out a message.
I know you were on the bus. Are you okay? Please just tell me how you are x.
He re-read the message, then deleted the x. He hit send and waited for the little tick to say it had been sent. He watched, but no second tick to say it had been delivered popped up.
Jennifer was asking Leanne more questions about what had happened.
He blinked hard as Leanne’s face swam in and out of focus, and he tried to listen.
He knew some of the other crew. Tim from craft was on the bus.
But all he could think about was Violet.
He checked the message again. Still no confirmation of delivery, let alone of being read.
Maybe she was fine but was out of signal.
Or maybe she was the person in the ambulance.
Suddenly, he was pushing past Leanne and Jennifer, and he was running.
He heard Leanne shout after him, but the wind whipped at the words and turned them into a blur.
Crew were grouped on the hillside in huddles, staring in the direction of the blue lights blinking through the trees far below.
The wind turned the fine drizzle into needles that scraped at his face as he ran, but he barely registered a thing.
Violet was on the bus.
His foot landed awkwardly on a tump of grass and his knee bent sideways, but he righted himself and kept going. The blue lights were getting closer now. He was nearly at the main vehicle track through the site, the track that was supposed to be one-way.
Breathing heavily, his shirt and jacket damp and clinging to him, he turned a corner around a hedge and nearly ran headlong into Jake.
‘Hey, Finn! What are you doing?’
Finn didn’t stop. He darted past Jake and was running on the muddy track now, towards the trees where the lights were. Jake started running after him, trying to get his attention.
‘Finn, you can’t go around there, there’s an accident. It’s being handled!’ Jake yelled.
Finn didn’t say anything as he picked up speed and sprinted along the track, his lungs burning in the cold air. Jake’s voice petered out behind him.
He could hear other voices and shouts now just around the corner of the track.
Violet was on the bus.