In the Dark

By Nadine Jackson-Croker

It is a well known fact that all of us have five senses. But you knew that. It is also well known that when a person loses one of their five senses, the other four senses become more pronounced. For example, a person who has lost their sight will have a more sensitive sense of touch, a stronger sense of smell, and a greater sense of taste or hearing. That is a very important fact that you need to remember as I tell you about my little friend Sarah Bennington, and her adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: May 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664118959

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Copyright © 2023 by Nadine Jackson-Croker.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 05/08/2023

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CONTENTS

The Girl Who Lost Her Sight

How It All Began

A New Start

Summer Holidays Begins

Another Robbery

Developments

What Happened Next

THE GIRL WHO LOST HER SIGHT

It is a well known fact that we all have five senses. But you knew that. It is also well known that when a person loses one of their five senses, the other four senses become more pronounced. For example, a person who loses their sight will have a more sensitive sense of touch, a stronger sense of smell, and a greater sense of taste or hearing. That is a very important fact you need to remember as I tell you about my little friend Sarah Bennington, and her adventure.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Tuesday twentieth of October, was a day like any other day. Sarah Bennington got up, ate her breakfast, forgot her reading book, and went to school like every other day. Sarah Bennington, age nine, was pretty average all round. She was average height, she had brownish shoulder-length hair, kept tidy by a plain brown hair band. She was average at all her lessons, even at games and gym. The only remarkable thing about Sarah, was a pair of huge, truly beautiful deep brown eyes. Not that she cared about that, what she cared about was not getting into trouble with her teacher Miss Wade, and staying away from Veronica Lyle, because she could be quite nasty, if you were silly enough to attract her notice. But, on that Tuesday in October, the two things she most dreaded happened. She got into trouble for forgetting her reading book, and she accidentally knocked Veronica’s arm when she was trying to do her best writing, with the result that Sarah had a very painful foot, after it was accidentally stamped on by Veronica’s heavy shoes. This was not a good start to the day, but it was about to get worse, much worse.

In the lunch hour Sarah fell over while playing ‘chase’ with some friends, and grazed her knee. Then that afternoon they had Art followed by P.E. During the Art lesson the class was asked to draw a pattern with a large fat wax crayon, after which they were asked to choose a colour of watered-down paint, and paint over their efforts with that colour. Miss Wade called it ‘-a wash"-. Sarah drew swirly patterns, and was pleased with the result. But, when it came to the paint, she chose a pot of blue and was just about to pick up her paint brush, when Veronica, not one to easily forgive and forget, took hold of the pot of paint and, with a smile, very carefully poured it all over Sarah’s paper.

Naturally the teacher didn’t see her do that. Miss Wade only saw was the mess it made, so Sarah got the blame and was made to stay behind to clear it up. That meant she was late for P.E. (which was to be netball), and was in trouble for that too. Sarah decided it really was not a good day. But, it got even worse.

When, - at last the horrible day came to an end, Sarah packed up her things and went out to the school gates, as usual, to wait for her mother to pick her up in her car. Now the school stood on a reasonably quiet road, opposite which was a side road which was rose upwards toward a much busier main road. At the top of this little side road stood a very popular public house. Outside the school that particular day, as on any other day, there were mothers with push chairs, mothers with younger children, and other mothers all standing about chatting. Sarah hadn’t been waiting above ten minutes, but she was already cold and rather bored. She hooked her bag on to her shoulder and started swinging it backwards and forwards, whilst looking vacantly up the hill, when suddenly, she noticed a car descending the hill was swerving and going way too fast. It seemed to be out of control, even to her inexperienced eye.

She also noticed a young mother with a new baby in a pram, standing in direct line with the careering vehicle, and in danger of being crushed. She yelled at the young mother to watch out; and running forward she pushed her and the pram out of the way. The car shot over the junction, narrowly missing the young mother. But- the strap of Sarah’s bag got caught on a wing mirror, which sent both the bag and Sarah up into the air, only to go crashing down on to the hard ground. The car came to a noisy and shattering halt, demolishing the wall that ran the length between the two gates of the school. The young mother, shocked, and badly frightened burst into tears. Another mother picked up her toddler and screamed. Other mothers rushed forward to look after the young mother with the pram; and seeing Sarah on the ground, thy tried looking after her as well. But, Sarah was unconscious, and didn’t respond.

At that precise moment, Janet Bennington, Sarah’s mother arrived- and - being a very practical woman, she immediately called for an ambulance. By this time, children and parents were all milling about, pushing and shoving, wanting to see what had happened. Fortunately Mrs Thompson, the head teacher, had arrived on the scene, and, enlisted the help of other members of her staff, to persuad the curious crowd to take their children and go home, promising there would be a proper investigation into what had happened and why.

Within a remarkably short space of time the police and two ambulances arrived. Sarah was checked over by the paramedics, who gently lifted her on to a stretcher and into the ambulance, which took both Sarah and her mother off to the hospital. The police stayed to ask questions from lingering on lookers. The second ambulance driver and her partner managed to get the driver out of his the wrecked car. Surprisingly, he wasn’t too badly hurt, but he was in big trouble. He had failed all the necessary tests. He was put into the ambulance, with a constable, and taken to be checked over at the same hospital.

Sarah was taken straight into an emergency room, whilst Janet telephoned her husband, who was the manager of the local bank. He made his way as quickly as possible