Saving Lotte Sullivan | Collingwood/Carlton

77: The 29th. Part 2.

'YOU JUST HIT SOMEONE WITH YOUR CAR!!'

The world seemed to go into some kind of dramatic, sickening pause as Lotte found herself in yet another chaotic unnecessary headaching tailspin. She put her hand to her forehead.

'I have to get you to your house' she mumbled, trying not to look at the unconscious guy laying on an unnatural angle, just in front of the car. Madeline panicking and covering her mouth.

'We have to call an ambulance! The police!' She exclaimed, gagging, trying not to throw up. 'Charlie was right, I shouldn't have trusted you! You're more intent on getting out of here!' She added, kneeling down to the road, life knocked out of her.

'You don't have to worry about this man, Madeline. It's fine. He'll be fine' Lotte said, trying her best to convince the woman to return to the car, although she felt like throwing up herself, her legs suddenly feeling a lot weaker.

'We're gonna end up going to jail or something!' Madeline dramatically exclaimed, pulling at her hair, what had now fallen out of its decadent bun. Lotte shook her head and sighed, pacing around. She checked her phone.

'We don't have to worry about anything, Madeline, because he won't be telling anyone. He's terrified of the police and going to court. We're safe here' Lotte said, opening up the last message from Trent, an alert to his phone about something hitting the car. Lotte ignored it. If the car was so smart, it would have braked itself in time.

'Are you saying...do you know this person?' Madeline asked, now feeling even more frightened. Lotte nodded. 'Yeah. I know him. Come on, let's go. Let's get out of here. Everything is fine' she said apathetically, hopping back into the car. Madeline shook her head, refusing. 'I can't just leave someone injured on the side of the road. He's unconscious, he could be dying' she said, in a tiny, frightened voice. Lotte sighed. She wasn't used to selflessness and care. Especially where this man was concerned.

'If you call anyone, we'll end up in trouble!' Lotte exclaimed, giving her a 'duh!' look. Madeline stood up on shaky legs, tears running down her face as she gingerly stepped over his body, almost losing her balance on her heels and falling against the car hood. Lotte watched on sadly, as she stumbled and basically fell into her car seat, gripping the door handle, almost hyperventilating.

'Where do you live?' Lotte asked, shutting her door and locking the car as she struggled to start it up again. 'High....Highett Street. Richmond' Madeline stuttered, almost inaudibly. Lotte nodded and uncomfortably reversed the Tesla, before doing a U-turn and heading back to Toorak, looking for another way to go. She tightly gripped the steering wheel, a little more hypervigilant about who was after her. She wanted to scream and her body was just waiting to enter it's massive panic attack and breakdown. She felt she couldn't do that with Madeline in the car, having a panic attack of her own.

'I have to call Charlie. I have to tell him' she girl said, pulling her phone out of her clutch, just remembering it was flat. She sighed and wiped her tears away. 'I'm sorry' she needlessly apologised.

'Let's just get back to your house, and then we'll talk' Lotte said, although she knew that talk would never come. She didn't want to delve into her entire life story and family tree to a stranger, right after accidentally hitting her father with her friend's car. The friend she was not meant to be sleeping with. The friend she was cheating on her boyfriend with. The friend nobody had any idea she was with. Her phone suddenly rang again.

'Lord, could you please shut that thing up? It's so loud' Madeline said, suddenly feeling drunk, hungover and insane all at the same time, traumatised. 'Sorry, it's just Tr- it's Josh. He's worried about me. It's his Tesla, the app probably told him the car suddenly stopped. I don't know' Lotte said, quickly making something up as she turned into another street and headed back towards Richmond. Madeline leaned against the window, helplessly sobbing. 'I feel so scared' she whispered. Lotte briefly glanced over, sad for her. Sad that she'd gotten dragged into the shit she never needed to. All because she'd recognised Lotte at the ballroom.