Chain Reaction

When Nick Carter bought his dream home in the country, he decided he’d be very ‘hands on’ with the upkeep of it…when he wasn’t away touring or recording with the Backstreet Boys that is.  He’d always bought houses which were ready to move in, or employed designers to come and style the houses for him, so buying a house which needed some attention was a novelty.  Of course he still kept his ocean side retreat too, he could never part with that, but a house in the country was perfect for bringing up a family.  Not that he had that yet…but he was working up to it!

He’d decorated the place from top to bottom within weeks of moving in, as the previous owner’s décor wasn’t to his taste.  Obviously money was not an issue, and he could’ve easily paid someone to come and paint or hang wallpaper, but Nick wanted the satisfaction that came with doing a job himself.  Surprisingly, he’d done a good job of it and felt a huge sense of achievement as he surveyed his handiwork.

Once the interior was done, he turned his attention to the exterior, or to be more precise, the garden.  He’d fallen in love with the huge garden when he’d first looked around the house.  There were huge sweeping lush green lawns and views for miles around and he loved nothing more than sitting on the porch swing at the end of the day with a cold beer and Lauren by his side, looking out at the land.  

“Why don’t you leave that for the gardener when he comes back on Monday?” Lauren called from her sun lounger on the patio where she was topping up her tan.  She didn’t share Nick’s new found love of DIY or gardening.

“Because it’s the weekend, we’re home and I can do it myself” Nick replied “besides, I’ve always fancied using one of these”

The ‘one of these’ Nick was referring to was a petrol powered chainsaw which was kept in the tool shed for trimming back the trees.  The gardener, Jason, who they’d employed specifically for tidying the overgrown trees and bushes, had made a start on trimming and pruning the various trees and bushes on the property, but hadn’t finished the job by the time Friday evening arrived.  He was due back Monday to finish off.

“Well, just you be careful!” Lauren warned before sliding her sunglasses back on and turning the volume up on her iPod, effectively tuning Nick out.

“Ha, I’ll show her” Nick laughed to himself.  He figured it couldn’t be that hard to trim a few trees back.  How clever did you have to be to operate a chainsaw?  If Jason the gardener could work it, then so could he.  No problem.

He propped the ladder up against the huge tree, making sure it felt solid enough to climb, and then put his safety goggles on.  He didn’t want bits of tree flying into his eyes, blinding him as he was sawing.  He then began climbing the ladder, taking great care on the rungs.  Nothing to it!

Once he’d got to the right height, he powered up the chainsaw and began slicing away the branches.  This is fun!  He finished trimming the first tree and then moved on to the next one, he was really getting into it and decided that if he ever needed a change of career, he could quite happily be a gardener.  Working out in the open, the sun bronzing his skin as he worked…it sounded perfect! 

When he came to the last tree, his ladder wouldn’t quite reach the part he wanted to trim.  Being that he was so comfortable using the chainsaw now; he stood on the very top rung and reached across, holding the saw in one hand and grabbing onto a branch with the other.  He stretched up, not quite able to get to the branch he wanted, his foot slipped and in an effort to stop himself falling, he brought his hand down to grab the ladder.  In his moment of madness, it had slipped his mind that he was still holding a running chain saw.

The chainsaw sliced through skin, muscle, sinew, arteries and then bone before Nick fell to the ground.  His legs were bent in a most unnatural angle, the bone of one of them protruding through the skin.  His head was dangling by a thread, rendering him almost decapitated; blood was squirting out of his open neck and saturating the once lush green grass.  He was beyond saving.

Lauren didn’t notice for another hour, but when she did eventually find him, the chainsaw was still running.