Falling

two

Thomas opened his eyes blearily. Above him was a white ceiling with bright fluorescent strips.
This wasn't his bedroom, so where the hell was he? He pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around. He was in a hospital of some sort, it seemed, though it was nothing like the ones back home in-

Then it hit him like a truck. A5, the boy falling, him searching for any signs of life, blood everywhere, the blonde woman; it all came flooding back to him.

He sat up properly, swinging his feet over the side of the bed. The room was about the size of two bedrooms put together, and everywhere was lit in a harsh blue-white light. At the other end of the room was a pair of curtains pulled shut, sectioning off a portion of the room and Thomas could see shadows moving behind it and the quiet whispering of adult voices.

Thomas was staring at a computer screen on a desk opposite his bed, showing an X-Ray of someone's legs and two close up scans that he couldn't identify, when a dark haired woman in blue hospital uniform came hurrying out from behind the curtain and left the room without so much as glancing his way.

After less then a minute she came back in carrying a set of thin clear tubes and pulling a trolley with a lot of fancy looking substances on it.

Only once she had delivered these things behind the curtains and re-emerged, did she remove her mask and her eyes settled on Thomas.

"Ah," she sighed "you're awake at least."

Thomas stood up, ignoring the feel of the Lino on his bare feet and walked to stand next to her by the computer.
"Where am I? Is he okay? What time is it?" He asked, the questions tumbling out in a flurry.

"You're in hospital, the time is 8pm and to answer your other question I don't know" she replied, without looking up from the screen.

"What happened?" Thomas asked, moving closer so he could see the new screen the woman had opened "He tried to kill himself didn't he?"

The woman stood up straight and looked Thomas up and down.
"You ask a lot of questions." she noted, before opening a drawer, grabbing a syringe of some yellow liquid and hurrying back over to the blue curtain. Thomas followed her.

She pushed back the curtain and entered, closing it behind her. Thomas made a face and peered through the gap.

Inside the closed off area the boy was laid on a bed, surrounded by three doctors and the woman. He was all but naked, a blue cloth covering his dignity, and had several tubes running into him through his nose and one attached into his arm. But what struck Thomas was how skinny he was.

His ribs were clearly visible and his skin was stretched tightly over his skeleton. His collar bones jutted out and his arms were like sticks. Red circles littered one arm, shiny like scars. Thomas frowned, moving to stare at his legs. One leg looked normal, the other was twisted at a horrible angle and was swollen and purple, with several of what looked like blood blisters under his skin.

The woman hurried back out and saw him staring, pulling the curtains all the way shut and giving him a look. Thomas hurried after her as she went back to the computer.

"What happened to his arm?"
"Cigarette burns." the woman stated, opening a page with a screen of numbers that meant nothing to Thomas, but Thomas saw her purse her lips in concern.

"And his leg?"

The woman stood up and turned to face him. "My name is Dr McCall and we don't know. Now if you'd leave me to do my job for the time being, I can focus on helping your friend. There will be time for questions later."

Thomas nodded slowly.
"There's a canteen down the hall to the left, with a vending machine. Help yourself."
She passed him a pair of slider shoes, which he put on as she showed him towards the door.