Rare Sight

Chapter Seven

“Joe! Joe!” He ached. Every part of him hurt, but especially his head. “Joe!” Someone was saying his name. If he kept his eyes shut, they might go away. “Joe, mate, are you all right? Answer me, Joe.” He opened one eye a fraction, then shut it quickly.

“Too bright,” he said, and his voice came out like a croak.

The light went out and the voice tried again, “Joe, come on, look at me, mate.”

He opened the eye again, and this time managed to focus on the face in front of him. “Yousef? Yous? Is that you, mate? What’re you doing here?”

“I was going to ask you the same question, Joe. You’re in my house.”

“I am?” He closed his eye and tried to concentrate, but the throbbing all over his body made it difficult.

“Joe, can you remember how you got here?”

He shook his head and was shocked by the pain. “Ow.”

“You look pretty battered, mate. I’m going to get my mum.”

The word ‘mum’ made Joe focus. “My mum? And Gran? Are they here, Yous?”

There was a pause. “No… I don’t think so. But then, I haven’t looked. You are in our toilet, mate, with your head against the seat. I’m dying for a slash. D’you mind?”

Joe tried to shake his head, gave up and said, “No,” then winced as Yousef took bad aim next to him.

“Sorry, mate. I was desperate. Look… I’ll get my mum to see to you. But Joe… what are you doing here? How’d you get in? I thought you and your mum were coming over tomorrow night.”

“I… don’t know. I can’t remember.” His brain felt full of fog. He concentrated on fighting off sleep because he had a feeling his mum and gran might be in trouble. “Yousef…”

“Yeah?”

“D’you think you could call my mum now, on her mobile? Let her know I’m here – check she and Gran are all right?”

“Good idea, mate. I’ll do it now.”

Joe tried to lie back, but there wasn’t enough room. He listened to Yousef talking to his mum in another room, then heard Yousef walking back towards him, talking on the phone,

“Sure, Ms S. Yeah, pretty battered, but definitely alive… OK, we can try.” He bent over Joe. “Your mum wants to talk to you.”

He held the phone next to Joe’s ear.

“Joe, Joe? Is that you?” came his mum’s voice.

“Uh. Yeah, mum, it’s me.”

“You sound awful.”

“You and gran all right?”

“We’re fine, love, just relieved to know you’re alive. Are you badly hurt? What happened?”

“I dunno.” He tried to remember. “There was this voice…”

“We heard that, too. And there was a lot of other noise, and something whirling round and round.”

“That was me. I mean, I was the thing whirling round and round.”

“Oh no, Joe! You must have been terrified.”

Remembering his terror made Joe start to shake. He was freezing and his teeth wouldn’t stop chattering. Yousef put the phone back to his own ear. “Ms S? Joe can’t talk anymore right now. He needs some TLC. I’ll get my mum on to it… Sure, we’ll see you in a bit, then. Right. Bye.” He looked down at Joe. “Your mum and gran are coming to get you. Oh, here’s my mum now.”