The Grass Is Always Greener

Chapter 7 - News, Good or Bad?

Gillian's Point of View

We waited. And we waited. 2 hours, 3, 4, 5.. . And by the time it was 11pm. We still had no news. The hospital had quietened somewhat, the lights in wards dimmed slightly, adding to the worrying and slightly eerie atmosphere. Everyone separated into their couples.

Rhona and Pj sat to the far side of the waiting room, curled up on the Sofa. Rhona had fallen asleep and PJ was absentmindedly playing with her hair.

Heather and Phil, Amy and Christian were all sat on the biggest couch, speaking quietly amongst each other.

Hayley and Dougie were sharing an arm chair, looking rather cosy, but managing to keep their hands to themselves for once.

Alex was currently drifting in and out of sleep next to me, his arm loosely wrapped around my shoulders.

And Emma sat curled up on a small arm chair, staring at the floor.

Im sure there's something in her eyes, like theres something she's not telling us, although i suppose it could just be the worry.

The door to the waiting room opened and a Doctor stepped in.

Emma and Phil stood up.

"Dan Howell's family?"

"Eh thats us.. Well. We're not really family, we're all he has" Emma mumbled.

"Wait! What about his Mum and Dad? Do they know whats happened? Shouldn't they know?" Amy asked.

"Eh.. Mrs Howell Died in a car crash 10 years ago, faulty brake line" the Doctor said.

"What?! So dan lost his mum when he was 7?" Phil asked.

"Yes, that is true"

"I can't believe we didn't know. And we.. We all laughed at him when he woke up going "mummy!".. Guys.. Why didn't he tell us?" Alex added.

Oh, finally awake are we?

"I don't know." Emma said quietly.

"Poor Dan... Well.. What about his dad?" I asked.

"Mr Howell was..." The doctor started.

"He's on a business trip!" Emma interrupted, " and he knows what has happened but is unable to get home"

"Oh. Well.. We're all he's got then" Hayley stated.

"Well.. You all may want to sit down.." The doctor started.

Thats never good.

Emma's Point of View

I sat down on the arm of the chair, my hands starting to shake. He told us to sit down, that cant be good.

"Mr Howell has be knocked unconscious by this attack, his head has been repeatedly hit and after a few tests we have concluded the possibility of brain damage is high."

A gasp fell across the room, followed by silence.

"Not only that, but on inspecting his wounds around his stomach, noticing the amount of swelling we decided to scan him to check for internal injury. There was some bleeding but nothing too serious. This indicates however, that this has happened before, we also noticed older bruises and cuts on him that range anything between a few days and a few months ago. Although we have reason to believe this started happening long before even then."

"So you mean to say he's been attacked more than once?" Dougie asked.

"Yes it looks like it had turned into almost a routine."

"Someone must follow him home from school every day or something" PJ muttered.

"Now.. As i said before, Dan is still unconscious, and we won't be able to detect how bad the damage to his brain is until he wakes up. If he wakes up at all" The doctor said.

Everyone fell silent to digest this information.

"C- can we see him?" I stuttered.

"Yes. But only one at a time" the doctor said, turning to leave, "i'm sorry"

He left and everyone fell silent.

"S- so who wants to go see him first?" I asked quietly.

"I will" Phil said, walking out the room.

A few minutes later he came back, his pale face stained lightly with tears.

"It's horrible.. It's difficult to believe its Dan under all those tubes... And he's so pale" phil mumbled shaking his head. Heather pulled him into a hug and they sat on the couch.

One by one everyone went to see Dan. I guess i should of fought to go first, or even second. But the truth was, i was scared of what i would find, what i could of helped prevent if i hadn't been such an idiot.

Eventually my time came and i walked down the cold, dark, corridor to his room, the door shut. I let out a deep breath and placed my hand on the handle. The cool metal burning into my hand like fire. I gulped, and pushed open the door.