Poppy Child

Floor Nine Of The Hospital

I had to get to the hospital. The quicker the better!

The hospital was about eight miles away and I had no way to get there, I didn't have the money for a cab, none of my friends could drive, their mums would ask too many painful questions that I just wasn't ready to answer and I knew the police weren't going to help me. I was going to have to run and hitchhike, I'd hitchhiked before but that was only to get into town because I was too lazy to walk.

I ran back down the field, on my way past Steve's house I ran into a policeman because I was trying to figure out if Steve was in or not. The policeman didn't seem very happy, he was just about to shout at me but I screamed "My sister just died! Give me a bloody break.", he said he was sorry for my loss and went to find his fellow police officers.  He didn't even ask me if I needed help, I didn't really want him to but I thought he would have at least asked me that.  Although the police force where we lived had always been rubbish. 

I carried on running through town, even though I was starting to get a little bit out of breath. A few of my mates were in town, one of them was Mickey, he'd obviously been sent to get some food from the shops because he was holding two full shopping bags, he looked better than he did a few hours earlier despite the sweat dripping off him. I stopped next to him and he said "Blimey, did you here all those police cars and ambulances, I saw them whilst I was on the way to the shop. They were heading your way. Jamie are you okay? It looks like you've seen a ghost and why are you running?", I didn't know how to tell him, he was like Maisy's brother, it would break him. He was a lot more emotional than me, even though he didn't cry you could see he was hurting inside. I was like that but I was better at covering it. It was like wearing a mask, no one knew what I was feeling inside whilst I was wearing the mask, it meant no one asked me questions. I liked it that way. 

I couldn't tell Mickey so I decided to be blunt, I wasn't thinking straight anyway so I said "Those ambulances and police cars were for my house, when I got back to mine..... M.....M.... Maisy.... Well she was..... Dead. Maisy's dead. She was stabbed, four times. She was dead when I found her, then the ambulance arrived and they took her away with mum and mum said it was all my fault and then-", 

"What! Is this a joke?" Mickey had tears in his eyes, he couldn't mask his pain this time.

"No, Mickey she's dead. Gone. She never had a chance. Now I've got to get to the hospital, which is about eight miles away before they don't allow people to visit her, b..before they..... they.... dissect her..." Then I ran, I knew that if i stuck around I'd have to explain things when to be honest I wasn't sure what was real and wasn't. I ran before he could answer.

I ran and ran, my heart felt like it was about to burst, my head was throbbing but my legs kept going, I started to get a stitch about four miles after I started, it was a really painful one as well. after about six miles I came to this little village, the type where everyone knew everyone elses business. I was glad I didn't live somewhere like that. I was just coming past a post office when my legs suddenly coudln't hold me anymore, it was like they'd just woken up and thought 'I can't be bothered with this anymore'. I wasn't expecting it so I went down with a thump and hit my head on a lamp post. I tried to sit up but my head hurt too much, my vision was blurry but I could see that I was surrounded by a bunch of worried looking people. My head was like it was full of fog, clogging it up, if only I had fog lights in my head, that would have made it a lot easier to get up. I tried to sit up again, a bit more slowly, that time I was successful. I clung to the lamp post and slowly pulled myself up, suddenly feeling very dizzy, it felt like I'd been spinning around for five minutes. I started trying to run again but I couldn't, my legs couldn't take it anymore. I had been sprinting for six miles, that was quite a long way. I started to fall again but someone caught me, I turned around and saw that it was a friendly looking man stood next to a girl who I was guessing was his daughter. His daughter seemed familiar but I was out of it, all I could think of was getting to the hospital. He started to ask me lots of questions that I didn't have the time to answer so all I said was "Thank you for catching me, is there anywhere around here I could take a bike? I need to get to the hospital, someone I know has been...stabbed." The man looked shocked, so did his daughter, although I guess you would be if a total stranger told you that. The girl suddenly stepped forward and grabbed my hand and said "Quick, I have a bike round the back of the shop, take it, the hospital is miles away from here." I nodded and thanked her, I also promised her and her dad that I'd bring it back as soon as I could.