Presents in the Attic
Mum was taking me and Jake ice skating. It seemed like the perfect day out. I’d never been ice skating before and I was really excited, and I could tell that Jake was too. We got our boots, and as I was putting them on, I watched the people on the rink skating. I started to get nervous. There were so many people and some of them were skating backwards, or skating really fast and not watching where they were going. I am a pessimist and I could see so much going wrong. I could see Mum falling, hitting her head and getting concussion, or Jake falling, and somebody skating over his hand, wrecking it for life. I tried to push these images out of my mind, but try as I might, I couldn’t. I did manage to hide my feelings from Mum and Jake; I didn’t want my mood affecting their day out.
As we stepped onto the rink, my heart started beating faster. There were so many experienced skaters, as if they were there just to show everyone how good they were. I didn’t know what to do, or where to go. There were people skating all around me, and I was terrified to move. “Come on Lilah! Get moving, we’ve only got 45 minutes!” Jake’s voice broke my trance. I smiled at him, and gingerly took a few steps. Having tried it, I soon got into it, and after 10 minutes I was even starting to enjoy it. It wasn’t to last though. I was skating after Jake, laughing, when he slipped. I swerved, narrowly missing him. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the idiot skating towards him. As the man carried on skating, his blade swiftly cut through Jake’s arm.
I was horrified. Jake was in shock – it hadn’t yet kicked in what had happened. As he sat on the ice, his breath came in short gasps, and Mum collapsed. In a rush of adrenaline, I skated faster than I ever would have expected to the edge of the rink. I threw off my boots and ran to the help desk. I quickly explained what had happened and they handed me the phone. I called an ambulance and within minutes I could hear the siren. I ran back to the rink with the paramedics. Mum was coming back around, but Jake was rapidly losing blood. He was looking faint. The ambulance crew quickly and efficiently got him onto a stretcher. Mum and I were bundled into the ambulance with him, and we were whizzing through Newcastle.
Now I am sat by Jake’s bedside. He is under controlled sedation because of the pain he would be in if he was conscious. It’s been a week since the ‘incident’, as I call it, the 22nd December, and the wound has become infected. If Jake makes it through this, we will actively sue the ice skating company for not keeping their ice skates clean. But the thing is, the doctors don’t expect Jake to live. His body keeps rejecting the drugs and the infection is just getting worse. His whole arm is blue and it’s so hard to look at him without crying. I have to stay strong. It sounds strange, but Mum keeps crying – he’s her son after all – and I feel like I have to support her. In a couple of hours, the doctors are going to give Jake a strong dose of painkillers so that he can be woken up. We need to see him before he, I hate to say it, dies.
Christmas won’t be right without Jake. Even if he survives until then, they won’t let him out of hospital. He’s not going to live, and I don’t know how I’ll cope. Yeah, so we fight sometimes, but I don’t want to lose Jake.…………………
Everyday I hear the sound of the heart rate monitor, as it stopped beeping and kept one tone. The nurses rushed in, and tried to revive him. That was four years ago, when we lost him, and we didn’t even get to say goodbye. I miss him so much. Every year, Mum and I buy Jake a Christmas present, and they collect in the attic. We have to cope, but now I’m an only child, although Jake’s always there with me, and Mum lost her son. It’s hard, but after four years, we’re finally learning to manage. We love you Jake.
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Ok, so I had to write this story for school, but some people (no names mentioned Cough*Smiffle*Cough*Amme*Cough) forced me to upload it... Please let me know if you like this kind of thing (however depressing it is) and please comment. It is a short story so there won't be any other parts. Cheers :)
