In A World Of Our Own (Westlife Fan Fiction)

Chapter 5

When Ellen woke up, she was in a bed, wires and tubes sprouting from all over the place. The walls were a dull white and the brown double doors stood at the opposite end of her bed. She was clearly in hospital, and that was to be confirmed when a nurse walked in through the doors and changed something to the machinery next to her. Ellen tried to speak, but no words would come out. She sat up a little and tried to speak again, but instead she just coughed and was sick into a bowl next to her bed. She was struggling to breathe as she finished vomiting, and the nurse gently pushed her so she was lying down again, and she picked up the bucket and cleaned it up at the sink.

 The nurse walked out of the room, she hadn’t said a word to Ellen, and shortly after the doctor came in. He checked her throat and changed something on the drip.

“How are you feeling Miss Turner?”

“Awful” Ellen was starting to get her voice back, but it hurt to speak. The doctor nodded and gave her some medicine. Ellen reluctantly took it and coughed again. The doctor spoke quietly to the nurse and then smiled at Ellen as he walked out of the room. The nurse came over and asked Ellen if it was okay to let her family in. she nodded gently and the nurse turned and walked out of the room.  The doors of Ellen’s room came over as her family burst in and surrounded her bed. Emma was there too, in her uniform, she was obviously on duty.

 Her family left after Ellen said that she was tired and they all left her in peace. Emma had left earlier because her pager went off; she was needed in a different ward. Ellen was about to fall asleep when she closed her eyes and just saw flames surrounding her. She forced her eyes open again and tears silently fell from her eyes. She was about to try to sleep again, but two men came in, wearing Police uniforms and looked deadly serious. One smiled sweetly at her and she smiled in return.

“Miss Turner?”

“Yes, I am her”

“We were wondering if we could have a word with you about the fire.”

“Okay, but I can’t talk very well”

“That is okay, you can write the answers down to preserve your voice.” He handed her a notepad and a pen and Ellen just stared at the paper in front of her.

“Can you remember what happened?”

Ellen wrote down what she could remember and handed it to the officer who smiled at her. He read it carefully and then looked at Ellen. She had started to cry and the officers could sense that they weren’t going to get the answers they needed whilst she was in this state. They thanked her and informed them of their future return. She nodded and they left the room, solemn looks on their faces.

 Ellen was in the hospital for what seemed like years, but it was only a couple of weeks. She still had slight breathing difficulties, but it didn’t help that she had asthma. They kept her in to observe her, to make sure that she wouldn’t keel over Ellen presumed. On the day of her discharge, Emma had the day off and drove her home. The drive was silent; Ellen just wanted to go to the diner. She reflected on the moment that the police had told her what happened. The fire crew had informed them that one of the deep fat fryers had caught on fire, for reasons not yet known. The entire building had gone up in flames, and Ellen had almost joined it. But according to the firemen, by the time they had arrived the whole building was aflame, but Ellen had already been pulled out by someone who they haven’t been able to get hold of. The description of the man was not familiar with Ellen and she didn’t have any clue as to where he may be now. It was probably some random passerby, but the police said that they saw the man drive off in a flashy sports car, a Ferrari they believed.

 Ellen couldn’t remember what had happened after the fire, she could only remember slipping and banging her head. When Emma dropped Ellen off at her house she made sure that she was settled in and she left her to meet Olly. Ellen sat in her armchair and just sat staring into space. She was returned to reality by a knocking on her door. She stood up slowly and opened the door. It was he Police, again. She stood aside to let them on and they said they just wanted to give her what they recovered from the fire. It was her phone and her lost property box. It looked slightly burned, but the contents were fine. She closed the door behind them and she placed the objects on her coffee table. She sat back down and buried her head in her hands. She cried for what seemed like hours and when she had finished she pulled out a bottle of vodka from her fridge. She had a few shots before placing the remaining drink in the fridge and walking out of her door. She needed closure, and the only way she could do that was from seeing her diner.

 She pulled up on her Vespa and climbed off. The diner was covered in Police tape, and had safety hazard signs over all entrances. She walked over to the building and ran her fingers over the burnt wood, as if she was comforting the scorched structure. She stood there for a few minutes, shedding a few tears. Her livelihood and her income had just gone up in flames, it was over.

“How are you feeling?” Ellen recognised the male voice behind her. She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned around.

“Terrible” It was Kevin standing behind her, hands in his pockets. He smiled at Ellen and she just sniffed back.

“Do they know what happened?”

“Not yet. But they know more than me, I don’t even know who saved me.” Kevin had an uneasy look on his face and he shuffled his feet along the floor, looking at the ground.

“How do you know that someone pulled you out?”

“You know don’t you? Who saved me?” Ellen was getting angry and Kevin looked sincere.

“It was someone who I know, and that is all I can tell you, I’m sorry” He started to walk backwards towards his car.

“Thank you Kevin” she wasn’t happy that he hadn’t told her, but at least she knew a little more. She pulled her helmet over her head and pulled away once Kevin had disappeared from sight. She suddenly remembered that she hadn’t asked Kevin what he was doing there, he had no reason, and he didn’t know that Ellen was going to be there. She drove home on her Vespa and decided to leave the topic well alone. She felt very weak, it had been a long day and Ellen was tired, and famished.

 Once she had got inside her flat, she made herself a spaghetti carbonara and sat down at her two seat dining table to eat it. Ellen had hardly any energy left to eat it, and it too her ages to get through it. She felt better afterwards and sat down in her arm chair. She stared at her Westlife poster and closed her eyes. She fell asleep for a couple of hours, before the flaming scene from before emerged into her dreams. Ellen’s eyes were scrunched up tight; she was determined to see the dream through. She saw herself on the floor of the diner, and the man who saved her pulling her out of the flames; she still couldn’t identify him, which frustrated her. The fire seemed to dim down and she was suddenly outside the diner, with the man kneeling over her. She then saw the man drive off in his sports car and before she could see what happened she was shaken awake by a hand on her shoulder.

 It was Emma; she had an innocent smile on her face.

“You didn’t answer your phone and I got worried so I came over. You looked in pain and you were trembling”

“It was a bad dream.” Ellen’s hands were shaking as she stood and walked over to the kitchen. She put the kettle on and she ran into the bathroom. She came back out a few minutes later, her face was pale and she looked in agonising pain.

“Are you okay?”

“I have just thrown up my entire body weight”

“Does this keep happening?”

“That was the second time, but it was just where I overate, honest”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Did I tell you I saw Kevin at the diner?”

“What were you doing at the diner?”

“I just wanted closure”

“Don’t go there again, not without someone else”

“I wasn’t alone, Kevin was there remember”

“Why was he there?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t have time to ask”

 Emma left after she was satisfied that Ellen wasn’t going to faint and Ellen was alone again. She turned the telly on to drive away the bad thoughts that were appearing in her mind. She turned the telly off because there was nothing on and fell asleep in the arm chair again. She was so tired and she needed to rest, but she didn’t want to give in to sleep, she wanted to figure out why her diner burst into flames, and who the mysterious man was who saved her.