The Fallen Twins Laughing Game

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

*Knock knock* ~creaaaak~ "Oh thank goodness officer! We've been so worried, have you found them yet?" Scarlett and Shelby's mother was in pieces, as their father stood beside her, comforting her. The officer slowly pulled down his hat, into his hands. His eyes alone crying their sorrow for the distraught parents. With his voice breaking, he exclaimed to the parents, "I...I'm terribly sorry sir, madam. We have found your daughters but...I'm afraid to inform you that they...are no longer with us." He tried his hardest to word the sentence in the most appropriate manner, but no matter how he worded it, it didn't stop the tears rolling out of the couples eyes. Mr Tilton supported Mrs Tilton, who was practically falling to her knees along with a river of tears. She babbled, "No...no! Just yesterday I...I packed their schools bags and waved them off to school. Their smiles..."Her words trailed off and she sobbed, expressing her pain and distress. A few hours later, the police left to investigate further into their deaths.

The school was closed that day so that the children could console themselves. Silvia, the most unpopular of the bullies, had decided that today she was going to paint her room. The twins deaths didn't really effect any of the bullies so this was just a normal day off for them. "MOM! Where's the pink paint?!" Shouted Silvia as she ran her fingers along all the other paint cans, reading each colour carefully. "Have you checked the basement?" A reply flew up the stairs. Thump, thump, thump. Silvia ran down the stairs into the basement. A dark, barely used room covered in spider webs and dust. "Paint...paint..." Silvia muttered to herself, searching the room until she came across a high shelf carrying a pot of bright pink paint. "Ah! There you are! Now...there just stands the problem of trying to reach you...and I think I know how!" Silvia fixed her eyes on a pair of sturdy, metal ladders, sleeping on the floor. Leaning them on the desired shelf, she started up the strong ladders. "Hehehehe..." Silvia froze as a whisper of giggles drifted past her ears. "Huh..." She brushed off the whispers and carried on. "Hehehehe..." "Woah!" This time the giggling was louder, and much closer to her. "What the..." Silvia looked around, then carried on climbing until she reached the top of the ladders which still left her quite a distance, which resulted to her standing on the very top step, stretching across to the paint can. "Hehehehe..." She suddenly froze at the giggling which sounded much more than a whisper. "Who's there?" Her voice shook, fear showing without a doubt. A whispering voice replied, "This is called the laughing game..." Silvia gasped. Another whispering voice, different from the first continued, "YOU get pushed..." The original whispering voice followed,"...and we laugh!" Silvia's eyes widened, but before she could even react...SWOOSH! Silvia screamed as the ladder flew off the shelf, almost as if it was pushed and smashed down onto the floor, squashing Silvia between it and the cold concrete floor. Suddenly, the desired paint can dropped down from the shelf, and covered unconscious Silvia in bright pink paint. Whispering giggles filled the basement, before her mom raced down the stairs.

Later that day, Silvia lay motionless in a hospital bed, surrounded by her family. A doctor walked into the room holding a chart, and Silvia's mom shot straight up and bounced over to him. "Doctor, what happened?! What happened to my little girl?! Is she going to be ok?" Her questions just kept filling the room, leaving no space to be answered. She took a deep breath, clutching the doctors white coat. She sighed, "How serious is it?" The doctor guided her back to her seat and sat down beside her, then stated, "Generally, this is decided by how long the person has been unconscious for and/or on the basis of something called Post Traumatic Amnesia (PTA), which basically means that the person has memory problems after being injured and coming round. Something that we noticed when we were doing the tests was that she has suffered from Hydrocephalus. This is basically fluid collecting on the brain. Between 1 in 100 and 2 in 100 people who have head injuries get blockages in the flow of fluid (called Cerebrospinal fluid) around the brain. This causes it to build up over time and puts pressure on the brain because there is only so much room inside the skull, and if fluid is building up, there is less room for the brain and it is squashed. This can cause all sorts of problems including mental handicap, not being able to move properly and incontinence (not being able to control when you go to the toilet)." Silvia's mom wiped the tears away from her red, puffy eyes. "can she recover from this?" The worried mother asked. "Yes, people can and do recover from head injuries. However, it gets less and less likely the more severe the injury is. Also, the longer time goes on, the pace of recovery slows down."The doctor looked over his charts. Silvia's mother cupped her head in her hands. The doctor suddenly stopped a nurse who was passing by and quietly told, " Please get surgery room D ready for this patient. Procedures will follow as soon as possible. "Right away doctor," the nurse replied before hurrying off. "Wait, surgery? She has to go through surgery?!" Silvia's mother suddenly started worrying and crying again. The doctor tried to explain, "Shunt surgery involves implanting a thin tube, called a shunt, in the brain. The excess cerebrospinal fluid in the brain runs through the shunt to another part of the body, usually the abdomen. From here the fluid is absorbed into your blood stream. The shunt has a valve inside it to control the flow of fluid and to ensure it doesn't drain too quickly. It won't be too noticeable, it just feels like a lump under the skin of your scalp."

The worried mother continued to panic as her daughter was taken into surgery room D. As hours passed, she heard a number of shouts that replayed in her mind. "Nurse, scalpel." "Blood is low doctor!" "Pass me the skin staples." "Were losing her doctor!" "Shunt has been installed." Two days passed, and the doctor stepped into the mothers room in which she had been sleeping for the time being. "Well doctor?" She intertwined her hands together. "Well," the doctor revealed," Silvia has not come round yet. We fear she may have a very severe brain injury as she has been unconscious for more than 48 hours. We're sorry, but you must stay until we make any type of progress. Thank you." "Thank you doctor," agreed Silvia's mother. She was then left in her room, crying over her injured daughter.