Night shift - Completed

Chapter 31

Calum's PoV

*** trigger warning; drugs and overdose***

Poppy sat nervously beside me, her hands not keeping still as she intertwined her fingers and released them again. I could already tell this was going to be hard for her. I didn't know much about her, but I knew what kind of person she was and that never really changes.

"Okay..." she breathed out as she tried to compose herself. "This is difficult but you need to know now. The paps will find out and spread it and I don't want you to know that way." She began, making me nervous. The feeling in the pit of my stomach began to grow. Was I even ready for this?

"Thank you." I said in the hope it could make her feel more at ease but I could tell it didn't. She was still as nervous as ever.

"It was absolutely ages ago, like seven or eight years ago. I left my family home because we just had no relationship and I moved in with a friend, Amelia. We'd known each other since primary school and she'd always stayed in touch but she herself fell into the wrong crowd. She let me stay in her flat whilst I looked for a place of my own, but she always had visitors round who were there for drugs or sex. I stayed away from that and locked myself in my room, earphones in so I never heard anything. I didn't want to know anything that made me see her in a different light or that would be evidence against her. I wanted to play dumb. After all, she was helping me out." She let out a huge sigh which made my stomach turn, it meant the worst part of the story was coming. I braced myself as much as I could, preparing to hear how she'd killed someone or something terrible had happened to her. "Anyway, one night this guy came round - a regular of hers that she always spoke about having a crush on, Kyle - and they did the usual; drugs for start and then they got intimate. As usual I ignored the whole thing, but then I heard some raised voices over my music and I couldn't block it out any longer. I took my earphones out and heard them having an argument. Things started to smash and so I headed out there, just to check they were okay... but they weren't. He was beating her, throwing stuff at her as she cowered in a corner and I just panicked. Without thinking I called the police from my room and told them where to come but then ran out to help her. I threw a plate at him which shattered on his head and cut him, he then turned his attention to me and we got in a fight. He hit me hard and without any emotion until he heard the sirens. He went mental, threatening to kill us both unless we admitted who called them. I owned up to it. Amelia, despite being injured, took to cleaning up all the drugs before the police got there and within seconds, they'd kicked the door down. Kyle was choking me, calling me names for ratting him out, it took two police officers to pull him off me. They arrested him straight away and one officer stayed to get our side of the story. I half lied, said he was a friend who was coming round but I didn't hear what started the argument as I was in my room. I heard it kick off, called the police and went to help. Luckily they were too distracted to look for drugs and I suppose because I was clearly clean, they didn't suspect it. He got sentenced to a few years in prison for assault and GBH." My jaw was already open in shock. How on earth did a woman like this have such a bad story to tell? She was nothing but good to us all and here she was, tears filling her eyes as she told me something I could imagine she wished had never happened in her life. "Amelia then snapped at me one night after taking drugs, she stormed in and claimed her life was ruined because of me, I'd locked Kyle away and she felt alone. I didn't want to argue with her so I just apologised but it wasn't enough, she ordered me to pack my bags and leave. As I was getting ready, I heard an almighty crash. I ran out of the room to see her lying on the floor, fitting. She'd overdosed. I called for an ambulance but I didn't know what to do, they tried to talk me through it but it didn't work. By the time they arrived and got her to hospital she had died. From that moment, I knew I needed to study something that helped others, I didn't want to feel so useless. I vowed to Amelia at her funeral that I was going to become a nurse because of her good influence on me. And I did." She wiped a stray tear from her face as she finished up what she was saying. I admired her for her strength to overcome such a sticky situation but I could tell this was something the paps would love. "That guy, Kyle, he's out now but I've never had a run in with him since. I moved far away and started a new life here with the nursing programme, but I know the paps would love a story about hanging out with druggies and violent people. Look, if it's too much for you, I'm happy to go. I don't want you to feel like I'm a liability to your career or-"

"Enough." I silenced her instantly, shaking my head. "All that story showed me was that you got help from a friend and tried your best to save her when you could. That from a shitty situation, you built yourself up to what you are now. I'm proud of you and everyone else should be too. Fuck the paps, if they want to make up a story then I'll fight them over it. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm just sorry that you lost your friend." The tone changed at the end of my speech, knowing it was likely to hit a raw nerve. Her gaze fell to the floor and she bit her lips together. I moved towards her as much as I could and put my arm around her.

"Thank you." She breathed out, finally getting the courage to look back up at me again. "It's just difficult to talk about, I very rarely tell people about it."

"Well, I appreciate it. I'm glad you came out of it, it meant you became a great nurse and that I got to meet you." I said with a shy smile. She turned to me and pulled me in for a hug, burying her head in the crook of my neck.
It was a bittersweet moment.