The Vanishing of Brandyn Taylor

Deep breath.

I was so frightened riding in the ambulance to the hospital with Rachel. The paramedics were brilliant with Rach' and even helped eased my anxiety a lot, but still I was very worried. I wasn't even completely sure where we were nor
how we were going to get home if Rachel wasn't able to drive, which I assumed she wouldn't be for some time. I had grabbed my bag and both our mobile phones from the car, and as soon as we arrived at the hospital I would call both our parents on Rachel's phone. I knew there would be hell to pay from my mum, she never liked me going off doing things anyway, and she would make sure I never forgot about this incident that was for sure.

"Excuse me, what hospital are we going to? I don't even know where we are really." I asked, tying to gauge when was a good time to ask. I had waited until the paramedic seeing to Rachel had sat down, presumably because Rachel was stable at the moment.

She gave me the name of the hospital, and told me where we were. I guessed it was still about two hours from home. (My geography knowledge isn't the best I have to say.)
Maybe the two mums could share a car and drive down together in the morning. There wasn't anything they could do tonight, but then again if it was my daughter I'd be wanting to be with her as soon as possible. When we arrived Rachel was taken straight through, and I was asked to give her details to the front desk. Once she was booked in, and I was shown where she was, I went outside to make my calls. I rang Rachel's mum first, delaying the ear bashing my mum was no doubt going to give me, for as long as possible.

"Hello Mrs. Mosely, it's Keira. Before you worry we're being looked after, but Rachel is in hospital. We had a small accident."

Valerie, Rachel's mum, was really shocked but stayed calm, I could see where Rach' got her level headedness from. I gave her as much information as I could, and explained I was about to phone my mum. Valerie suggested asking my mum to phone her once I had ended my call to her, and they would sort out getting here as quickly as they could. I promised her I would get my mum to phone. Then I rang home, and as suspected my mother went into a mini anxiety fuelled rant. She eventually calmed down and asked if we were both OK. I repeated the details again, and told mum to ring Valerie. My mum said she would text me when they knew a rough time they'd be here, and said to call her back when I could.
I went back to sit with Rachel, who was now wired up to all sorts of machines.

"Hey Rach' you ok hun?"

Rachel nodded and went to pull the oxygen mask off her face a little, but I patted her hand.

"Leave it on hun. It's ok, you don't need to talk. Our mums are sorting out whose car they're bringing and they're both heading down tonight. That way one of them can drive your sisters car home whenever. You feeling a bit more comfortable now?"

Rachel nodded again and gave me a thumbs up and small smile.

"Good. You had me bloody scared back there. Thank god we found that farmhouse. Bob and Linda seem lovely. It's a bed and breakfast too so they said call if we need a room."

I talked to Rachel for a while, trying to take her mind off things, but she soon looked tired, so I told her to just rest. The staff were excellent, keeping a close eye on her, but even so the hospital was packed and things took time. Half an hour after my call my mum text me and said she was on the way to pick Valerie up and they should be here by around midnight, all being well. Rachel had all sorts of examinations and xrays and things done to her that I had no idea what they were.
A short time later a middle aged man introduced himself as a consultant.

"Hi, Rachel is it? I'm Mr. Yanis, I'm a consultant here. Is it ok for your friend to stay while we discuss your treatment?" Rachel nodded it was. "Ok, you have a collapsed lung on the right side, from the impact of the steering wheel hitting your chest. One of your ribs has a slight hairline fracture, but it hasn't pierced your lung luckily for you. You're going to be kept in for a few days, as you'll need oxygen and rest. I've asked one of the nurses to get you some pain relief and he's just getting that now. Other than that we just need to observe you. If everything goes ok you can be out in a few days. We don't need to do anything to the lung at the moment, but you should be aware that if your condition deteriorated we would need to reinflate the lung, either by a needle into it or a tube, depending how severe it was. I don't foresee that happening if it hasn't already, but I need to make sure you know it's a possibility. Is there anything you don't understand or want to ask me?"