The Way It Is [#OpenNovellaContest2019]

• Chapter Seven •

"Um...hello?"

"Anna, it's Lily."

"Lily... it's two o'clock in the morning..."

"Taran's awake."

"What?"

"Yeah. You better get over here quick; the doctors need answers because I didn't see anything and Taran is very confused."

"I'm- I'll be a few minutes."

"Okay. Hurry please."

"I'll try. Bye."

"Bye."

~ • ~ • ~

Anna hurried into the hospital, sweater half way on and her pyjama pants twisted. She saw Lily talking with a nurse, so she headed in their direction.

"Anna! I'm glad you could come", Lily gave her a quick hug and then turned back to the nurse. "She can give you more answers than I can, ma'am."

The nurse smiled. "Thank you, dear. If you two could follow me please, I'll have Dr. Miles out in a moment."

The girls followed the young woman down the hall, passing many doors until they came to the intensive care unit.

"Wait here please", the nurse asked, before disappearing through the door.

Anna quickly fixed her twisted pants and glanced silently at Lily, both of them waiting nervously for the nurse to return.

When she did, she was followed by an older man, who looked like he was in his late fifties. He had black hair sprinkled with little dots of grey, and a little bit of stubble on his jaw. He outstretched his hand to the girls, his brown eyes smiling warmly.

"Hello girls", he said. "I'm Dr. Miles."

Anna and Lily shook his hand. Gesturing to her and Lily, Anna introduced them. "I'm Anna and this is Lily."

"Well, I have a few questions for you girls", the doctor said. "First, can you give me a detailed explanation of what happened?"

"He was on the diving board at my friends house", Anna started. "We were in her back yard having a party. My other friend had just jumped in, and she told me that when he went to jump, he slipped and fell sideways. That's when he hit his head on the side of the pool. She saw it happen.

"Then we quickly lifted him out of the pool carefully, carried him to the car, held a towel to his head wound, and drove straight here."

The doctor jotted down notes on a clipboard, nodding.

"So you did not see it happen?"

"I did not see him fall, no."

Lily chimed in. "I didn't see it either."

The doctor nodded again. "Alright. Second, how did you carry him to the car?"

"My friend was holding his hips and legs while I had his upper back and supported his neck. I tried not to let his neck move. We had him kind of like..." she put her arms around Lily, demonstrating how they had carried Taran. "This."

The doctor kept nodding. "Okay. And last", he looked at Lily. "You and your brother are not from here, correct?"

"We live in New Zealand currently, yes. But we did live here before."

"I am going to have to get some more information, so we're going to contact your family. Do you live with your parents?"

"Yes." Lily took the clipboard given to her by the doctor and filled out the form.