Swell (Complete)

Chapter Thirteen(Part One)

"Stay up with you all night,
So don't run away
I am your light, I will guide you home."

....

"Adora, put your shoes back on."
Adora looked up at her mother with a frown. They had not long finished watching a movie together and were about to go to bed when the phone had rung.
"Why?" Her mum's face was ashen and Adora swallowed a lump as she glanced at the portable phone in her mother's hand. "What's wrong?"
"It's Brett..." Anne said simply.
Adora's stomach dropped and she hurried to slip her shoes back on.

They parked at the hospital and Adora hurried to the reception desk. "What room is Brett in?" She asked.
"Adora, over here." Iain caught her attention before the nurse behind the desk could answer.
She hurried over to her cousin and gripped his arms. "What happened? Is he ok?"
"Tara found him after he didn't come back from emptying the bins. He's in with the doctors now." Iain moved his arms from her grasp and wrapped them around her. "We're not sure what happened. Nobody else was there, and he was unconscious when she found him."
Adora rocked in his arms. "Where's Dodge?" She bit her lip. Was her older cousin's birthday always going to be devastated by accidents or death?
"He's not here. He went home earlier, before Tara we realised Brett was missing."
"Have they told you anything?" Adora pulled back and looked around the corridor, for the first time she saw Tara, and his parents. She felt her heart pounding, making her pulse race and leaving her body trembling as she moved away from Iain towards Brett's family.
Tara looked up and Adora felt her eyes watering as she looked at her childhood babysitter. Tear streaks had stained Tara's fair cheeks and her eyes were bloodshot.
"Do you know anything?" Adora asked quietly.
"He was on the ground by the dumpster." Tara shook her head and Adora could hear the strain in her voice. "He must have been there for at least twenty minutes before I went and found him. The dumpster was smashed against the wall, its not normally that far back." Tara's voice broke.
Adora tried to wipe her eyes as she sat beside Tara and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm sorry." She said quietly.

The wait felt like it lasted all night before a doctor came out and gave them a small smile. "He'll be ok." Brett's mother broke down in his father's arms. "He's going to have a lot of healing to do, and he'll be getting around on a wheelchair for a while."
"What happened?" Tara stood up from beside Adora.
"I can only make assumptions, the police will be better to answer that question. Brett's on some pretty heavy sedation for the rest of the night. We'll be keeping him in here for a few days. Aside from the broken legs, there's some severe bruising to his torso and he has a couple of broken ribs. He's lucky none punctured any organs."
Adora slouched back in the plastic chair, trying to focus on the doctor's words. She felt dizzy at the thought of Brett in a hospital bed, and even a wheelchair.
"Can we wait with him?" His mother asked.
Adora felt a hand gently squeeze her shoulder and looked at the hand, following it up to see Iain giving her a small, comforting smile.
"He's being transferred to a ward soon; we'll let you know when you can go in. In the mean time, I suggest you speak to the police and try to cooperate with them until we can find out from Brett what happened."
"Of course, thank you." Brett's father spoke for the first time since Adora had arrived. Anne had left her when she'd seen Iain was among those waiting. Brett's father's voice was strained, unlike Adora had ever heard it before.
Adora's lip was sore from chewing it and her hands red from the constant knotting and twisting in her lap. Brett's mother sat beside his bed, Tara shared the couch with Adora.
The machines attached to her best friend beeped steadily, which was a small comfort.

His head had a white bandage wrapped around it, he had stitches for a gash on his forehead and he had a cast on both his legs.
Iain was outside in the hall talking to the police officers about what had happened surrounding Brett's attack.
It apparently looked like a car had driven down the laneway behind the pub and slammed Brett against the dumpster and the dumpster into the wall, and then there were signs that he'd been beaten before the attacker drove away.
Adora's cheeks were dry and itchy from the tears that had burned lines on their way down her skin. She'd never seen anyone so damaged in a hospital bed before and all she wanted to do was shake Brett awake and find out what had happened, who had attacked him.
Why would anyone want to attack him?
Her mind couldn't comprehend a reason, let alone a suspect. She leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees to rest her chin on her hands.