The Thin Wall

Chapter 2

"Josh, Josh are you waking up, Josh! Oh my god, please tell me your ok, please!"

Josh slowly open his eyes as his mother screamed with delight and hugged him. Josh looked around. The hospital room was a clean white colour with machinery cluttered around the sides. His mother sat on the left, her face full of joy and smiles. "Are you ok? What did you do to your wrists? They were bleeding so much, we were so worried about you..." "What do you mean, bleeding?" Josh's voice sounded confused. "I don't remember any bleeding."

"Are you sure, because you were pretty badly injured?"

Josh looked right to see two women enter the room. The first woman wore a white coat and white trousers. Her hair was tied back and she had an ID badge around her neck. The second woman wore a police uniform with a clipboard. She had took off her cap which revealed her brown hair done up in a bun. As Josh's mother walked out of the room, the first woman spoke. "Hi there, Josh. I'm Doctor Chang and this is PC Jones," she said. "She wants to ask you some questions now that you're awake." PC Jones then spoke. "We received a call from your school saying that you had emergency blood loss and needed an ambulance. Of course, the police came as well to take details from the witnesses. I just need you to confirm a few details for me first, is that alright?"

"Yeah, sure," replied Josh as he sat up on his bed.

"Ok, so your full name is Josh Percy Riley, correct?"

"Yes."

"Your age is 14 and your birthday is 3rd December, 2006?"

"Yes."

"Your school is called Sunort Comprehensive?"

"Yeah."

"Your residence is 4, Traveller's Drive, is that correct?"

"Erm, I think so? You really should be asking my mum all these questions, you know."

"Oh, we have; these are just warm-up questions to wake you brain up."

Josh groaned and laid back onto the bed as PC Jones laughed out loud. He tried to cover his face with his hands but something was holding them back. He looked down to see clear tubes attached to his wrists. His eyes followed the tubes to find an IV stand with liquid dripping into the tubes and flowing into his body. He turned his head towards Doctor Chang. "So is anyone going to tell me what happened?"

"According to your school, let me just find the sheet..." PC Jones flocked through several sheets of paper on her clipboard. "Here it is. According to your school, your wrists started to bleed at an alarming rate during class. You then went unconscious due to your level of blood loss and was taken via ambulance to here."

"Huh," Josh said. "So why did my wrists suddenly bleed, then?"

Before PC Jones was able to answer, Josh's mother returned with his aunt and cousin. They both hugged him tightly. "Thank god you're ok," said his aunt. "We were so worried about you."

"Cuddle," said Josh's 3 year old cousin.

"Yeah, thanks auntie, thanks Adam," said Josh. "Where's Jonathan?"

"He's at school; it's still 14:00," his mother said.

"Oh yeah, sorry; I forgot," replied Josh. "So, Doctor, how did my wrists start to bleed?"

"We still don't know," PC Jones said. "According to your classmates, your wrists just started to bleed from a slit. It resembles a slit from a knife, but we found no knife on you or in the classroom, so we're still unsure. Do you remember if you brought something sharp into school today?"

"Hmm, I remember I have scissors in my pencil case, umm, oh and I sharpened my pencils last night, but apart from that, I don't think there was anything else."

"Interesting. Well, thank you for telling us that Josh. I'll leave you alone now, so have a good rest. I'll come back to talk to you tomorrow at your house." PC Jones said goodbye to the others before leaving the room as she put her cap back on.

Doctor Chang tapped her tablet. "Alrighty, so you will be fine in a few hours, Josh. You'll be cleared to leave by 17:00, ok? Now, a list of things to avoid doing for the next day or so." She handed Josh a small list. "So avoid putting too much pressure on your wrists, don't take your plasters off and don't do anything that raises your heartbeat, so too much exercise, anything too exciting, et cetera. Ok, we'll leave you to rest now, Josh. See you later."

"Bye," Josh said loudly as Doctor Chang left the room. He stared at the list and then at the mirror on the wall. It took him a moment before he realised that something was wrong. All he could see through it was the other wall, but...

There was something moving in the mirror. He could see it. An invisible figure distorting the mirror image as it passes. What looked like an arm reached out and the figure began to write with its finger. The message was written in blood. It read...