Bondi by request

Chapter 30

Jake had seen Poppy getting into difficulty and immediately radioed Whippet to tell him to follow Harrison in. Whippet knew that Harrison had no idea Poppy now needed rescuing and he wanted to keep it that way. As Harrison headed straight for the boy, Whippet headed to where he last saw Poppy but he couldn't see her. Frantically searching the water he saw just her fingertips coming out of the water but she couldn't get her head above the water so he sped towards her and reached for her hand as she went under again.

Pulling her lifeless body onto his board, Whippet turned them around and began powering his way back, managing to use a big wave to his advantage and they sped to shore.

Harrison had now realised it was Poppy being rescued and running into the water to meet Whippet, they both carried her onto the sand quickly.

"No, no, no Poppy" cried Harrison

"She's not breathing" said Whippet as he began giving mouth to mouth

Chapo had now appeared and he checked for a pulse

"Ok, she's got a pulse" he told them

Luckily, after only a few breaths from Whippet, Poppy took a gasp of breath for herself and coughed up a lot of water.

Whippet turned her onto her side and seconds later the paramedics arrived, hooking her up to oxygen and monitors before getting her on a stretcher to take her to the ambulance.

"She's in the best hands mate" Whippet assured Harrison with a hand on his shoulder

"She's barely conscious" Harrison said "What if........"

"Don't finish that sentence" Whippet said sternly "Now get in the ambulance and go with her to the hospital, Maxi has offered to cover the rest of your shift"

"Really?" stammered Harrison "But, but it's his day off"

"He was here surfing anyway so he's ready to start, so go" Whippet said as he pushed Harrison into the ambulance after the paramedics had got Poppy inside.

Harrison held her hand all the way to the hospital, willing her to be ok

"She's still not responding much" Harrison said to the paramedic who was checking her vitals again

"She's conscious, breathing and she has a very good, strong pulse"  she assured him "Considering she nearly drowned, I think we can expect her to be a little tired"

Harrison nodded and smiled and turned back to look at Poppy

They soon arrived at the hospital and were taken through to a room with doctors' ready and waiting who began checking Poppy over straight away while a nurse took Harrison to a waiting area just outside the room.

"She's in good hands ok" she smiled at him "I promise I'll come and get you as soon as they're finished"

"Thanks" Harrison smiled back

Realising Poppy's family needed to know what happened and that he didn't have her Father's number, he sent a text to Chapo asking him to find Poppy's family to tell them and Emma and he would update them as he knew more.

After what felt like a long time, the nurse came back out to him

"You can come in now if you like" she said

"Is she ok?" he asked

"Yep, she's asking for you" she nodded

As Harrison walked into the room and over to the bed Poppy was in, he could see she was sitting up and he smiled with relief.

"Hey you" he said, kissing her on the forehead

"I'm sorry" she whispered

"Why are you sorry?" he said, taking hold of her hand

"Because you tell me all the time about people trying to help others and then getting into trouble themselves" she replied "And yet I still did it"

"Your instinct was to help someone else" he said "That's not a bad thing is it"

"I've never been so scared" she said, beginning to cry "It was like no matter how hard I tried, I had no control over where the rip took me"

"I was so scared when I realised it was you on Whippet's board"

"So it was Whippet who saved me?" she asked

"Yeah" he nodded "He pretty much saved your life"

"Does my Dad know?" she asked, suddenly realising

"I've got Chapo on it don't worry" he smiled

"How's the boy?" she asked "Did you get him out?"

"He's doing fine" Harrison promised her

The doctor had said they wanted to keep Poppy in for observation and they allowed Harrison to stay sat with her as she dozed in and out of sleep.

When Poppy next opened her eyes, she saw that Harrison had been replaced with her Dad and her eyes filled with tears again as she saw his hand clutching hers.

"Hi there sweetheart" he smiled at her

"How long have you been here?" she asked

"Not long" he replied "I sent Harrison home for a bit but I'm sure he won't stay away long"

"I should be out tomorrow" Poppy told him

"Yeah the doctor told me that too" he said "That's why I didn't bring your sisters with me, I figured they could wait till you got back"

Nurses were in and out of her room, checking on her regularly and when her Dad stifled a yawn, one of them suggested he go home and come back tomorrow.

"She's right Dad" agreed Poppy "It's late and I'm just gonna be sleeping myself so go and get some rest"

"I don't want to leave you" he said

"She won't be alone you know" laughed the nurse

"Seriously Dad, go get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow" Poppy said

Her Dad agreed to go, promised he'd be back first thing in the morning to bring her home and Poppy settled down to sleep again, trying not to think of her lucky escape and how much worse it could have been.