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Izzy sat next to Melanie’s bed in the Kent and Canterbury hospital. It had been an exhausting twelve hours, several of those had been spent in A&E at Ashford and then to her relief, Melanie had been transferred to Canterbury hospital. Izzy had phoned work to explain her absence, and they had been supportive and sympathetic. Once the adrenalin had begun to wear off, sleep had overwhelmed Izzy, and she had dozed in the chair next to her friend. It was far from a restful slumber, pierced with flashbacks of the accident and now her head felt fuzzy and confused. She was finding it hard to comprehend the series of events since she had called around to check upon Melanie. Now, twelve hours later, her friend was an inpatient having been knocked down by a car at the traffic lights. The police were due later that morning to interview them both, Izzy for the second time.
Melanie stirred and groaned.
‘Mel, it’s OK, I’m here,’ said Izzy, reaching across the bed and taking her hand.
‘What time is it?’
‘About half-past one in the afternoon,’ said Izzy.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, beginning to sob. ‘I’m such a nuisance.’
‘Shush, don’t say that. You aren’t well. But you are going to get better, I’m going to make sure of that.’
‘I don’t deserve you,’ murmured Melanie. ‘I’m a waste of space.’
A young doctor approached the bed. He was wearing chinos and a checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up and no tie. Izzy’s heart missed a beat as she took in the vision before her.
‘Hi, I’m Dr Spencer,’ he said reaching over and shaking Izzy’s hand. ‘You are Miss Gough’s friend?’
‘Yes, Isabel, well, Izzy I’m usually called. Izzy Sherwood.’
‘Like the forest,’ smiled Dr Spencer.
‘Oh, yes! Of course,’ laughed Izzy. She felt herself blushing to the roots of her hair like a bashful teenager. She’d been with Rob for several years now, but she couldn’t help mentally drooling over the doctor who looked like he’d stepped from the pages of a glossy magazine. He had closely cropped hair which allowed his perfectly proportioned features to be displayed unimpeded. A vision of beauty and masculinity smiled back at her.
‘How are you feeling today, Melanie?’
‘Sleepy. I’m a bit sore and my head hurts.’
‘You were incredibly lucky. We had to pin your arm as it was a complex fracture. However, you’ve not broken anything else which is quite remarkable.’
‘That’s good,’ said Melanie, weakly.
‘I’ve just had the results back on your CT scan and although you took a bit of a wallop to your head, there’s no damage as far as we can see. You’ve five stitches though, but it could have been much worse.’
‘When can I go home?’
‘We need to keep you in for a few days’ observation. You had a serious accident and we want to make sure you don’t develop any internal bleeding. There is a nasty bruise on your side, and we need to monitor that.’
‘OK,’ she nodded.
‘I need to talk to you about another matter, er, perhaps you would like your friend to leave the room for a moment so we can speak in private?’
‘No, it’s alright, I don’t mind Izzy being here, she knows all about me and my problems.’
‘I can leave,’ said Izzy.
‘No, I want you to stay, please stay.’
Izzy nodded at the doctor.
‘OK, well, the other thing is, we’d like you to talk to someone from our mental health team. Your left arm is covered with the plaster cast now, but we could see some recent scars and also on your thigh, and we are concerned for your safety.’
Tears sprung from Melanie’s eyes at this point. Izzy handed her some tissues.
‘OK,’ nodded Melanie, unable to say anything more.
‘Is there anything you would like to ask me?’
Melanie shook her head.
‘I’ll leave you now, and the nurse will let you know when someone will be around to speak to you. If you have any further questions, just let the nurse know and she can page me.’
He put up his hand to Izzy and left the room.
‘It’s for the best, Melanie. The team will be able to help you get better. I don’t want to lose you.’
They held hands for a while, and Melanie drifted back off to sleep as she was still drowsy after the anaesthetic. After about ten minutes, Izzy carefully extracted her own hand and crept out of the room. She planned to return soon, but she needed to get home and take a shower. She felt disgustingly hot and dirty after the events of the accident and her enforced stay in hospital. Tragic though it had been, perhaps it was a blessing. Whether it was a cry for help or a suicide attempt, it would mean that Melanie would be taken care of properly. For the moment, she was safe in hospital.
**
‘That’ll be Tom,’ said Beth, getting up from the sofa and heading into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
‘Beth, how is she?’ asked Tom, putting his bag down and closing the front door quietly.
‘I don’t know, honestly. She’s hardly said a word since we got back. When we pulled up in the taxi, she asked why we were stopping. She didn’t recognise the house. Kept on talking about Princes Close or somewhere. I had a job persuading her out of the car.’
‘Oh, God, Princes Close was where she used to live, with her parents.’
‘She’s talking about someone called Roger and then she keeps laughing. It’s very odd. Quite frightening.’
‘Her Dad was called Roger. Perhaps that’s who she means?’
‘She’s saying something like Dad, stop hitting me.’
‘So what happened exactly?’
‘Well, one minute we were watching the most awful footage involving my Mum, the next minute we were told to take a break and when she stood up, she just passed out. It was very hot and stuffy in there, and I know she’s been having hot flushes. One minute she was gathering her things, the next she was on the floor. I think she might have banged her head as she went down, but there’s no sign of any cut or bruise on her forehead or anything.’
‘God, what a disaster,’ murmured Tom.
‘It was an eventful session, one of the legal team even got stung by a wasp!’
‘Really?’
‘Is that you, Dad?’ they heard Trish call.
‘See, she’s obsessed with her Dad,’ said Beth.
‘Yes, it’s like she’s gone back into her childhood. I’ve been worried about her for a while although I didn’t tell you. Let’s go and see her.’
‘Trish, hello,’ said Tom.
‘Hello,’ replied Trish. ‘I thought I heard Dad? Where is he?’
‘Look, Trish, I think we better go to the hospital.’
‘Why? Is it Dad? What’s happened to him? Oh, God, is he dead?’
Tom and Beth exchanged glances.
‘Let’s get your things together, and we’ll pop along to the hospital.’
‘Is Mum already there?’
‘Let’s get going,’ said Tom, ‘that’s it. Take my arm.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ said Beth.
‘Family only,’ said Trish. ‘I don’t think they’ll let you see him. Not if he’s dead.’
They steered Trish to the car as she chattered away about disparate subjects. Little made much sense. Tom’s concerns had been mounting over the last few weeks but to find her in this state was a complete shock. He’d expected her to be rather depressed at experiencing the details in the inquiry, but something had triggered a sudden breakdown in her mental health.
He reversed out of their driveway and soon they were waiting to join the main road. The hospital was only about a five-minute drive away, and he just hoped there wouldn’t be a big queue at the Urgent Care department.
‘I’ve just looked on the app,’ said Beth. ‘There are six people waiting and the current wait time is forty minutes, not bad by today’s standards.’
‘Well, hopefully, we might get seen right away,’ said Tom, ‘I suppose it’s possible she’s had a mild stroke, but there isn’t any evidence of loss of motor skills or anything.’
‘No, I’ve been keeping an eye on that too,’ said Beth. ‘Her face isn’t distorted, and I got her to raise her arms and legs.’
‘Are we going out for dinner?’ said Trish. ‘I’m not very hungry.’
Tom was at a loss whether to reply honestly or to go along with the charade. It was like speaking to an elderly relative with a severe form of dementia. Suddenly he began to panic. Surely you couldn’t develop dementia in such a short space of time, could you?
‘Watch out!’ shouted Beth from the rear seat.
Tom braked hard and managed to stop before he reached the zebra crossing. He needed to concentrate or they would all end up in hospital.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m just a bit distracted.
He refocused on his driving, and within minutes they turned into the main avenue of the hospital complex. Parking was easy as the outpatient clinics had finished for the day. Slowly they walked along to Urgent Care hopefully to obtain a diagnosis.
