The Real Stories

Questions, no answers

MY FATHER pushed through the crowd and ran up to where I was bent over Josh’s still unmoving body. He pushed me away from him, not even looking at Josh and started shouting at me.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?! I was-“ He lowered his tone of voice when he saw Josh. He bent down next him. He checked his pulse. He came up quickly “What happened? DID YOU DO IT?!” He shouted
“No!” I said through my tears, “It was a hit and run!” I screamed. I couldn’t believe he had accused me of doing this “Is he….Dead.” I asked quietly
“No, he’s alive but only just. We need to get him to hospital.”

2 hours later Josh was in a hospital bed. He was still unconscious. He was on a drip. It was weird. I had only been in a hospital once that was when Auntie Margret was having a baby. It was pretty boring, I was only 5 so I had no idea what was going on. Now I knew exactly what was going on and it was scary. Josh’s eyes flickered open. He tried to sit up but I went over and told him not to. He had just got stitches down his back. He looked at me confused, like he had forgotten who I was. Then he had some recognition
“Storm?” He asked. I nodded. “Oh man, what happened.”
“There was a guy called…” I started. Then I looked away. I felt my eyes fill up with tears. Since I had been at the hospital I kept on having flashbacks of Josh being hit by the truck. BANG! BANG! BANG! His body banging against the front of the truck. Verna’s evil grin. The scar down Josh’s face stood out in my memory.
“Storm? You okay? You don’t have to tell me. I remember now.” He said trying to comfort me. A nurse came in
“Oh, you’re awake!” She said. She had a strong Irish accent. “How you feeling?”
“My backs killing me, can’t you give me some pain medication or something?” He asked rubbing his back
“I’ll ask.” She said walking out. I sat on the end of Josh’s bed. We just talked about music for a while; I almost forgot why I had run after him. Then it hit me. He knew things about me that had never passed my lips.
“Josh?” I asked
“Sup?” He said looking up from his I-pod. He was showing me his favorite songs on it “Oh, wait. You need to listen to this.” He gave me the headphones. He played the Ghost of You. I smiled. It’s my favorite song.
“You like that song then?” He asked
“How did you know that I was bullied?” I asked looking him in the eye so if he lied I could tell
“It’s a bit confusing.”
“More confusing than Verna?” I asked. I could tell straight away I shouldn’t have said that
“Never say that name…” He looked away “There is nothing as bad as him.” He looked back at me
“Then tell me how you know!” I asked getting impatient
“I’m guessing I’ll be getting out tonight.”
“Probably, what has that got to do with it?”
“Everything. Come to the skate park, tonight, alone, at midnight.” He said looking at me sharply. “Be prepared.” He said strongly. Even though he was in a hospital bed, and couldn’t move from there, he was still the stronger of us. Suddenly the nurse came back in.
“No, I’m sorry dear. We can only give you the medication you’re allowed.” She said walking over to his bed and fluffing his pillow. Josh sighed. The nurse went out of the room again. She looked at me; I knew she didn’t trust me. None of them did. They all thought they knew who did it. But I couldn’t tell them the truth. How could I explain that there was a guy named Verna who disappeared when you came out of the church in a cloud of smoke when he clicked his fingers? They would think I was crazy! Maybe I was, I had seen something that was…Horrible. I guessed for now I should do the innocent, “I’m so scared” Thing. It had worked on most of the older Doctors and Nurses, but a lot of the younger ones didn’t buy my act. They saw right through me. They knew I had something to hide, and they thought it was that I did it. I tried to tell some of the more mouthy nurses that I didn’t do it when they came in and checked up on Josh and said “We’ll find out the horrible person who did this to you!” And then glare at me. I would just glare back sometimes but others I just didn’t bother with starting an argument or making enemies, I had other things on my mind. I had Josh on my mind; He was a lot more important than the stupid nurses who thought I did it. And Verna. He was a whole lot more important than those nurses. Then another nurse came into the room. She was one who hadn’t been there before. I looked at her; she couldn’t be out of her twenties. She had long hair. It was blue with purple extensions. You couldn’t help but be impressed by it. I knew I had recognized her from somewhere, but I didn’t know where so I left it alone. She was holding onto a clip board. She hadn’t taken her eyes off of it since she came in. She looked up at me, she had deep blue eyes. She was a very well figured girl, and many boys I knew would have found her attractive.
“Elizabeth?” As soon as she spoke I remembered her, you couldn’t forget an accent like hers. It was a strong American one. “Elizabeth Pleasant! What have you done?” She joked pointing at Josh.
“Christian? Oh my God! I haven’t seen you ages!” I shouted running up and hugging her. Christian was the nurse who was in the room when…Wait have I told you that? No? Then I best tell you. I must have been 10, for about 3 weeks I had trouble breathing and I kept fainting, we thought it might have been an infection or something so we went to the doctor. Most of the time I would have a ‘scene’ that’s a nice word for what happens. I freeze. I panic. My neck would tighten and I would have trouble breathing, giving me more of a panic. Christian was the nurse who would inspect me, she told me anytime I had one to get some water and breathe deeply. And to try avoid them by not getting to stressed and scared. I had to go back when they got really bad. She always treated me, we became good friends. But then as I got older I was able to control them so I was barely there anymore. Now we met again in the most unexpected way. We spoke for ages about what we had been doing and then we were interrupted by a very angry Josh
“Sorry to interrupt this tea party but can I get something for my back?!” He said rubbing his back.
“Calm it!” Christian said “That’s why I’m here after all.” She said walking over and pushing buttons on one of the many mechanical things Josh was plugged into. I was sure one looked like a DVD player. I giggled at that. Then I looked back at Josh. As he looked over at Christian. As he leaned to see what she was doing I saw the right hand side of his face, it was badly bruised and had various cuts on it. I looked over at Christian; I saw she was checking them. When she touched one of the larger cuts Josh gritted his teeth.
“That was a nasty hit you got.” Christian said “Amazing you weren’t killed!” She said
“Thanks that make me feel so much better!” Josh said sarcastically.
“You’re just like Elizabeth, how do you guys know each other?” Christian asked looking over at me.
“Old friends” Josh said. He looked at me. He wanted me to continue the story but I wasn’t going to lie to Christian, so I changed the subject.
“Christian, do you believe me? That I didn’t do it?”
“Of course!” She said shaking me. I knew she would believe me, but I was still worried about who else would.