‘No pain no gain, neighbour. You got this.’
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the sound of him.
Luckily there was no time for either. Nurse Angles hooked her arms underneath Alice’s and started to lift her up gently.
Here we go again.
*
Once again Nurse Angles had pulled out all the stops. All the patients were confined to their beds, and the small female lounge to the right of the ward had been cleared to allow Alice full privacy. Darren was already there waiting when they wheeled her in, as cheery and upbeat as the last time she’d seen him.
‘Alice! So good to see you. How are you doing?’
‘OK,’ she muttered, terrified to learn what gruelling exercises he had in store for her.
‘Right, let’s get you up and out of this chair. Trust me, it won’t be long until you don’t need it any more.’ He winked encouragingly as he helped lift her up to standing.
‘OK, we are going to continue with the simple mobilization exercises we started last week. Take it slow and we can rest whenever you need …’
It was another humiliating hour of her life, but instead of wanting to crawl into a hole and disappear, Alice found a small spark of resilience igniting inside her. The fiercely stubborn and ruthless competitor she was before the fire had begun to rear her head again. The old Alice was still in there, it seemed. As she forced her tired, stiff body to make the minuscule movements Darren was instructing her in, it dawned on her that this was the only way she was getting out of here, so she’d better find a way to do it and do it quickly.
*
Back in bed, her entire body burning with effort, a little voice crept into her consciousness.
I wonder if anyone’s bothered to contact you.
Has anyone even checked to see if you’re alive?
Is work the only thing you’re needed for?
Her phone! She still didn’t know where the hell it was. Ina rush of nervous panic, Alice reached over and buzzed the nurses. How funny – even when she was in the most pain she’d ever felt in her life, Alice had never called for help, but now when it came to finding her most prized possession it felt like an emergency.
A flash of guilt rose up in her when she heard a nurse sprint over to her bay.
‘Alice, is everything OK? Alice, what’s happening?’ Flustered, the young nurse appeared between the curtains.
‘Sorry. I probably should have waited until rounds, but I just realized I don’t have my phone. I haven’t seen it since I arrived. Do you know where it is?’
‘Oh. I see.’ The look of relief and annoyance on the nurse’s face was quite a picture. ‘Let me check … one second.’
Nice to know the old Alice hasn’t disappeared completely. Pushing the help buzzer for your phone … really?
In a few moments the nurse was back, holding a ziplock bag of items: purse, keys, phone. Alice recognized them instantly as hers.
‘Sorry we didn’t give these to you sooner. We had to cut away your clothing when you were first admitted – someone must have filed them away in the process. Here you go.’
An image of someone hurriedly trying to separate her suit trousers from her molten skin flashed across her mind. She felt sick at the thought and instinctively felt for the dressings along her left leg, grateful she had been freed from the mess. ‘Thanks,’ she murmured.
Here was another piece of her that had survived the blaze. Holding the cold metal weight in her hand felt alien. She took a deep breath and hesitantly turned it on.
Nothing.
Brilliant. Literally not one single …
One message. Mum.
Two messages. Lyla.
