Maya screamed in horror as the little boy flew through the air, falling to the floor at her feet.
‘What have you done?’ she shrieked at her husband.
‘Oh my God,’ Hugo cried. ‘I-I didn’t mean to hit him!’ He held his head in his hands in shock as he stared at the crumpled mess of his son lying on the floor.
Jay rushed over and began checking Elliot’s vital signs. I stared in shock at the tiny body, with its pale, wan face and a trickle of blood trailing from the side of his mouth, pooling onto the tiles beneath him.
‘Oh my God,’ Maya cried over and over again as she cradled him in her arms. ‘My poor baby.’
‘Do something, Liv!’ Jay shouted at me. ‘Call an ambulance!’
His words brought me to life and I fumbled with my bag, trying to find my phone within it. My fingers were awkward and clumsy as I tried to press the right buttons.
‘Hurry up!’ he roared.
53
MAYA
Street lights streaked orange past the tinted windows as I sat in the back of the ambulance. I had been in such shock climbing up behind Elliot’s stretcher that I hadn’t noticed Hugo following after me until he sat down beside me glumly holding his head in his hands.
‘How could you?’ I cried.
‘I didn’t mean to; I didn’t know he was going to get in front of me. I’m so sorry.’
‘I told you to stop. I told you to calm down!’ I kept going over the evening’s events. Was this my fault? I was the one who had invited the O’Dowds over. I could have prevented this. If I hadn’t sprung it on Hugo then this never would have happened.
‘I’m so sorry, you have to believe me,’ he pleaded. ‘I didn’t mean for this to happen.’ He moved to put his arm around me but I brushed it off.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the paramedic eyeing us warily. He already suspected that Elliot’s injuries weren’t the result of an accident like Hugo claimed. As they had been lifting him onto a stretcher in the house, one of them had asked us what had happened. I had been too stunned to speak and Liv and Jayhad looked wretched so Hugo had spoken for all of us and said that he had fallen.No, he didn’t, I wanted to scream.You did this to him – you!
When we arrived at the hospital, the ambulance doors were flung open and Elliot’s stretcher was rushed to Resus, leaving me and Hugo running in its wake, trying to keep up. We were met by a kindly nurse who had shown us into a waiting room and brought us a mug of tea and, even though neither of us drank it, we took it gratefully. She told us that somebody would update us on his condition soon before going on her way.
We sat there waiting as harsh strip lighting flickered overhead. Every now and then, Hugo would get up and start pacing. Then he would sit down again and try talking to me but I didn’t answer him. What on earth could we possibly say to one another in light of everything that had happened tonight? I had a vague sense somewhere on the periphery of all that was going on that this was a watershed moment in my life; I couldn’t let my head process it yet, but nonetheless, I knew that after tonight, things would never be the same again.
As the seconds dragged past like hours, I began to grow frustrated and stood up. How long had we been waiting in this three-metre-square room? Hugo did the same and stood alongside me like a shadow. Everything about him irritated me. His proximity, his breathing.
‘When are they going to tell us what is happening?’ he cried.
I clenched my eyes shut and didn’t reply.
Finally, a doctor in scrubs entered the room and my heartbeat started to ratchet up.
‘Mr and Mrs Laurence?’ he asked as we both turned to greet him, keen for news of our son’s condition. ‘I’m Doctor Sweeney, I’m?—’
‘Please, just tell us how he is,’ Hugo rushed in wishing to skip the introductions.
‘I’m afraid your son is in a serious condition. He has sustained a major brain trauma. There is swelling on his brain and we’ve had to put him in an induced coma to try and alleviate the pressure on it and allow it to rest and recover.’
‘Oh God,’ I gasped, cupping my hands over my mouth and feeling as though I was sinking through the floor. ‘Will he be okay? Please just tell me he’s going to be all right,’ I pleaded.
‘I’m sorry, I can’t make any promises. There are no guarantees in situations like these, unfortunately, but I can assure you that we’re doing all we can.’ He paused. ‘You need to be aware that even if he pulls through, we won’t know the full extent of his injuries and any lasting effects until he wakes up.’
I pinched my eyes shut as if trying to block out his words. I couldn’t bear to listen to what he was telling me.
‘I was wondering if either of you can tell me a little bit about what happened to him tonight?’
I froze, knowing if I told the truth, it could have serious repercussions for Hugo. I looked at my husband and he looked back at me; there was an unmistakeable warning in his eyes.
