They both nodded.
‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ Eleni blurted.
‘Okay, do you think it would help if we moved you outside or are you more comfortable here?’
‘I need some fresh air.’
‘We can manage that,’ Elle said softly. ‘Jenny, can you grab a chair from over there so Eleni will be able to sit down outside?’
Eleni was doubled over in pain, her head bent low, her hands cradling her stomach. Elle carefully wrapped her arm around her and they slowly walked towards the exit. Once they were outside, they waited for Jenny to appear with a chair.
‘Here’s Jenny and Pippa now.’
Jenny placed the chair in a doorway further down the street from the entrance to the club and Pippa wrapped a coat around Eleni’s shoulders.
‘The ambulance won’t be long now.’
Eleni perched on the edge of the chair and they all stood on the pavement in silence, praying everything was going to be okay.
Eleni whimpered. ‘The pain is getting worse.’
Elle glanced up the road for any sign of the ambulance but she couldn’t see anything.
‘I wish it would hurry up,’ Jenny whispered in Elle’s ear.
‘Any news from Jack or Wilson?’ Elle asked.
Pippa checked the phone and shook her head. ‘No, nothing as yet.’
‘Does anyone know which club they’ve gone to?’
‘No,’ Pippa answered.
‘Please don’t let me lose the baby, please don’t let me lose the baby,’ Eleni muttered over and over. Elle watched in horror as Eleni’s face crumpled and all the colour drained from her skin. She gripped the side of the chair and began to sob. ‘I think I’m bleeding,’ she whispered.
Just then they heard voices filtering through a door behind them.
‘What’s this place?’ Jenny asked, looking up at the sign above their heads.
‘Stage door,’ Elle said as the phone in Pippa’s hand started ringing.
‘It’s Jack,’ Pippa exclaimed, pushing the phone into Elle’s hands. ‘You speak to him.’
Elle put the phone to her ear and her mouth went dry. ‘Jack, it’s Elle.’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘We’re waiting for an ambulance. It’s Eleni…’
‘Jack is going to meet us at the hospital. He’s on his way now,’ she reassured Eleni after hanging up the call.
‘At last!’ Jenny exclaimed. ‘I can hear the sirens.’
At first, they seemed miles away but they soon became louder and louder.
‘They’re nearly here – not long now. Hang on in there,’ Elle said.
Eleni couldn’t speak; she just clutched her stomach.
‘Mim! We haven’t phoned Mim!’ Pippa cried, taking the phone back and quickly scrolling through Elle’s address book. ‘I’ll ring her now.’
‘It’s here,’ Elle relayed, relieved to see the ambulance speeding down the road towards the club. Jenny stood on the edge of the pavement, waving her arms frantically in the air, hoping the paramedics would see her. A crowd had started to gather on the pavement, and there were hushed whispers as the ambulance drew to a halt. The sirens were switched off but the blue lights still whirled.
