An ambulance’s siren approached and Elijah scooped up an unconscious Lilly, holding her tight as he walked her out of the alley. While waiting for the ambulance to come to a stop, Elijah muttered to his doorman, Gareth, that he should wait for the police to arrive and not to let Simon out of his sight until they arrived.
The paramedics lifted out the stretcher and let Elijah place Lilly on it.
“You go in the ambulance, I’ll follow you there,” Elijah told Angie.
The paramedics went to work on Lilly, they busied themselves with checking her heartbeat and breathing. Working silently they lifted the stretcher into the back of the ambulance. They looked over at Angie and Elijah to see who was getting in. Angie nodded her assent and climbed in after Lilly and the paramedic.
He was angry that Lilly had been drugged by a regular at his bar. He was mad with Lilly for going outside with that man in the first place. He was angry at his violent reaction towards the scumbag. The evening had started off so wonderfully well and had all turned to shit.
Elijah needed to get to the hospital but had already had a beer and couldn’t drive so he had to find his way there. Walking over to the man lying on the ground, he wondered if he had caused any permanent damage. He walked towards him as he was coming around, but his doorman stepped in front of him to stop his progress.
“Leave it alone man. The police are on their way and his mate is pinned up against the wall so he can’t take any drugs off him. When the police get here, they will find the rest of the pills on him,” Gareth said, placing the palm of his hand on Elijah’s chest.
“Fine, can you take care of this while I head to the hospital?”
“Sure man, leave it with Pete and me, the place will be fine. Just get going,” Gareth said.
A car beeped its horn at the roadside, Elijah looked over to see his brother, Jack, waving at him to get in the car. Elijah nodded to Gareth in acceptance, jogged over to Jack and got in the car. His mind was going into overdrive at Lilly’s health and wanted to be at the hospital already.
“How did you know to come here?” Elijah asked his brother.
“Gareth phoned me,” Jack answered, signalling to pull out onto the main road.
“Step on it brother, I need to be there already,” Elijah said and closed his eyes.
“Just waiting on you, I’ll get you there as fast as I can,” Answered Jack.
Jack drove like the wind to get to the Accident and Emergency hospital just outside the city. Elijah was grateful for the speed. Jack parked the car while Elijah ran into the hospital to see where Lilly was.
Waiting in line at the reception desk frustrated him no end, he wanted to find out where she was and how she was. Pacing back and forth until it was his turn raised his blood pressure higher and higher.
“Next,” the receptionist called to Elijah, he didn’t hear the first time she called out. Jack stepped forward, Elijah hadn’t noticed him there.
“We need to know where Lillian Harrison is. She was brought in by ambulance about half an hour ago.”
“Are you family?” The receptionist asked.
“No. We’re the people who found her, she’s a friend of mine,” Elijah said, finding his voice.
“You’ll have to wait until her family have arrived before I can let you see her,” the receptionist informed them.
“This is ridiculous, I need to know she is ok,” Elijah yelled.
Elijah dragged his hands through his hair trying to think of a way to pass the receptionist to find where Lilly was. It didn’t take long for a solution to appear.
“Elijah, thank god you’re here. I don’t know what to do? Her parents aren’t coming, they have a concert recital they need to be at and won’t leave early. They’re about an hour’s drive away and have said that if she is still here once it’s over, they’ll come. What kind of parent says that about their child? They think because she’s quit her job that she’s rebelling and taking drugs. I tried to explain, but they wouldn’t listen to me,” Angie said, her voice full of anguish.
Jack wrapped her in his arms and let to her cry out her frustration and despair. Elijah couldn’t believe what he washearing, he hated her parents for being so cold, what party was more important than the safety of their child. He hoped he never met them, as he wouldn’t be able to control his temper towards them.
“Tell me Angie, what are they doing with Lilly?” Elijah asked.
“They said that they were pumping her stomach and then if her heart is ok, then she should be ok,” Angie answered what she knew.
“Where is she, can we see her?” Elijah asked.
“I’ll take you to where I was told to wait, as I think she’s in a closed room to get her stable,” Angie said.
Elijah and Jack followed Angie through the corridor and into a small waiting area with plastic chairs and a coffee machine. The three of them sat in silence and waited. All lost in their own thoughts, Angie sitting in the middle of the three of them holding their hands.
