XXIX - Josh
“Henry?”
Josh called as he knocked the door and tried the handle. “Henry, are you in there?” There was no sound from the other side
except the hiss of the TV.
“The door’s locked,” he said as he turned back to
his companions, “do you think he’s locked himself in?”
“Who else could it be?” Paige replied.
Josh turned back to the door, rattling the handle
more franticly this time, “Henry?
Henry, if you’re in there, please open the door, or call out, or…
something!”
For a moment there was silence and then, almost
obscured by the sound of the TV, a faint moan.
“Oh god!
Something’s happened to him!” Paige exclaimed in tones of panic. “We have to do something!”
Josh rattled the handle a third time, then stepped
back and started kicking the door.
“Henry, we’re coming for you, okay?
Stay away from the door and try… try not to panic.” The door shook with each kick, but, aside
from denting the paintwork, it didn’t seem to make much difference.
“Stand back,” he said to the others, “I’m going to
try and bash it down.”
Paige and Charlie stepped aside and Josh gave
himself a run up, then he charged at the door with his shoulder. It shook much harder this time, and Josh
thought he felt something give a little.
He took a few steps back again, rubbing his shoulder as he did so, then
he charged again. This time he gave out
a yelp of pain and there was a cracking sound from the door, but it still
hadn’t broken through.
“Once more,” he said, panting slightly, determined.
The yell Josh gave out as the door fell through
after his third attempt was much louder than the first and he stumbled through
the doorway, nearly falling over the broken wood as he did so. Paige ran in after him and then let out a
gasp of shock as she saw Henry.
He was lying in the bed, sheets tucked in tightly
around him, with the needle of an IV drip stuck into his forearm. A tube led from the end of the needle up to
an IV stand, but where there might normally be a bag of fluid to flow into his
veins, the tube ended, open, in mid air and Henry’s blood was flowing freely
from it, falling onto the floor in a steady stream.
“What the hell’s happened to him?” Josh asked as Paige rushed to his side and
began pulling the needle out.
“I think they put it into an artery, he’s lost so
much blood already!” Blood began to
flow directly out of the old man’s arm once the needle was removed and Paige
clapped her hand over it instinctively.
“Check the drawers and the nurses’ station, see if there are any
bandages, or anything we can use as a tourniquet.”
Josh nodded and began rifling through the drawers
beside the bed, quickly pulling out a roll of bandages and some gauze. “Will this be okay?”
“Should be.
When I lift my hand, place the gauze firmly over the wound and then wrap
the bandages over it tightly.
Okay? I’m lifting my hands…
now!”
Josh pressed the gauze dawn as quickly as he could,
feeling a sharp twinge of pain in his aching shoulder as he did so and then he
began wrapping the bandage around it, tightly holding it in place. When he was finished Paige examined it and
tied off the bandages.
“That’ll have to do. I think it’s stopped the bleeding.”
“But how did he get like that?”
Henry let out a tiny moan.
“Henry, what happened to you?” Josh asked, “Did you
do this yourself or?”
“The… the nurse…”
“Nurse?” asked Paige, “What nurse?”
“What… happened to… her… she was… supposed to be…
looking after me.”
“Josh, check the floor, see if you can find whoever
did this.”
“No… stay with… me… I’m very… very sick… you know…”
Josh gave her an uncertain expression and then
pulled up a guest chair, “It’s okay, Henry, we’ll stay here until you’re
feeling better.” He looked up again,
“You guys should get chairs as well. He
needs rest and so do we, but once he’s a bit stronger, we have to leave this
place.”
Paige and Charlie both nodded and found chairs and
then they sat down to wait and listen to Henry’s uneven breathing as he slept.
End of Part Two
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