She's A Fighter: Chapter 1
The paramedic arrived. Within minutes the police and the ambulance arrived as well. Anna was lying unconscious at the side of the road. Mary was explaining how things had happened, along with the man who had knocked her over. This man – a total stranger, had swerved to avoid a speeding car going on the wrong side of the road and had hit Anna and Mary in the process of doing so. Remarkable, Mary was unharmed, other than a grazed palm and a ripped coat, but Anna wasn't so lucky. She'd hit her head on the corner of the pavement and was now lying motionless. She was completely unresponsive. She was losing a lot of blood and was getting cold. Mary took off her fur coat and laid it over Anna's stiff body. She was explaining to the police what had happened, with the help of the man who had knocked them down, who felt extremely guilty and was shocked to the point of shaking. "No, you see, the car was driving on the wrong side of the road, and it was obviously speeding. I assume it was stolen or trying to get away from something," Mary said to a police officer, who was writing things down.
"Do you know what car it was? Did you see the registration?" Mary shook her head and was about to say something, but the man who'd knocked them over said,
"It was a red Toyota, I think a Prius."
"Any idea what the registration was? And, sorry, what's your name again? I don't know if I wrote it down," the officer asked.
"Thomas Barrow," the stranger said. "And all I can tell you about the number plate was that it was a standard format, had 58 as the numbers and the last letter was F, I think."
"Thank you. And your name is…?" she said, turning to Mary.
"Mary Crawley."
"And you were walking with this woman when this happened, yes?"
"Yes, I'm her best friend; we were walking back from the bus station."
"And her name is?"
"Anna Bates." Thomas was so shaken that Mary thought it highly unlikely that he was drunk, but nevertheless the police officer still said,
"Please would you come with me, sir?" Mary watched them walk to the police car and realised that he was taking a breathalyser test." Mary saw that she wasn't currently needed so turned her attention back to Anna. She crouched next to her fair haired best friend, trying not to get in the way of the paramedics. They'd managed to stop the flow of blood quite a lot, so that now Anna had a better chance of survival.
"Do you know her?" one of the female paramedics asked.
"Yes, she's my best friend. Her name's Anna," Mary said, extremely worried for Anna's welfare. They started using her name now to try to get a response, but nothing was working. Mary held her hand, but then the policeman who'd been talking to her earlier asked her to step over to talk to him.
"Thomas isn't drunk; you'll be pleased to know. Once things have settled a bit here, I'd like to take you two to the police station to give formal statements on the matter." Mary nodded, but said nothing. "Is there anyone you need to contact? Husbands, parents?" Mary hadn't even thought of calling John, she'd been so caught up in the matter.
"Oh, yes, I should ring Anna's husband. Can I tell him to come here?" The policeman nodded and Mary got out her phone to dial John's number. The policeman left her alone to talk to him. "John? It's Mary… No… um, Anna's unconscious. A car knocked us over on our way home… Yeah, I'm fine, but Anna's not and you need to be here… Err, just down the road from Ripon post office… See you in a minute, bye." Mary went straight back to Anna and crouched next to her, letting tears fall down her cheeks. It took about ten minutes before John arrived. He had dropped everything to come and see Anna. He'd left work in the middle of things, so was still in his suit and tie. He was obviously worried. Mary stood up and saw him. The police stopped him from going any further until they knew who he was. Mary ran towards him and told the police that he was Anna's husband, and with that they let him past. He and Mary went straight to Anna – one of them either side of her, holding one hand each. John had got there just in time as the doctors and paramedics were just about to get Anna onto a stretcher so that they could take her to hospital. Mary and John let her go as soon as she was lifted up. "Look, you go with her," Mary sniffed at her sadness, "I've been asked to go to the police station and give a formal statement of what happened, but I'll be at the hospital as soon as I can be." Mary gave John a quick hug before he got in the ambulance with Anna. Mary watched as the ambulance drove away and turned the corner. Then she wandered back to the policeman who'd asked her questions before with Thomas. She found Thomas running a hand through his hair, grinding his teeth. Soon they were off to the police station to sort some things out.
Mary made her way over to the hospital the second she could. Thomas was filled with guilt and also ended up there, feeling that he should pay for any damage caused. When they arrived at the hospital, they told the reception desk who they were looking for and were told that she was in emergency surgery and that no visitors would be allowed to see her for a while, due to the work the doctors were doing to save her, "…but you may stay in the waiting room until visitors are welcome, if you wish. The waiting room is down that corridor and second door on your left," the nurse at the front desk finished.
"Thank you," Mary said with a slight smile as she and Thomas made their way there. When they walked in they found John, clearly petrified and nervous. Mary sat next to him and covered his hand with hers to calm him slightly. He looked up and smiled a small smile at Mary. He then saw Thomas standing next to Mary.
"Thomas!" he exclaimed.
"John!" But then Thomas' face fell. "Oh God, is Anna your wife?" John nodded slightly. Thomas then said under his breath. "Shit! Fucking shit!" he turned around and sat opposite the two. Mary looked confused so John said with an obvious quiver in his voice,
"Um, Mary, Thomas and I used to work together years and years ago."
"Oh," Mary said, rather solemnly. The clock suddenly caught her eye and she realised that it was already six o'clock. "I'd better go and ring Matthew and tell him that I'm alright." She left the two men together. Thomas began to tell John exactly what had happened, as Mary hadn't had much time to explain it, but Mary left the room before she could hear much of the conversation. She paced up and down the corridor as she waited for Matthew to pick up the phone. "Hi, darling, it's me… I'm at the hospital – Anna and I were walking back and a car knocked us over… I'm fine, yes, but Anna's in surgery at the moment. When I last saw her she was unconscious, but I want to wait here until we have some more news… Yes, he's here as well… I may not be home at all, but if I am it'll be late – possibly after midnight… Okay… Love you too, bye." Mary hung up and slipped her phone back in her pocket. She walked back into the waiting room, only to find a nurse about to finish talking to John and Thomas. Mary walked over to them and asked what had happened. John replied, quite a bit calmer now,
"She's out of surgery – things are looking up a bit, but they're keeping an eye on her for a while. We'll be able to see her in about an hour." Mary sunk into the chair beside John and gave a small sigh of relief.
This idea just came to me, and I decided I'd write it down to see how it goes. There will be more chapters, we'll just see how things go. Let me know what your thought are if you can spare a minute or two.