Chapter One

"£2.70 please."

The barman placed the glass of whiskey on the counter in front of Eddi. She could barely see it, or him for that matter. Reaching into her bag, she discovered that her purse was empty. She made her slurred apologies to the disgruntled barman who tutted and muttered something about useless time wasters.

A time waster.

That's exactly what she was, Eddi thought to herself. She may have even said it aloud she was so plastered. Ever since the disappearance of that blasted caravan, all she seemed to be able to do with her time was waste it.

And surely there was no better way to do so than by actually getting wasted. Judging by the amount of money she had spent in the last few hours, it seemed as if that box was ticked. Now she just had to find her way back home.

The music of the club was blaring, if you could even call it music. It was just noise. Everything was just noise. The neon lights were so bright that they almost blinded her, their incandescent garishness taunting her, daring her to pull another all night booze bender.

'Taxi!' She yelled as she stumbled out of the club doors. About a dozen other people were hanging about. Some were also waiting for cabs, some were smoking, others were chatting and laughing with their mates. There was light in their eyes, hope in their faces. Eddi remembered a brief time when she had felt like that.

"Eddi? Is that you?" Called a familiar voice.

"Oh no." Eddi thought to herself as she spotted the cheerful smile of Chantelle coming towards her. It wasn't that she didn't like her; she was a decent girl, and a laugh to work with, but what she really didn't need right now was a familiar face, and pity. Especially pity which came in the angelic and ever well meaning form of Nurse Lane.

"Are you alright?" Chantelle's usually happy expression was darkened with concern.

"Oi, Chantelle, what's up?" One of her friends in the large group she had left behind shouted.

"Nothing, give me a minute." She yelled back. "Eddi, you don't look too good."

"Thanks."

"No, I mean, are you okay? I think you'd better be getting home, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah." Eddi looked up to face the nurse. "I'm just gonna get a taxi now." She staggered towards the taxi rank, Chantelle just catching her before she fell to the ground.

"Woah, steady!" She exclaimed. "You'll never get yourself home safe like that. Are you by yourself?" She looked around to see if there were any friends of Eddi's around, and suddenly realised what she had said. Eddi looked at her 'are you by yourself?', what a stupid question. Chantelle knew. Sacha knew. Henrik Hanssen probably knew. The whole world knew that Eddi was by herself

"I - I'm sorry, Eddi, I didn't mean to-"

"Doesn't matter." Eddi slurred. "I don't care. I just wanna get home, so just go. Your friends are waiting for you." Chantelle glanced in the direction of her mates, torn.

"Hang on, wait here a sec." She directed Eddi towards a wall to perch on and ran over to the mass of people she had left.

"Okay, come on, let's get you home." She returned a few moments later.

"What? What are you on about?"

"I'm taking you home. Well, to my house. I don't want to leave you…alone while you're like this." She smiled the least patronising smile she could manage. She was worried about Eddi. God knows what could happen to her if she was left to get home by herself in the state she was in.

"What? I don't need to go to your house, what about your friends? This is unneces-"

"Shh!" Chantelle silenced her and bundled her into the back of the cab.

The journey took about fifteen minutes, during which Eddi fell asleep. Chantelle gazed out at the surroundings, a million thoughts running through her mind. Her and Eddi weren't particularly close, but she had been there for her when she had first joined AAU. She was a brilliant nurse, and underneath the tough exterior, she was sure, a brilliant person. She hated to see anyone upset, and it broke her heart to see Eddi like this. There had to be something she could do to help her, this couldn't go on. What was she going to do? How could she help Eddi?

As she looked up to the stars twinkling away in the darkness, her mind turned to the most important question;

Where on Earth are you, Luc Hemmingway?