Thanks for reading and keeping interested up to this point :P
*dream bits are in italic, but u may of figured that by now ;)*
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The time was now nine o' clock at night.
BB and Lola were now pacing, impatiently outside the door of the room where Lauren was being examined by doctors. Jez was sat on the plastic chairs opposite the door, his face in his hands, whilst Claudine had fallen asleep, leaning on Jez's shoulder for support.
"Stop pacing you two, you're making me nervous" Jez whispered. The four of them had been told to be quiet several times by the hospital staff.
"I can't help it, man. I can't sit and wait, that makes me more nervous" BB replied. He carried on pacing in circles.
"Do you think she's going to be alright?" asked Lola, looking worried.
"I'm not sure, she looked pretty bad" replied Jez.
"When are they going to let us see her?" said Claudine, whilst awaking from her sleep.
"Soon, hopefully" BB replied.
Lola then dropped down to Claudine's level. She was curled up across two chairs, still coughing. Lola put her hand on Claudine's shoulder.
"That was really brave babe, what you did" whispered Lola to Claudine.
"Did what?" asked Claudine, in between coughs.
"What do you mean? You've saved Lauren's life! She would have died instantly if u hadn't of been there" Jez told her.
"I didn't save her. You were the ones who carried her out." Claudine said, indicating to Jez and BB.
"Yeah, but you got her somewhere safe, Claudine. There was no smoke where you were, if Lauren had stayed in that room, she would have been killed by the flames. And you got her out, you saved her" BB told Claudine, with a smile.
Claudine smiled back at the three smiling faces surrounding her. She closed her eyes to try and get back to sleep. She kept smiling, knowing that for once she'd done something good, and she had saved someone's life.
Well, she hoped she had saved Lauren's life.
Claudine desperately wanted her to be ok. Firstly, she had just cleared everything up with her, and wanted to make it up to her for being so nasty for the past months.
And secondly. She couldn't let Danny win.
Danny. Where was he, anyway?
………………………………………………………………………………………
Danny watched from an empty street at the blazing Britannia High; he watched the fire engines speed towards the school, making a desperate attempt to diffuse the flames.
He saw Mr Nugent and Anna at the front, talking frantically to one of the fire men.
He saw lots of the students, filling the front of the school from their nearby houses, watching in surprise and horror as many young dreams could now be wrecked and burnt.
He scanned the crowds. He looked over at the burning doors. There was no sign of Claudine or Lauren.
Danny smiled, evilly. He was pretty sure they were still inside, choking, screaming, and even dying.
He had to get out of here before someone revealed the truth of who did it. But with Claudine and Lauren dead, he was pretty sure he was safe.
Was he?
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"Her condition is ok, but she's still unconscious. We think she's going to be fine. You can go in and see her now"
The doctor held open the door to Lauren's ward. Claudine, Lola, BB and Jez walked into the drab, white room where they saw Lauren.
She looked awful; her face was pale and motionless, and she was wired up to several machines, which were monitoring the patterns of her body. A clear mask covering her mouth was helping her to breathe normally.
The four stared at her, nearly in tears.
"How could this happen to her? She was so lovely" said Jez in sorrow.
"She IS so lovely. She's going to be ok" said Claudine, glaring at Jez.
Soon after, everyone was sat down, surrounding Lauren. So far, she hadn't shown any signs of life, except for her heart monitor, which had been bleeping in the same rhythm for the past half an hour. The gang were all trying to think of a way to make Lauren wake up.
"Maybe we should read her a poem!" Lola exclaimed.
The rest of the group stared at her in that 'Don't be so stupid' kind of way.
"Lola, she would probably fall asleep again" said Jez.
Lola sighed, and then tried to concentrate again.
"I reckon we should sing a song she knows well to her, it might jog her memory?" suggested Claudine.
A minute later, after a discussion, the four of them started to sing the chorus of 'Start of something', despite having two voices missing, one in which they wanted to join them in singing, the other they didn't want to know anymore.
'This could be the start of something; I can feel my heart is jumping, want to walk but can't stop running…'
"Excuse me; I think its time for you lot to leave. This is a hospital, not a singing lesson! And its past visiting time anyway!" said one of the huffy nurses, who had heard their singing from the corridor.
They were just about to protest when they realised that they couldn't really be too loud.
The four of them decided to leave Lauren in peace, hoping that in the morning she would wake up and everything would be ok again. They left Lauren's side and walked to the door, looking at her and longing for her to be awake.
Except for Claudine.
Claudine still stayed there, by her side, staring at Lauren's face.
"Claudine, come on" Jez called for her. She didn't budge.
"I'm staying here; I want to be the one who's there for Lauren when she wakes up" Claudine replied, still staring at Lauren.
"You'll never be allowed, visitors aren't allowed to stay" Jez told her.
"Family members are, I'm going to pretend I'm her cousin" Claudine answered, determined.
Jez walked towards Claudine.
"You've changed, don't you know that?
Claudine looked directly at Jez with a smile.
"I wanted to change; I couldn't go on the way I was. I realised, that all that jealousy over Danny was pointless, and upsetting Lauren was pointless too. I've got to tell her that I'm sorry, not just for being mean, but for this whole thing. If I hadn't of destroyed their relationship, she wouldn't be lay here right now. It's all my fault, Jez" Claudine confessed, now in tears.
Jez sat down beside Claudine and enveloped her in a hug.
"It's not your fault. It's Danny's" whispered Jez, comfortingly in Claudine's ear. She rested her head on Jez's shoulder. He was a good mate to have around.
After a short while, Claudine found herself drifting off to sleep again.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Claudine ran, faster and faster through the smoke, tears in her eyes.
She couldn't hear anyone. She was trapped in the building, and every door was locked.
She pounded on one of the exits, screaming for someone to find her and to save her.
Claudine suddenly saw a glimpse of someone coming towards the door from the outside. She strained her eyes to see who it was. Then she recognised who it was.
It was her mother.
Claudine didn't exactly love her mum anymore after what had happened when she was a kid. But whatever, she needed help.
She banged on the doors, catching her mums attention. She lazily walked to the door where Claudine was. However she didn't do anything.
Claudine was desperate. She yelled at her mum, begging her to help.
Her mum hated her. She knew that from when she was a kid. And she knew it now. Her mum turned away from her, leaving her helpless. Claudine watched in tears as her mum walked away from Britannia High, and disappeared.
After she had gone, Claudine dropped to the floor, and saw Danny dragging a screaming, sobbing Lauren behind him by her hair.
Claudine tried to get up and help, but it was as if her body was glued to the floor. However hard she tried, she couldn't move.
Danny then threw Lauren to the floor next to Claudine. As she landed on the floor, the whole room turned black, then a really bright white colour.
Claudine looked over at Lauren to find her on a hospital bed dressed in white. She saw her eyes look across from her bed, before they closed. No heartbeat was being measured.
Claudine soon realised that she too was lying on a hospital bed, next to Lauren. She tried to get up, however someone's firm hand pushed her back down, and kept her there.
It was Danny.
He had a knife in his hand.
He raised it above his head, and Claudine screamed.
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Claudine awoke, startled and shaking with fear.
It was just a dream.
She looked around her to find that Jez had gone, and she had fallen asleep on the edge of Lauren's bed. Her face was once again covered in sweat. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Someone was with her.
She turned around to find a nurse, sat next to her, and it wasn't the mean one from before. This one seemed nice.
"Are you alright, love?" she asked Claudine.
"I'm…fine, I had a bit of a bad dream" replied Claudine, remembering the dream and how much it had scared her.
Claudine looked back at Lauren. The clear mask she had on her face before had now been removed. Claudine reached out for Lauren's hand and held onto it, hoping she could feel it.
"I'm Liz, I'm in charge of monitoring Lauren's health. You're her cousin, right?" asked the nurse. Claudine hesitated, and then nodded.
"If there's anything you need love, I'm right here" she told Claudine.
Claudine immediately burst into tears.
"I need Lauren. Is she going to be ok?" Claudine asked, desperate.
"I'm pretty sure she's going to be fine. I'll go and get you some tissues dear" she said soothingly, before leaving to find some tissues for Claudine.
Claudine sat and wept in the empty ward, still holding on to Lauren's hand. She couldn't help thinking that this was all her fault.
"What if she died? It would all be my fault" thought Claudine, and she wept even more.
"I'm so sorry, Lauren" she said again. Claudine would never be able to forgive herself. Why couldn't she have just been nice? She let go of Lauren's hand and buried her head in both hands.
She suddenly felt someone touch her shoulder, on the side closest to Lauren. Claudine thought it was the nurse, back with some tissues.
"Thanks" Claudine mumbled. There was a silence.
"…Claudine?"
Claudine paused.
That sounded like Lauren's voice…
Thanks for reading :D
xxxxxxx