The Agent, The Ghost And The Wardrobe
II: The Ghost
Chapter 9
The room was in a state of utter chaos; nothing seemed to reach anybody's ears.
Lucy stood stiffly, watching through the opened door as the scene unraveled.
Nurses hurried to and fro checking vital signs, handing Emma a cookie or just simply tearing their hair out of their perfectly tight bun. One almost tripped carrying a giant blue teddy bear before setting it on a table beside Jon's bed.
The usually stone-faced nurses were close to tears, their foreheads glistening with sweat. Only Charlie calmly took Jon's hand as she checked his temperature and blood pressure.
Peter stood with his arms crossed and his eyes, which Lucy thought at first looked tired and sullen, alert and angry behind his glaring spectacles.
Three other doctors were waving their clipboards and pointing a stethoscope menacingly at one another.
A young woman, Lucy must've guess to be Jon's older sister, was staring numbly at Jon's pained face. Emma was clutching her arm with her eyes shut and mouth moving in a sort of whisper, "Please, please, please, please…"
Lucy could hear snatches of the doctor's conversation; "His heart has been in state of flux for nearly six hours now. Doctor, we need to do something!"
Peter seemed to make the decision almost instantly. Lucy thought he looked much older than he should. "Prep the patient for a surgery."
The chaos in the room was too much to take in. Mrs. Jonathan stood and everything fell silent. Even the machines' beeping quieted as if it reacted to the tension in the air. The nurses stopped in mid-motion and doctors with half-finished sentences frozen in their mouths.
Mrs. Jonathan walked with precision and complete ease even with the pressure building. She radiated the very aura of confidence and superiority. Even Lucy, whose natural instinct was to oppose anyone with such authority, found herself standing straighter and clamping her mouth shut.
"Richard will not be having any surgery," She turned her gaze towards Peter. Her terrifying gaze made the doctors stand taller and nurses primp up.
"Lucile Carlyle," She let the name fall out of her mouth. A part of Lucy wanted to retort with something cleverer but she knew that wouldn't be smart. That wasn't even her real name.
"It is unfortunate that you've found him in an awful condition as of the moment but you may not stand in the door's way and let the hot air come in. It is bad for the machines to function in hot weather."
Every word jabbed at Lucy, draining her of her strength and making her feel weaker and weaker. She felt like a bug under a microscope.
"And I want everyone else out of this room, now." She finished without missing a beat.
Lucy had no idea what exactly happened. But judging from the petrified looks on the nurses and doctors' faces, she could tell Mrs. Jonathan gave them a good reprimanding. Lucy knew she shouldn't, but she felt sorry for them. Mrs. Jonathan scolding can be pretty terrifying.
Within a minute the room was quiet once more. Everyone trickled out of the room in a rush, not wanting to be on the receiving end of another sermon.
Lucy suddenly felt self-conscious standing by the door with all eyes trained on her. Mrs. Jonathan stared at her for another minute before turning to Charlie.
In a flash, Lucy could feel a surge of pride, a rush of gratitude and whole lot of fear for the Nurse holding on to Jon's hand. Every person in the room held their breath as Mrs. Jonathan studied Charlie.
You could hear a collective gasp, as all Mrs. Jonathan did was nod and say, "Carry on." Charlie gave her a determined nod and pressed her hand against Jon's forehead.
Susan mustered up the courage to sit beside Lucy and hand her a cup of tea. It took some time, but in the end she decided to do it.
"Lucile Carlyle, I presume." She said it uncertainly at first. Susan had no idea if Lucy would respond; she looked pretty worn out. Both of them did actually.
Lucy gave her a weak smile, "It's just Lucy." Susan returned her smile and sipped her tea.
Lucy clutched a sketchpad close to her chest. They sat side by side in companionable silence as they watched the hospital corridors hum with life and death. The thought made Susan want to laugh bitterly. If we had all these technology and medicine, why couldn't we cure every damn disease in the world?
Susan would've laughed, but all that came out was a worn sigh.
"So," Lucy said after another awkward moment. "You're Jon's sister."
"And you're Jon's friend," Susan said this as if it were a question. Lucy shrugged it off and answered, "Yeah. I bumped into him; he ripped my pants and offered to pay for my clothes. And that was on his birthday." Lucy added the final thought like it was something she just remembered recently.
Susan burst out laughing. Lucy felt a slight annoyance at being laughed at, but didn't want to get another lecture. If her mother had that kind of character, she was dreading to find out if her daughter was the same.
"So... Jonathan," At the mention of the name, Susan looked to her confusedly, "Yes?"
Lucy realized her mistake and tried to back track, "Oh! Um sorry, I meant.. Jon. Ah! Rick. No, Richard! Yes.. Richard..." Susan smiled, like she new what Lucy was trying to say.
"We called Peter 'Jon' before. That was a nickname our father gave him. But once he was starting college, he decided to pass his name to Jon. Oops, that's Rick. And so he's been known as 'Jon' since birth."
Susan could read Lucy's questions like a book, "What's wrong with Jonathan?" Lucy did everything she could from looking eager but she knew she failed as Susan gave her a kind smile and continued, "I can't tell you, exactly what his condition is – as I've been thrown out of the room like you – but it all started in this cottage where we used to stay as kids." Susan smiled fondly at the memory.
"It was a lovely place. I had lots of fun there. We called it–"
"Domus Ignis." Lucy finished. Susan turned to her with a questioning look.
"Yes… Well when we visited again, Jon started bleeding. It's always dangerous when he gets cut. That time was even more so. After that, he got sick and these Problems kept stacking up. Mother has no idea what to do with the house. But she can't very well sell the land if there's a Ghost infesting it."
"No," Lucy said. "Not a ghost."
Lucy stood up, "Twelve ghosts..."
"Lucy, look! He's coming around." Emma tugged at Lucy's hand and jumped on the bed.
"Emma get off, you might disturb him." Peter sighed as he pushed his glasses up. Emma stuck her tongue out at him.
"Emma get off, you might disturb him." Mrs. Jonathan chided lightly. Lucy froze at the sound of her voice. But Emma happily skipped up to her mother and gave a tight hug.
Jon stirred and everyone around the bed inched closer.
"Is he going to wake up soon?" Lucy asked. And as soon as she did, she wished she could take it back. Mrs. Jonathan looked at her. Just as Lucy thought she was going to be sent out, the weary mother gave her a smile and said, "We'll see."
Jon slowly woke up. It took sometime for him to blink the glaring light out of his eyes. But once they refocused, he could only smile at the sight held before him.
Six faces with worried expressions melted at the sight of the boy who lived to see another sunrise. Charlie let out a small cry of joy. Peter sighed, it looked like the burden of the sky was lifted upon him. Emma embraced Jon who still had an oxygen mask strapped to him. It was like a light switched on and life began starting again.
Lucy was deciding whether or not to punch Jon in front of his mother and also fighting the urge to give him a good squeeze at the same time.
The celebration was short. Mostly consisting of Emma trying not to let go of Jon and Peter fussing over her.
Several nurses came to take Mrs. Jonathan's blood pressure or to set down expensive looking tea and cookies from Harrods'. Doctors were nowhere in sight and Mrs. Jonathan looked happy. (Or calm and serene, as Lucy put it.)
Time passed with Emma telling her heroic tale of how she saved a boy from her class from a Ghost, which turned out to be a cat in the bushes. And much time spent with catching up on Peter and the Jonathan's part.
Susan sat in her chair beside Jon's bed, nodding politely and smiling whenever Emma made a joke or told a funny story. Mrs. Jonathan sipped her tea and chatted with Peter.
Once in a while, all heads turned towards Emma again who went to tell another story of the time she got lost with her friends in the London Underground. Mrs. Jonathan was surprisingly gracious towards Lucy and pleasant to everyone who entered the room. But otherwise, it was like Susan was a complete stranger to her.
It was not the first time Lucy noticed the strange disagreement with the mother and daughter. But everything seemed otherwise completely normal for the Jonathans in their small hospital room with Jonathan sitting upright in his medical bed.
I would just like to point out several oddities that happened before I left on the day before Christmas.
Exhibit A being:
"Lucile," Mrs. Jonathan called out before I was even halfway out of the door. I cringed inwardly and silently cursed at the chill running down my spine. This was just Mrs. Jonathan, the richest lady in the whole of London (next to the Queen). There was nothing to be afraid of.
All the same, I stiffened and turned to face her slowly.
"Ma'am?" And the ranting begins.
"Lucile Carlyle. Stand up straight. Don't slouch. It's unbecoming of a lady. Fix your hair and dust those crumbs from your skirt. Appearances are important." She could've dragged on and the rest of the 24th would've been wasted. But she was forgiving and the sermon passed by quicker than I thought.
"As a president of the MedTech Institute, I wanted to personally thank you for visiting one of our patients. It is our duty to call friends or family of the patient to inform them. No doubt, you must've received the phone call from one of the nurses informing you of his condition. But as a mother, I thank you for being a friend to Richard."
She bowed and kissed me on the cheek. My face was flaring and I could feel my mind draw a blank. Nothing was processing and I could already see George snickering behind my back. Oh yeah… They're not here.
"And Ms. Carlyle," "Yes?" I whirled around, replying all too quickly. She did the most impossible thing I could've dreamed of at this point.
Mrs. Jonathan smiled and said, "You can call me Sheila."
Now this isn't important, but I feel a need to explain this one thing.
Jon held me back just after we had a small chat. Mrs. Jonathan was taking a phone call; Peter was making arrangements with the other staff members. Susan was talking to Emma and playing with her dolls. Susan looked happy, which somewhat made me happy as well.
Before I went to gather my belongings, he whispered in my ears, "Lucy, the Problem can wait," I almost jumped in outrage. You don't just delay a Problem like that!
As I said so, all Jon did was smile and continue patiently, "You didn't let me finish." (At least I had the decency to feel ashamed.) "The Problem can wait until after Christmas. Oh and here you go." He slipped something in my hands as he let me go.
I probably looked like an idiot grinning to myself. The yellow ribbon was soft and silky. If water and air could be sewn and threaded, this is what it would feel like.
Normally, I avoided putting ornaments on my hair (They don't do well on a mission. Mostly, they just get in the way.) But it did feel nice to receive a present on Christmas.
I guess in all the madness of the day, I forgot to mention anything about the sketchpad or the sketch itself because I found my arms empty of it on my way home. Too late to turn back now. And I will not repeat this again for the lack of maturity displayed in the action, but all thoughts of the case completely slipped my mind. Sighing, I rang the doorbell to 35 Portland Row and leaned on the wall for support.
And the day wasn't even over.
Author's Note
HulloOooooooOOOoooOoOOOooOoooOoooOOoOOOoOOOOooo
WELL! I'm getting slow~ A whole week since an update? Why, AA? Why?
So this is about all I could gather. Because I'm getting sad with the lack of Lockwood and Co books Jonathan Stroud has written. And I'm just struggling to get by with the day. Cus you know... Summer is really really REALLy hot.
But enough about me. you can PM me or DM what ever M you want. If you need someone to talk to, you can talk to me! A complete stranger~ Weeee
okay so bye now
Thanks for reading :)
