Chapter 21 – Receptions
George was shaken out of his unconscious state by the sounds of surrounding panic.
"What do we do?" came from what must have been Annie's mouth. To George, it seemed like it was being whispered down a 3 foot long plumbing line.
"He can't stay there." Had it been either of the two girls speaking, George wouldn't have been sure which one it was, the level of distortion of sound growing by the minute. As it was, the clear Irish accent left no room for speculation.
"You're not supposed to move people when they're hurt, in case of internal injury." He couldn't tell who it came from.
Then the outline of a face wavered into view. George groaned as they pressed their finger gently onto the side of his face.
"Where?" he mumbled
"Mitchell, hand me his glasses."
"I don't think this is the time… oh alright. Don't you think I should be doing this; I am the one who works at the hospital you know."
"Then do something!" It was unmistakably Annie.
"Yes, do something; call the ambulance."
"Christ! I'd forgotten." There was the sound of two sets of pounding feet and then Mitchell speaking into the 'phone.
"Right George." Said a soft voice. The owner placed Georges glasses back on his face and he saw more clearly through his un-swollen eye. It was Emiline. She pulled him very carefully through the doorway, and shut the door behind her. The rest passed in a blur of shouts, groans, sharp pains and paramedics. The anaesthetic took him right out, but he went with one question playing on his mind. 'Nina?' So it wasn't really a question, but it was the most his befuddled mind could work out.
~X~
The dreadful sensation of awakening from a drugged-up state made Nina want to throw up, but it beat the searing pain in her lower abdomen. 'The baby!' Nina tried to sit up, suddenly panicking, but somebody restrained her.
"She's waking up."
"I can see that. Calm down, you're alright now. You looked worse than you were though, I can tell you. Gave some of us a bit of a fright with those big bruises, but none of your organs were damaged. You had a lucky escape in my opinion."
"The baby?" Nina croaked.
"Never mind that now, the main thing is that you're alive."
"But is the baby?" Nobody answered. "What happened?" she cried at the top of her lungs, but it came out little more than a whisper. She was left in silence.