Chapter 3: Quick Thinking
She could hear the groans of Patsy Stone before she saw her, and also the shouts of Eddy her mother panicking at the fact her best friend had been injured.
"What happened Mum?" Saffy yelled slightly out of breath from running so fast, although she had always hated Patsy, she had never wished her to get hurt… Well not wished it very often…
"Pats was behind me as we were going up the stairs then I heard a crash and she landed there…" Eddy gabbled as she pointed to the crumpled body laying motionless at the bottom of the stairs. Saffy crouched down next to Patsy to check she was breathing and that she still had a pulse;
"Mum, I can't feel her pulse?" Saffy told her mother, trying to keep the panic out of her voice as she looked to her mother who was fiddling with the La Croix cross which hung around her neck.
"Oh Darling, she hasn't had a pulse properly in years", Eddy informed her daughter sitting down on the stairs looking at her friend "Come on Pats, we're going shopping and there's free bubbly in the car for us" Eddy said loudly to Patsy clapping her hands together to see if it would work. Saffy looked at her mum in disbelief.
"She's really ill mum, this isn't normal! The alcohol might have slowed her pulse but also increase the chances of her swallowing her own tongue and chocking on her own vomit", Eddy grimaced but informed her daughter that Patsy was never sick and actually held her drink very well. Just as she was about to launch into a long story about one of their many outings to a party she was interrupted by Saffron telling her to shut up and instructing her to phone for an ambulance. Saffy carefully pushed the hair out of Patsy's face and rolled her over but in doing so unveiled the full horror of what had happened…
As Patsy was moved, the small pool of blood which was starting to form was revealed and the shards of glass which had shattered as the size 8 model landed on it and impaled herself.
Eddy came dashing back into the hallway clutching the phone to her chest completely unable to speak after the short run into the lounge and back again.
"Have you called them, what did they say? How long are they going to be?" Saffy fired questions at her mother who was red in the face, Saffy couldn't help thinking that her mother needed to do more exercise but this wasn't the time to suggest it. Eddy shook her head just about catching her breath now,
"Sweetie, I….I….I can't…. I can't remember the… the number to call, darling" Eddy gasped thrusting the phone at Saffy, who looked wide eyed at her idiotic mother not daring to think what would happen to her if she ever became ill and needed medical treatment.
"Its 9-9-9 mum, they made it the easiest combination to remember so every moron on the planet would be able to remember it in an emergency. Obviously they didn't make it with you in mind", Saffy shook her head in disbelief. "Remember to ask for an Ambulance not the Fire Service or Police because they won't be much help when Patsy is bleeding to death" Saffy added, cutting Patsy's Jasper Conrad shirt to further assess the damage. Seeing this much of Patsy reminded her of the time she had to help Pats check her breasts for her because she was so incapable of doing it herself because she didn't even know what it was or that she could be at risk of cancer. As she suspected the bottom half of the bottle of Vodka she'd been carrying was lodged in her Patsy's abdomen and a purple bruise was beginning to form on the side of her head from the impact on the stairs/floor. Saffron willed her mother to finish speaking to the ambulance men when she hear her mobile ringing in the kitchen and after whispering to Patsy she stepped over the body and jogged down the stairs, after all there was very little she could do until medical help arrived.
'Hey Saf, my phone is running out of battery so I thought I would quickly text to let you know that I will probably be able to come over about 3pm. Looking forward to seeing you! Chris x' she read with a smile spreading across her face, after Patsy was taken in the ambulance she could clear up the house and maybe get changed before he arrived.
Hearing a scream upstairs she jumped shoving the phone in her pocket and dashing back upstairs to see her mother covered in blood which was now leaking more rapidly from Patsy's body.
"What the hell have you done? I leave her for 2 minutes and you've made it worse" Saffy shouted at her mother as she pushed her away from the woman who lived in their Utility room to see what had happened.
"I think it might be something to do with this sweetie", Eddy presented her daughter with the piece of glass which had been lodged in Patsy's abdomen.
"OH GOD! MUM!" Saffy shouted louder than before grabbing the piece of glass from her mother and accidently cutting her palm in the process and grimacing with the pain and sight of her own blood. "You're meant to leave large obstructions which protrude from the body if they have penetrated the skin otherwise you cause a massive haemorrhage!" Saffy explained to her mother but when she received a blank look from her mother, Saffy explained more simply. "Mum, you shouldn't have pulled out the glass, you've made it worse!"
"Pats, I'm so sorry! But help is coming soon, I'm here for you sweetie!" Eddy whispered to her friend kneeling down to hold her hand. After a moment she continued "but I hope you will be ashamed to know that you have ruined my pair of Jimmy Choo suede shoes with all this bleeding you have been doing" but after a sharp stare from Saffy she added "but that doesn't matter, we just want you to be better don't we Saf" she smiled at her daughter.
Saffy nodded and looked down at her hand which was bleeding down her arm; she held it in the air and rolled her sleeves up.
"I'm going to wash my hand and find something to wrap it in, do NOT touch anything but keep talking to Patsy, reassure her" Saffy sternly told her mother and retreated to the kitchen. Her hand stung as the water washed over the cut and turned red in the sink, once she was sure it was as clean as she could get it she found an antiseptic wipe from the dusty first aid box and then realised there were no bandages in the box. Looking around the kitchen she saw a scarf hanging over the back of a chair, grabbed it and wound it tightly round her hand and went back to sit with her mother upstairs. She soon found out with shrieks of dismay from her mother that it was a very expensive Karen Millen silk scarf which was a limited edition. To Saffy, it just looked like another hideous item of clothing which her mother owned.
It wasn't long before they heard sirens and Saffy sent Eddy outside to wave them down while she put a few things together for Patsy from her 'room' and helped her mother into the ambulance. Once Eddy as settled next to Patsy she looked up to Saffy and asked;
"Aren't you coming sweetie?" Saffy shook her head at her mother.
"You'll be fine mum, anyway I have… some reading to get done before Monday so I better stay here and get on with that. If you ring when you are ready and I can send the car to get you or call for a taxi" Saffy tried to convince her mother.
"You need to come with us Miss, you are bleeding and that will need treating with some stitches" the ambulance man told Saffy with his arm around her waist. Eddy winked at her daughter mouthing 'oh get in there sweetie, he's good looking' which earned the rolling of Saffy's eyes in the way she always did.
With a sigh she reluctantly got into the back of the ambulance with a still unconscious Patsy and her mother. As the ambulance went zooming off to the nearest private hospital Eddy put on her sunglasses and practised her pout for those people who thought she might be famous. Patsy was still blissfully unaware of the situation she was in and Saffy peered at her watch to see it was 1.03pm and hoped she'd be back home by 3pm to see Christopher.