Amy Nicholls stood in front of the large building before her – Holby City Hospital. She hadn't expected this to be the sort of place her sister worked, the only reason that Sam had signed up for the medical course was to get a degree and keep their mum and dad happy. She stepped in, weaving in and out of the multitude of people barging in and out of the A&E department. Amy self consciously ran her hand through her blonde fringe as she walked up to the reception desk.
"Hello, how can I help you?" Noel asked kindly, placing down the action figure that he'd been amusing himself with for the past twenty minutes.
"Erm, I was wondering if you could tell me if I could speak to Doctor Nicholls?" Amy said, giving the man an awkward smile. She hated busy, crowded buildings like this one and even going to a 300-pupil college was difficult for her.
"Yeah, sure, what's your name?" Noel asked, scribbling something on a post-it note.
"Amy... Amy Nicholls." She said, before taking a seat in the waiting area. The teenager looked around the building anxiously, trying to imagine her sister working in a place like the ED.
"Amy, what are you doing here?" Sam asked, staring at the yellow piece of paper in her hand. Amy stood up and did nothing but wrap her arms around her sister and start to cry. "Hey, shh... What's wrong?"
"Sam, I just can't deal with it anymore..." Sam's sister said through sobs. Sam looked a little confused, and didn't have a clue what her sibling was talking about.
"What, Amy?" Sam asked. "What can't you deal with?" Sam saw the look on her young sister's face and gently led her into the staff room.
"Sam, I didn't know what to do... They were shouting and they were angry at me and I didn't want them to do it to me again so I came here... I didn't know where else to go." Amy managed to finish the last sentence before completely breaking down.
"Shh..." Sam comforted the teenager, holding her tight, as if she'd never let go. Amy's sobs slowly subsided, and Amy took a deep breath in.
"Mum and dad... They..." Amy said, but she couldn't carry on.
"What, Amy, what is it?" Sam asked, looking into her sister's eyes. The eyes that used to be bright blue and sparkling were now grey and sad, like nothing good had ever happened. When Sam looked closer, she could make out a dark circle around Amy's left eye that had been carefully covered with makeup, and another on her forehead.
"They..." Amy started, but she still couldn't bring herself to say it. She slowly pulled off her black and white sports jacket to reveal a set of black-and-blue, bruised arms.
"They... Did that?" Sam asked in disbelief. She knew her parents had never really approved with her or her sister's hobbies, but they'd never, ever, gone as far as hitting either of them. Or so Sam thought. "But... Why?"
"They... Mum and dad were super disappointed when I swapped my classes in college, and they were trying to change my mind, saying I was wasting my life by taking music tech, politics and psychology... It was my fault, really, I should've listened to them... I shouldn't have been so stupid." Amy said, silent tears falling down her cheeks.
"No, Amy," Sam started. "This is NOT your fault. Mum and dad should never have hit you, not even if you'd killed someone. This is their fault, no good parents would do so much as smack a child, never mind battering them." Sam said fiercely. "You wait here, I'm going to talk to my boss about getting the rest of the day off."
"No, Sam, you don't have to do that for me..." Amy said, not wanting her sister to get into any trouble because of her.
"Don't worry... It's not too busy anyway..." Sam said, jogging out of the staffroom to find Zoe, and leaving Amy standing awkwardly in the middle of the small room. She looked around at the walls but the room wasn't very interesting – just a few medicine-related posters like you'd see at your GP surgery.
Amy was completely lost in her own thoughts when her sister entered the room again.
"Right, Amy, I'll be five minutes and we can leave. Mum and dad'll be at work now, right?" Sam asked, glancing up at the clock. It was 10.20.
"Yeah, why...?" Amy asked.
"We can go and get some of your stuff. I'm not letting you stay with them if they're going to treat you like that." Sam said. Amy went to speak back, but her older sister beat her to it. "No buts, you can come and live with Tom and I."
"Tom?" Amy asked, confused. She hadn't heard the name Tom before, but Sam seemed to think she should know who he was.
"My fiancée?" Sam said to Amy who was staring at her blankly. "Mum didn't tell you I was engaged?" Amy shook her head, making Sam shake her head. She should've known her mum wouldn't approve.
Twenty minutes later, Sam was parking her silver sports car in her parents' driveway. Amy led Sam to the door, unlocking it with her key before walking in. Sam looked around, the house hadn't changed very much since she'd left to be in the army when she was 23. She followed her younger sister upstairs and into her bedroom.
"What will I take?" Emily asked, opening her wardrobe and staring into it blankly.
"Two casual outfits, something smart, your college uniform, a set of sports clothes, pyjamas, a warm jacket and two pairs of shoes – don't you know how to pack a bag?" Sam asked jokingly as Emily pulled a large, black holdall out of the bottom of her wardrobe. Emily picked the clothes out and Sam packed them neatly into the holdall.
"Now, get whatever else you want – laptop, CD's, iPod, books?" Sam said as she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. It was Tom phoning her. "You sort that out, Amy, I need to take this call."
"Sam? Zoe said you had to leave to deal with urgent family business! Are you okay?"
"Yes, Tom... It's my sister – I'll explain when we get back, we're at my parents' house."
"Your parents have let you into the house?" Tom was confused – he knew Sam's parents would barely answer the phone to her, never mind let her into their house.
"No, Tom... We're getting Amy's stuff. We're in a rush, I promise I'll call you when we're done, okay?" Sam left no time for Tom to reply, said a quick 'I love you' and hung up.
"You done?" Sam asked as her sibling as she stuffed her Macbook air into the top of the holdall.
"Yup," Emily said, picking up the holdall and swinging it over her shoulder. "Wait, my guitar's in the lounge, can I get that?" Sam nodded and followed Amy downstairs to the lounge. Sam went in first, looking around the room and spotting the gleaming instrument in the corner. Sam picked it up and bundled her sister out of the house to bang right into their dad.
"Well I never, 'Major Nicholls'" He said sarcastically, giving the pair a deathly look.
"It's Dr Nicholls now, Andrew." Sam said stonily, staring straight into her dad's eyes before trying to push past.
"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, nodding to Amy's holdall. Sam tried to push past again, but her dad grabbed the collar of her shirt. "The answer to that, Samantha, is nowhere." He said.
"Amy, get into the car!" Sam said, chucking the car keys in her direction. Amy dropped them, but quickly picked them and rushed to the Mercedes.
"Dad, just leave it, for the way you've treated her you're lucky I've not phoned social services on you." Sam said before pushing her way past her dad and pulling him into a headlock.
"Let go of me, Samantha." Her dad said, struggling to get out of his daughter's strong hold.
"Sam, leave it!" Tom shouted, out of breath, as he ran up the drive. "He's not worth it!" The doctor looked from her dad, to Tom and to Amy who looked terrified, and back to her dad.
"You've got lucky this time, but I promise you, you won't be as lucky if you do so much as lay a finger on me or my little sister again." Sam said fiercely, easing her hold on the man, letting him out of the hold and walking calmly towards her fiancée.
"Thank you." Sam said to Tom. "And did you seriously run all the way here?" Tom nodded, grinning, before pulling her into an embrace. Sam pulled away, and walked to sit in the driver's side of her car. Tom got into the back and they drove away, not looking back.
"I guess there's a lot that needs to be explained, to both of you..."