Jay

Kirsty was as shocked as us to see her visitor striding towards her. He seemed unnaturally chirpy for visiting his sick sister in hospital, maybe he hadn't been told the full extent of her injuries. I looked from him to Kirsty and back again trying to work out what kind of relationship they had. I had never heard her talk about her brother before, come to think about it I never heard her talk about any of her family before. In the circumstances it seemed natural that she would want to keep the two very separate, that way there was no conferring behind her back and she couldn't be tripped up by either side. Maybe it was him, I started looking at the pair more deeply, scrutinising every move they made looking for, however tiny, hints that might give the game away relieving it to be him.

She looked nervous but it was the same look she had been supporting since she arrived. Just like everyone else she made no attempt to talk to him and ignored all the questions he asked. He gave up in the end and resolved to sit in the empty arm chair beside her bed and just stare at her.

Zoe and Emily had been having a silent conversation whilst I was studying the pair and I caught the end of it. They had obviously been watching the pair as well but had caught on quicker than me. They gestured for me to follow them out of the room and I followed wondering how we were going to prove it was him.

"What do you think?" Zoe questioned as we came to a halt beside the reception desk.

"What do you think about what?" we were joined by Adam and Tess who had both undoubtedly been talking about Kirsty.

"Kirsty's brother, he just walked in." I explained.

Nita

At some point during the last four hours I had fallen asleep on my folded arms at the kitchen table. It hadn't been a deep sleep and was plagued with imaged of mum and death, the last one being so terrifying that I'd jolted out of my slumber unsure whether it was real or a nightmare. I'd never really had a nightmare before, well I'd had bad dreams when I was a child but they were never that scary, not compared to this one. It had been in a league of its own and had brought my fear from my subconscious into my consciousness. I thought back to the nightmare mum had had on the sofa when Adam was at ours and how dad had held her in his arms rocking her and telling her everything was going to be ok. I however was sat in a dark, cold kitchen on a hard wooden chair by myself.

A shiver scurried up my spine, the memories of my dream lingering. A tear escaped my eye and slid down my cheek creating a path for the other tears to follow. This would be a time when my mum would curl up next to me enveloping me into her warmth and safeness but now she was nowhere to be seen. I wanted her so badly, for her I hug me and tell me everything was going to be fine but she couldn't. She wouldn't even speak to me if she was here.

More and more tears where flowing. There was nobody here to see them so I just let them fall. I never cried; it was a strange kind of release. Something I'd never experienced before I never thought you could get that feeling from crying but then again I always held my tears in afraid that if I let them fall somebody would see and judge me as weak. I don't know why that bothered me so much they were only tears after all but I could feel strong if I hadn't cried. When they finally slowed I felt better. I whipped my face with the cuff of my school jumper then gave the table a quick wipe before venturing out of the kitchen to see what was taking dad so long.

Adam

Kirsty still hadn't uttered as much as a word to anyone. I was worried, I could never imagine her looking so lost and damaged but there she was in front of me and a little part of me wouldn't believe it. Her left arm was in a plaster cast while the right was bandaged in clear plastic trying to stop the newly infected burn becoming more infected and to stop the infection spreading. The covers were pulled up to her waist but under them her legs where covered in cuts and bruises old and new. The gash on her lower abdomen had been stitched and dressed. Her beauty now sat below a big purple bruise across her cheek. It was fading green around the edges and defiantly happened before she arrived at St James's but I hadn't noticed it when she first came in, probably hidden under make-up. She also had more minor scrapes over her face which had been cleaned and some had butterfly stitches on them. She looked awful like one more touch and she'd shatter into a million pieces.

She jerked suddenly in her sleep and I could see tears leaking out of her closed eyes and sweat beading on her forehead. I wanted to touch her to comfort her but Kirsty didn't need those implications now so I lean back in the arm chair fighting the desperate urge to reach out and hold her hand.

She had escaped her little world and was now taking in everything which was happening around her. She'd tried to cut me off as soon as she saw me. She'd opened her eyes and saw me watching over her and tried to roll over putting her back to me just like the last time we had been in the on-call room when I'd seen the bruising over her hip. I'd seen more of her injuries than most, probably more than Warren judging by his reaction. I should have pressed her into telling me more I could have prevented this.

She'd grimaced in pain, her body to battered to obey her instructions. I gave her some more morphine and she closed her eyes attempting to sleep. Once she was aware of her surrounding it brought on another round of attempts to get her to speak.

After a couple of hours I sat at my desk my head in my hands wondering who to try next. I'd sent in everyone I could think of and they all returned with glum faces not needing to tell me they had failed. The last person I enrolled was Charlie. I'd called him up especially to see her hoping that she wasn't immune to him. I'd watched in anticipation through the window as he tried everything he could think of to get through to her. I could see it wasn't working, I'd sighed deeply, turned and headed to my office.

I could hear the hustle and bustle going on out side and wondered if I'd ever see Kirsty's happy and smiling face among it again but I wasn't going to give up that easily, I couldn't think like that. Of course she was going to get through this. There was a quiet knock at the door and I lifted my head to find Tess loitering in the doorway. I had never seen Tess loiter before and something about it seem amusing.

"Hey, come in."

"Any luck?" She questioned, her face still filled with hope. I shook my head and removing my eyes from hers not wanting to see it fade.

"What's next? What do we do?" Two questions I would give almost anything to answer but I couldn't.

"Just keep trying. She has to talk eventually."

"Coffee?" She asked.

"Would be great." I said following her out of my office and in the direction of the staffroom.

"What do you think?" I heard Zoe's voice and spotted her talking to Jay and Emily.

"What do you think about what?" I asked as Tess and I joined the conversation knowing it was probably about Kirsty.

"Kirsty's brother, he just walked in." Jay said looking rather nervous. I looked from Jay over to the window which framed Kirsty's bed. The screens had been pulled around. I felt like someone had just shackled me to a ball and chain. I made a full speed run at the doors but still I couldn't go fast enough. Something was wrong I could feel it like a cannon ball dropping in my stomach.