They walked slowly hand in hand back up The Esplanade towards the hospital. The red brick building was visible some distance in front of them, standing out proudly amongst the other structures. Jill squeezed Gordon's hand gently, attracting his attention. "Look." She pointed towards the roof. There, amongst the green copper domes, was Alun, balanced precariously next to a chimney stack.

"What is he doing?" Gordon muttered, squinting against the sun. From their distance, the object Alun yielded looked like a ship's wheel.

"I've no idea." She replied, swaying into him as she wasn't watching the path in front of them. "But whatever it is won't surprise me, I'm sure. I've learnt that him and Ken are capable of doing anything."

Gordon laughed in response, squeezing her hand gently. She smiled, realising how nice it was to have a conversation that didn't consist of the events of the past few days.

"Jill." The urgency of Gordon's tone broke through her thoughts. He nodded towards the roof when she glanced at him. Alun seemed to be wavering, his arms flew out either side, circling wildly. Jill's hand flew to her mouth as all they could do was stand and watch, frozen. Even from their distance, they could hear Alun's scream as he disappeared from view.

They turned to each other, sharing a wide-eyed look of shook, before breaking into a run towards the hospital.


Jill and Gordon dashed past the front of the hospital, past many a startled nurse, and rounded the corner into the ambulance bay, turning right, they passed through the door into the gardens. Many nurses had crowded around, their uniforms creating a sea of cobalt blue. In the centre Ken was just visible, his hands on the grey ladder in front of him, staring upwards towards the roof. They made their way through the crowd, the blue parting before them, bringing them closer to the scene they could feared they'd find. Eventually they pushed past the last row of nurses, but the scene was not as expected. The only porter in the garden was Ken. Alun was nowhere to be seen.

"Ken?" Jill gasped, stopping next to him. "What happened?"

"I, don't know." The porter tore his gaze from the roof. "Alun, he just slipped. He's still up there but hasn't made a noise."

"Alun!" Gordon bellowed. Everyone was silent, the only noise was his heavy breathing, matched by Jill's as they recovered from their run. "Alun!" He called again. If Alun was conscious he would most certainly be able to hear that volume of noise.

There was no reply.

The three glanced at each worriedly, whilst a mummer of worry rippled through their audience. Jill stepped forward, gently pushing Ken aside. She placed her foot on the bottom rung, then started up the ladder.

"Jill, no."

But Jill continued, climbing steadily up the ladder, ignoring Gordon's plea. She just hoped one of them was holding it steady at the bottom. "Alun." She called. "Are you okay?" She heard some form of a response, but couldn't decipher the words. She reached the top, but still she couldn't see the young porter. Gingerly, she stepped onto the tiles, taking care to avoid the gutter. Luckily the weather was dry, meaning the mossy tiles weren't slippery, but she still felt unstable; the tiles sloping rather steeply towards the gardens below. She glanced down, seeing Gordon holding the ladder, both him and Ken looking up at her.