For a minute, a horrible minute, he had been back there. In the dark. He had been really scared and he couldn't find Cheryl anywhere. Then he woke up in the car and it was dark outside. While he was not quite awake he thought he was still there in the dream.
Miss Gordon had been asked to look after Andy tonight by Ed and they were sitting in front of the tv about to have dinner when his head started hurting really bad. She said he passed out and she couldn't wake him up so she had brought him to the hospital.
She was with him now, in the emergency room where he was waiting to be seen. She was holding his hand. He was glad she was with him because the nightmare hadn't gone completely. It felt like it was hanging around waiting for the right time to come back. Miss Gordon wasn't like his Mom or his teacher but she felt safe so he held her hand hard.
His head didn't hurt so much now. He could hardly feel any pain. He felt a bit stupid because he just fell asleep and had a bad dream and now he was in hospital. He thought the doctor might say he was faking it or something.
"Andy?" said a lady nurse, "Would you like to come through?"
Andy would have liked not going through. He really wanted to go back to Miss Gordon's house and forget all about it. They followed the nurse to a room with a bed on it.
"Just hop up there honey and the doctor will see you in a minute."
The nurse left.
"Don't worry Andy. I'll be right here." said Miss Gordon.
The nurse came back with a man in a white coat. He came in and pulled up a chair beside Andy's bed. He seemed a little scary.
"Good evening. I am Doctor Kaufmann. I understand you fainted around dinner time?"
Andy nodded.
"Could you tell me if you had eaten anything before you passed out?"
Andy shook his head.
"Rachel," he said to the nurse, "please make a note that Miss Gordon's cooking was not to blame."
The nurse and the doctor smiled. Miss Gordon didn't.
"How is your head now?"
"Much better thank you sir."
"Any pain?"
"A little."
"Could you describe the pain for me?"
Andy didn't get a chance to answer. The door opened and a white haired man dragged in a sad looking girl behind him. She was holding her left eye and crying. There was a trickle of blood coming through her fingers.
"I'm with a patient. You'll have to sit in the waiting room like everyone else."
"It's a little more urgent than that doctor. I tried treating it at home with herbal poultices, but none of them would stem the bleeding. Perhaps I should have tried one steeped in aglaophotis?"
When the man said this doctor Kaufmann looked a bit uncomfortable.
"My apologies Andy. Please excuse me for a second."
The nurse sat the girl on the bed opposite Andy as the men left. He could hear voices through the door. He couldn't figure out what they were saying but they seemed angry. Miss Gordon looked really angry as well.
The girl looked at Andy with her eye that wasn't hurt. She wasn't crying now. She moved her hand. Her eyelid was all swollen and puffy and a bit purple. She didn't seem to be able to open it. She was bleeding from her eyebrow.
Miss Gordon gasped and put her hand over her mouth. Nurse Rachel tried to hold the girl's hand but she snatched it away. She was still staring at Andy. She looked a bit crazy. He was nervous. He didn't know what she was going to do. Miss Gordon got up and moved really fast to the door. Nurse Rachel was trying to stop her. They both left the room. There was shouting in the corridor, but it moved away from the door until he couldn't hear it anymore.
The girl wasn't looking at him anymore. She had tears in her eyes again. It looked like it hurt her to cry.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"No!" she snapped, "It hurts."
"How did it happen?"
"I fell. Don't be so nosey."
"Sorry."
She was quiet for a second.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Andy. What's yours?" he said, smiling.
The girl didn't smile back.
"Claudia."
It was quiet again. Andy dropped his head. Their talk was over.