Chapter 6

Something beeped. It made Nicky look up. The tears in his eyes blurred his vision. It beeped again. Voices. He could hear voices buzzing around the room but couldn’t make out the words. The beeping was strong and regular. Nicky looked up to where the sound was coming from. A machine was by Anna’s bed, attached to leads that went to her chest. The beeping was the heart monitor. Someone put their hand on his shoulder. He wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up. Shane was standing behind him. “They are just about to take her up to intensive care. Let’s go get a drink.” Shane led Nicky out of the room and down the hall. As they went past the relatives room Nicky looked in and saw Claire crying. Mark was sat with his arms around her. He had tears in his eyes too. Shane pulled him away.

Shane sat on his bed in his hotel room in complete darkness that night. He was wishing he could make it better for Nicky’s sake. He hated seeing one of his best friends hurting so much. He sat and remembered all that had been happening the last few days. He began to cry. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t had said that to her then she wouldn’t have gone out there on her own. Somebody knocked on the door. He stayed where he was hoping that whoever it was would go away but the knocking got louder. Shane had enough. He wiped his tears away and went to open the door. Nicky was stood there. “Shane? Are you ok?” he asked seeing that Shane had been crying. “Yeah I’m fine. Just missing everybody at home.”
“Well, you’ll be seeing them tomorrow night,” Nicky said. Shane turned his light on and they both went over to sit on the bed. “They are going to transfer Anna to London Royal tomorrow. She’s stable enough to go home.”
“You know what the funny thing is Nick?” said Shane laughing.
“What’s that?”
“I haven’t told anyone back home yet.”
“Neither have I except Anna’s mum. That is so terrible.” Agreed Nicky.
“But you have been under a lot of pressure so I don’t blame you. I’ll phone them all in a minute.” Offered Shane.
“Ok mate. Are you sure you’re ok?”
“I’m fine. See you in the morning.”

The next evening they were all on their way home. Shane was driving. “I can’t wait to get back,” said Shane.
“Thanks for everything you guys,” said Nicky. “I don’t know how I would have coped if you were not there.”
“I probably wasn’t much good,” said Claire. “I was crying all the time.”
“But just knowing you were there. It made things easier.”
“No problem, Nick,” said Mark. “That’s what friends are for.”

Eventually they got home. It was late when they arrived but Shane didn’t care. He went crashing into his house. Hollie was sat on the sofa. “Can you be more louder?” she asked sarcastically.
“Sorry,” he answered sheepishly.
“Never mind,” Hollie said standing up and walking over to him. She put her arms around his waist and kissed him. Shane dropped his bag on the floor. “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered.
“I missed you too,” Hollie answered. “At least Anna’s ok.”
“God I feel so bad. What if she had died? I would have felt so guilty.”
“But you didn’t do anything."
“I did. I was horrible to her so she didn’t want to hang around with us anymore.” Shane went and sat on the sofa. Hollie followed.
“You didn’t push her into that boat and dragged it away when she wasn’t in it. It wasn’t your fault and you know it. It was an accident so stop blaming yourself.”
“But I can’t help it. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Well I can think of something to take your mind off it,” said Hollie.
Shane kissed her and pulled her on top of him…