Chloe ascended the ladder as faras she could safely go. Gripping the extended pole tightly in onehand, the top of the ladder in the other, she swung the roller upto begin painting in the corner. Consciously aware of herfrustration and the need to take it out on something, she angrilypushed the roller back and forth in the corner of the ceiling. Shestretched out, momentarily loosening her grip of the ladder, andshifted her weight onto her bad leg. No sooner had the thought ofthat foolhardy action formed in her head, the consequencesfollowed. The agonising pain which shot up through her thighstunned her, she cried out as she tried to regain her balance andher hold of the ladder. It wobbled, and she moved the other way tocompensate. The ladder tipped.
Intense fear ofcausing more damage flashed through her consciousness, and shetwisted her body to protect her leg. The roller fell out of hergrasp, landing heaving on the tray, and splashing paint up thewalls. The tray spun, careening into the paint pots, which emptiedonto the floor. Startled, Truffle squawked and jumped out of theway. Oh no …what a mess!
Her head struck the woodenbanister with a loud crack.
Chloe foughtdesperately to open her eyes, aware of Truffle licking her face, ofhis rough tongue noisily scraping against her skin. She heard aphone ringing downstairs, then her mobile ringtone emanating fromher handbag on the hall table. Come on,Chloe. Get up! Strangely, she couldn’t move an inch. Her heavy limbs wouldnot comply. So tired, so verytired. She drifted under again.
Patrick had been calling Chloefrom the worksite, on and off for an hour, without any response. Hehad attempted to call both her landline and her mobile but, in theend, had to be content with leaving a voicemail. The currentrenovation in Warragul, which appeared to be so simple in the firstfew days on the job, had turned out to be more complex than hethought. He had a contract which needed to be completed on time, orface heavy penalties. Nothing he could do about his date at thislate stage. Dinner with Chloe would have to be rescheduled. Makingit back to Melbourne before midnight would be impossible at thisrate.
Todd had driven aroundfor the past hour, unaware of his surroundings, trying to reasonwith himself while dealing with the peak hour traffic. He pulledinto the car park under his apartment, letting the car idle.Go back and apologise. His stubborn nature had held him back, and he battled with itconstantly. I was only looking out forher. Jealousy had wormed into his brain andremoved rational thinking. The little voice in his head couldn’t bedenied. Admit it. You’re a jealous idiot.The blood pounded in his temples when he thoughtof Chloe going out with Patrick. He had phrased his comments badly.In trying to point out how much she had taken on, he had insultedher. To make matters worse, he had entrenched himself deeper intoher bad books with every word he uttered. No wonder she asked me to leave.
He threw the car into gear andreversed out of his bay. With tyres screeching, and the engineroaring, Todd exited the parking garage and sped off down thestreet. Angry at his own stupidity and lack of finesse, he wasdetermined to fix it as soon as possible. He called the house. Itrang out. He had to apologise in person if she hadn’t left yet, andmake this right between them. He wouldn’t sleep until he did.Losing her friendship was not an option: it was better than nothingat all.
Todd rang the doorbell, but noone responded. Various tools and paint tins still littered thefront porch. Todd found this odd. Chloe secured everything insideat the end of the day. He could hear Truffle mewing loudly in thehouse. Concerned now, he tried the handle and found the doorunlocked. No lights illuminated the ground floor.
“Chloe?” Still noresponse. “Chloe, are you still here?” His voice boomed loud, evento his own ears. Truffle mewed upstairs.
He took a few hesitant steps tothe bottom of the stairs and looked up into the semi-darkness.Moonlight shone through the skylight. He could just make out theend of the ladder, wedged between the wall and the banister. Paintdripped down slowly between the banister railings, and with a loudplop, added to a puddle on the timber floor below. He located thelight switch at the foot of the stairs, and he began toclimb.
It took only a heartbeat for himto see Chloe splayed out on the floor, and to be at herside.
Waiting for news of Chloe’scondition became more unbearable for Todd with every passingmoment. In the two hours since they had arrived at Emergency, hehad been left alone, left to worry; his thoughts constantlyreturning to the moment he found Chloe unconscious, blood seepingfrom the back of her head. Apart from the rush through the eveningtraffic in the ambulance, everything appeared to be happening inslow motion.
When a nurse and a doctorapproached the waiting room, he jumped straight up from the plasticchair. The nurse nodded in Todd’s direction. The doctor, dressed ingreen scrubs, with his face mask hanging loosely around his neck,came towards Todd.
“Is she okay? Howbadly hurt is she? She lost a lot of blood. Can I see her?” Toddheld his breath, waiting for the doctor to answer.
“I’m Dr Morgan, theneurologist looking after Miss Armstrong. I’ve just come out ofsurgery to check on her condition. Unfortunately, we don’t know theextent of the damage as yet. We’ve given her a transfusion, andshe’s stable. The blunt force trauma to the head is causingconcern, and we’re worried about bleeding on the brain. She hasn’tregained consciousness, so we will be keeping her in ICU andmonitoring her closely.” Dr Morgan looked grave.
“When can I seeher?”
“Are you family? Onlyfamily members are allowed in ICU.”
“I am her fiancé.”Todd lied without hesitation.
It would be too lateto do anything about the lie later. He needed to see her now, tosee for himself that they were looking after her. She had been sostill while they waited for the
