“Easy, deep breaths, mate,” Stephen said from beside me, patting me on the back.
“Where is he? Where’s my son?” a woman shouted nearby.
The familiar voice made me look up as I continued to cough, my ribs throbbing. A woman pushed through the crowd, and I recognised Mickey’s mum at the same time that Stephen did. Mickey had already been carried over to the ambulance, an oxygen mask being fitted over his pale face, and they were now closing the doors.
“Catch the ambulance,” I told Stephen in a hoarse voice as I made myself straighten up and move towards Donna White.
“Mickey?” she was calling.
“Ms White!” I said, my voice cracking. She spun towards me, rushing forwards to grab me by the arms before she seemed to notice the state I was in and pulled back slightly.
“Where is he?” she croaked.
“He’s in that ambulance, you’ve got to go now. Go and see him.” I pointed out the ambulance, though it was hard to miss it.
No sooner had I told her than she was off, shoving past anyone who was in her way as if she didn’t even see them. One of the paramedics opened up the back door of the van to let her in, and she clambered up inside. The ambulance went screeching off after that, and I watched it go, too exhausted to feel the relief that I knew would come.
On the one hand, I’d hoped that my guess had been wrong, and that Mickey hadn’t been in the school at all. But since he had been, finding him and getting him out alive was about as much as I could’ve wished for. I bent over my knees, my arm wrapped around my middle, and tried to catch my breath. The adrenaline, the thick smoke, and the running had knocked me out, and I was feeling somewhat shaky.
“Alright, let’s get you out of here,” Stephen said, appearing back by my side.
“We need to tell Rashford and update Sed-”
“Mitchell, save your breath, okay? I can do that, or they can wait, honestly. Come on. You’re breathing like you’ve been smoking forty a day. Let’s sit you down somewhere.”
“Sam’ll kill me if I end up in hospital again,” I muttered, letting him lead me over to a school bench and gently push me onto it.
“Yeah, well, she’ll kill you more if you need the hospital and don’t go because you’re stubborn.”
I gave a weak laugh at that before breaking out into more coughing. My throat felt painfully raw, and I welcomed the water Stephen offered me.
“C’mon, let’s get you over to the car. You staying here in all this smoke isn’t doing you any good.”
Once he’d loaded me into the front passenger seat, Stephen put it out on the radio that we were leaving the scene so that no-one would be fruitlessly looking for us or worried that we’d gone into the school.
Despite my feeble protests, he drove us over to A&E to have a doctor listen to my lungs and poke at my ribs.
“Don’t tell Sam,” I said to Stephen after swallowing the pain meds the doctor had given me. “I don’t want her seeing me in here again. I’ll tell her at home, okay?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Just as long as you do actually tell her.”
“Aye, of course. I wasn’t going to hide it,” I said, somewhat offended that he thought I might.
“Good, good.”
He checked his watch, and I winced at the time when I saw that it was well past when I was usually due over at Sam’s. I sent her off a brief message to say that we’d gotten caught up in something and that I’d be back soon. She replied almost immediately with a thumbs up, which I knew meant that she’d been worrying. Usually, she didn’t keep her phone on her, so it could take a little while before she replied, but she’d clearly been watching it if she’d replied so fast.
My gut tightened with both guilt and fondness. I hated to worry her at all and did my best to keep her updated, but it was inevitable in a job like mine that sometimes things got away from us. And she knew that, of course, so I didn’t think she blamed me for it. Still, at moments like this, I wondered whether she’d be better off with someone who worked a safe, nine-to-five office job so that she wouldn’t have to worry that I was in the hospital every time I was late home.
The doctor came back before I could ruminate on it further, and I pushed the thoughts away best I could. I wouldn’t have Sam here with me for that much longer, so I intended to make the very best of the time we did have left together. She’d chosen to be with me, despite my long hours and dangerous job, and I respected that. Right now, I couldn’t wait to be back home with her, curled up together on the sofa until one or both of us fell asleep.
Twenty-Two
The weather broke over the weekend, a thunderstorm lashing down rain and soaking the dusty ground. Sam was disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to sit out in the back garden, but the fresh, wet air made me feel refreshed. We took it lazy, spending time together and not doing too much as my ribs healed up and I recovered from the smoke.
Sam would leave for Kent soon, and sometimes I couldn’t help but gather her close and wish like crazy that she could stay there. We didn’t talk about it, but I knew it was on both of our minds.
First thing
