“Ben then threw a bloody temper tantrum and flipped the entire table before storming out! It was mental.” Susan cackled as she continued without rest to shove handful after handful of chips into her mouth. A sight that, as I watched her mountain of food swiftly dwindle in the blink of an eye, left me wondering where she could possibly be storing it all.
“I swear, after what happened with Adam, the whole school seems to have become even crazier than before. If that was even possible.” Sam remarked, clearly put off by the dreadful table manners he found himself seated next to.
It amazed me how he had yet to figure out that Susan only acted in such a barbaric way when seated next to him. I swear it had become Susan’s favourite hobby to make Sam as uncomfortable as possible whenever she could. Something which, as spectators, amused both Helen and me to no end.
“So, I'm to bme, is that what you're saying?” I asked with mock offence, raising my eyebrows high in question.
“Exactly.” Helen excimed with a smirk. A smirk that vanished upon the chip I threw, bouncing off the right side of her head and back onto the table.
“Oh ho, so that’s how you want to py it?”
Hearing the mischievous tone of her voice and seeing the cat-like grin that appeared on her face, I quickly threw my hands towards hers, intercepting her attempt at grabbing the pile of chip-like ammunition off her pte to her apparent dismay. I let out a small chuckle at her futile attempts at escape. A chuckle which rapidly transitioned into a horrendous cough; a cough that sounded more at home coming from a broken-down car than a human being.
I instantly let go of Helen and reached into my pockets, grabbing the tissue I always kept within before pcing it over my mouth, trying in vain to dampen the noise that had rapidly attracted the attention of everyone in Tops Cafe. It also served the purpose of catching any droplet of blood that might fly out, something which had worryingly been happening with increased frequency over the past week.
After the umpteenth cough, and as it finally started to dwindle down in intensity, I became able once more to open up my bleary eyes, wiping away the tears that had formed as I did so. As I did so, I noticed how Sam looked toward me with sympathy and grief, with him being the only one to actually know what the frequent coughs truly meant. Susan and Helen, on the other hand, besides the slight look of worry on their faces, did not share the same looks of distress, believing it was still just a regur cough, as I had told them weeks ago. In response to their looks, I offered a weak smile to show I was alright as I folded the tissue back into my pocket. However, not before I took a quick peek inside and grimaced at the small pool of blood I could see within. A pool I was sure was rger than the st one I produced.
“Bloody hell, you really need to get that cough sorted out. You’ve had it for almost a month now.” Susan commented, having already gotten back to devouring her fish and chips in front of her.
“Yeah you’re right. If I still have it after a week or so, I’ll go get it checked at the hospital.” Wincing at the soreness of my throat and hearing the raspiness of my voice, I tentatively rubbed the side of my throat while I scanned the table for my drink, my expression dismayed upon the sight of the empty gss to my side.
“You said the exact same thing st week! You need to stop putting it off and get it checked out.” As Helen angrily spoke, she passed along to me her cup of water, which I gulped down greedily in relief.
“Thanks.” I managed to finally say, in between the rapid gasps of air I sorely needed. “What would I do without you?”
And with that, I wrapped my arms tightly around her, bringing her into a rib-breaking hug while, to her embarrassment, I proceeded to make kissing noises next to her ear. An act that resulted in a barrage of sps to the shoulder and a plethora of creative insults as she eventually managed to break out, her face a scorching red. A red that seemed to get even brighter after the pyful mocking of Susan from in front, earning her a chip to the head in retaliation. Seeing this py out, I let out a secret sigh of relief, thankful that the talks regarding my health had been all but forgotten.
Yet as I gazed towards Helen and the impromptu food fight, she, Susan and Sam had found themselves in, Sam simply due to his proximity to the warzone, I knew that I was running out of time. Running out of time to do what I knew I had to, despite how desperately I wished I didn’t. To finally break things off with Helen before it was too te and she realised the truth. Something I had unfortunately realised I would have to do soon.
I could still remember the moment. The moment I knew that what we had could only be temporary. It had only been a week since Helen and I had started dating, and I had been on cloud nine the entire time. We had found ourselves that day at her pce while her parents were away, rexing and chatting on her bed as we pressed ourselves against one another. Then, before I could even react, a sudden onset of nausea and tiredness permeated every inch of my body, making me almost faint in the process.
I had forced myself off her bed and rushed with all that I had to her bathroom, closing the door and leaning against the toilet just in the nick of time before I began to violently throw up for close to five minutes. It was then, as I finally finished, managing to sit back up, looking down into the toilet bowl filled with a mixture of blood and vomit, that I knew that I didn’t have long left. And when I heard Helen’s panicked voice on the other side of the door, asking if I was alright, I knew I had to end it between us, for her sake. So she wouldn’t have to suffer with the truth of my upcoming death.
But even with such a realisation, I still hadn’t done so, even though I knew it wasn’t fair and that it was cowardly. The reason for which was simple. It was because I was selfish; because I enjoyed being with her far too much to just throw it away, even though I knew it was for the best. Nevertheless, as I felt my body getting closer and closer to its end, and I started to - not come to peace with my death - but at least marginally accept it, I knew I had to end it soon, in a way where she wouldn’t want to see me ever again. So hopefully she wouldn’t even hear about my eventual passing. A thought that both deeply saddened me and brought me a small amount of relief.
“Hello. Earth to Adam.” Suddenly, I was broken from my thoughts by a lone chip smacking me squarely in the centre of my head, making me look up and spot the smirking face of Sam as he sat in front of me.
“If I were you, I would hurry up and finish your food. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got kicked out because of those two soon.” He said, pointing to the side where the food war seemed to have ramped up in intensity, leaving the surroundings an absolute mess with broken and injured chips left scattered along the table, with the odd ketchup and salt packet thrown in the mix.
As if on cue, the sound of Eileen’s shrill voice came echoing down from the other side of the room. “Ya little twerps! Either quieten down and clean that mess or get the hell outta here!”
To the absolute embarrassment of Helen, we once again drew the attention of all the other patrons, making her dip her head low and out of sight. Susan, on the other hand, looked as if she couldn’t have cared less, even throwing a mock salute back towards Eileen in acknowledgement. Seeing such a scene, both Sam and I let out a small chuckle in amusement. That was until I felt a solid shoe from Helen’s direction make heavy contact with the side of my leg, making me let out a yelp in pain, earning another clearly unamused look from Eileen.
After spending a minute or so cleaning up the mess Helen and Susan had made, we went back to actually eating, chatting as we did so, but at a quieter volume than before. Helen and Susan seemed to quickly get into an intense discussion about a football match that was apparently on the night prior, something which I learnt both were very passionate about. I, on the other hand, simply let my gaze wander outside as I observed the passersby that littered the streets, who there were many of, on account of it was midday on a Saturday.
Suddenly, my eyes froze as in the distance I saw a group of people I had hoped I would never see again. There, just on the other side of the street, was Jamie, side by side with both Lewis and Crk and with Cindy and Alice, both a few steps behind. Immediately, I wanted to look away and hide out of sight. However, as the seconds slowly passed, I found myself unable, my eyes transfixed on them with every step they took.
Praying in my mind, I hoped that they would quickly pass by, remaining unaware of my piercing stare. Unfortunately, it seemed that dy luck had something else pnned, as just as they were about to exit my line of sight, Lewis started to stretch, rotating his waist from side to side, looking around as he did so.
It was then that I found myself making direct eye contact with him as he wound up looking in my direction. Immediately, I wanted to shout in frustration, cursing my luck as I held my breath, waiting for some kind of reaction from him. Yet to my surprise, no reaction came, with Lewis turning back around as he finished his stretch, continuing his walk with the others before promptly disappearing from view.
Even still, despite no longer being able to see him, I waited with trepidation, expecting them to suddenly reappear back into my line of sight. It was only after almost thirty seconds of waiting had passed and I still saw no sign of them, that I let myself let out a sigh of relief, thanking my lucky stars and assuming that Lewis hadn’t been paying attention when he gnced in my direction.
Thankfully, after that, lunch continued smoothly, with us soon finding ourselves leaving the restaurant with our stomachs full, to the relief of Eileen and the other patrons. The moment we stepped outside, I felt Helen come up next to me. Her hand suddenly entwined with mine, causing a small blush to form on my cheeks and a massive grin to appear on my face, regardless of how many times we had done such an action before.
“Ok!” Susan excimed with far too much energy for someone who had just eaten so much. “We’ve still got quite a while before it gets dark. What should we do next?”
“Oooh, there’s that spy film I’ve been wanting to watch for days that has recently come out. How about we go and see it?” Helen replied excitedly.
Seeing the excited look that had suddenly appeared on her face, I knew there was no way I could possibly say no. “Sure. If they have any viewing soon, then I’m all for it. Sam, what about you?”
“Yeah, I’m down as long as the next release is soon. I can’t get back too te. I've got some stuff I need to finish.” He said with an exasperated sigh that all but told me that ‘stuff’ he was referring to was definitely more homework.
It was shocking to me how much extra his parents forced him to do. As well as how well he had hidden it from me all these years. Hell, if it hadn’t been for my illness and him being more forthcoming ever since we had made up, I doubt I would have ever known. It truly made me realise that while I definitely drew the short straw in life, Sams wasn’t nearly as big as I had once thought.
After a quick check on Susan’s phone, we found out that the next viewing of the film was only in thirty minutes, with the next one afterwards being just over 2 hours ter.
“Thirty minutes? That’s cutting it quite close dont you think, If we want to make it in time we’re probably going to have to jog there” Sam said while giving me a look, knowing that with my current health there wasn’t a chance I would be able to jog for even a minute, let alone the few miles needed to get to the cinema.
In response, I immediately started to rack my brain for any possible alternatives, knowing that the minute we started jogging, Helen would know I was actually a lot sicker than I was letting on. Suddenly, as I was gazing around the street, a light bulb went off in my mind.
“Actually, we might not need to jog.” I suddenly piped up, pointing to the right of Tops Cafe to a small hidden alley that was all but obscured from sight. “The alley right there cuts through quite a few streets and should save us enough time.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Lead the way.” Susan chirped, clearly also happy at not having to jog all the way to the cinemas.
Breathing a secret sigh of relief, we slowly entered the narrow alleyway, only able to enter and travel one at a time before it eventually began to widen in width a few metres inside, and we could travel side by side with space to spare. As we travelled forward, it felt as if we were in a different world, completely separated from everyone else, with not a sight or sound able to be seen or heard from the busy street we were just in. All that could be heard in the dark and damp alley was that of our own breathing and the rustle of our footsteps upon the trash-filled floor.
“How do you even know about this pce?” Sam asked, moving carefully and looking in disgust at the grimy walls that surrounded them.
“The back exit of Tops Cafe leads out to here, so I travel through here often. It’s completely desote. Besides me and the others who were at the cafe, I don’t think anyone else even knows it exists.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, if I were you.”
Jumping in shock at the sudden but yet familiar voice that sounded from behind us, I quickly spun around, leading me to come face to face with the smirking face of Jamie and the others grouped up just behind him.
Immediately, I went to flee. Yet before I could even take my first step, as my brain finally managed to fully process the situation, I was forced to throw away such an idea. Not only was the alleyway a straight line with nowhere to hide, but with my health, there was no way I would make it more than a couple of steps before being caught. Although even if my health was back to normal, I doubted I would have been able to escape against Jamie’s monstrous physique and Lewis’s freakishly tall stature. The only people among us whom I believed had any chance of escape were Sam and Susan, with both of them being in good physical condition. And regardless, even if I could, there was no way I was going to leave Helen.
“What the fuck are you doing here you prick.” I finally said, seeing how Jamie and the others seemed more than happy to wait in silence. “Are you stalking me now or something? I’m fttered, truly, but I’m afraid I don't quite swing that way.” I remarked, wiping away the smug grin that had been pstered on his face.
“Talk shit while you can,” Jamie seethed. “We’ll see if you can still act so cocky once we have you face first in the dirt again. Though this time we won’t be as kind.” Hearing what he said, I suppressed a snort, thinking about their so-called ‘kind’ treatment from before.
“Oi! I’m guessing you’re Jamie. I’ve heard a lot about you,” Sam suddenly piped up from my side, his tone filled with barely concealed rage as he stepped closer towards them, pcing himself at the very front of the group. “Why don’t you do yourself a favour and fuck off before I beat the ever loving shit out of you.”
For the first time ever, as I looked at the livid expression Sam wore and the way he stood tall, his muscles clear on dispy, I realised how scary Sam could be. During the time since we had made up I had told him all about what had happened with Jamie and his crew, including how I got my shit absolutely rocked. I could still remember the thunder in his eyes when he heard what happened. And it seemed his anger hadn’t diminished in the slightest during the time that had passed.
As if wanting to compete in height, Lewis walked up to Sam until there was nary a metre of space between them. “Those are some big words you're spewing. Are you sure you’re ready for the consequences?” Lewis smirked, an air of superiority in his eyes as he looked down upon Sam, probably the first person to do so since Sam had grown to his full height.
Seeing that things were about to get out of control, and not wanting Helen or Susan to wind up getting involved in what was most likely to turn into a chaotic brawl, one with a very low chance of us coming out unharmed, I quickly asked. “Look, what do you actually want, Jamie? You already got your fucking punches in when you lot jumped me st time. So why don’t you just leave us alone and go?”
When I finished speaking, I heard a small gasp from behind me. I turned around to see the shocked face of Helen as she stared at me in disbelief. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me what had actually happened?” she asked, her voice a mixture of worry and annoyance. “You had said you and Sam were just messing around, and things had gotten out of hand.”
Realising my mistake, I floundered for something to say before I was thankfully saved by Crk of all people, who, to my surprise, seemed to agree with what I had said. “Jamie, he’s got a point. We already fucked him up st time. There’s no need to get into another fight.”
“What, is wittle baby Crk scared?” Cindy mocked in a high-pitched baby voice. “Man up, it’s fucking five vs four and I can tell you now those two posh little bitches arn’t even going to be a challenge.”
“What did you say you emo bitch! I would watch that ugly little mouth of yours before I rearrange it personally.” Susan retorted, clearly angering Cindy if the red glow against her pale face was anything to go by. Yet just as I thought she was about to charge towards us and kick this fight off, Alice, who had simply been standing there like a statue the entire time, staring at me with unbridled focus and the same impassive expression she commonly wore, suddenly said. “Four vs four.”
“What did you say?” Cindy asked.
“You said it was a five vs four. It’s not. I’m not getting involved in this, so if you guys are fighting, then I’m out.” And with that, Alice took a few steps to the side, leaning against the brick wall that surrounded us on both sides.
“Me neither.” Crk swiftly followed, standing to the side next to Alice. “I already feel like shit for what we did st time. I’m not doing it again.” He turned to me, eyes apologetic as he gave me a small nod. A nod I reciprocated. Not because I forgave him, mind you. Regardless of what he said, he had still abandoned me and participated in the ass kicking of a lifetime. But because antagonising him would only worsen the odds of us getting out of this situation unharmed.
“Well, it looks like it’s four vs three now. Seems like the odds are in our favour now.” Sam took another step forward, forcing Lewis to take one back in retreat, the grin on his face having changed to that of a grimace, making Sam's smile rise even higher.
“Ha! you fucking wish dickhead! It doesn’t matter how many of you fucks there are. We’re still gonna kick the shit out of you all.” Jamie shouted with unmatched confidence as he started raising his arms in preparation.
Unfortunately, for us, he was more right than he even knew. After all, with the condition I was in, I was more of a liability than an actual fighter. I expected I could probably st for at most a minute before I became all but useless. Yet as I saw the way Jamie’s arms tensed and his fists tightened, I knew there wasn’t going to be a way to stop what was coming. So, coming up with a pn, I began to slowly walk towards Jamie as non-threateningly as possible.
“Come on man, let's just stop this. There’s no reason we have to fight. We can all just go our separate ways.” As I spoke and saw the dismissive attitude Jamie was all but radiating, I turned my head slightly so that I could make eye contact with Sam. It was then that I gave him a small wink, hoping he would understand what I was trying to say.
“Ahh, is someone getting sca-.” Before Jamie could even finish his mocking statement, with what limited strength I had, I lunged forward and threw my fist with all my might in a wide left hook, nding squarely to the side of his jaw.
Whether in surprise or out of actual damage, with his mouth still hanging wide open, he stumbled backwards, his legs wobbling and his body swaying. Seeing my chance to end the fight before it even began, I charged towards him again, aiming yet another punch to his unprotected face. As I charged, the sound of Lewis screaming in pain could be heard from behind me, bringing a small smile to my face, knowing that Sam was also able to get the drop on Lewis.
That smile soon went away, however, when I felt a body charge into mine; not hard enough to hurt, but enough to push me away from Jamie and into the brick wall that resided to my side, causing me to wince slightly. I quickly tried to stand back tall, seeing Cindy as she moved away from where she had pushed me, to the shellshocked bodies of both Helen and Susan, who had yet to even take a single step.
“Helen. Look out!” I shouted, able to offer nothing more than a warning as I soon came face to face with an enraged Jamie rubbing his jaw with irritation.
“That’s the second time you’ve tried to get the jump on me.” Jamie fumed. “You’re going to fucking regret it.”
“Maybe you should actually pay attention to your surroundings. Can’t bme me if you’re going to act like a gormless fuckhead all the time.” Even as I pretended to be calm, my eyes scanned my surroundings with increased fervour, looking for anything I could possibly use to even out this fight. After all, I knew that even if I was in perfect condition, the odds of me beating Jamie were slim. Now, In my current condition, they were all but non-existent.
Regrettably, before I could even fathom a pn, Jamie stormed forward, closing the small distance between us instantly. The moment he had done so, he threw a devastating punch that I knew would cause serious damage if it managed to nd. Just in the nick of time, I stumbled to the side, once again crashing into the brick wall nearby and causing me to let out a groan in pain, already able to feel my back starting to bruise.
Seeing the unbridled rage Jamie possessed and seeing no way of escape due to the brick wall pressed against my back, I once again started scanning my surroundings. Yet to my utmost disappointment, as Jamie began getting closer and closer, I saw nothing besides the cascade of trash that was littered around us. That was until, from the corner of my right eye, not too far away, a short metal pole could be seen, hidden beneath a yer of trash so rge that only the tip could be seen.
Unfortunately for me, any chance to get said pole was dashed the moment Jamie descended upon me, taking advantage of my momentary distraction to throw a solid punch straight at my stomach. One, I was unable to dodge. A blinding pain assaulted me as the air in my lungs was forcefully expelled, forcing me to let out a wheeze in pure agony as I began to colpse to the right and straight towards the floor.
The moment I nded, before I could even react, I felt Jamie’s foot smash against my stomach, sending me cascading through the pile of empty bottles and old rotten food scattered around. In a daze, I gasped, both in pain and a need for oxygen, feeling as if I was a few seconds away from passing out. I opened my bleary eyes with a struggle to see the smug face of Jamie as he stalked towards me like a lion getting ready for the kill. As I struggled to stand, I quickly gnced around the alley at the others, remembering I wasn’t the only person fighting and hoping that one of them might be able to help. Sadly, such a hope was quickly dashed.
Helen and Susan seemed to be having the easiest time out of the four of us, with the two of them against Cindy. Yet because of their clear ck of experience, they weren’t really able to deal any actual damage, with the few punches they threw being light and ineffective. It was only thanks to the hold Susan had over her hair that kept Cindy under control and unable to truly fight back. Sam, on the other hand, while clearly having much more muscle, seemed to be struggling against Lewis’s technique and brutality, something I still remembered from my st beatdown with startling crity. Add to the fact that it was clear Sam was more focused on paying attention to what was happening to me than himself, shouting my name continuously as he failed to break past Lewis, and it wasn’t a wonder that he was having trouble.
I let out a boured sigh as I colpsed back onto the ground, unable to even pick myself back up, wincing at the pain such a small movement caused. It was then that my eyes drifted down to the trash-filled ground, whereupon seeing what was there, they widened almost comically. Whether it was divine intervention or pure dumb luck, I wasn’t sure, but I had somehow managed to nd directly next to the hidden metal pole I spotted before.
Not one to turn down such a chance, and hearing Jamie’s guttural breaths not too far away, I threw my hand forward, grabbing the tip of the metal pole and clutching it firmly in my grip. With all my remaining strength, I wrenched it free from the surrounding trash before I twisted my body to face Jamie, a bewildered expression on his face as he observed me. An expression that quickly turned into one of shock as he saw the metal pole enclosed in my fist fly towards his leg at a frightening speed, making contact with his left knee before he could even react.
With a satisfied smile, I watched as his legs gave out and he colpsed into a ball on the floor, wrapping his arms protectively over his knee as he wailed in pain. Slowly, I got up, finally having regained a tiny portion of my strength, and made my way over to his prone body. His eyes stared up at me, burning in defiance and anger, an expression I ignored as I started to raise the pole above my head, ready to finally put this fight to an end with one st strike.
Yet the moment I did so, whether it was the movement itself or if all my good luck had finally disappeared, I wasn’t sure, but suddenly I found myself convulsing into a massive coughing fit. One so bad I was forced forward with my hands on my knees as my head dropped towards the floor, blood and spit flying to the ground with every ragged cough I produced. Coughs that no matter how hard I tried, I was unable to stop.
It was only after what felt like an eternity ter that I was finally able to take a shallow breath of air in reprieve, although I did so carefully in fear of setting off my lungs once more. When they didn’t and I realised I was once again fine, I quickly opened my eyes that I had previously shut tight throughout the coughing, remembering my current situation. The moment I did so, I came to two terrifying discoveries. The first being that in the time it took for my coughing to subside, Jamie had managed to stand up from his prone position on the floor, now standing back to his full height with a menacing grin. The second was the ck of a metal pipe in my hand, having dropped it at some point during the coughing fit, and the addition of one in Jamie’s.
“Well, well, well, it’s only fair if I give you a taste of your own medicine, don’t you think?” He chuckled maniacally as he struck the metal pole he was now holding against his palm.
A resounding thud drowned out the chaotic shouts and screams happening around us before, without even giving me a chance to respond, he swung the pole with terrifying ferocity, smashing it against the side of my chest. Instantly, I could feel my ribs creaking and groaning, feeling as if they were crushed into bits from the single blow as I flew like a ragged doll, rolling along against the dirty asphalt floor before nding in a motionless heap.
As my consciousness started to blur, having hit my head quite a few times during the roll, I heard a multitude of voices and sounds as I groaned in agony. The worried shouts of Sam, Helen and Susan, the delighted cackle coming from both Lewis and Cindy and the stomping of feet of what must have been Jamie coming closer and closer. Just as I started to feel utterly powerless, unable to even open my eyes or see even a glimmer of hope of escaping, let alone winning, out of nowhere, a voice could be heard. One that I wasn’t prepared to hear in my current situation.
“You no good punks! Get the fuck away before I call the police!” Derek's voice raged in the background. Or at least who I thought was Derek. In the state I was in, I wasn’t sure what was truly going on.
The sound of multiple people shouting and running soon followed, their voices getting quieter and quieter until I could no longer hear them. Once the alleyway was no longer immersed in the chaotic sounds it once held, I suddenly felt myself getting lifted off the ground by a pair of rge, strong hands. Even though I had just heard Jamie and his cronies leave, in my dazed state, I still believed myself to be in danger, and so as best I could, I thrashed and wailed in an attempt to escape, further exacerbating my injuries in the process.
“Adam! It’s me. You’re Safe!” Sam shouted next to my ear, his familiar voice giving me pause. “It’s Sam. You’re alright. You’re safe.” He continuously repeated.
I released a sigh of relief as I processed his words. The tension flooding my systems disappeared, making me lose the st remaining strength I had in my limbs, momentarily dragging both Sam and me down to the floor before an additional pair of hands wrapped around my waist in support. I eventually managed to squeeze open my eyes, seeing Sam, Derek, Helen and Susan as they surrounded me, all looking at me with varied levels of worry. I looked towards Helen, noticing how her hair that had previously been neatly braided was now in disarray and how she sported a small cut on her bottom lip. At such a sight, I went to speak, but all that escaped was a quiet groan.
“Crap, he needs to get to the hospital now!” Sam hurriedly said before turning to Derek. “Do you have a car?”
“Yeah, follow me.” And with that, Derek and Sam slowly ushered me through the alley with Susan and Helen following closely behind until we found ourselves in a car park not too far away.
“Right, y him down in the back seat. Be careful not to worsen his injuries.” Derek said as he opened the back door to his car, a rge white Volkswagen, from what I was able to see. Sam gently pced me inside before quickly shutting the door. From my position, I couldn’t see what was happening outside, but I heard Sam as he talked to Helen and Susan, telling them that he would go with me to the hospital and message them when we got there.
Soon after, both Sam and Derek jumped in the car, and in what must have been record time, started it up and began driving us to the hospital. As we drove, Sam, who was in the front passenger seat, continued to speak to me, constantly saying words of reassurance. Unfortunately, I heard very little of it as my eyelid began to grow heavy and I started to fade in and out of consciousness. The only thing that stopped me from fully passing out was the agonising pain in my chest and the debilitating cough that kept occurring every ten or so seconds. A cough that forced me into spraying droplets of blood onto the vinyl seats of the car.
After god knows how long, I felt the car come to a sudden stop, waking me momentarily as I watched as Sam all but leapt out of the car. Quickly, he opened the back door and helped me out of the car, bringing me to a stand and giving me a shoulder to lean on, allowing me to see the rge hospital building before us. A pce I was beginning to hate more and more with each visit.
“You’re going to be fine Adam. Dorry worry.” He quietly mumbled as he began all but dragging me towards the front door, sounding far too worried for me to believe a single word that he said.
The moment we stepped inside, Sam began shouting for help, no doubt scaring everyone in the reception room. In truth, I thought he was overreacting slightly, but before I could try and say anything, a rush of nurses immediately surrounded me, carrying and pcing me on one of the beds on wheels not far away. As I y on the bed, enjoying the feeling of the soft, comfy material beneath me, I heard Sam describe what had happened as well as my illness, which I realised was his biggest worry as he asked whether I would be alright because of it. Unfortunately, I never heard the answer, as that was the st thing I heard as I became unable to fight against my desire to sleep any longer and soon drifted off into unconsciousness for the umpteenth time.
