Awakened Magic

Chapter Five

"Hurry up, Mel!" exclaimed Jake as he stood at the entrance of the Knights Hospital, motioning me forward with his hands.

It was four in the morning and I was here, instead of being burrowed in my bed. I glowered at my annoyingly perky brother as I pushed past him and into the building. We rushed to the front desk and he asked for Anne Roberts.

"I'm sorry, sir but are you family?" she questioned after pulling up the details of Anne.

"We-I mean, no but we're her friends and we need to see her, straight away." I stuttered out an explanation.

"I'm sorry, miss-we can only allow visitation rights to immediate family members."

After that statement, she dismissed us by going back to reading a paperback.

"Argh! What the heck are we supposed to do now?"

"Mel, calm down, for God's sakes! We'll figure something out." Jake was biting his fingernails, seeming lost in thought.

"Ooh! I can't believe I forgot!" I said, pulling up the recent contacts on my phone, scrolling down until I found the number I was looking for.

Jake was looking at me as if I had lost my mind.

"Come on, come on, pick up the damn phone!" I kept mumbling under my breath until the call went to voice mail.

I almost threw my phone on the floor in frustration.

"Who were you trying to call?" Jake asked, as he forced me to stand still.

Just as I began to explain, I heard a very familiar voice, chattering non-stop. I swivelled around to find the owner of the voice and found a plump, middle-aged woman who was being very loud, considering we were in a hospital.

"-my poor Annie! Can you imagine what her father is going though?" she rambled on into her phone until I ran in front of her, breaking her conversation flat.

"I'm sorry, dear, can I help you?"

"You're Patty, right? We talked on the phone this evening?"

Recognition fled into her face and she exclaimed, "Ahh, yes! The sweet little girl asking for Annie!"

"Errm, yes. Is there any chance I could see her now?" I asked her, wringing the sleeve of my leather jacket.

"Oh, I don't think she is allowed any visitors, sweetie." She said, comfortingly.

"Patty, please? I have to see for myself if she is okay! Could you at least tell me how she is doing now?"

I said in hopes of extracting more information from her.

"There have been no signs of brain activity, but she is alive. The doctors are saying that that's neither a good thing nor a bad thing. It means that she could wake up anytime and nothing we do is going to help her." She was openly sobbing by the end of that sentence.

"Don't worry, Mrs Roberts. I'm sure Anne will wake up soon." Jake inserted, helpfully.

At that, her head jerked up, her eyes wide.

"Oh no, sweetie! I'm not Anne's mother-I'm the housemaid. But I do think of her as one of my own. No, no, darling, call me Patty."

"Oh, I'm sorry-I just assumed"

I was shocked but I knew, deep down, this woman could not have bore the cunning and mean Anne Roberts we all knew. She was way too nice.

"It's okay, darling."

"Can we please see her, Patty? My sister's been out of her mind, worrying about Anne today. She couldn't even enjoy her birthday party."

"Oh, sweetie, I didn't know you were so close to our Anne! You know what; let me go talk to the front desk-maybe they can let you in."