Tiger, Tiger

Tiger, Tiger: Chapter 26

What felt like only a second later, although it may have been minutes, Rose asked, “Do you think you can sit up?”

I tested my neck by nodding weakly in response. My whole body was tingling as bruises formed and healed and my head was still full of a dull ache, but overall the nauseating spinning lights had stopped. “I think so,” I said.

Three pairs of hands then helped to settle me up against the wall. I was a little taken aback at first as I had not realised that Julie and Francis had descended the stairs. Maybe I had been lying there for longer than I thought? That thought unsettled me a little – I’d had more than enough of being unconscious and vulnerable these past few days.

“Are you sure that you’ll be well enough to take your Mum home?” Julie asked, kneeling in front of me. Her forehead was crinkled with worry. “You could both stay here until you’re stronger if you need to. It’d be no hassle.”

I swallowed and shook my head gently, relighting some of the pain behind my eyes in the process. “It was just me being clumsy, not watching my feet. I’ll be right as rain after a good night’s sleep, I promise.”

None of the three looked convinced, but if I stayed now I’d indulgently never let them stop looking after me, so I stretched out my limbs to show that nothing was seriously wrong. “See, all good,” I pressed.

Rose relented at this, looping an arm under mine to pull me shakily to my feet. After I was back on two feet she told me to ‘wait right where I was’ and scampered off the kitchen. I had to lean against the wall gently to keep my head steady until she returned, a brown paper package knotted tightly with string in her hands.

“Here,” she said, handing it to me. It was quite weighty and there was a definite, mouth watering aroma emanating from within. “I’ve packed almost everything I could find in there: sandwiches, fruit, juice, even a few sweet things we had hidden away. You need lots of energy to get your body back to normal.”

I was overwhelmed by the kindness of this family. There was no ‘what will I get out of this’, just a pure and simple desire to help others and to make their lives a little easier. This was what the pack should strive for again since Sole was gone – being a community, a family unit. We had to stop looking out for ourselves and start looking out for each other or we’d never survive.

“Thank you, Rose,” I smiled earnestly, taken aback by the incredible friend I had found. I cradled the package against my chest like it was the only thing keeping me standing. My stomach begged me to eat it all now, but I’d be good and save it to share with Alexander when I got home and called for him. He’d be starving too, no doubt.

“No problem,” she smiled back, “Sure that you’ll be ok on your own?”

I won’t be on my own, I wanted to say, but I couldn’t explain Alexander to Rose here with her parents around. I’d have to wait for a time we could talk in private. So instead I said, “I’ll be fine because of you. No need to worry, really, I mean it.”

* * *

Finally, after much hugging from Rose, I was allowed to leave the Martin household, though a large part of me wanted to stay. I slipped out into the freezing cold, the sky dappled above me with sunset light. The wind whipped straight through the holes in my jumper and sent Goosebumps across my skin, making me clutch my arms and the parcel even closer to my chest. It felt like I hadn’t experienced the elements like this in forever and it filled me with energy.

With this renewed force within me, I pushed myself into a gentle jog for home. My muscles groaned in disagreement but it was good to use my body and not to sit in a glass cage. The quicker that Mum was settled at home and safe, I could call on Alexander and check that he, too, was ok.