Famous? Just a little.

17 Hospital

We took the bus to the hospital and then ran into the building. Amy was completely rattled. I tried to calm her down a little but it didn't work.

Colin waited in the corridor.

His blue eyes were full of fear and tears and he looked as if he was about to start crying in a second.

"They don't let me in! They don't even tell me how he is!" He never sounded more vulnerable.

I went over to him and wrapped my arms around him. I thought he would push me away or at least take a step backwards, but he didn't move and after a second laid down his head on my shoulder. I held him for a little while.

Then I took his arm and directed him to a chair. "It's gonna be okay. I'm sure someone will come and speak to us in a second." I sat down next to him and stroke his arm. I also looked after Amy, but she wouldn't take a seat.

"Stop pacing, Amy. It makes me even more nervous. Come here." I somehow managed to sound gentle and determined at the same time. It wasn't easy; I was worried myself. She finally sat down and took my hand. We waited for about ten minutes that seemed as long as ten hours, before a nurse came to us. She looked sad, very sad. Amy grabbed my arm like she used to do when she was nervous in school.

"How is he?" I was the only one able to speak.

"I have bad news. He is still in danger of life. He is going to be operated, but the chance that he survives is very little. He lost a big amount of blood. I'm sorry."

"Oh my god!" Amy started crying. I felt how my own eyes got slowly filled with tears.

Colin said nothing. He was shaking and deathly pale.

"No! Not them!" We heard a voice from the other side of the corridor. A doctor walked towards us with big steps. "Nurse Beth, I told you to give this information to the family of Peter Smith."

She was confused. "Is that not you?"

I only shook my head.

"They are friends of Mr. James," the doctor said reproachfully. "You have to be careful!" He turned to us. "It seems Nurse Beth shocked you a little." A little?

"I'm sorry about that," he went on. "Bradley is fine, he was very lucky. He just got a bruised rib and a sprained ankle. We have to apply a new bandage later, but you can take him home with you afterwards."

"Oh my god!" Amy said again, but this time full of relief.

"Bloody crap." I normally don't say things like that but this was an exception. "You scared us to death!"

"I'm sorry..." Nurse Beth blushed.

I took a deep breath and hugged Amy, then Colin. He held me very tight for a few seconds before letting go of me. He was still quite pale but he smiled a bit. The doctor gave him a closer look. "Hey, do I know you from television?"

"What? Er, yeah ... yeah, but could we see Bradley now, please?"

"Of course. I show you the room." He turned to the woman again, who was still standing next to us. "And you, Nurse Beth, go and find the real family of Mr. Smith. And don't walk around scaring the wrong people to death again!"

She nodded, blushing even more, and walked away quickly.

The doctor finally opened a door for us and led us in. Bradley sat on the bed. Some bandages were wrapped around him but besides that he seemed to be okay. He smiled at us.

"Visitors! Glad you're finally here. It's getting boring."

We just stood there staring at him, with the shock still in our bones.