CHAPTER 98
Eric took me back to my little room an hour later. I was astonished at how tired I felt, how hungry and drained. He slipped me a bar of Green and Black’s, and though I did give him a piece the rest seemed to evaporate from the wrappings.

I was feeling oddly detached as we rolled back, and I had to ask Eric what they had been giving me.

“A sedative, is all, Annie, just to keep the lid on things. Nobody was quite sure how you would go when you came round, yeah?”

“Whether I’d lost it big-time, aye?”

He looked abashed. “I was shit-scared, love, not just about Den. You were so far gone, all that blood on your feet, I didn’t know what to think”

“Well, I’m here now. Eric Johnson, have I told you I love you in the last hour? I mean, I knew I did, aye, but now, well, I bloody well do know!”

That led to some sharing of chocolate. I mean, I had a few crumbs still there, and so did he, and all I wanted to do was rip his clothes off and do something I was still unequipped for. I had read of that effect, where a close call with death leaves people with a great need to have sex. It may be the biological imperative to reproduce heightened by loss, but I prefer to think of it as a simple life-affirming shout of “We ain’t dead yet!”

Either way, short of dragging him into a disabled toilet, it wasn’t really possible in such a place. It would have to wait till we were out, and I intended to give him my full attention as soon as I could.

I was in the hospital for another two days in the end, as what turned out to be superficial burns itched and peeled under the dressings. When they were changed, I saw how my skin had blistered and reddened, but in the end it was no worse than a severe case of sunburn. Well, it was quite a bit worse than that, but it would heal, and compared to Den I was lucky. I spent as much time near him as I could, watching over Kirsty as she grabbed a few moments of sleep in a camp bed the nurses had put down beside his little enclave. Sally took me aside on the second day, as Steph cuddled up to Kirsty.

“Possibly not the time, nor the place, Annie, but I just thought I should let you know. I’ve signed you off my list. You’re up for the next step if you can face it”

Surgery. I was caught blindside by that, happy that I was on the home stretch now, but looking around at all the stuff that wheezed and beeped for Den I wasn’t quite as elated as I could have been. The thought of going into a hospital pales a bit when you are actually sitting there.

“When, Sal?”

“Possibly the late Spring, early Summer. There are advantages to not taking a Summer holiday if you want to get high on waiting lists. If we time it right, you’ll either be a bit tender for their blessing, or ready and able for your own ceremony, and fit for Shrewsbury as well”

“What, you thinking of joining us next year?”

“This year, actually, but I won’t be in some bloody tent. This girl wants a proper bed”

“I thought Stewie was all macho outdoors, aye?”

“Which is why he does his best not to have to repeat it! Now, I will see what I can do with waiting lists, but this is now your call, Annie. You have to make the final decision”

“Shit, I made that years ago, Sal, it was just a case of whether…THAT…went on its own, or I simply took it with me when I did. Thanks. Not the best time, but thanks for still having room to think of me”

There was a cough from by the door to the rest of the hospital, and Sam was there, in uniform, strain clearly etched on his face. The fall-out from Den’s attack was clearly hitting folk much more widely than I had realised. The nurse nodded, and he came in, straight to Kirsty, whom he held for a long period, just holding and rocking as Steph vanished to get some teas. He let her go eventually, leaving her with Sal, and then asked if we could have a quiet word. Pushing me back out of the unit, he murmured “We have a start on this one. We think we know the spotter”

How the hell? How had they got that far, that quickly? Sam was clearly reading my mind.

“You won’t have guessed, but it came from your main man Mr Eyres”

“What?”

“Darren is far from stupid, it seems…”

“I know that!”

“Well, he had a few of his football friends do a bit of listening, and in one of the other schools a fifteen-year-old was being a bit flash with the cash. One of Darren’s mates told him the boy was positively preening when the news came out”

“Well, have you nicked the little fucker?”

Sam looked at his watch. “Assuming he was at home or school, yes, about ten minutes ago. Annie, Darren’s bit in this does not get mentioned, and you and Kirsty are not welcome at the nick. Got that? We will do this by the book, we will not have any tripping on the steps. They tried to kill one of us and I am going to make fucking sure they pay. No cock-ups, OK?”

“Is Darren safe?”

Sam grinned, and it was a tired but happy smile. “He is one sharp little shitter, that one. You know, Annie, for somebody who can read people so well, how did you ever let yourself get into such a crappy state?”

I reached up and pulled him gently down so I could kiss his cheek. A year or more ago, such an act would have been unthinkable, and now it was so natural I couldn’t conceive of things ever being different.

“Physician heal thyself, aye? Just promise me, Sam, that he will be kept safe, him and Chantelle deserve better than that bitch gave them, aye?”

There was moisture in his eyes as he left. I wheeled myself back into the busy little space where Den lay still, Kirst half asleep over the edge of his bed. She looked as if she was slowly killing herself, if she was not already dead inside despite the new life growing there. Suddenly she sat up, grabbing the buzzer to summon the nurse, and she was muttering something I couldn’t make out, then:

“He squeezed my hand, Annie, he squeezed my hand! He’s in there, my Den’s still here!”

The medical team pushed us all out except Kirsty, and looking through the door I realised they were removing the ventilator that had breathed for him for the last few days, and then I heard Kirsty as she howled with relief as his head turned towards hers, and then she was brought out as well by a nurse as they continued to do some medical thing I didn’t understand, and Kirsty was trembling with relief as she simply told us “He said my name…” before collapsing into tears and Sally’s arms.

That was the end of the true nightmare, but not of his ordeal. I was released the next day, to fester at home in futile incapacity as my feet healed and a stream of visitors made themselves cups of tea and brought updates, and on the third day it was Naomi and Albert and Darren.

My main man came straight to me, crying his eyes out, and I was hugged mercilessly. As we broke, I put a finger to his lips.

“Sam, the Inspector, told me, but that is all we will say on that one. You mustn’t talk about it, aye? But Daz, I am so proud of you I could burst”

“Yeah, well, nobody touches my family, do they? I told you I got your back, and I have, yeah?”

“Yeah, you my main man Mr Eyres all right”

Albert looked rather pleased with himself, as well he might. Darren had a heart as big as Wales, but it was the Woods who had directed that passion, that loyalty. Darren was very much their boy.

“Any news from Shan, Darren?”

Naomi spoke up then.
“Katherine and Virginia have been staying, off and on, at ours, and Chantelle is with them. Rather than traipsing up and down to Brighton each day, she stays here as the other two swap around.”

I looked hard at the no-longer-boy before me. “Cause you problems having a girly in the house, aye? Cramp your style?”

He blushed a little. “Na, iss different, innit, when she’s your girly, not like having some silly schoolgirl about, yeah”

“I wouldn’t know, Daz, I’m not really into girls, am I?”

“Yeah, but you’s a woman”

“So are Kate and Ginny”

“Yeah, but you ain’t Ginny and you ain’t Kate, yeah? You are just some stupid woman who took me out of the shit and made me real, and don’t you never go running into no burning cars again, yeah? Never!”

My main man Mr Darren Eyres.