CHAPTER 27
I had bent over the bed as she started to tremble, half-formed words gradually increasing in volume, and when she realised it was me, she crashed awake, pulling my arms about her.

“Shush, love. Let me move, just a second, okay?”

I stood up from the bed, and stepped round to her side, where I pulled up the railing thing before returning and lifting the blanket so that I could slide underneath, spooning into her from behind.

“Why the railing, Enfys?”

“Not much room, love. Don’t want you to fall out”

I breathed in the soapy scent of her hair, wondering what chance she had been given to get herself clean enough to relax. Time for some silliness.

“Alys?”

“Yeah?”

“You said you didn’t want to read my climbing books, but this is just like being in one”

“How?”

“Two people, tied together in a bivouac, perched on a tiny ledge and cuddled up to share body warmth”

“Yeah, but not stuck on a bloody mountain, are we? Nor being snowed on, or eaten by a yeti. Ow! Don’t make me laugh, not just now”

She wriggled herself into me, and I made myself as comfortable as possible until breath slowed, and a hint of a snore came back. I woke a couple more times in the night as she started to shake again, but each hunt of nightmares fled as I hushed her softly.

I was astonished when I realised it was light outside, surprised I had managed to sleep at all, but my main feeling was gratitude. If I had slept, then so had Alys. I slipped out from under the covers, my bladder making demands, just as the first nurse of the day came in to do her checks. Her eyes went straight to the bed, and it was abundantly clear that she had worked out where I had spent the night. I smiled at her, and shrugged.

“Nightmares. Calmed her down”

A soft smile was returned.

“Not a problem, love. Tea trolley will be around in a few, and breakfast. Can’t help you with that, I’m afraid: all the meals are plated up, only for patients. Café does a nice breakfast roll, though. Got enough cash?”

Before I could answer, she had stepped forward and taken my arm, tugging me into the little attached bathroom and shutting the door. As the latch clicked home, I lost control, and the nurse just held me as I sobbed on her shoulder, my throat wrenching as I tried to keep the noise down so that my lover wouldn’t hear. The woman held me until I had found a little stability, and then sat me down on the little chair under the shower.

“It isn’t an easy thing, love. We can’t all be strong, all the time. No shame, none at all. Shows you care, ah?”

I nodded, without words for once, and she pointed to the sink.

“Face wash, whatever business you need, then you come back out and stay strong for her, and never, ever be ashamed that you care. Is that a deal?”

I stared at her, but could see nothing but sympathy in her expression.

“You know what we are, Alys and me? And… and what she is?”

“Love, an awful lot of the staff here are gay, and that doesn’t bother me. Why should it? You obviously care for each other, and that, to be honest, is really sweet. Why should it be different just because you’re both girls?”

“Yes, but Alys is---”

“A girl. One who has been raped, effectively. I am sure people have already said that to you. Here’s a bit of advice: when someone talks bollocks, all that means is just that. It does not reflect on anyone else. Now, I can hear cups rattling. We can stretch to teas for you. Want one?”

“Please”

“I’ll sort you one, then. Get yourself cleaned up, and then come back with a smile. She needs you now”

She was gone, and I dealt with my bladder, spending a few minutes longer sitting on the toilet until I felt it was safe to wash my hands and face and rejoin my lover.

The doctor did her rounds at about two, after my second visit to the café, and brought more smiles, particularly when she proposed that Alys might be released in two more days.

“What we have been doing, ladies, is checking for concussion and other nasties. I have been a little concerned over some noises from near the fractured ribs, but we are thankfully past the dehydration and hypothermia crises. Two more days, then we’ll kick you both out. Police have done their bits and pieces?”

We both nodded, and the doc nodded.

“Great, super, etc. Don’t want to see either of you back here, do we? Not like this, at least. What are you two looking to do, after school is done?”

Alys answered first.

“I want to do conservation, environmental studies. That… I was doing a survey of plant species in an old quarry when, you know. Things happened”

The doctor was nodding.

“Yes. Just try and remember that they were the losers, in the end. I have met your family, so I know that even more. Enfys? You on the same course?”

Alys laughed, then winced.

“Need to remember not to do that. No, she’s doing sports science”

I knee-jerked “Adventure sports science!” before I spotted her grin, and that time it was the doctor who laughed.

“Ooh, then we most definitely WILL be seeing you here again! I’ll show you where the helipad is before you go. Mountain Rescue might as well have their own mugs in our canteen. Anyway, I am done here. No nasties as far as I can see, and the ribs seem to have settled. Can be a bit of a worry; things can be pierced that don’t work well with holes in. I will keep you both up to speed as regards release and discharge, okay?”

She was off out of the door before I could thank her properly, and I settled back on the bed with my girl, and sod any objections. We were just swapping ideas for one of the logic puzzles, when Steph’n’Geoff walked in. To my surprise, they had Annie with them. The taller woman looked around, spotting the two available chairs, and snapped her fingers.

“Woodruff!”

“Yes’m?”

“Extra bum perch, and make it snappy!”

Geoff, naturally, only had a collapsible camping chair with him, two of them in fact, and I almost fell off the bed when he tried to shake one out one-handed, and failed. He grinned at me.

“Yeah, well, I never claimed to be perfect. Tea trolley been round?”

I nodded.

“Not due for a while”

“No worries. Wench!”

This time, Steph bowed and scraped.

“Sir!”

“Brews. Now!”

As Alys tried not to aggravate her injuries, Steph and Annie produced flasks and mugs, together with a plastic box of flapjack. Once we had all been served, I looked across at Annie, and before I could speak, she read my mind.

“Yes, Enfys. All you need to know is that I have some insider knowledge, aye? Had my own crap, so, well, I understand. Happy to chat things over, Alys. Eric’s okay on his own, especially with Chantelle to watch him, and I get a chance to do some stuff I like”

I looked at the Woodruffs.

“Which routes?”

“Routes? Oh! No, not me, not that. Not mad, me. I’m just going to look in at Cob Records. Your Dad’s given us all room in his bunkhouse, so we’re sorted for that, and I am promised music”

“Oh?”

“A little bird tells us Alys should be out soon, and you have a harp, and there is a folk club. Partial to that sort of thing, I am”

I found myself starting to crumble again, and it was Annie who took me by the arm for a walk outside. Bloody tears.

“Enfys?”

“Yeah?”

“You are wondering why I came up, aye?”

“A bit”

“Well, Alys and I, we had a couple of chats at the festival, but that was on different stuff. Here’s the point, this time: I don’t sleep, I didn’t use to sleep, that well. Shitty incidents, nightmares, aye? I used to get pissed all the time, just to be able to get some sort of sleep. Not good. A friend would stay with me, then it was Eric, and now, well, it’s better. Not stopped; never will be. But I can cope now, because even when he isn’t there, I know he will be, aye?”

I nodded, and she smiled.

“Yes. That’s one part of why I am here. You’ve slept with her, haven’t you?”

Before I could answer, she clapped a hand to her mouth.

“Shit! That came out wrong! I mean slept with, not, you know! Cuddled her when she gets the night horrors”

“Yes. Last night”

“Aye. Not good stuff, that. I used to do a lot of kicking… September, isn’t it? When school starts again?”

“Yes”

“Then you have time to settle her down. Now, something Steph taught me was a trick with a shirt…”

Two days later, and we were released, or at least Alys was. I couldn’t see us as anything but a single entity by then, but at least she wasn’t emulating Annie in kicking me.

Nansi Edwards drove us both home, and I was unsurprised to see that there was no sign of the promised mat in Alys’ bedroom, although there were extra pillows on her bed. I looked at Mrs Edwards, and she shrugged.

“That Annie explained things to me, although I don’t understand, well, why she doesn’t understand. Our language, that is. If I’m wrong, I can fetch the mats”

“No, you’re right. Sorry”

“Sorry for what?”

I was shaking a little just then, but before I could say anything more, Mrs Edwards had a finger to my lips.

“No. Don’t say it. My daughter is loved---what more do I need to hear?”