Chapter 15: Fully Responsible

I came around abruptly with smelling salts overloading my senses. My eyes were still watering and hadn’t even focused when pain seared through me—centred on my ribs where Stevens had kicked me. My jaw ached from where the knee that had sent me to the floor had connected and I could feel the mother of all headaches forming at the back of my skull.

As my vision became less blurred, an elderly gentleman in the black uniform of the St John’s Ambulance filled my field of view, a look of deep concern on his face. He moved back a little, looked away from me and said, “He should be okay, but he’ll need to go to the hospital for an x-ray to confirm there’s no other damage.”

The man he was speaking to responded with, “Yes, I’ll take him now. Thank you.”

The ambulance man stood and moved away, and the other man crouched down to my level, looked me in the eye and said, “How do you feel, Paul?”

I blinked several times—my eyes still weren’t working properly. “Wi ... I mean, Mr Brown? What are you doing here?”

“Paul, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Will?”

“Sorry, er, Will. I know you do, but it still doesn’t feel right.” Will Brown was the lawyer who had handled matters when my parents were killed. He’d arranged for Vicky to become my legal guardian—the only option we had to avoid my being taken into care since neither Mom nor Dad had any brothers or sisters. He’d kept tabs on me ever since.

“Yeah, well. It makes me feel old, so stop it.” He grinned. I managed a weak smile in return.

“But what are you doing here? At The Ball I mean?” He was dressed as a vampire, like me, only his costume was far better than mine.

“I was invited by some clients. How do you feel?”

I tried to sit up and groaned as the pain shot through me again. “Like someone just kicked me in the ribs.”

“Always the smart-arse. Okay, let’s get you to the hospital and see what the damage is.”

I looked around the room as he helped me to my feet. “Wait, where’s Clarissa?”

“They took care of her first since it was a head injury. Plus, you told them too. She’s already been taken to the hospital.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. But we’re going to the same place, so we’ll find out when we get there.”

He led me out of the bathroom and into the school reception where his girlfriend and daughter were waiting, both in costume and looking worried.

“Amy, I have to take him to the hospital. Are you and Sophie okay to get a taxi home?”

“Of course, William. Don’t worry about us, just take care of ... Paul, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Hold on. Where’s Vicky?”

“At work. I’ve called her and she’ll meet us at the hospital.”

“Oh, okay.”

Will’s daughter smiled at me, “Hi, Paul. How are you?” Her cheeks flushed and she covered her mouth. “Like, sorry, that was, like, such a stupid question. You just, like, got beat up or something, didn’t you? Like, how could you be? Sorry. Like, oh my God! I’m. like, so embarrassed.”

I smiled at her. Sophie was a cute kid. Talked a bit too much but I liked her. She used to live with her mother in London but had moved in with Will over the summer. “I’m okay. My ribs hurt but apart from that I’m all right. At least I still have all my teeth.” I looked at Will. “I do still have all my teeth, right?” I winked at Sophie and she giggled.

Will sighed. “Kids! Yes, you still have all your teeth. And your ribs are probably broken,” said Will. “Which is why we need to get them x-rayed. Come on, let’s go.”

The nearest hospital was Westmouth General. It was Saturday night so the Accident and Emergency department was full of drunks who’d fallen awkwardly or, like me, been in fights. Will explained what had happened to the receptionist.

“The St. John’s Ambulance people had said he needs an X-ray.”

The receptionist nodded and tapped in some details to her computer.

“Take a seat, please. Someone will see you shortly.”

“How long is shortly?” Will asked.

The receptionist shrugged. “Our target time is within an hour, but it is Saturday night so it could be as long as two.”

We found some seats and settled in to wait. The man opposite me held a bandage to his forehead and had blood streaks covering one side of his face. I tried not to look—my stomach was feeling queasy enough.

“Can we find Clarissa?” I asked. “I need to know she’s okay.”

“Wait here. I’ll find out where she is.” He went back to the desk and returned after speaking to a nurse.

“She’s in a room down that corridor,” he said, pointing beyond the desk. “The nurse didn’t know if we could see her. She’s finding out.”

I nodded.

“The police will need to speak to you, Paul.”

“Yeah, I suppose they will.”

“Tell me what happened.”

I explained the story as best I could, starting with finding Lily crying on Monday. Will listened quietly and sighed when I finished.

“So, you provoked him.”

“No!”

“But that’s what he’ll say. It doesn’t excuse what he did, it was assault and I’ll press to get him prosecuted, but you shouldn’t have provoked him.”

“Going to The Ball with Clarissa provoked him. Getting Lily to talk to her father provoked him. What am I supposed to do, live my life in fear and never go out? All I did tonight was go to the toilet. He followed me with backup. It didn’t matter what I said. He was going to have a go at me no matter what. Or should I have begged for mercy?”