Smile, Alice by Ellie R Hunter

Author:Ellie R Hunter [Hunter , Ellie R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

I’m dreaming of bright green eyes when I’m awoken by a deep, worried voice.

“Wake up.”

Am I still dreaming? It’s his voice and I’m drawn to it, but I can’t see him.

“Alice, come on, Joel needs you.”

My eyes shoot open and Damon is leaning on the bed beside me. He’s as pale as dust and I can almost taste his fear.

I jump out of bed and run through to Joel’s room. Maggie is already with him and he is struggling to breathe.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, moving to his other side.

I climb on the bed and hold his hand, careful not to get in Maggie’s way.

“An ambulance is on the way, I’ve got him comfortable. Go and get dressed.”

Gone is her soft, kind tone. She’s serious and that means this is serious.

I’m moving before she has the chance to tell me again. I slip into the jeans I wore yesterday and throw on a jumper from my case. Everything is happening so fast, Damon is standing by the door waiting on the paramedics and I slip my boots on and go back to Joel.

“How long ago did you call the paramedics?” I ask, starting to panic.

“They should be here any…”

They are bursting through the door before she can finish, and one firmly moves me out of the way.

A solid wall of warmth appears behind me and a strong hand squeezes my shoulder. I’m thankful he doesn’t try to offer sentiments because I don’t think I would hear them.

They’ve always been meaningless to me anyway, I know it’s the thought that counts but they don’t change anything.

Maggie is briefing the medics and before I can keep up, they are transferring Joel onto a stretcher.

He looks so pale and small under the oxygen mask and instead of letting tears of fear release, I can feel ice creeping its way through my veins. I’m frozen with fear. This can’t be it, it just can’t be.

For a fraction of time, everything stops. I don’t see anything, but me and Joel sitting in the bedroom at our first foster home. I don’t hear anything, apart from him asking where our mum was. I feel nothing, but the sorrow of loneliness.

Then everything speeds up and the lights in the hotel are brighter than usual, and people move out of the way as the medics take him down.

My body moves on auto pilot, I stay close to him and Damon stays close to me.

I’ve heard of life flashing before your eyes in a near death experience, but I haven’t heard about life passing in flashes. One moment we were in Joel’s room, the next we were in the lobby, now we’re outside on the curb and I’m being told I can’t ride in the ambulance.

He can’t go alone. Maggie’s in there but she isn’t his family, he barely knows her.

“Come.”

I hear Damon, but I’m stood there watching the ambulance speeding off into the night.

Then I’m in the back of the car and Harry is driving. He isn’t wearing his usual sharp suit, he’s dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt.

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