The Source by Sarah Sultoon

Author:Sarah Sultoon [Sultoon, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orenda Books Ltd
Published: 2021-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997

‘I’m afraid I can’t do that.’ Doctor Twena stares up at Rach, who towers over him. She looks like an actual clown under the hospital strip lights, like she’s painted her face with nail polish. It can’t be proper makeup.

‘I’m her sister, aren’t I? I can take her home whenever I like.’

She scratches at new sores on her arm before putting her hands back on her hips. There’s a cluster of us round the nurses’ station now, blue pyjamas ballooning all over the place. I guess it makes better sense, now it’s nearly midnight.

‘She’s not well enough to be discharged,’ he says, waving the clipboard in his hand towards Kayleigh’s cubicle. ‘Her blood tests will take at least forty-eight hours, and it’s only then that we can definitely rule out bacterial meningitis, not to mention clearing any potential alcohol poisoning.’

‘Two days?’ Rach shouts, glaring at me as well as him. I shrink into my blazer, slumping against the nurses’ station. ‘You’re having a laugh, right? All this for a snotty nose?’

‘Kayleigh has had a dangerous febrile convulsion,’ he says, almost spitting as he talks. ‘Her temperature was sky high, which is a sign of her body fighting a very serious infection. I can tell you, miss, that there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of her being discharged tonight, and her infection markers need to come down considerably for her to be ready to go home any time soon.’

‘Like I give a toss what you say,’ Rach mutters as she pushes past, marching towards Kayleigh’s cubicle. There’s a clatter as we all follow her, Doctor Twena gesturing with his clipboard.

‘Don’t fucking touch me,’ she shouts as a policeman clumps round the corner, blocking her path. I scuttle up behind her, plucking at her sleeve.

‘Rach,’ I whisper, shivering as my fingers brush cold skin. ‘She was properly sick, seriously…’

‘Shut your mouth,’ she hisses as she bears round.

‘Evening, Doc,’ the policeman says. The doctor catches us up.

‘Jonny,’ he pants, ‘I do appreciate you coming back in so late. Since the medical justification for keeping her sister in hospital doesn’t seem to concern Rachel here, perhaps you could explain the criminal consequences of removing a patient from hospital without authorisation?’

Rach’s arm feels like a stick in my hand. The policeman is a lot taller than her.

‘You’re her sister too, are you?’ He looks her up and down. ‘Got ID on you to prove it?’

‘I’m her sister,’ I gabble from behind her. ‘We’re all sisters.’

‘Lovely,’ he says, without looking at me. ‘One big happy family, are we?’

‘You can’t arrest me,’ Rach says, clenching her fist below my hand. ‘I know my rights and all. You’ve got nothing on me.’

‘True,’ he says, fingering the handcuffs looped over his belt. ‘Not yet, anyway. But if you take her out of here before the doc says she’s ready, and she shows up again with who knows what wrong with her, then guess what happens next?’

Rach pulls her arm out of my hand as she stares at him.

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