She nods to me, and I turn, seeing a petite lady with mousy hair walking towards me. There’s a sad smile on her face, and my heart sinks.
“Hi, are you Amy? I was told you were coming in because their parents are a while away.” She reaches for me and nods towards the double doors at the end of the corridor. “Come with me.”
“Are they okay?” The words hurt my throat on the way out, and I look over at her with wide eyes.
She purses her lips, seeming to choose her words. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you too much, as you’re not next of kin. One of them is up in surgery. It’s touch and go; he was very badly injured. But they’re both in the best place. We’re doing all we can. It would really help us though if we could identify them. I’m not sure if you were told much, but it was a car accident, a pretty bad one. Neither of them had ID on their person. The paramedics found their wallets and phones in the car, but as they’re identical, it’s impossible for us to tell from their licences which is which.”
She shoots me a sad smile, and I nod in understanding.
I blindly follow her down corridors, past closed curtains and open ones where people sit or lie on beds, their faces scrunched with pain. My head is swimming, my stomach churning so much that I wonder if I actually need to vomit. The adrenaline of the phone call is wearing off now, and my exhaustion is making my legs feel like concrete blocks as I try to keep pace with the petite little nurse, who’s surprisingly fast, her shoes squeaking on the linoleum floor.
“The one who’s down here has a fracture of the tibia, two broken ribs, and some cuts and bruises. He’s unconscious at the moment, and we’re going to get him up into surgery to set his leg as soon as possible.”
As we approach the end of the corridor, a doctor looks up.
Beverly waves to get his attention. “This is Amy. She’s here to identify the Stone twins if possible.” She turns to me. “Do you think you can? Is there some kind of distinguishing mark?”
I nod, unable to speak, my chin wobbling as more tears fall.
“Great.” The doctor nods and steps to the side of a blue curtain, tugging it back.
I drop my eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths, trying to prepare myself. I study a little black mark that stains against the cream floor, wanting to put this off as long as possible. I’m not sure who I want to see lying in the bed. Whichever one is here, it means the other is fighting for his life in surgery. My feelings are still interwoven for them both. Either way, this whole situation is awful.
I can barely force my eyes up, but I make myself. The figure on the bed is smashed and still. There’s blood smeared on his face, tubes sticking from his hand. His leg is strapped in some kind of blue boot thing, and I can see bloodstained bandages over it. His head is strapped to a red board, blocks stuffed around his ears, holding him still. The heart rate monitor beeps steadily next to his bed.
A whimper cracks out of my throat, and I reach up to cover my mouth. Looking at him lying there is like torture.
The doctor clears his throat, and I look up at him, seeing him watching me expectantly. I glance back at the man in the bed and force my heavy legs forward, leaning over so I can see his face.
My eyes search among the grime, seeking out the little mole. There it is … under his right eye.
What’s left of my heart breaks even further as emotion so powerful washes over me that I have to grip the edge of the bed for support as my knees almost give out.
“This is Theo Stone,” I croak. The words feel as if they rip my throat on the way out, and I sink down into the chair next to his bed and weep.
twenty.eight
I’m broken, fundamentally broken inside. Nothing works. My body is uncoordinated and jerky, and my breathing comes out in ragged gasps as I sob into my hands. All I can see when I close my eyes is Jared, alone, fighting for his life. The thought of losing him is killing me, tearing me apart inside.
When I’m finally able to breathe again, I dial Deborah. She answers on the first ring, her voice a desperate plea as she says my name.
I clear my throat. “Hi, I’m here. It’s Jared who’s in surgery. Theo’s okay.” My voice breaks, and I can’t say anything else as my vision blurs with tears.
Deborah lets out a pain-filled wail that I feel in my gut, and we basically cry together down the phone for a good five minutes, neither of us saying a word.
“Deborah, tell Amy we’ll be there soon. Maybe half an hour. Deborah!” Kenneth says in the background.
But all that comes down the line from Deborah is a pitiful squeak.
I nod in understanding, my breath hitching. “I heard. Half an hour,” I mumble, just needing to be off the phone. “I’ll see you soon. Drive safe.” I disconnect the phone and swipe at my tears.
“Amy?”
I jump and turn, seeing a familiar face tentatively poking around the end of the curtain.
Tim frowns at me and pulls the curtain back some more when he sees it is me. “I thought I heard your voice! What are you doing here?” He steps in the cubicle, and his gaze drops to the bed, his eyes widening in surprise. “Oh shit! What happened?”
With one arm, he engulfs me in a hug, pulling me against his body. With the other, he picks up the chart from the end of the bed and starts looking over it.
I press my face into his chest, wrapping my arms around him in a bear hug, ignoring that he smells slightly of stale sweat and cheese and onion crisps. He’s probably coming to the end of a twelve-hour shift. It’s so good to see him and be comforted that I don’t even care.
“It’s not Jared,” I croak, crying into his neck as he rubs my back. “It’s his brother. Jared is …” I whimper and squeeze my eyes shut. “Jared is in surgery. They … they …” I’m hyperventilating, and I can’t finish my sentence.
Tim pulls back and drops the chart on the bed, tightly gripping my shoulders. “Breathe. You need to chill. Take a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth, like this.”
He shows me how, his breath blowing across my face as I force myself to copy him, my eyes latched on his. My heart is jackhammering so fast in my chest that it feels like it’s about to explode.
When I’m finally more in control, Tim pulls me into a hug again. “Amy, I have to go for a bit. I came down here to collect a patient. I thought I heard your voice, so I came to check, but they’re probably waiting for me right now. I’ll go get my patient and take her up to my ward, and then I’ll come back down here, okay?”
I sniff and pull back, putting on a brave face even though I feel like I’m slowly dying inside. “You don’t have to. Jared’s parents will be here soon.”
He waves off my protests with a flick of his hand. “I’m due a break anyway. Give me ten minutes, and I’ll come sit with you until his parents arrive.” He leans in and kisses the side of my head before squeezing my hand and slipping out of the gap in the curtain again.
Once alone, I can barely look at Theo. It’s too painful. Guilt and shame swirl in my stomach with the agony and worry, and every glance at his face just makes that intensify.
For something to do, I pick up the chart and clip it back on the end of his bed, and then I fiddle with the hand sanitiser lotion bottle. Eventually, when there’s nothing else for me to busy myself with, I watch his heart rate monitor until Tim arrives back downstairs ten minutes later.