Abbi... Read online

  “Moving her would do much more harm than good. As she has lost a lot of blood she probably wouldn’t survive the journey,” he added gently. “Believe me, we know exactly what we are doing. Being in a larger hospital wouldn’t particularly help her either.”

  “When can I see her?”

  “She is still in surgery but you should be able to visit her in about an hour,” he informed her. “I’m sorry but I have to go. I will keep you informed when I get more news,” and with that he quickly left her. Eleanor sat down feeling the earth slide beneath her feet.

  When you are waiting for it to pass, an hour is an eternity. Finally after an hour and a half of agony the doctor came back to her. “Well?” Eleanor said worriedly as she stood up.

  “We have finished surgery and it’s looking slightly better for her. She was stabbed twice in the stomach and we have managed to stitch the wounds up. They were the more serious injuries.” The doctor sat down and she followed suit.

  “They could have been deeper though so it could have been worse. She was also stabbed in the shoulder but that should heal fairly well. That one isn’t as much of a concern,” he continued. “There are also two slash wounds on her face, which we have had to stitch up too. She has lost a lot of blood I’m afraid to tell you. She has about a forty per cent chance of surviving from this attack.”

  “Can I see her?” Eleanor asked quietly.

  “Follow me,” he said quickly. They were walking through empty corridors. There were hardly any people around as it was so late at night. There were only a couple of night nurses around. Eleanor didn’t know what to think as her feet followed the doctor. Finally they came to a door and the doctor opened it first. After a second she followed.

  Abbi was in a private room, Eleanor saw. Her daughter was laying on the bed with her eyes shut. “Can I be alone with her?” she asked. Without saying a word the doctor left the room. Slowly Eleanor sat down on a chair next to Abbi’s bed. There was a reassuring regular beep of hospital equipment.

  She looked at her daughters face. A ugly red line went down her right cheek she saw. On the same side her mouth also had a slash going right through it down to her chin. She had thin plastic tubes attached to her as well. Eleanor’s started to cry as she looked at her daughter. Abbi was usually so full of life and she was lying here so fragile and looking very close to death. For what? All her handbag would have had in it was a mobile phone and ten quid. A life for ten measly pounds? Eleanor wiped the tears away.

  After an hour or so the doctor came back. “Are you ready to leave?” he asked gently. She looked at Abbi once more and nodded. It was hurting her to see her daughter in this state. She bent down to give Abbi a kiss on the forehead and left the room.

  “I don’t even know your name,” she said.

  “I’m Doctor Jones,” he replied. “I know you must be incredibly worried but she really is in the best place she could be. She was at the hospital barely half an hour after the incident happened which was just as well.”

  “She normally walks home by a shortcut using the footpath. How did she get here so fast?” Eleanor asked.

  “A call for an ambulance was received anonymously for her.” Eleanor raised her eyebrows. “It’s a violent crime. The police have already started trying to trace the call,” he added in response to her look.

  “I have some things to do,” she said. “Can I come and sit with her in the morning?” It was more a statement than a question. Dr Jones nodded and Eleanor walked out of the hospital. She got to her car and checked the clock. It was four o’clock in the morning and she had so many thoughts in her head she thought she might drown. She had so much to do. She sighed and turned the engine on. All through the journey she ignored the tears that fell from her eyes.

  When Eleanor got home Jess had got back to sleep. Eleanor picked up the telephone and left several messages on people’s phone’s. She called the Sunset Hotel and left a message saying that Abbi couldn’t come into work this morning. She called Mark but he didn’t really expect him to answer this early in the morning. She decided not to leave a message for him. Something like that was going to be worse left on a machine. She left messages on her clients mobile phones saying that owing to emergencies she would be behind and unable to keep up with their ironing. She then called her mother. It was picked up after two rings of the phone.

  “Hello?” Her mothers voice came down the phone.

  “It’s me mum,” Eleanor said softly. “Abbi is in hospital.” After several attempts to explain what had happened Eleanor finally got it out. She was sobbing over the phone.

  “I know there is nothing you can do but I needed to talk to somebody,” she said. Her mum soothed her over the phone for a long while.

  “Do you want me to come down?” her mother asked.

  “No. I will be fine. I just had to talk to someone. I was going crazy.”

  “Anytime sweetheart”, her mother said and Eleanor heard the click of the phone being disconnected. She stayed crying into the phone for a long time afterwards.

  Mark was snoring in his room when his mobile phone woke him. Sleepily he glanced at his watch. It was seven on a Sunday morning! It was an unknown number calling him.

  “Hello,” he croaked into the phone with his eyes still shut.

  “Hi it’s Eleanor, Abbi’s mum here,” came the response. Mark was waking up very quickly now.

  “Oh Hello. How are you?” Mark asked instead of why are you calling me? Which was what he wanted to ask.

  “To be honest I’m awful,” she said. “It’s Abbi.” Silence went down the line.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “She… She is in hospital. She was… has been attacked.” Mark couldn’t say anything. He could feel his heart beating at triple its normal speed.

  “How… Is it bad?” he asked praying the answer was no.

  “I’m outside your house Mark. I’m going to see her now. If you want to visit her I’ll give you a lift okay?” Mark heard the noise of a disconnected phone. Before he could think anything else logical he was racing out of bed grabbing clothes. Any clothes would do. Oh God, he thought to himself. Please don’t let it be too serious. It couldn’t be. Not to her. His heart was in his mouth as he rushed out to see Eleanor’s car in the drive of his holiday home.

  Mark opened the passenger door and jumped in. Eleanor had started to drive almost as soon as he sat down. Eleanor had red and puffy eyes. She looked like she had got no sleep at all. Which she probably hadn’t he reminded himself. “What happened?” Mark asked slightly desperately.

  “They think she was stabbed for her bag. But not just once she was stabbed five times. She has been stabbed in her stomach twice and in her shoulder”, she said bitterly. Mark froze. He couldn’t think what to say. His beautiful girl had been… He couldn’t even think it to himself.

  After a while he asked, “Will she survive this?”

  “They don’t… They don’t know. She has a chance at least.” Eleanor had started crying and she hadn’t even realised it, Mark noticed. “I’ve got to warn you. She has been slashed on her face twice as well. It looks… Well honestly it looks terrible,” she finished.

  After a long painful silence they eventually parked the car in the hospital car park. The both raced out. Eleanor seemed to know where she was going because she didn’t stop and ask the receptionist. Quite quickly they were outside a room Mark assumed was hers.

  “Do you want to go in first?” he asked. He didn’t know what he wanted her to say to that. He was so scared that Abbi might actually die.

  Eleanor shook her head. She slowly turned the door handle and went in. Mark quickly followed. She sat down on one chair by her daughters bed. Mark took the other one on the other side. He then looked at her. Her face looked really bad. She had an awful red gash running down one of her cheeks and her mouth had a horrible red line that had split her lips on the same side of her face.

  He couldn’t believe that this had happened. Seei
ng her had shocked him. “When will she wake up?” he asked without taking his eyes from her face.

  “It’s not when,” Eleanor said slowly. “It’s an if.” Her face crumpled and she started to cry. She immediately left the room. Maybe she didn’t want him to see her cry. Mark was left alone with Abbi. He held her hand while looking at her. She looked in a very bad way. Her face was extremely pale except for the red angry knife wounds and she just looked so helpless. Even her hair looked washed out. As if the life had flowed out of her. He wanted to do something to help her but he just couldn’t.

  “Wake up, Abbi,” he whispered to himself. “Come on. It was rubbish about us breaking up. I need to see your eyes again. Just wake up. Please.” He stayed with her for another twenty minutes when Eleanor came back in. “I’m going to go and leave you alone with her”, Mark said.

  He bent down and gently kissed the side of her face that was free from injury. “I love you,” he whispered to her and he left the hospital room. He was walking down the corridor when Eleanor came running up to him.

  “Will you come back to see her?” she asked.

  “Of course I will,” he said surprised that she had even asked.

  “It doesn’t bother you that she will probably never look the same again?” Eleanor was looking at him in an extremely odd way.

  “I don’t care about that!” he said shocked. “I only want her to get better. I just want her to wake up and get well.”

  Eleanor didn’t say anything straight away. “I know that my daughter cares a great deal for you. If you are going to leave her because of her face I want you out of here. I know it is very bad but she doesn’t need someone visiting her who will just leave her when she wakes up because of the damage. That will hurt her too much after what has happened.”

  “How can you even think that I only care about her face? It doesn’t matter. All that does matter is that she does wake up. I don’t care if she never looks the same again but I do care about her life.” Mark glared at her.

  “From your reaction, I believe you,” she said slowly. “I wanted to be sure that you wouldn’t care about her face.”

  “I love her, Eleanor. You don’t mind if I visit her?” Mark challenged.

  “No. I think it would be great if you sat with her.” Eleanor said. “I want you to. Who knows it might help her. I do like you Mark,” she added.

  “Thank you,” Mark said. Eleanor left him to go into her daughter’s room. He sat down with his head in his hands, crying silently to himself.

  Two days later Mark went into her room with a bunch of flowers. He put them down and immediately sat down next to her. He was on his own with her as it was early and Eleanor was at home, probably catching up with on sleep. “Hi gorgeous”, he said holding her hand. He noticed that her face was going puffy. It looked like a bruising was coming up. He was so worried about her he was struggling to think of anything else. “Please wake up. I have so much I want to say to you. I need to talk to you properly.”

  He had spent his entire holiday with Abbi that he had no other things to tell her that she didn’t already know. “Please don’t give up on your life, Abbi,” he whispered almost to himself.

  She didn’t move. He sat holding her hand quite tightly. It was a moment before he realised that her hand was pressing gently back. Mark relaxed his grip on her hand. She was definitely pressing back. It was a very light pressure but it was there. He looked at her more closely. Her eyelids were flickering slightly.

  “Abbi,” he said quite loudly. Very slowly she opened her eyes a little dazed. They quickly closed again. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It took a second before Mark could come to his senses. “Abbi,” he repeated.

  “Where am I?” she said very quietly opening her eyes. As soon as she spoke she winced. He knew that talking would probably have hurt her split lips as she was unaware of her injuries.

  “You’re in hospital, Abbi,” Mark told her. When he spoke she turned her head and looked at him. “You were attacked. Stabbed. Do you remember anything?” She shook her head and then stopped.

  “It was one guy on his own. That’s all I know,” she said slowly. Mark noticed that her words were slurring slightly. “Where have I been injured? Everything aches,” she added looking away from him.

  Mark didn’t want to tell her so he paused saying instead, “I love you.”

  A ghost of a smile appeared on her face as she looked at him again. “That must mean it is very bad. Tell me. Please.” Still Mark didn’t say anything. “I have to know, Mark.”

  He took a deep breath. “You were stabbed in the stomach twice,” he said slowly. “Also in your left shoulder. They have cut your face too.” She gripped his hand slightly tighter.

  “Can you show me how bad it is?” she said. “Please.” He released her hand and stroked her face. As gently as he could he traced the wounds with his fingers. She flinched away from his touch. It was clearly very painful. Neither of them said anything when he had finished. Mark’s fingertips stayed on her chin at the end of the slash. He didn’t quite want to let go of her.

  He kissed her hand. Abbi’s eyes were filling with tears. “It looks really bad doesn’t it?” she whispered.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said. It didn’t answer her question and they both knew it. “I’m going to leave you for a minute and call your mum. Tell her your awake.” He looked at her. She was still incredibly weak. You could see it by looking at her. “Will it hurt you if I kiss you?” he asked softly.

  She smiled and shook her head slightly. He bent down and kissed her gently. It did hurt quite a lot, just that gentle touch but she ignored the pain. “I love you,” she said quietly.

  “I love you too,” he said and he left the room leaving Abbi on her own.

  When Mark left her, Abbi had time to think. Her face was awful. She traced her scars again where Mark had shown her. It was really bad. Her lips had been completely cut and they throbbed constantly. Everything else ached. She couldn’t believe Mark was here when she woke up. At that moment in time she felt very lucky that she hadn’t died. The first few seconds when she had opened her eyes, Mark hadn’t realised she was back. He had looked so worried about her. Amazing how much can change in a few days, hours and sometimes even minutes.

  Abbi just noticed some flowers which had been left on the chair in her room. She felt exhausted and went to sleep. Within twenty minutes she heard two worried voices calling her name. She resurfaced from sleep and saw both her mother and Mark looking at her. As soon as she opened her eyes Mark quietly left leaving Abbi and her mother alone.

  “Oh God,” her mother said. “You’re awake! We were all so worried.” She seemed so relieved. Abbi stared at her. She had clearly raced here from bed. Her hair was all over the place and she had evidently just grabbed the clothes which were closest to hand. Abbi noticed her jumper was inside out.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Abbi said quietly. Her mum gave her a quick, tight hug which was actually quite painful because of her shoulder injury but she bore the pain in silence.

  “I’ll be back soon. I’ve got to phone people to tell them you are alright,” she rushed. At Abbi’s questioning look she added, “like your grandmother and our neighbours and friends and the hotel. People like that,” and Eleanor left the room to be quickly replaced by Mark.

  “Hi,” Abbi said smiling. “Flowers,” she said in response to the bouquet she had seen earlier. Mark glanced at them and kissed her gently on the lips. Abbi winced involuntarily as he did so.

  “That hurts you doesn’t it?” he said.

  “No,” she lied quickly. “Well only a bit”, she amended when he looked sceptically at her. Mark allowed himself the first smile in what felt like weeks.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked. She raised her eyebrows slightly. “Okay stupid question,” he said smiling.

  “Not exactly what you thought your summer holidays would be like is it?” she said.

  “Oh God that hardly mat
ters. The important thing is that I am here and I’m not leaving you. Alright.”

  “Do…” She tailed off.

  “Go on,” he urged her.

  “Do you still think I’m beautiful?” she asked without looking at him. She focused on watching her hands. “I’m… Well it’s not very good to look at is it?”

  “You are beautiful,” he assured her. “Just because some maniac has slashed your face doesn’t stop you being beautiful.” He ran his fingers through her hair and his face was smiling at her. The way he looked at her made her feel…safe. There was no other word for it. She felt safe.

  He held her hand and neither of them said anything else. She was grateful for his presence there. He was comforting to her. He was so relieved that she had come back. They both looked deep into each others eyes. They had reached a state of affairs where they simply needed no words to express what they felt for each other.

  When Mark managed to get home he felt as if he had aged ten years in the past two or three days. He looked at his bedroom and felt like curling up in a ball to make all of this go away. He was perched on the end of his bed staring into space when Julia came in.

  “How is she?”

  “You don’t really care how she’s doing do you?” Mark said. “It’s not as if this relationship is going to work out after all is it?” Julia sighed and sat down next to her eldest son.

  “I didn’t want this to happen,” she said slowly. “She is a lovely girl. I honestly think that but I thought that it would fizzle out when…”

  “When what mum?” Mark cut across her angrily. “I don’t care that she doesn’t have enough money or social positioning for your liking. I am in love with her and she is in hospital and that hurts me. It hurts that no one in my family seems to understand that it doesn’t matter what she has. Its who she is that really counts and how we feel about each other.” Mark hadn’t meant to shout but his voice had started to rise during the previous seconds.