Elaine - Naked In School

Chapter 6

THURSDAY NIGHT

"Lucy, I’m going outside," Elaine said to me as we danced, then almost ran outside, holding her head.

"What’s up?" one of the bouncers asked at the same time as I did.

"Just another headache. I just need some air."

She turned the corner and suddenly, without warning, she collapsed to the ground.

"I’m gonna call an ambulance," I cried, but she grabbed my hand.

"Don’t leave me."

"HELP!" I screamed. "Somebody get an ambulance."

The bouncer we’d seen came running and immediately dialled on his mobile (why hadn’t I thought of that?), then ran back to the main entrance. "I’ll bring them round when they get here. Is there anything you need?"

I shook my head.

"Oh God, Elaine. I shouldn’t have let you come out tonight."

"Lucy, shut up," she spoke sharply. "I don’t regret a minute, okay? And I almost made it through my week."

"Don’t talk like that. You can’t die!" I yelled at her.

"Thanks for being my friend… Oh god, my head hurts… I’m frightened…"

She went limp on me and said nothing else.

I just held her hand until the ambulance came and I was pushed aside so they could work on her.

I called her parents. "Mr. Trent?"

"Yes? Is it?"

"Elaine’s collapsed. I think… I think…"

"Okay. Is there an ambulance there?"

"Yes. They’re with her now."

"Go with them to the hospital. We’ll meet you there."

He hung up.

Next I called Dr. Reynolds.

"Dr. Reynolds?"

"Speaking."

"It’s Elaine. I think she’s dying. The ambulance is taking her to the hospital now. I have to go."

The poor man didn’t even have a chance to reply as I cut the connection.

They continued to work on her in the ambulance. In spite of the noise of the siren it seemed to take forever to arrive at the hospital.

I was left standing in reception as they rushed her through.

I don’t know how long I stood there, but then a hand touched my arm. It was Dr. Reynolds.

I flung myself into his arms and cried like a baby.

Elaine’s parents arrived a few minutes later and were led past us.

As we waited my own parents arrived and Dr. Reynolds led me into my mother’s arms.

Elaine’s father came out and shook his head. "She’s gone."

He came across to me. "We’ll be going in a minute. But if you want to see her to say goodbye…" His voice broke and he breathed hard for a minute. "I, we, just want to thank you for being such a good friend to her." He turned away before I could reply and went back through the grey-green doors.

A short time later a nurse came out. "Lucy?"

I nodded.

"Did you want to see her?"

I nodded again.

Mum began to follow me, but I said, "I have to do this on my own, Mum."

She touched my cheek as I turned away.

Elaine still had all the cables attached and I grasped her hand. It was cool, but not yet cold.

I looked at her for a time and realised this wasn’t the Elaine I had known. She was somewhere else.

I hoped it was a better place than here.

I leaned over to kiss her forehead (NOT easy with all the cables and stuff!) and wiped one of my tears off her cheek.

"Goodbye," I said, before I couldn’t speak any more.

I nearly ran out of the doors, but stopped myself. I forced myself to breathe deeply for a while, wiped my eyes and walked out.

It’s hard to believe that that was a month ago.

The Program has been suspended for a while, not because anyone blamed the Program, although one newspaper did do a nasty-minded editorial about it, which nobody would let me see, but because nobody would feel much like it for a while.

The funeral was hard.

A lot of the school were there. I ran away at the end to the far end of the cemetery to cry.

I barely noticed who had pulled me up into their arms.

When I did notice, I was surprised that it was Trevor, and he was crying too. He’s always hated emotionalism.

"I don’t understand why you’re doing this," I said.

"Two reasons," he replied. "One is that Elaine told me to look after you after she died. She said you might have stupid thoughts about blaming yourself."

I replied, "She knew me too well."

"And the second is I love you." He almost slurred the words as he said them so quickly. He gulped and shook his head. "And she knew that too."