Page 79 of All Right No

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“Ash, are you with us?”

An intense bright light shone directly into his eyes making him wince. The room above him swirled, streaked by kaleidoscopic colours. He lay flat on his back with people all around him. Ash couldn’t quite figure what they were all doing in his bedroom, unless this was somebodies idea of a joke.

“Fuck off,” he managed to drawl. Raising a hand to bat them away. He was tired. He wanted to roll back over and check out for a while longer.

“He’s with us again,” someone claimed.

Hell no, he wasn’t. He was sleeping here, and intended to keep on doing so. Leastways, that was the plan. Only his eyelids seemed to close one moment only to lift again the next.

“Hey, Chief.” Ginny looked down at him from above, and leaned forward to give him a gentle kiss. “Glad to see you’re back with us.”

He’d only been asleep. She’d settled down right beside him to do the same.

Slowly the details of his surroundings broadened. He wasn’t in bed. He was outside in the courtyard, lying on something soft and warm enough for him to realise it wasn’t the ground. Whatever the thing was, it moved.

He tried to sit, and discovered straps across his chest, holding him securely in place.

What in the hell? What was this, besides the worst practical joke ever? “What are you playing at, guys?”

Blue lights blinked overhead, brightening the darkness. Fuck! Why was he on a gurney? What had happened? He didn’t recall doing anything that would necessitate him having to be restrained. He’d had a jolly fun time with Ginny, and then curled with his precious lady tucked against him for some quality shut eye. He got tired quickly these days, had done ever since his first trip to hospital, probably his brain needed extra down time in order to fix itself, and he had worked hard today ensuring every note he played was perfectly executed.

Ginny clasped his hand. It was with considerable relief that he realised he could feel her grip upon his fingers. What wasn’t so hot was the worry twisting her face. “They’re taking you to the hospital. You passed out.”

Xane appeared on the other side of him, his dark hair pulled back and secured in a messy knot. “Knocked a chunk out of your nut too.”

Now he thought about it, the left side of his head did throb.

Rock Giant barged their front man out of the way and loomed over Ash. “Man, they’re gonna have to shave you.”

“Give it a rest, Paul. Like he needs you winding him up at the minute.” Ash couldn’t see Spook, but his friend clearly had his back as normal. “They’re not going to shave him. They’re just going to run some tests to find out what’s going on. Just take it easy, okay?”

“Ginny, are you going in the ambulance?”

The paramedics raised the trolley up into the back of the vehicle and Ginny got in alongside him. “You scared the hell out of us all.”

“What happened?”

“Can’t you remember?”

“Only being in bed with you,” he croaked around his bone-dry throat. Maybe once they got wherever it was they were taking him, they’d do something about that.

***

By the time the guys arrived at the hospital, Ash was sitting up drinking milk—no hot beverages on the ward. Not that he was on a ward exactly. After the paramedics had handed him over to the A&E staff, he’d quickly been sent off for X-rays, then shunted into an assessment area, primarily to keep him out of sight as far as he could tell. Additional security had already materialised from out of nowhere, but in terms of receiving treatment, he guessed he wasn’t very high priority.

Of course, said security and the nurses still wouldn’t let the guys in to see him to relieve his boredom. He could hear them out in the waiting room, feet slapping against the heavy-duty lino as they paced. Speculations flying between them about what was up with his brain and the possibility he might succumb to the same fate as Steve.

“There’s no sign of bleeding on my brain, is there?” he asked the nurse, who eventually stepped into his curtained bed space dragging a blood pressure monitor.

“None,” she replied cheerily. “If they thought that you’d be being prepped for theatre, not sitting here with me, and you definitely wouldn’t be guzzling fluids. Give us your arm, then.” She pushed up the sleeve on the hospital gown he’d been given. “Hm, blood pressure’s a bit low. Have you had a lot of dizzy spells recently? Headaches? Nausea?”

“Sometimes.”

“Been tired quite a lot?”

“I’ve been working hard.”