Page 106 of Silent Scream

For the secondtime in one day Kim saw the main entrance of Russells Hall hospital. She pulled the bike onto the pavement area and took her chances on getting a ticket.

Entering the hospital, she walked through a mixed group of patients and visitors puffing away beneath the ‘No Smoking’ sign.

She approached the reception desk on her left. A woman, badged as Brenda, smiled up at her.

‘Lucy Payne, admitted earlier today?’

‘Are you a relative?’

Kim nodded. ‘Cousin.’

Brenda hit a few keys on the computer. ‘C5, Medical ward.’

Kim headed past the café and checked the directory board. She took a lift to the second floor and headed along the west wing, moving aside for a bed being wheeled back from the operating theatre.

Kim stepped into the ward behind the bed. The area had a gentle buzz of machines and low voices. The prescription trolley crossed from one six bay ward to another.

Kim could see she had just caught the back end of visiting time. Relatives sat in silence having said everything they could think of and now just waited for the clock to hit the hour.

She approached the nurse’s station. ‘Lucy Payne?’

‘Side ward, second door along.’

Kim passed the first door which was a tiny kitchen. She reached the second door and her hand was poised to knock. She caught it just before it made contact with the wood.

Lucy was sleeping peacefully in the huge bed, her head supported by five pillows. A monitor was clipped to her right index finger. A machine beeped rhythmically to her right.

Atop the tall beside cabinet sat a single ‘Get Well Soon’ card and a stuffed grey teddy bear.

Kim entered the room and stepped past William Payne who snored lightly from the easy chair in the corner.

She stood beside the bed and looked down at the sleeping figure. Lucy looked much younger than her fifteen years.

And yet she had suffered so much. This girl had not asked for this cruel disease that had slowly stolen her strength and mobility and she had not asked for a mother who would abandon her. And she certainly had not asked to be stuffed into a bin by three stupid girls.

Today Lucy had almost died. She had tried to scream and all that had emerged was silence.

Despite the life she led this brave, determined girl had fought back. She had clawed her way up from the brink because, quite simply, she wanted to live. That she had managed to press the emergency button on the pendant was a testament to the fact.

Kim also had not been given high survival odds when she was carried from the high-rise flat on Hollytree. Silent head shakes and deep sighs had accompanied her all the way to the hospital where she was intravenously fed with no real expectation of success. Her six-year-old body weighed a stone and a half. Her hair was falling out in clumps and she was unable to speak. But on day three, she'd sat up.

Kim took a tissue and wiped a thin line of drool from Lucy’s chin.

Finally, she understood her affinity with this young girl who she had known only for a few days. Lucy was a fighter. She would not give in to the cards that fate had dealt her. Every day she struggled to live against odds that were not in her favour.

Earlier that day she could have chosen not to press the emergency button. She could have submitted to her illness and chosen the path of eventual peace but she had not and only one thing had stopped her. Hope.

Could this young lady receive a better quality of life than she had now, Kim wondered. Could her existence be made safer and more enjoyable? Kim had no idea, but what she did know was that this tiny slip of a girl had a core of strength and determination that she herself was compelled to admire.

As Kim placed the tissue on the side cupboard she became attuned to a change behind her as the gentle snoring stopped.

She didn’t turn. ‘You know that we have to talk?’ she asked softly.

‘Yes, Detective, I know,’ William replied, thickly.

Kim nodded and left the room. It was time to go home.

She had work to do.