Daisy Madigan's Paradise (11 page)

'Emma, you
mustn't see this. Go back indoors, tell your mother what's going on
and then stay put.'

Pulling out a
mobile phone from his inside pocket, Patrick called for an
ambulance as he began the climb down the steep path that led
directly to the beach. Emma, who had quickly run inside and told
her mother what was going on, soon appeared, following closely
behind.

'Emma!' he
said, 'go home.'

But his
daughter confidently shook her head, 'I'm not a child any more,
Dad, I'm fifteen and I'm coming. You might need help.'

Shaking his
head, he said, 'At least stay behind me. You shouldn't have to see
this.'

She nodded as
they reached the bottom of the cliff and ran towards the body.

As Patrick
checked for signs of life, Emma couldn't resist peering at the pale
young man whose dark brown hair was plastered across his forehead
and closed eyes. He wore a dark blue velvet trimmed suit jacket, a
shirt that was once perhaps white and loose fitting black trousers
with black leather brogues, all of which were soaked through and
ripped in places. Little pieces of drying seaweed were dotted all
over him.

'Is he... is
he... dead, Dad?'

'He has a
pulse,' said Patrick, 'it's weak though. Come quickly Audrey, he's
still breathing!' he yelled as he spotted his wife climbing down
the pathway with her medical kit.

'I've spoken
to the ambulance and they're almost here...' she said, out of
breath, 'mind out the way, love and let me have a look at him. Do
you know who he is?' she asked as Patrick and Emma stepped back in
order to let her do her job.

'Never seen
him before. Do you recognise him, Emma?' he asked as she shook her
head.

'Patrick, the
ambulance is arriving over at the far end of the beach. They might
need a hand getting the vehicle a little closer. Can you go and
give them a hand? We're okay here, love. Emma can help me.'

Emma's eyes
widened as she looked at her mother and she gulped.

'Help me with
this love,' she said while Patrick ran to the other end of the
beach. 'Emma, I need your help with this,' she repeated.

Crouching
down, Emma did as she was told and held the boy's head in place
while Audrey inspected him for injuries.

'Well I can't
see any visible wounds to the body but that's not to say he doesn't
have any internal injuries. We need to keep his head and spine
perfectly still until they bring the stretcher. His breathing is
very slow. What happened to this poor boy?' she said more to
herself than to Emma. 'It's okay now, love, you can let go. I've
got him.'

Emma released
the boy's head and swallowed hard as she returned her arms to her
side, but just as she did so, he suddenly moved and grabbed hold of
her.

Gasping, Emma
jumped and froze.

'Mum,' she
cried as the boy's eyes opened wide and he looked right at her.

'Shhh,' said
Audrey, 'it's all right, dear. You're safe now. Please stay still.
Can you tell me your name?' she asked softly.

The boy said
nothing, he just continued to stare at Emma who began to fidget
nervously.

'Em, calm down
please. You must be calm for our patient.'

The boy's grip
on her arm strengthened and she looked down at it, wondering what
to do.

The arrival of
the ambulance crew solved her problem, as they swiftly and
carefully attended to him, placing him on the stretcher and
carrying him back towards the ambulance. As he was placed into the
vehicle, the boy suddenly groaned, before he yelled out, 'Em!'

Audrey looked
at her daughter, 'I thought you didn't know him?' she asked.

'I don't, I've
never seen him before. I don't know him, Mum, honestly I
don't.'

'Em!' he
yelled again, struggling against the equipment that was keeping him
in place.

'Emma, you're
going to have to come along for the ride. If having you here is the
only way to calm him down, then so be it,' said Jeff, one of the
Medics.

Audrey nodded
and ushered her inside, before she went to close the doors behind
them.

'But Mum?' she
said.

'There's no
buts. We need to get this boy to the hospital as soon as possible,
you're going with him.'

'Tell Lana
where I am, please. Tell her to come.'

Audrey nodded
to her daughter, finally closed the door and the ambulance began to
drive away, with the boy gripping on to Emma's hand.

CHAPTER TWO

'I can't
believe you left me at home,' said Lana, pouting outside the
hospital after she'd cycled all the way there.

'You wouldn't have come anyway. I followed Dad to the beach
down the cliff pathway. You know? The cliff that you're
terrified
of. You'd
never have come down there. Besides, I had no choice... he wouldn't
let me leave. It was... weird.'

'Yeah, I guess
so. Do they know who he is yet?'

Emma shook her
head and ran her fingers through her long brown hair. 'He's
sleeping now. Are you gonna come up and see him?'

Lana grinned,
'Of course! You know how I love a mystery,' she said practically
dragging her towards the entrance to the island's only
hospital.

Emma smiled at
her sister and shook her head as she was practically pulled through
the electric door. They walked straight up to their father.

'Dad,' said
Lana, 'Any news?'

Shaking his
head, Patrick placed a protective hand on both his girl's
shoulders. 'Afraid not girls. We don't know who the boy is, and
there's still no sign of old Josiah. It's not looking good. The
coastguard has been scouring around the island all morning.'

'That's so
sad?'

'Dad?' asked
Emma.

'Yes
sweetheart, what is it?'

'Who was Mr
Grimshaw looking for?'

Patrick was
just about to answer when the walkie talkie he carried in his belt
during working hours went off.

'Do you copy,
Chief?'

Turning
slightly away from his girls, Patrick held the gadget to his face,
'Ten-four, Duncan. What's going on?'

'It's Josiah
Grimshaw, the Coast Guard pulled his body out of the water about a
mile off the coast. He's alive but it's touch and go at the moment.
Over and out.'

'Well I
never... erm, Roger that, Duncan. I'm at the hospital, I'll await
his arrival. Over and out.'

Placing the
walkie talkie back onto his belt, he turned and smiled at the
girls, 'this just might be a good day, after all. Why don't you
girls go on up to our mystery boy. If he wakes up with you there,
it might help to calm him. I'll be up again in a bit, after I've
checked on Josiah.'

Nodding, Lana
and Emma gave him a quick hug before heading to the stairs where
they ran up to the second floor and tiptoed into the boy's
room.

'Oh... I was
expecting a kid,' whispered Lana. 'He's not much older than us.
He's cute.'

'Lana... for
goodness sake,' said Emma as she tried not to laugh, 'but I guess
so,' she added with a half smile.

oOo

Half an hour
later, a faint groan escaped his lips, making the girls jump.

'Em?'

'He wants you,
Em. He just groaned your name,' said Lana with a smirk as she
tiptoed to his bed and looked down at the handsome young
stranger.

'Grow up,
Lana,' she said as she shook her head.

'Em... is that
you?' he muttered with his eyes closed.

'Well, come
and speak to him then,' Lana demanded.

Reluctantly,
Emma stood and walked slowly to his bedside, pushing Lana to one
side.

'Erm, it's me.
It's Emma,' she whispered.

He held out
his hand towards her. Emma's eyes opened wide and she turned to
look at her sister who pushed her forward. 'Go on then.'

Inching her
hand forward, she gently placed it in his. He squeezed it and
opened his eyes. When he saw her he smiled, 'Em, is that you? I
knew you'd come back to me.'

'But... but
how do you know who I am?' she asked and he smiled.

'I could never
forget you. I've been looking for you for so long.'

'You have?'
Emma felt her cheeks burn while Lana sniggered behind them.

'Who are you?'
she asked. He looked hurt.

'You don't
know who I am?'

Emma slowly
shook her head and he coughed.

'Please, may I
have some water?' he asked with a hoarse voice.

Lana stepped
out from behind Emma and filled the small glass from the pitcher
that stood on a tray at the end of the bed. She handed it to Emma,
who carefully placed the straw to the young man's lips.

'Thank you.
Are you sure you don't know who I am?'

Again, she
shook her head, 'I'm sorry but I've never seen you before.'

'That's
impossible. You're my Em,' he whispered sadly. 'I finally found you
after all these years and you don't even know who I am,' he coughed
again, wincing in pain.

'Are you in
pain?' asked Lana. 'Shall I fetch a nurse?' she said heading for
the door.

'I... I...
Em?' he wheezed as a coughing fit hit him full force.

'I'm sorry, I
don't know what to do,' she panicked, bringing the straw in the
glass of water to his lips again but his body began convulsing and
so she stepped backwards in shock.

The door
opened and a doctor in a white coat, followed by quite a butch
nurse rushed in.

'Please wait
outside girls,' she commanded.

Lana and Emma
did as they were told, watching just before the door closed in
their faces.

'What the heck
was all that about?' asked Lana.

Emma looked at
her sister and burst into tears.

'Em? I'm sure
he'll be ok, Sis. Don't worry... he'll be fine,' she said, not
quite as reassuringly as she'd hoped.

Pulling her
sister away from the room, the two girls found a small sofa just
down the corridor opposite a large window that looked across to
Carlton Point, the highest point on the island.

Patting the
seat next to her, Lana smiled as Emma sat down and leaned her head
on her sister's shoulder.

'I wonder why
he thinks he knows you. I wish we could find out who he is,' she
sighed just as Patrick appeared at the top of the stairs at the far
end of the corridor. Before he noticed them, he walked into the
boy's room, only to walk out moments later holding his hat close to
his chest with his head lowered.

Spotting them,
he smiled sadly and walked quickly towards them.

'Dad?' asked
Emma.

But their
father just shook his head, 'He's fallen into a coma. It's not
looking good, I'm afraid.'

Emma's bottom
lip quivered. Noticing, Lana took her hand in hers and
squeezed.

'And Mr
Grimshaw?' Lana asked.

'He keeps
drifting in and out of consciousness,' he replied, shaking his head
sadly, 'it's the same situation as the boy. Touch and go. I must
get back to work. Are you girls going to head home?'

Emma shook her
head, 'I want to stay here a while longer. I'd like to stay with
him, if that's okay, Dad?'

'Course it is,
sweetheart. I'm sure he'd like that. I'll see you at dinner,' he
said, kissing each of them on their cheeks before placing his hat
back on his head. He walked back down the corridor towards the
stairs.

'I can't stay,
Em. We arranged to meet Scott this morning, remember?'

'You go. I
think I'd rather be on my own here anyway.'

'You
sure?'

Emma nodded,
'I'll walk home later on.'

Lana said
goodbye and wandered down the hallway, turning to watch her sister
calmly walk back into the strange boy's room alone.

CHAPTER
THREE

Outside, the
harsh sunlight made it hard to believe that such a ferocious storm
had unleashed itself on the island the night before. Apart from the
debris piled across the beach, the only other proof of the event
lay fighting for their lives in two different hospital rooms.

Lana removed
her leopard print cardigan and shoved it into the handbag she wore
across her chest before shovelling around to find her favourite
over-sized black sunglasses. Putting them on, she flung her bag
across her back and climbed onto her bike, pushing away from the
hospital and onto the main road.

Scott had been
waiting for 25 minutes and was just about to leave when he saw a
lone figure cycling uphill towards the castle ruins where they so
often met.

'Hey!' he
shouted, 'You're late!'

Lana stuck out
her tongue childishly and grinned at her and Emma's best friend who
stood waiting impatiently. As she pushed the pedals the last few
metres, the blonde-haired boy removed the small rucksack from his
back, again, and dropped it to the floor.

'Sorry,' she
huffed, 'you'll never believe what happened,' she gushed.

'Where's Em?'
he asked.

'Give me a
minute, I'm getting to that...' she said as she climbed off the
bike and let it drop against the crumbling walls of the ancient
castle.

'This
unconscious guy was found on the beach this morning. Dad and Emma
were the first ones down there to help him and when he opened his
eyes, he recognised Em. He won't let her leave his side. It's
seriously weird.'

'Who is he?'
asked Scott as they walked through their favourite archway and sat
on the fallen stones where they'd sat a thousand times before.

'Nobody knows,
but he sure seems to know Em.'

'So where is
she?'

'He fell into
a coma at the hospital and she doesn't want to leave him.'

Scott smiled,
'She's such a softie, your sister.'

Lana pretended
to be offended, 'And I'm not, you mean?'

'I think you
know the answer to that,' he replied, as he shoved her shoulder
playfully.