Page 27 of Fierce Family

Gregory’s eyes are closed and he’s lying motionless. Sheila cries out his name and my instincts are to pull her into my arms and comfort her, but I also know that Gregory needs me.

I drop to my knees and try to find his pulse. It takes me a few seconds but then I feel a faint beat under my fingertips. It’s weak but it’s there. His breathing is shallow and laboured.

“He’s alive,” I tell Sheila who is kneeling on Gregory’s other side, holding his hand.

“We… we need to get him to hospital,” Nicholas mumbles between gasps for air. He sounds like he’s close to a panic attack.

“Tommy,” I call out. He sprints over to us with a worried look on his face.

“How’s he doing?”

“Not good, he needs to be airlifted asap.” My own voice is shaky now. This doesn’t feel like when I attend a fire where I can switch off my emotions. This is personal.

“We have three others who need to be airlifted. We’regetting her ready for the HELO now,” he points to the girl on the floor where Nick is still giving CPR. “Doc will abseil and take her up and then Nick can take Gregory up. We put the other two critical in the second HELO which is already waiting to take over.” I can feel the downward pressure from the HELO hovering above us. The beam from the helicopter illuminates a figure being lowered on a rope.

“We have another three FMR units coming up and we’ll carry the other kids down the mountain. They are not in a life-threatening state but not great either.” Tommy tells me before returning back to Nick.

“I need to go with him,” Sheila sniffles.

“Angel, look at me.” I wait until her eyes are on me. “You can’t. He needs to be transported to the hospital by helicopter. But as soon as Nick takes him up, we’ll head back and follow by car. I promise you, I’ll get you to him as soon as I can.” She just nods.

“Don’t you have to help here?” Nicholas asks.

“No, with the extra mountain rescuers and my guys they don’t need me. I need to be with… you all.”With the woman I love.

Nick comes over as soon as the doctor has taken off with the girl. We secure Gregory to a rescue stretcher and get him ready to get airlifted.

Sheila is clinging on to him and Nick gives me a worried look.

“Sheila, angel, let go of him. Nick needs to take him up now.” I try to persuade her.

“I’ll stay with him until you get to the hospital, I promise,” Nick reassures her and she finally takes a step back. Nick gives an order over the radio and then is slowly winched up to the HELO hovering above us.

This has felt like the longest drive I’ve ever done. It took forty-five minutes to Keswick but it might as well have been days. Sheila and Nicholas were staring quietly out the window. I could see Sheila wiping away tears at regular intervals but there was nothing I could do for her except what I was already doing: getting her to Gregory.

When we arrived, we were ushered into a waiting room and promised updates. And that’s where we are now, surrounded by other worried parents who also don’t know what’s going on.

As the minutes tick past I realise that I’m not just worried about Sheila and how she will manage whatever happens to Gregory, but that I have an almost irrational fear for him. A fear of losing him before I’ve had the chance to get to know him properly. I have barely spoken to him but I had hoped Kieran and he can accept me in their lives, not like another father but maybe close to this, a father figure, a friend. I was wondering if I could teach them to climb and if I could help with their school work.

To anyone else it must sound insane, but I can’t change how I feel. I had pictured us becoming a family and an invisible hand squeezes my heart when I think that it might not happen. I take a deep breath to suppress the tears stinging my eyes.

“What is it?” Sheila whispers when she senses the shift in me.

“I’m—” The door to the waiting room opens and Tommy sticks his head through. He beckons for me and Sheila to come to the corridor. Sheila pulls Nico from his thoughts by touching him on his arm and signals for him to follow us.

The waiting room is away from the main hustle and bustle of A&E and so the corridor is empty when we join Tommy.

“I’ve an unofficial update. I shouldn’t tell you but—” There is concern edged on his face.

“Please!” Sheila steps closer to him, pleading.

“One of the kids the others carried down gave up the name of the cunt who supplied the pills, and we think we know what they took. He’s friends with one of the brothers of the kids and wasn’t at the party. The police took him into custody and explained that if any of the children die, he could be charged with manslaughter and his case would be aided if he didn’t withhold information. He was supposed to get them E but he couldn’t get any so he stole some prescription sleeping pills from his grandmother.”

“Fuck!” Knowing what this means I can’t suppress my outburst. Nicholas and Sheila look concerned and confused.

“He thought they would just feel sleepy and it wouldn’t be serious. He knew none of them had seen or taken E before so he thought he could just make them look stupid if they questioned him or complained.” Tommy shakes his head about the stupidity of that kid.

“So what does this mean?” Nico asks.

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