Page 59 of Touch in the Dark

“Thank you,” I tell her, as we follow the directions. I keep my head down, for the first time in ages cursing my fame.

Finally, we find where she is, and a doctor comes out from behind the nurses’ station to greet us. When he realises who I am, he suggests we head into an office. My heart is pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribcage. Why aren’t they letting me see her? When we’ve taken our seats, Elsa finally lets my hand go but she is sitting close beside me.

“How is she?” I ask.

“Your grandmother suffered a fall in her apartment.”

“What? How?”

“We believe she fell from a stepladder.”

“Fuck… Sorry doc. I told her not to climb that thing. I told her I’d move everything down and not to risk it. Damn it.” I get back up and start pacing. “How bad is it?”

“It’s nothing too concerning. She hit her head, it did split and there was a lot of blood which is normal in a head injury, but it scared the lady who found her into thinking it was worse than it was. We’ve checked her over and she does have a concussion, but we aren’t worried. We’ve stitched it up and covered it. She is on painkillers intravenously for the moment for that.”

I put my hand over my mouth halfway through that explanation and leave it there as I stare at him. Picturing it. Seeing her on that damn step getting the cookie cutters out. I should have taken it then. I should have moved anything she couldn’t reach.

“She has extensive bruising and tenderness which is likely to affect her for a while. We have taken some x-rays and she has suffered a break to her arm and a fracture to her collarbone. She also has quite a nasty sprain on her ankle.”

“God,” I groan. “Isn’t that really serious in someone her age? Her bones won’t mend right, or it could really affect her mobility.”

“All possibilities but she is a very fit woman for her age, she’s also pretty feisty. She’s been telling everyone not to overreact, and that it doesn’t hurt that much,” he gives me a smile.

“Sounds like Doris,” I mutter. “But besides that, the breaks and the concussion, she’s okay, nothing else. What caused her to fall? Did she just lose her balance or did something else happen?”

“She just overreached, she admitted that. We’ve run some tests. There was no underlying issue that caused it.”

“Thank God,” I glance at Elsa, she is watching me with a worried frown.

“So how long do you expect she will be here?” Elsa drags her eyes from mine and asks the doctor.

“Given her age and from what I’ve heard, she lives alone in an apartment building, it’s likely she’ll be here a while, unless you’re in a position to find somewhere safe she can go to recuperate?”

"She’ll come home with me.”

He nods but doesn’t look convinced. Is he insinuating I can’t look after my own grandmother? This woman raised me from age fifteen, the least I can do is be there for her now. We’re on a break from the band, it’s fine, I can do it. After a few more words with the doctor, he leads us to Doris’s room.

My gut clenches when I see her, she looks so small and frail in that bed. There is a sling keeping her arm pressed up against her chest, with a cast on it and a bandage around her head. I can’t see beneath the covers to tell how bad her ankle is. I wince at the bruising, she has a black eye too. I can’t help the sob that hitches in my chest. I head over to the bed and take her good hand, raising it to my lips and kissing it.

Her eyes flutter and she looks up at me. “Don’t you give me any lip, Nicky,” she says. “It was my own fault and nothing you could have said or done would change it.”

I half laugh, half croak, trying desperately to hold the emotions in. “You just don’t listen.”

Doris laughs softly. “If I had a nickel for every time I said that to you.”

“Yeah, who’d have thought my turn would come to say it too,” I lean over and kiss her forehead before pulling back slightly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m embarrassed,” she says quietly. “But the painkillers they’re pumping in me are pretty good,” she grins.

Movement at the door draws her attention and she spots Elsa. I look up at her and she holds up a hand.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but I can head out now if you’re alright?”

“Nonsense,” Doris says, giving me the side eye, as best she can with her face all bruised up. “Who is this, Nick?”

Uh… How to answer that?

“I’m Elsa,” she walks into the room and gives my grandmother a huge and beautiful smile. “A friend of Nick’s. We were working when he got the call so came together. I wanted to make sure both of you are good before I leave.”

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