Page 60 of A Game of Secrets

“Oh, hey James, thank you. Do you know who it is? Is it one of the regulars?” I ask, curious as to who else would ever ask for me by name, especially at work.

James, one of the male staff nurses, shrugs his shoulders at me and shakes his head. “Sorry Luci, I’ve no idea. Never seen him before but I told him you would just be a minute. He’s sat in front of the reception desk.”

“OK, thanks James, I’ll be there in a second.” I smile politely and finish off making mine and Kat’s coffees. The little voice inside of my head is screaming at me as I walk out into the waiting area and I have to do everything in my power to push it down and bury it as I head to greet the stranger waiting for me.

I stand in front of the reception desk but nobody is waiting there. I glance around and look towards the patient toilets but the only people I can see are the staff. What the hell? The hairs rise at the back of my neck causing me to shudder. I pop my head around the door to the closest room and find James sat at his desk. “James, where did you say they were waiting?” I ask in case I somehow misheard what he said.

“They’re right there, in front of reception,” he says, walking over to point at the row of chairs in the waiting area, but when he gets there and sees that they are empty he stops short. “Oh, well I guess they couldn’t wait. Don’t worry about it. If it was important, I’m sure they’ll come back.”

I cough out a short laugh, trying to cover up my anxiety. “Did they say why they were here at least?“ I ask as he sits back down in his chair.

“No, sorry Luci. I just assumed it was a patient waiting for you this morning or something.”

“Thanks James,” I whisper, as a tightness pulls at my chest. I walk back into the coffee room and brace my hands onto the counter top, close my eyes and breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth slowly while counting to ten.Just a patient, just a patient, just a patient. I repeat to myself. A few sets of deep breathing later and I’m more collected, panic over. Hopefully enough that Kat doesn’t interrogate me again because if I had to say that somebody asking for me at work has freaked me out she’ll tell me I need my head examined.

I take our drinks and walk back to join Kat in the room we’ve set up for our bandage clinic and place her coffee on the desk. “You ready for this?” She asks, spinning on her chair to face me with a beaming smile as she holds her cup out to me. Our bandage clinics are always super busy, that’s why we like to double up and work through it together.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I reply, bringing my cup to meet hers in a cheers. “Let’s do this!”

Our morning ran smoothly until an elderly gentleman with a gushing wound on his forehead decided to collapse as he was walking into the room. The calm of the morning is soon forgotten as it’s all systems go and we push the emergency alarm. The room floods with nurses and doctors within minutes, all of them clawing to help as the gentleman loses consciousness and his open wound pulses blood onto the floor. We work hard and fast between us and manage to stop the bleeding while attaching IV fluids and propping his feet up on a chair to elevate his blood pressure. He slowly regains consciousness but is confused and becomes visibly agitated at his debilitated condition. I catch eyes with Kat as the man starts shouting for us to get off him as he doesn’t know who we are and she cringes, knowing this won’t end well. “Somebody call the porters, we need to get him fully assessed and admitted.” I shout over my shoulder before turning back to try and calm the gentleman down.

Before we know it, it’s already 14:00 and our stomachs are growling for attention having missed our chance for a break due to all the commotion.

“What a bloody show,” Kat groans, flopping into a chair in the coffee room and kicking off her crocs.

“Oh God, don’t. Something always goes wrong when it’s going so well.” I sigh, opening up a packet of BBQ flavor chips and a large bar of chocolate.

“Healthy lunch there,” Kat calls, dipping her chin towards my snack.

I smile. “Something has to get me through the day,” I grin, offering her the bag, “Want some?”

She stares at the bag as if just by looking at it, it will make her put on 5lbs then chews her lip. “Oh fuck it, go on then,” she gives in, reaching her hand into the bag and pulling out a large handful of chips and munches on them happily. “So tell me,” she crunches, “who has the biggest dick?”

I almost choke on the piece of chocolate in my mouth. “You’re so brazen!” I laugh, “But I haven’t seen them all yet so I couldn’t possibly say.” I wink at her.

“Christ girl, you’re so lucky. I wish I had one dick to fuck let alone three! I’m definitely putting my name forward for the next prison day. Hopefully that good looking guy is still there from my last visit and he sends his friends after me.”

I tut loudly and roll my eyes. “Look at you, fantasizing over a criminal.”

“You’re one to talk,” she retorts playfully.

“Yeah from one criminal to the next.” I mutter under my breath referring to my ex-convict ex-husband.

“Hey, don’t think like that. Vinny was a piece of work. He manipulated you and treated you like shit. If you hadn’t run when you did God knows what would have happened.” She leans forward and squeezes my hand and I smile in thanks.

“I know, I know.” I sigh in defeat knowing exactly what she really means. He would have killed me if I hadn’t left. I scoff the rest of my chocolate and share the bag of chips with Kat as she fires question after question at me about Silas, Cole and Lincoln and I’m left feeling more drained than ever. It’s an exhausting thing reliving your sexual activities with your bestie and by the end of our half hour lunch break, I’m glad to be getting back to work.

As we make our way back to the waiting area I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. I quickly skip ahead of Kat and into the room to see who is calling me and my stomach drops as I see the contact profile for Teddy’s kindergarten flashing across the screen. I click to answer and bring the phone to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hello Miss Holland, this is Merryhill Elementary here..”

“Is everything alright? Is Teddy OK?” I cut her off.

“He is fine, I am just calling to clarify the authorisation of a Mr Holland who has arrived and tried to collect Teddy today. The only contacts we have on our green list are Katrina Henderson and Max Costello,” she continues speaking but I no longer hear her words, my heart thrums loud in my ears and drains out everything else.

He found me, he found us. How did he find us? I can’t even comprehend the thoughts that are fighting to consume me right now and when the door opens and Kat walks in, I break. My phone slips through my fingers and I bring my hands to my throat clutching the skin as I struggle to breathe. Kat rushes to me and holds my arms. “What’s wrong? What happened?” She asks, the concern desperate in her voice.

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