Sympath

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

It felt like such a long time until the anticipated sound of sirens finally cut through the soft crashes of breaking waves. As the ambulance approached, all the bystanders released their anxiety into its care, letting its brash wail take over the job of expressing their alarm at the situation.

Lucas was breathing, but not very regularly.

The paramedics in their navy overalls and pockets stuffed with paraphernalia were brusque and sympathetic as they shooed everyone aside so they could give him extra oxygen. As the blue slowly faded from his skin, they asked Annie for his name and personal details. She looked to Cam, who answered them in a shaky voice. Lucas Gracewood, from Melbourne. Staying with Cam’s family with their other friend, Dave. No idea what his blood type is but he definitely has ambulance insurance because they play soccer together and the club makes all the players take out insurance. Then Paddle Pop Dave explained that he had called Cam’s mum from the payphone, who in turn would have called Lucas’s parents, who were probably already on their way. It would take them a few hours to arrive.

After Lucas was finally stretchered off the beach and loaded into the ambulance, one of the officers headed back to bag the guilty sea creature, while the other one turned to Annie and reassured her that Lucas would be fine so long as there were no additional complications. He said that even in the time they had been working on him there had already been some improvement, which was a very good sign. Instead of trying to explain that she didn’t even know him, she thanked the man and then turned to Cam with an apologetic shrug. He didn’t seem bothered by the paramedic’s assumption. As the sound of sirens began to fade, he turned to Kelly.

‘Thanks for hanging around,’ he said.

Kelly flashed her dimples right back at him, and Cam’s face finally took on the same attentiveness that most guys had around her. He paused for a moment, and then stood a little straighter and cleared his throat.

‘I’m Cameron, by the way. I kind of forgot to introduce myself earlier.’

‘Kelly Taylor. And this is Sla … Annie.’

Annie cleared her throat in belated warning. They weren’t in Nalong. There was no need for anyone to know her nickname here.

‘Salami?’ Cam raised one dark eyebrow.

The look Annie threw her friend could have cut through a Besser brick, but Kelly glanced away as if she hadn’t noticed.

‘Annie,’ she corrected. ‘Annie Langley.’

‘Well, thanks, Annie. I know Lucas appreciated having someone to … you know.’ He looked down at his bare feet, shuffling them on the scorching car park bitumen.

She shoved Kelly over a bit so Cam could share the patch of shade they were standing on. It was easier than acknowledging what it was he was thanking her for. The last ten minutes had been pretty surreal, and now she felt hideously embarrassed at the fact that she had barged her way in so intimately. How could she possibly explain that her empathic gift had left her no choice?

Kelly saved the awkward moment as easily as she did everything else. ‘Do you need a lift to the hospital? My place is right across the road. Vicky … my dad’s, ah … girlfriend, would be happy to drive you, I’m sure.’

‘You live in Apollo Bay? Not just here for a holiday?’ Cam asked.

Kelly’s face fell. She hadn’t quite come to terms with the answer to that particular question. ‘I don’t live here yet. I mean, Dad wants us to move in with her and her daughter, Sarah, but our other place hasn’t sold.’

Dave returned then, lugging an Esky and a couple of bags up the beach to where they were standing. Annie hadn’t even noticed when he’d left. Cam jumped to help him, apologising for leaving him to carry it all on his own. As soon as he was relieved of his burdens, Dave sat down on the Esky, stretching his long legs out and resting his head in his hands. His hair, almost as pale as Lucas’s, was sweat-plastered to his cheek.

‘Cam, I told your mum we’d find our own way back to town. I thought it would be better if she went straight to the hospital. Someone should be there with him. I didn’t think about the boards, though. How are we going to carry three of them?’

Cam turned back to Kelly. ‘Could we leave them at your place? Just till tomorrow?’

‘Of course,’ she replied, ‘and we’ll see about a lift, too.’

‘Cam, is that you? Surf’s up. Get me out of here. Talk to your mum, will you?’

Two hours after being rushed to hospital, Lucas was standing by the window of the ward, trying to look over the tops of the trees and houses at the ocean beyond. From where she was skulking in the doorway, Annie could see plenty of water, but not the beach. There was no way he’d be able to assess the quality of surf from the limited view he had. He was leaning against the glass looking a bit unsteady, and yet the simple fact that he was standing up at all helped her chest to unclench the ball of fear she was still minding for him. Cam must have felt much the same because he pushed past her to enter the room, straightening his shoulders. Lucas still didn’t tear his gaze away from the window.

‘They’re keeping you in overnight. As they should, Lou. Do you really think my mum would be able to face yours if she talked them into letting you out?’ Cam threw a t-shirt onto the end of the bed, presumably one that Lucas had left on the beach. At least he would be able to get out of the stupid hospital gown. Pity, really, because the view from the back, with those badly done up cotton ties, was intriguing. ‘No surf for you today, but we’ve got your back,’ Cam said with a grin. ‘You went to a lot of trouble to get their attention so we thought we’d better introduce you to the girls you wanted to talk to earlier. This is Annie, and Kelly.’

Lucas spun around, gripped the back of the cotton robe a bit tighter and tangled himself in the drip line that connected his hand to the silver pole he had forgotten about. The plastic bag of fluid swung around in protest, which he ignored because he was too busy staring at the strangers lingering uncomfortably in the doorway. At least, Annie felt uncomfortable. Kelly looked quite at ease with the fact that she had talked her way into coming in to see him once Sarah, her older sister-to-be, had graciously dropped them at the front of the hospital. Annie had followed her in, hoping that if she stayed quiet enough, no one would notice her.

Kelly stepped over to him and grabbed the bag of fluid to stop it swinging. She had thrown on a pair of denim shorts and a loose translucent white shirt that was knotted at her waist. Her bright blue bikini top showed through from underneath. Back in the car, Cam had noticed it. Kelly had noticed him noticing and had smiled. But now as she helped untangle the drip line, Lucas hardly even glanced at her, and Annie felt a small spike of annoyance from her friend.

‘You look much better,’ Kelly told him with one of her sweetest smiles. It was the smile that usually got her out of the worst sort of trouble. That same smile had once caused a full-on brawl between two of the hottest guys at school, and even then she hadn’t really comprehended just how powerful it was. When Annie had sat her down and tried to explain it to her, Kelly hadn’t believed her because Annie couldn’t reveal that she knew what people were really feeling. Kelly’s smile made guys feel valiant. Poor Lucas must have still been partially numb in some way though, because he just turned back to stare out the window again.

‘I keep trying to tell you, I’m fine. The doctor said the octopus mustn’t have had much toxin left in its bite because the effects didn’t last long at all. By the time I arrived here I was breathing fine and my arms and legs were tingly again. They didn’t even really believe that I had actually been paralysed until they questioned the ambos again. None of them seem very concerned. I’m sure if I argue enough they’ll let me go.’

Annie gripped the doorframe. Should she tell someone that his heart had stopped? And yet here he was, shuffling his bare feet back to the window, stretching up to catch a glimpse of the breakers, blue eyes full of life and longing.

‘Your mum is on her way,’ Dave reminded him. ‘Cam’s right, she won’t be too happy if anyone cuts any corners. Wait and talk to her if you want out.’

Lucas grunted. ‘I can’t believe she’s driving all the way down from Melbourne. She’d better not try to make me come home. We have two more days and I fully intend to spend them in the water.’

Dave laid a hand on his shoulder. He topped Lucas’s height by a full head—and Lucas wasn’t exactly short. The fact that Dave was so thin and lanky made him look even taller somehow, as if his bones had stretched and were still waiting for his muscles and skin to catch up. It was his open friendliness that really caught Annie’s attention though. Dave’s whole demeanour screamed of honesty and loyalty. He looked like the sort of friend who would do anything for you without a second thought. He would probably have carried Lucas all the way to the hospital in his arms if he’d had to. She was surprised he hadn’t tried to suck the poison right out of his foot.

‘They won’t let you surf for a while, Lucas. Just in case. Sorry.’ Poor Dave looked miserable at having to tell him.

A spike of angry rebellion flashed from his friend. Apparently, Lucas was as obsessed with being in the water as Annie was with staying away from it. Where had her emotional shield gone? She wasn’t even touching him.

‘Maybe we can do something else?’ Cam suggested, tilting his head not so subtly at Kelly, clearly hoping he would be happy to let her distract him from the surf.

Blue eyes met Annie’s for the briefest of moments before Lucas glanced away towards the window again. ‘Fine,’ he acceded, sounding more irritable than Annie knew he actually felt. ‘Just don’t let them take me back to Melbourne early.’

It turned out that Lucas only managed to talk his mum out of taking him home when Cam’s mum offered to let her and his sister stay with them. And once again, Kelly managed to charm her way into their plans, dragging Annie along like a faithful sidekick to the beach the following day. Annie was a bit grumpy about it, because she liked the three guys and found herself getting caught up in Kelly’s enthusiasm. None of them were for her. She knew that. But what if she was wrong? Getting all flirty was not a good idea.

Luckily, things weren’t too awkward when they met up, because there were more people. It was the Monday before a public holiday, and when Kelly had realised that Sarah wasn’t working, she’d invited her along. Both she and Kelly had been good about spending time getting to know each other the way their respective parents clearly hoped, but so far it had all felt a bit … staged. The beach was home to Sarah though, and she seemed comfortable hanging out there.

The other newcomer was Lucas’s sister, Lily. At just fourteen years old, she had everyone eating from the palm of her hand. She had shoulder-length hair the colour of polished pearl, blue eyes like her brother’s, and such a precocious sense of humour that somehow, within the first ten minutes of meeting her, everyone felt united in defending themselves from her falsely innocent teasing.

Annie spluttered at the girl’s offhand question. ‘Just because we come from the country doesn’t mean we don’t know how to swim,’ she answered. Aghast at the completely naïve look on Lily’s face, she almost missed the amused looks the boys threw her. So, Lily was faking her ignorance.

‘It’s okay if the ocean frightens you,’ Lily said. ‘It’s a pretty dangerous place. My brother nearly died yesterday when that octopus tried to strangle him.’

‘Strangle?’

Lily wasn’t listening because she’d taken the opportunity to nick her brother’s surfboard and was waddling down the beach with it balanced badly under one arm.