Veiled Dreams by Gill James Page B

the stairs instead, taking them two at a time. He was breathless by the time he got to the top. The lift arrived at the same time as he did.
    He followed the sign to Block A, and then Elderflower Ward. How would he be able to find her? There was another sort of reception area in the corner where two corridors met. Then he saw her name written on the whiteboard. Room 5. Which way did these rooms go?
    He saw the number 1 on a door just in front of him. 2 was on the next one. He realised he needed to follow the corridor round that way. Round another corner, 3, 4, there it was Room 5. The door opened just as he got there. A woman with cropped red hair and a tall man came out, followed by a teenage boy. Jan recognised the boy – Paul. So the others must be Mr and Mrs Grant.He’d not seem them close to before.
    All three of them were pale. Paul was frowning. Mr Grant’s face was completely without expression and he seemed to be looking into the distance beyond Jan. Mrs Grant was clenching her fists. There were streaks in her make-up and black blotches around her eyes. She must have been crying. Now she was just staring ahead, not seeming to see anything. So it was not good news.
    Paul’s pupils opened a little wider as he recognised Jan. He half smiled.
    ‘Oh, you made it then?’ he said. ‘Good.’
    Good seemed an odd thing to say. But perhaps it at least meant that Paul was glad he had come.
    Mrs Grant suddenly woke up out of her daydream.
    ‘You!’ she cried. ‘What the hell do you think you are doing here? You keep away from my daughter. It’s probably your fault she’s here in the first place.’
    Jan thought she was actually going to hit him.
    A nurse came over to them.
    ‘Please can you keep the noise down,’ she said. ‘There are some very ill people here and they need peace and quiet.’
    ‘I just don’t want him going anywhere near my daughter!’ shouted Mrs Grant. Her face was bright red now.
    ‘Mrs Grant, please, I must insist that you calm down or I shall have to ask you to leave.’
    ‘It’s all right,’ said Mr Grant. ‘We were going anyway. They don’t want us here at the moment.’ He shook his head at Jan.
    Paul shrugged his shoulders and half smiled again.
    Jan watched them slowly make their way along the corridor. Mr Grant supported his wife with an arm around her waist. She was leaning into him. Paul was dragging his feet along the floor and looking down.
    The nurse who had dealt with the commotion had now returned to her work. She had forgotten all about Jan. Hecouldn’t move. He stood absolutely still and it was almost as if no one could see him, as if he had become a ghost. He could hear people talking in Christina’s room, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying.
    The door opened. A young doctor and two nurses came out.
    ‘Oh!’ said the doctor. He seemed surprised. ‘I thought the family had all gone.’
    Jan could not speak.
    ‘So you are…?’
    ‘I’m her boyfriend,’ Jan managed to say. ‘And they don’t want me there. But could you just tell me how she is.’
    ‘Well, I, um. I should really only talk to the next of kin…’ said the doctor. ‘But actually—’
    ‘I love her. I wouldn’t hurt her. I just need to know if she’s going to be okay,’ Jan blurted out.
Where did that come from?
he thought.
    The small dark-haired nurse, who was still standing there with the tall blonde one, probably waiting for instructions, nudged the doctor.
    ‘Go on,’ she said. ‘You can’t not tell him. That’s so romantic.’
    ‘Anyway, wouldn’t it be good if we got someone in there straight away to start talking to her?’ the tall blond one chipped in.
    ‘Yes, yes, it would, most definitely,’ said the doctor. He hesitated than sighed. ‘I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, so I’m relying on you to be discreet,’ he said to Jan. ‘She is stable now, but she is in quite a deep coma. She had a really hard blow to the head. It will all be made more