The Last Breath Of Reggie Warrington

Chapter 14: Wish, Hope and Wonder

"Mum, Mum what is it? Is it Derek? I'm so, so sorry. He wrote us all letters and, and I was too busy and didn't want to upset anyone that I put them in next doors bin. I'm sorry, Mum. I shouldn't have done it! It was wrong of me and I know it. Now he's like Reggie, dead! Dead and it's all my fault!"

I could feel my mascara running down my face and I couldn't care less. First Reggie, now Derek, who was I going to lose next? Mum? Maddison? Lilly? Brad? Grandma? I must have been a really evil person in a past life to deserve all these people to die around me.

"Chloe, take a deep breath and calm down. It isn't Derek. He's fine. We should be able to pick him up later. It's Maddison. She might be losing the baby."

Hold on? Baby? As in Maddison's baby?

"She's pregnant? Since when?"

Mum sighed, but the worry, still embedded in her skin.
"She's about ten weeks gone and before you start questioning me who the father is, she hasn't told me. Only found out the other day. I was at home when she took the test, three, to be exact."

Mum's explanation made a lot more sense to me than I thought it would. With Maddison being Indira's best friend, I was surprised not to see her at the party. She told me she wouldn't miss it for the world, but I suppose being surrounded by rowdy drunk teenagers, getting drunk and getting it on with everyone, wasn't really the ideal scene for her.

Thinking back, she had been quiet for a while. She hadn't been out with Indie or any other her other 6th form friends clubbing or whatever it was they did, for what looked like ages. For all I knew, Daddy dearest could have been any random guy Maddison met. Not that she was like that at all. She only had one boyfriend in her life, Monty Philips, he was a friend of Indie's brother Peter, from the tennis club.

Tall, dark, handsome, like Ethan Campbell in a suit only with slick black hair styled into a type of quiff. Voice like a member of the royal family, Prince Charles, only posher. Only a couple of things surprised me about Monty, number 1, why wasn't he at Eton when clearly he would fit in wonderfully, and two, what the hell happened to split them up?

Like I said, Maddison had been much quieter over recent weeks. We hadn't shared a room since we were eleven and our bond as sisters wasn't as close as it once was. If she and Monty had split, I could almost guarantee she wouldn't tell me.

We turned the corner on to a road I knew I recognised. St Bernard's Way, home to St Bernard's Royal Infirmary, the hospital where now two members of my family just so happened to be staying. At least Derek was supposed to be coming out soon.

As modern as the hospital building looked, with is sparkling glass panelled frontage in many bright and welcoming colours, I still felt sick. Only a few minutes earlier had I been told my sister was pregnant, but now my little unborn niece or nephew could be in trouble. I couldn't be losing someone else, could I?

Mum parked the car and we hurried into the building. A sign on the wall read 'reception' and an arrow pointed towards a set of double doors. I pushed through them, my heart slamming against the walls of my chest as I worried about my sister. A row of maybe four or five women sat at computers behind a long desk, each one busy taking information from outpatients.
"I'm looking for Maddison Leighton, I'm her mother." Said Mum, "she was rushed in about half an hour ago with bleeding and stomach cramps."

The woman at the desk typed in Maddison's details.
"This is outpatients," she replied, "your daughter is in maternity. Out the doors you came through, into the car park then you should see a big purple sign that says maternity. You can't miss it."

Without saying a single word to the lady at the desk, Mum and I ran in the direction she said. A purple sign, a purple sign, I couldn't see a sodding purple sign, but somehow Mum managed to find it and we went through the second set of doors. After finally finding out where Maddison was, we then began the search for her. Fortunately, the hospital lifts worked which saved us traipsing up and down multiple flights of stairs.