Lily Alone Read online

  Bliss screamed as he made it sway.

  ‘Baxter, stop it. Gently!’

  ‘I’m just showing her. Look, Bliss, like this.’ He demonstrated, crawling along the branch towards her.

  ‘That’s it, Baxter. See, Bliss? Copy Baxter. Let go with one hand and move slowly along.’

  ‘I don’t know how! I can’t let go, I’ll fall,’ said Bliss.

  ‘Look, Bliss,’ Baxter bellowed.

  Bliss couldn’t look. She was sobbing helplessly, unable to move.

  ‘Could you jump down and I’ll catch you?’ I said. ‘No, wait, don’t, it’s too far. You scramble down, Baxter. Then I’ll come up and help you, Bliss, baby. It’s all right, you’re quite safe. Don’t cry. We’ll get you down in no time,’ I gabbled.

  ‘I’ll fall, I know I’ll fall,’ Bliss said.

  ‘No, you won’t. I promise you won’t fall. Just hang on a few seconds more and then I’ll come and—’

  But as I was saying the words, the branch started creaking.

  ‘It’s moving! Help me!’ Bliss screamed.

  I clawed my way up the tree, but the whole branch suddenly snapped right off. Bliss clung to it instead of trying to jump free. She landed with a crash on the bumpy earth by the tree roots.

  ‘Oh my God! Bliss, Bliss, are you all right?’ I yelled, scrambling back down the tree.

  Baxter reached her before I did. He knelt down beside her and burst into tears.

  ‘Shh, Baxter! Bliss, talk to me,’ I said, running over to them.

  ‘She can’t talk. She’s dead,’ Baxter wailed.

  ‘Dead, dead, dead,’ echoed Pixie, like a little chiming bell.

  ‘She’s not dead,’ I said, kneeling down beside Bliss.

  She was lying crookedly, her head thrown back, her arms out, one leg all twisted. Blood trickled down her forehead. Her eyes were closed. She looked dead.

  ‘Bliss, please, wake up. You can’t be dead, I won’t let you be dead. Bliss, please, please open your eyes!’

  I saw her eyelids flicker – and then very slowly, as if her lids were very heavy, she opened her eyes.

  ‘Oh thank you, thank you,’ I said, putting my arms round her head.

  I felt her shudder right through her body and then start crying.

  ‘It’s all right, Bliss. I’ve got you. We’ll make you better, don’t worry,’ I said.

  I straightened up and tried to tend her poor body. The cut on her head looked deep and scary. I needed something clean to staunch the wound but all our clothes were really dirty now. I broke off a big fern and tried to mop at it with that, Bliss wincing underneath me. I dabbed at the scratches on her arms, and then looked at her legs. One had a bloody knee but it didn’t seem too bad. It was her left leg that was terrifying. It was bent the wrong way – and when I tried very, very gently to straighten it, Bliss screamed.

  ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to hurt you,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what to do. Your poor leg . . .’

  Bliss was grey-white, tears seeping down her face. Baxter sat down beside her, very careful not to jog her in any way, and held her hand.

  ‘Lily, her leg,’ he mumbled.

  ‘Yes, I know.’

  ‘It looks as if it’s going to fall off,’ said Baxter.

  Bliss gave a little gasp and tried to raise her head.

  ‘No, you keep still, darling. Don’t take any notice of Baxter, you know what he’s like,’ I said – though her leg really was dangling just like a doll’s.

  ‘Is bliss dead?’ Pixie asked.

  ‘No, of course not. How can she be dead, she’s got her eyes open!’ I said.

  ‘But she’s very, very hurt,’ Pixie said solemnly.

  I swallowed. ‘Yes, she’s very hurt, but she’s going to get better,’ I said, stroking Bliss’s bloody forehead. ‘Don’t worry, Bliss. I know it must hurt horribly, but if you just rest for a while then I’m sure you’ll start to feel better soon . . .’ My voice tailed away. I couldn’t bear to hear the rubbish I was speaking. I couldn’t pretend any more. It was obvious to all of us that Bliss had broken her leg, and very badly too. She also had a long seeping cut on her forehead that needed stitching.

  ‘I – I think, just to make sure, we’d better take you to a hospital, Bliss,’ I whispered.

  ‘No! No! I can’t go!’ Bliss said.

  ‘She’s frightened of hospitals,’ Baxter sniffed.

  ‘No – well, I am, but I can’t go, because we have to stay hidden,’ Bliss gasped.

  ‘I know, but you need to go to hospital now, Bliss,’ I said, shivering.

  ‘I’ll be all right. I’ll rest, like you said, Lily.’

  ‘But your leg – it must be hurting terribly.’ I could hardly bear to look at it.

  ‘It doesn’t hurt too badly,’ Bliss lied.

  ‘Bliss! You can’t move.’

  ‘Well, I’ll keep still.’

  ‘Stop being so brave, Bliss,’ Baxter shouted. ‘Why did you have to climb so high up?’

  ‘Because you told me to!’

  ‘Yes, but you don’t have to do what I say. Look what’s happened. You have to get better or it’s all my fault,’ said Baxter, still hanging onto her hands.

  ‘It’s my fault, I should have stopped you all playing stupid monkeys,’ I said, stroking Bliss’s hair.

  ‘It’s my fault, I said let’s play,’ Pixie whispered.

  ‘It’s my fault, I fell,’ said Bliss. ‘But it’s OK, I’m starting to feel a lot better now.’

  She was still grey and her head was still bleeding and her leg was smashed. I knew we didn’t have any choice. We had to get her to hospital straight away. I got Pixie’s buggy, thinking we could somehow squash Bliss into it and push her out of the park, but when Baxter and I tried to lift her, she screamed again, and then I think she fainted. Her eyes didn’t close properly. We could see an eerie slit of white beneath her eyelid.

  ‘She really does look dead now,’ Baxter sobbed.

  ‘We’ll have to get an ambulance to come for her. They’ll know how to lift her properly. We’re going to break her more if we haul her about. You two stay here with her.’

  I ran through the ferns, up the slope, towards the road. I stood by the side and started waving my arms frantically. The very first car stopped and a lady wound down her window.

  ‘What’s the matter? You know, I’m not supposed to stop here. This isn’t a silly game, is it?’

  ‘No, I swear it’s not. It’s my little sister. She’s broken her leg and she’s bleeding. Do you have a mobile? Oh please, could you call for an ambulance to come and take her to hospital?’

  She phoned straight away, and then she parked her car by the side of the road with her hazard lights flashing. She ran down the slope with me, her shoulder bag bumping against her side.

  ‘Oh my goodness, you poor little thing!’ she said, when she saw Bliss. ‘What happened?’

  ‘She was playing in the tree and she fell,’ I said.

  ‘You were playing by yourselves?’ said the lady. ‘What about your mum?’

  I was so distraught I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. I just shook my head and cried. The lady knelt down beside Bliss.

  ‘Don’t worry, dear. An ambulance is coming and we’ll get you to hospital very shortly,’ she said.

  Bliss moaned, her eyelids fluttering.

  ‘Make her stop looking so funny,’ said Pixie, and started crying.

  ‘Don’t cry, don’t cry,’ I said, over and over, one arm round Pixie, one arm round Baxter.

  We all stared at Bliss, shaking, for what seemed an age – and then at last we heard the ambulance coming. The woman scrambled back towards her car to show the ambulance people the way.

  ‘What’s going to happen to us, Lily?’ Baxter asked.

  ‘I don’t know. But we have to save Bliss, don’t we?’

  ‘They won’t take her away?’ said Baxter.

  ‘I won’t let them. We’re all going to stick