31I know this chapter's not very long but the next one should be fairly soon! This chapter's dedicated to my accident-prone lovable best friend Asha (dorydafish) who managed to dislocate her knee...she should come with a fragile warning label. Luv ya Ash!
Lifeline
Maddie sat in her room, the phone pressed to her ear as she listened to it ringing over and over again. There was no answer from Spencer. When the phone switched automatically to Spencer's voicemail, she cut the call off and hit redial, listening to the incessant ringing again. When it again switched to voicemail she cancelled the call and leaned back against the wall. 'Spencer knew I'd be calling. He'd definitely have his phone near him right? Maybe he's in the shower or something.'
Maddie sighed with frustration, she really wanted to talk to him but he wasn't answering his phone. The thought 'typical man' ran through her head and she giggled. She wasn't aware she was capable of such random, stereotypical thoughts, but they made her laugh. She snuggled down into her pillow, waiting a few minutes until she called Spencer again. After a few minutes of lying in the shadowy room in silence, she reached over and switched on her bedside lamp, illuminating most of her room, and then switched her radio on quietly. Love songs were playing on the late night radio and she mouthed the familiar words to herself, losing track of time as song after song played.
Kyle knelt next to Spencer, watching his friend carefully for signs of movement. His breathing was shallow but steady and Kyle concentrated on the rise and fall of each breath, reassuring himself that Spencer would wake up. He was hoping that someone would have heard the earlier commotion and called the police but he knew that if Spencer's neighbours were out then no one else could have heard. Spencer lived in a secluded road off the main street, which backed onto a field. There was no one close enough. He could hear Spencer's phone ringing upstairs, but after ringing twice it fell silent. Another lifeline gone.
Spencer moved slightly and groaned, as he started to wake up. Kyle was watching him intently. Spencer slowly opened his eyes and then rolled carefully onto his side, his bruised body protesting severely. He lay there, head fuzzy and vision blurry as he tried to make sense of what had happened. The only thing that was clear in his mind at the moment though, was Kyle. He had seen Kyle.
Maddie glanced at her clock and realised that almost quarter of an hour had gone by since she had tried to phone Spencer. 'He should answer his phone now. He must do.' Picking up her phone she dialled his number and pressed the call button.
Spencer's phone rang again from upstairs and the sound cut through the silence, waking Spencer from his pain-induced trance. He slowly raised himself off the ground and staggering, leaned on the arm of the sofa for support. Breathing heavily, as his lungs cried for oxygen, he pushed himself away from the sofa and stumbled towards the stairs. Reaching them, he paused again, leaning one hand on the wall, the other clutching his aching ribs as he blindly moved up the stairs towards the familiar, somehow comforting sound of his mobile. A smear of blood was left on the wall where Spencer had placed his hand.
Maddie was about to give up phoning Spencer, when he finally picked up.
'Spence! About time too, where have you been?' she said mock-sternly. There was no answer, she could hear him breathing though, it didn't sound right.
'Spencer? Are you ok?' she asked.
The answer was quiet and hesitant; a voice forced through pain 'Maddie?'A long pause 'I…I saw Kyle. Kirby. He came round. The window, there's glass everywhere.'
'Spencer? What happened.' Maddie sat up, alert and concerned. There was something very wrong.
'Maddie.' Spencer sounded increasingly distant, and a muted cry came down the phone of someone in obvious pain. 'Please Maddie. I need help.' With that the phone went dead.
Maddie stared at her phone in shock and then raced out of her room, grabbing her keys as she went. She ran down the stairs, andpulledher coat from the banisters as she left the house. The door slammed shut behind her.
Racing along the streets to Spencer's house, Madison was faintly aware that this was the route Kyle had taken when he was hit by the car, but fear for Spencer blocked all other thoughts from her mind. Racing across the deserted road, the only thing on her mind was reaching Spencer's house. She forced her legs to move faster, pounding against the pavement in an urgent rhythm until his house came into view. She stopped sharply, staring at the shattered window, broken glass littering the floor. 'No.'
She ran to the front door, grabbing her keys and hurriedly searching for Spencer's house key. Finding it she inserted it into the lock and turned it, entering the house and shutting it quickly behind her. 'Spencer?' she called urgently. She looked into the rooms downstairs, quickly determining that Spencer wasn't downstairs. Turning back to the stairs she saw the blood on the wall, and her face set in shock. Without hesitation she raced up the stairs, heading for Spencer's room. Throwing the door open, the first thing she saw was Spencer, huddled on the floor leaning against his bed.
'Thank you.' Kyle said a prayer to no one in particular. 'Thank you for letting him be saved.'
Maddie knelt next to Spencer, her quick eyes taking in the bruises, and the numerous cuts which were still bleeding. He had an arm wrapped protectively around his body and his eyes were shut tightly. 'Spencer?' she called his name softly. The hand which wasn't curled around his body was lying on the floor, the phone in his open palm. As she spoke the fingers clenched and curled around the phone and Spencer's eyes opened. 'You came.' he said quietly.
Maddie smiled at him, concern written over her face. 'Of course I did. What happened?'
'Kirby and his friends.' A slight frown covered his face as he remembered 'I saw Kyle. I thought I saw Kyle.'
'No. You did see me. I don't know how but you did.'
Maddie tapped Spencer lightly on the cheek as he drifted off again. 'Spencer stay awake. We need to get you to a hospital.'
'I'm fine.' He protested, although he winced as he did so.
'Yeah, you look perfectly fine.' Madison answered sarcastically.
Ten minutes later, Will was at the front door with his car and Spencer was sitting on the bottom stair, head resting on the banisters.
'Damn, who did this?' Will was shocked to see the state Spencer was in. Maddie answered him quietly'Kirby and his friends. I was really hoping they wouldn't try anything.'
'Well they did. Come on man, let's get you to the car.' Will helped Spencer carefully to his feet and led him out the front door. Maddie followed, taking one last look at the blood stained wall before closing the front door. On the way to the hospital she would call the police, report an assault and ask them if they could sort of the window.
Spencer had been checked over and stitched up and bandaged was found that he had two cracked ribs, severe bruising across most of his body, a fractured cheekbone and two dislocated fingers on his left hand. As well as the numerous cuts on his face and arms where he had landed on broken glass. Oh and the concussion
'It could have been worse.' thought Kyle.
Maddie looked through the window at Spencer lying in the hospital bed. The starkness of the stitches against his skin reminded her of when she had first seen Kyle after his accident. Luckily Spencer would be out of hospital the next morning, unlike Kyle.
Will came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. 'How is he?'
Maddie turned to face him 'He's asleep for the moment. Did you speak to the police?'
'Yeah. They sorted out the window and everything. They're going to take Spencer's statement in the morning, but they think it'll be fairly straightforward since Kirby's been hanging around school and has a motive for assault. I phoned his mum as well, she's coming back a bit earlier.'
'Oh no! My parents!' Maddie suddenly remembered. 'They probably heard me leave, I never told them where I went.'
'Well they're hardly going to ground you for helping Spencer are they?' Kyle laughed at his sister's panicked face.
'Come on, I'll give you a lift can phone them in the car'
Maddie walked towards the exit, looking back at where Spencer was sleeping peacefully one last time, before the doors closed behind her.
A/N: Once again thanks to my reviewers, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review if you read, it's very much appreciated! dorydafish...if you write something about me making my characters gay in a review (again!) I will be stealing your crutches evil grin lol. Ok maybe I won't. I'm not turning my characters gay. That would mess up my whole romance thingy. Clearly. Anyway I'm rambling so I'm going to go and write some more...
LulaR