In the Still of the Night

‘Mum. Oh, Mum. Don’t. Look at me. It’s Annie.’

The sob in her voice got through to her mother. Trudie peered at her, uncertainty clouding her eyes, then something leapt in her face and she reached out a trembling hand, clutched at her daughter. ‘Annie?’

Wrenched with a sigh of relief, Annie smiled, holding the thin old hand between both her own. ‘Yes, it’s me, Mum. How do you feel?’

Her voice tremulous, Trudie whispered, ‘What’s wrong with me? I keep forgetting … all confused, I forgot you’d grown up.’

‘It’s the drugs they’re giving you,’ lied Annie, holding back the tears.

‘I won’t take drugs,’ Trudie flared up, getting angry. ‘Tell them not to give me drugs!’

‘I will, Mum.’

The old woman sighed deeply and closed her eyes, but still held on to Annie’s hand tightly.

Sean came through the swing doors and walked over to the bed to look down at her. ‘How is she?’ he asked Annie in a whisper.

‘She’s going to be OK,’ Annie said, more because it was what she wanted to believe than because it was the truth. ‘Didn’t the sister say you shouldn’t come in?’

‘She’s gone for a meal break and the nurse left on duty is busy in the kitchen,’ Sean coolly said.

He leaned on the wall, half-hidden by the shabby green curtains that could be drawn around the bed when privacy was required. Around them old people coughed and shifted, sighed and snored. This was a geriatric ward; there were no young people here and there was an atmosphere of defeat in the air. Sean stared around at the other beds, the other old, tired, faces, absorbing the scene and memorising it for future use.

Trudie’s eyes opened suddenly; she looked up with fear in her face. ‘Annie … Annie, he tried to kill me.’

Sean stiffened, his eyes flicking back to her at once.

‘Who did? What are you talking about, Mum?’ Annie didn’t take it seriously, her voice was soothing, placatory. Her mother never made much sense these days.

‘I recognised him the minute I saw him, even after all these years. He’d changed, but I knew him all right and he knew me, he gave me such a look! Then he tried to push me under a bus.’

Annie inhaled sharply, convinced by the fear in her mother’s voice. ‘What? Where was this?’

‘The bus almost hit me, it had to brake so hard it almost crashed. I ran into a park to get away – I was so scared. That’s how I fell. I was in such a state I didn’t know what I was doing.’ Trudie’s voice shook with terror, Annie tightened her hold on the cold hand she held.

‘Ssh … Mum, it’s OK, you’re safe. Don’t look so scared, I won’t let anything hurt you.’

Sean moved and Trudie looked towards him, gasped, her pale mouth quivering. ‘Who’s that? Get him away … who is he?’

The ward sister appeared, frowning. ‘I thought I told you to wait outside?’ she crossly snapped at Sean. ‘Please go out. Miss Lang, your mother seems upset. I’m sorry, I think you had better leave now.’

‘Don’t leave me, Annie,’ pleaded Trudie. ‘Don’t let them give me drugs, I’m afraid of forgetting again. He might get in here while I’m asleep. He hates me … he blames us!’

Annie’s eyes met Sean’s. He read the fear and distress in her face and his brows jerked together.

The sister said, ‘We’ll make sure nobody gets in here, Mrs Lang, don’t you worry. You mustn’t get excited, it’s bad for you. Say goodbye, Miss Lang.’

Annie obediently bent to kiss her mother, whispered soothingly, ‘I’ll talk to them, Mum. You have to have some drugs, to help you get better, but I’ll tell them not to give you the ones that make you forget. Is there anything I can bring you? Your knitting? Some magazines?’

‘Take me home, Annie. I want to go home.’ Trudie tried to move and fell back with a cry of agony; the cloudy bewilderment came into her face again. ‘What’s wrong with me? I can’t move. What am I doing here? Where is this place?’

‘You’d really better go, we’ll take care of her,’ the ward sister said, steering Annie away from the bed. Looking back at her mother, Annie saw a young nurse bending over her, talking calmly to her, giving her a drink of water.

‘She told me someone tried to kill her,’ Annie said uneasily. ‘A man tried to push her under a bus, she said.’

The sister frowned. ‘We were told by the police that she was sitting in a park and when she saw a policeman she started to run and fell over. There was no mention of anyone trying to kill her.’

‘You think she imagined it?’ Sean asked curtly.