A Question of Sanity: Chapter 5 B: Accusations

Ellie tripped over the can of Mr Sheen lying behind the front door. The hall table had been knocked over and Aphrodite lay on her side at the foot of the stairs. She stared at the red stain; her eyes followed its progress to the study. Three bloody fingerprints stained the door. There was no mistaking them for what they were. A groan began inside her and held the same note for a long time. She was unaware of the noise, only of the blood drawing her to the study. She pushed it further open, not knowing what she would find on the other side. Everything was as it should be and in order. She felt no relief, only a wild, crazy panic. Her calm rationale was a herd of stampeding horses disturbed by an eagle’s cry. The blood had no right to be in her home. She didn’t invite it in. Think. Think. What to do. Think, damn you. Ring Matt. Yes, that’s what she should do. No, that’s not right, need to…need to…need to find out if the phone’s been used.

Instead of asking for Matt’s number, she instructed the computer to give her the last number called.

‘Emergency services. Which service do you require?’

‘Oh, no. Nooo.’ Ellie broke down and told the operator that she thought there’d been an accident. The cool, efficient voice on the other end of the phone tried to calm her but to no avail. The operator checked the log and confirmed that a man had been taken, from her address, to St. Joseph’s hospital that afternoon. She told Ellie that she had no further information and Ellie ended the call without remembering to thank her. She was already halfway out of the house before the operator finished speaking. ‘Call end,’ she screamed back at the computer.

Ellie went into room three-sixteen, her face etched with worry and concern. Matt was propped up in bed, the left side of his head covered in a white dressing, blood already beginning to seep through the gauze. A nurse offered him water to wash down the little white pills that were his licence for a pain free four hours.

‘Oh Matty, love, what happened to you?’ She rushed to the side of his bed and flung her arms around his neck, careful to avoid the bandage. Matt flinched away from her touch.

‘Hello, darling,’ he said, with a tight smile. ‘You came then?’

It seemed an odd thing for him to say but she couldn’t address it because the nurse was speaking to her.

‘He’s had a nasty knock on the head, love. He needs to rest. No more than five minutes, please.’ She left the room in a bustle of starchy efficiency.

The smile left Matt’s face and he pulled away from her, throwing her from him. His eyes were wide and he didn’t try to hide the look of revulsion on his face.

‘Come to finish what you started, have you?’ His lip curled in contempt as he spat the words at her. ‘What the hell’s wrong with you? You could have killed me. No, let’s be honest, you tried to kill me. Didn’t you? Didn’t you?’

His voice rose, and although he was whispering the words so that they wouldn’t be overheard, he couldn’t have instilled more bitterness or venom into his voice if he’d been screaming the accusations at her.

Ellie recoiled. The anger that fuelled the words pelted her with force enough, but the meaning behind each one hit her with a second blow.

‘Matt, love, they said you have concussion. What are you saying? You think I did this to you? Don’t be silly. You know that’s not true. I love you. You know I’d never hurt you’

Matt clapped his hands three times in a slow, exaggerated manner and winced as a new pain shot through his head with the movement.

‘Clever, Ellie, very clever. An excellent performance from the dutiful girlfriend. What’s the matter? Scared I’ve told them something? Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. I don’t know what I’ve done to make you hate me. All I’ve ever done is love you, but don’t worry, I get the message loud and clear. As long as I live, I will never forget the look on your face when you brought that statue down on my head.’ His voice lost its power as he whispered the last words he ever wanted to say to her. ‘Now fuck off out of my life. I never want to see you again.’

‘But Matt…’

He turned his face, which was as white as the pillow he rested on, away from her and closed his eyes.

Ellie ran from the hospital, crying.

Rob and Gail, dropped what they were doing to go to Ellie when she called them. Gail gathered Ellie into her arms and both women sobbed.

‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, sweetheart,’ Gail kept repeating over and over again. ‘I can’t take it all in, it’s too much.’

Ellie comforted the other woman; after all, she’d had weeks to come to terms with her illness. Gail and Rob had it thrust on them that afternoon.

‘How’s Matt?’ asked Rob.

‘Not good, fractured skull and thirteen stitches. They’re keeping him in overnight for observation. They don’t think there’s any danger of damage to his brain. Just a precaution, they said. But, oh Rob, he thinks I did it to him. How could he think that? I tried to tell him I was with you all afternoon but he didn’t give me the chance.’

‘Shush now, don’t cry, it’ll be all right. I’ll talk some sense into the big moron.’ said Rob, with an arm around both women. ‘It’ll be fine. We’ll explain everything to him, and when he’s had a chance to sleep and get over the shock, he’ll be in more of a mind to listen. Don’t worry, we’ll sort it out.’

Matt rang Rob and asked to be picked up from the hospital the following morning. They had to wait an age in the waiting room until the consultant gave Matt the all clear and discharged him. Rob and Gail were the first ones to walk into the room. Matt’s face broke into a relieved grin when he saw his friend. Rob shook Matt’s hand warmly.

‘Hey, how’s it going, mate?’

‘Thanks for coming, Rob, Gail. I can’t wait to get out of…’ his face set into a tight expression of determination as he saw Ellie crossing the room towards him. She had what she hoped was a warm smile on her face.

‘Get that crazy bitch away from me. She’s a bloody lunatic,’ he ranted.

‘Matt, love,’ said Ellie, a lot calmer than she felt. ‘We’ve come to take you home. Don’t worry, we can explain everything. It’ll be all right now.’

Matt refused to look at her, turning instead to Rob. ‘I am not going anywhere with her. I don’t want to see her. Get her away from me.’

‘Matt, mate, the bump to the old noggin’s addled your brain; Ellie didn’t do this to you. I know she didn’t because she was with me all afternoon yesterday. Come on, let’s get the hell out of here and we can sort this out over a coffee at home.’

‘I’ve told you, I’m not going anywhere with her.’

Ellie tried to get through to him again. She was crying and the patients in the other beds were all watching the scene playing out, with interest.

‘Matty, I love you. Come home and talk to me. I’ve got everything all ready for you.’

‘What? You honestly think I’m going to sleep with you after…’ He checked himself. ‘After everything that’s happened?’

‘Well, I’ll make the guest room up for you, then.’ Ellie spoke in a softer voice, trying to get a grip on her emotions and at the same time end the embarrassing scene.

Two nurses came onto the ward to see what all the noise was about. Rob smoothed things over enough to get Matt out of the hospital and into the car by agreeing to take Matt back to their house instead of Ellie’s. Having gleaned enough of what was going on to put two and two together, the nurses glared at Ellie on the way out; Matt was a favourite patient. He was the best looking man on the ward and the young nurses had fought over whose turn it was to attend him.