which he could identify clearly no matter how hard he tried, as he hurtled past them at breakneck speed.
Everything was different this time. When he’d past through the light before, he had felt and seen nothing, travelling through its entirety in what seemed like the blink of an eye. But now, for the briefest of moments, he was experiencing fully the whole journey. It was a weird and wonderful sensation. The wildest ride of his short life so far!
The haziness ahead of him seemed to suddenly tear itself apart, opening up rapidly to reveal the lush green ground ahead. But he was hurtling towards his landing far too fast for his liking and Jake braced himself for the impending impact. He bounced off the grass and ended up flat out on his stomach. He took a second or two to recover and, winded a little, rose to his knees to take a couple of deep breaths.
Then, he remembered Ben. His best friend was only a few feet away from him, lying motionless on his back with his mouth closed. His body was still as stiff as a board and his complexion was still worryingly white. His eyes were wide open but he didn’t blink.
Jake looked around in a frantic attempt to get his bearings. He was happy and relieved to find that they’d returned to Harry’s front lawn. The light had worked just as he had hoped!
He immediately began looking around, searching desperately for someone to help him. A Police car was parked at the end of the drive but he could see that there was no one inside. He looked over at his granddad’s house, the front door was wide open. ‘That’s not a good sign,’ he thought, ‘why is it open?’
He shifted his concerned gaze towards the large front window, he could see through it clearly, right into Harry’s living room. Terry Faulkner and another Policeman were there, they seemed to be chatting, he screamed urgently at the top of his voice, begging them for help.
“Oh my God!” shouted Terry, as he rushed outside. “Jake! What...? Jake, where the hell have you been? Your family have been... Ben? Is that Ben? What’s happened to him? What’s all that blood? Oh sh...”
Terry saw the state Ben was in and he was seriously concerned. He was about to swear but he stopped himself as his instincts took over and he reached for his radio to call for an ambulance. His Police colleague applied pressure to Ben’s wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding at the same time.
“Jake! Talk to me. You both look like you’ve been in a war! What’s going on? You’ve been posted as missing. We’ve had people out searching everywhere. Your poor mum and dad have been beside themselves.” stated Terry, as soon as he’d radioed Control.
Jake didn’t answer. He didn’t know what to say and all he could think about now was Ben.
“Alright, never mind, Jake.” said Terry. “You’re obviously in shock. We’ll talk later, let’s see to Ben, eh?” Jake nodded at him and still said nothing.
A few minutes later, they heard the approaching wails of a siren. The ambulance screeched to a halt at the end of the drive and parked up just behind the Police car. The Paramedics exited their vehicle, grabbed their equipment and immediately ran over to where Ben lay on the grass.
“Okay, we’ll take it from here.” one of them said, kneeling down quickly to examine Ben. “He’s in a bad way! You boy, what has he taken? Drugs, yeah? What drugs? I need to know, please. And where did he get these wounds?” he shouted at Jake. But still the young boy didn’t reply.
“Hey! Listen to me. We’re gonna have to get him to hospital and quick! Look, snap out of it!” He turned to Terry in frustration. “Sarge, he’s not helping. We have to get going! We don’t have much time!” rasped the Paramedic, realising the urgency of Ben’s case and desperate to minimise any delay.
Ben was placed in the rear of the ambulance and taken to hospital. Jake travelled with him in complete silence, whilst the Policemen followed closely behind in their car. When they arrived at A and E, everything and everyone was already waiting for them and a team of doctors and nurses immediately whisked Ben away to an Operating Theatre. Jake was left standing alone at the entrance, struggling with his emotions and unsure what to do. Then, Terry arrived, having pulled up