brendon screamed on the stretcher in the hospital/
he had ran into a bubbler on an asphalt playground
& was having his forehead stitched together under
a local anaesthetic/ mum held him down/ i saw the
blood run through his blonde hair & into his ear/
his glasses resting on a chair/ dad sat in the waiting
room with dale next to him/ dale snatched a plastic
rocket that i had found on the ground out of my
hand & threw it into the hospital lift/ i went in
after it & when i turned around the door had
closed/ i didn't know where i was/ when the
doors opened i ran out but it was a huge storage
room/ it was dark & no one was there/ the lift
doors shut & i was stranded/ i started to cry
frightened of the dark/ i waited for ten minutes
with my face against the steel/ i prayed to god/
after a while the doors opened & it was a hospital
chef wheeling along a trolley load of silver dishes
of soup/ he said 'what are you doing in there all
by yourself?'/ i said 'i am lost'/ he said 'where
are your parents?'/ i said 'i don't know'/ we tried
a few different levels until eventually the door
opened up & there was dale & dad standing near
the seats in the waiting room/ mum helping
brendon get ready to go/ dale ran up & snatched
the plastic rocket out of my hand/ when i took it
back he let off a high pitched squeal/ dad smacked
me in the left eye/ my grandmother spoke to my
mother 'stop him from hitting her'/ then she
prayed to god & so did i/ neither seemed to work
