The Secret

They arrived late at the hospital. Ellie jumped out of the taxi as soon as it pulled up and met Sam at the door, pulling her into a hug, stroking her blonde hair as her daughter sobbed into her shoulder. She looked at her and wiped her tears from her eyes and they spoke quietly. Poppy walked up and hugged Sam in a bear hug, patting her on the back.



Alan stayed a little way back after paying for the taxi, not wanting to intrude. Sam saw him hovering out of the corner of her eye and looked at him, then back at Poppy and her Mum. She thought she was seeing things and rubbed her eyes. She was tired and she knew that people imagined things after trauma, but she looked back and he was still there.



‘Mum…is that Alan Rickman?’ Sam looked at her puzzled.



Ellie smiled a little. ‘It is, hang on…’ She waved Alan over. ‘Alan, this is my eldest. This is Sam.’



Alan looked at her. She was beautiful but had a haunted look around her eyes. ‘Hi Sam.’ He shook her hand.



Sam looked from her Mum to Alan. Poppy intervened quickly. ‘Alan and I work together at the Theatre, Sam, you remember?’ She realised it was too soon for full explanations.



‘Oh yeh…’ Sam bit her lip, something was niggling her but she let it go.



‘Sam, where’s Ben?’ Ellie needed to see her son.



‘He’s upstairs in the critical illness suite, come on. Oh and Mum, Dad’s here.’



Ellie glanced at Poppy and Alan and followed Sam up the stairs.



They walked into the waiting room and Pete met them, he face worried sick. In a room opposite, divided from them by a glass screen, was Ben, lying in the bed with an oxygen mask over his face, drips and monitors attached to him.



Ellie walked over to the glass, her hands stretched out. ‘Oh my god…’ she gasped and started to sob again. Sam put her arm around her gently. Ellie wiped her face and turned to Pete.



‘What have they said?’ She didn’t look at him and he didn’t look at her. Their relationship was purely functional, parents to three children.



‘Smoke inhalation, a slight burn on his arm. He was very lucky….if it hadn’t been for Kyle…’



Ellie turned to Sam. ‘Where is Kyle?’



Pete answered. ‘He went to get a can of coke, he’ll be back in a moment. He looks a mess, Ellie, don’t be too shocked. He’s OK though.’



‘I want to see Ben, why is no one with him?’ Ellie desperately needed to touch him, to know he was still alive.



‘It’s because of the burn. They need to dress it properly, and then we can go in. Risk of infection and stuff.’ Pete looked at her. ‘Where’s Poppy, I thought she was coming with you?’



As he spoke, Poppy came through the door with Alan. Pete looked at them and looked at Ellie.



‘I’m going to get a coffee.’ He looked at Poppy as he walked from the waiting room but neither of them spoke.



Ellie looked at them. ‘Ben…’ She looked in at her youngest son. ‘They wont let us in yet…’ She was a white as a sheet and had started to shake. Alan wanted to put his arms around her but knew he couldn’t. Poppy noticed her shaking and guided her over to a row of chairs.



‘Sam, why don’t you get your Mum some tea, put sugar in it. She’s in shock, I think.’



As Sam walked out of the door a tall, brown haired teenager walked through.



‘Mum!’ He ran up to her and she looked at him before pulling him to her in a huge hug.



‘Oh my god, Kyle! You saved his life. Are you OK?’ She looked at him. He clothes were covered in smoke stains and soot, his face scratched and almost black from the smoke. Ellie cried and hugged him to her again.



They all went to sit in the row of chairs; Ellie took Kyle’s hand in hers. ‘Tell me what happened.’



Kyle looked at her, his face serious. ‘I think Ben was smoking in his room. We had all gone to bed, I wasn’t asleep properly and I could smell something. I knocked on his door and opened it but he was under the duvet, but I could smell cigarette smoke. Anyway, I think he must have tried to hide the cigarette because the thing I knew, there was smoke everywhere. I went into his room and the bed was smoking underneath and flames were coming up the sides. Ben was unconscious, he didn’t notice. I grabbed him and got him outside when Sam came out. But when we looked back, there were flames coming out of the roof… I never saw anything like it.’ Two huge tears ran down his face. ‘I should have tried to put the fire out…I’m sorry, Mum.’



Ellie pulled him to her and stroke his hair softly.



’You saved Ben and you and Sam are safe. The house isn’t important, darling. You did a great job. I love you.’ She held him as he cried and Alan watched her in admiration. He could tell she was a great Mum.



Sam came back with Ellie’s tea. Kyle was feeling brighter and sat drinking his coke and Ellie stood up to take her tea from Sam. She walked over to look at Ben through the glass and Poppy joined her.



‘You Ok honey?’ She put her arm around her.



Ellie looked at her. ‘Not yet. I will be, I need to see Ben and know he’s going to be well again.’



They heard light laughter behind them. Alan was sitting next to Kyle with Sam on his other side. It had taken Kyle a minute to realise who it was he was talking to and then he started asking him 20 questions about Galaxy Quest, his current favourite film, his face animated. Alan was indulging him and obviously charming them, even Sam was laughing.



Poppy stood and stared. Without looking at Ellie she spoke, her voice barely a whisper.



‘How old is Kyle, Ellie?’



‘He’s 16. Why?’ Ellie looked across to where Poppy was staring and knew what she was looking at.



‘And when did you meet Alan?’ Poppy’s voice was barely audible.



‘First week in June, 1992’. Ellie’s voice was flat.



‘Oh my god….’ Poppy gasped.



Ellie grabbed her hand and whispered to her. ‘Walk with me. Now.’



They walked together out of the waiting room and stood in the corridor, staring at each other.



‘How long have you known?’ Poppy asked her.



‘Always.’ Ellie looked at her.



‘Does anyone else know?’ Poppy couldn’t believe it.



‘Pete had his suspicions. Partly why we split up.’ Ellie sighed. ‘Poppy, please, don’t say anything. I have kept this to myself all of this time…’



‘What about Alan, Ellie? Don’t you think he deserves to know he has a son?’ Poppy was whispering.



‘Yes… he does deserve to know, but let me tell him in my own time, please Poppy. I can’t think clearly, Ben is sick, we have no where to live…’ Ellie sighed.



Sam opened the door. ‘We can go in to Ben now.’



Ellie turned and walked back in to see her youngest son. Poppy shook her head with disbelief.