Page 32 - Julie Thorley Nine Lives book

The Practical Samaritan
‘Gary, anyone can kill themselves. The tricky thing is to live.’ She stops talking, as though giving me time to take in this nugget of unwanted advice. Then she’s back to lecturing me.
‘How do you think the driver feels? You’re not the only one who has to live with the consequences of your actions. Still, at least she hasn’t got your death on her conscience. This is what you need to understand: wherever we are, we are here because of the decisions we have made. Not all our choices are right, but there’s no point moping about it. When something is going wrong there are three things we can do: x it, ask for help in xing it, or learn to live with it.’
I want to shut her up, so I groan. I’m not faking it; the pain is sickening. She strokes my head. ‘What I’m trying to say is, don’t give up. You’re so young. Draw a line under what has happened and nd a way to move forwards. Talk to someone. Build bridges.’
‘What, you mean rather jumping off them? You’ll be telling me to pray next’ My tone is sarcastic, and I’m trying to put her down, but she smiles: ‘Hey, whatever works.’ She looks up. ‘Can you hear that? The ambulance is here.’
I hear the whoop of the siren being switched off and voices coming towards me.
‘Let’s us through, people.’ A man looms into view. ‘Hello, I’m Steve and this is Angie. We’re paramedics. We’re going to sort you out and take you into hospital. Can you tell me your name?’
I’m tired. ‘Gary,’ I say. ‘This is Ruth. She knows.’
The paramedic is talking to Ruth now. ‘What happened?’
I hear her report that I fell into the road, that I’m talking and lucid. She tells him that, no, she isn’t a close friend, but that she happened to be passing when the incident happened.
Is that what I am: an incident?
Ruth explains that I’ve mentioned family, but she doesn’t know where they are. As the paramedics start doing their job, I have a strange feeling that I’m looking on, as though it is someone else whose neck is being stabilised with a collar and
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