Out of Focus

Chapter 1There was a horrible moment of swinging uncertainty and then the ladders rocked back into place with a thump. Alex breathed out with relief as he clutched the top rung and thanked his lucky stars…falling from this high up on fourteen-rung Zarges wouldn’t be great. He glanced down at Ben, who should have been footing them for him, but he wasn’t where he should be. He was around the side of the ladders, trying to steady them, lit green in the glow of the lamp Alex was trying to focus. Then Alex winced. Instead of settling back into place, the ladders swung pendulously in the opposite direction, over Ben’s head. f**k. f**k f**k f**k. s**t. Alex was going down with them. He managed to shout “Below!” as he continued to tip toward the stage and the large papier-mâché frogs scattered about the floor; and then shut his eyes and tried to relax as the ground rose sickeningly toward him in what felt like slow motion. He was aware of someone shouting and a lot of turmoil below him and then time sped up to normal again when he hit the deck. His breath was knocked out of him as he landed and he gasped, trying to get his lungs working again. It was only when he managed to draw in a horrible, hoarse, rasping breath that he became aware of the pain. He hurt all over. He was pinned under the ladders, although they were made of light aluminium and he could shove them off if he tried. He began to do exactly that and someone…Anais, the stage manager?…said, “No, no, stay still, Alex. Just stay still for me a moment. We’ll get them off you.” “Hurts,” he managed to gasp between rough, painful breaths. He could hear someone else saying, “Yes, yes, I’m calling them. I’m on hold…Oh! Yes, this is the Theatr Fach. We need an ambulance. Someone’s fallen off a ladder. About fifteen feet. Yeah. Yeah I’ll hold.” “I’m fine,” he managed to say, struggling to sit up and push the ladders off. “I’m fine, really. Don’t call an ambulance!” “Stay put, Alex!” Anais said, hand in the middle of his chest to keep him where he was, calling over her shoulder, “Can I get some help with these ladders, please!” He put his weight on his wrist to push himself up and past her and couldn’t stifle a shout of surprised pain. He subsided back onto the floor, shocked. Someone was moving the ladders…“On three,” a voice said…“One…two…three!” and they went up and off his hips. Oh. That had been why he couldn’t sit up properly. He tried again, but his body wasn’t doing what he wanted. “Yeah, he’s conscious,” Martin was saying into the phone. He came over and knelt beside him. “Trying to get up, but he banged his head pretty hard when he went down.” He put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Stay still, Alex mate. There’s an ambulance on its way. Just to check you out, yeah?” His Aussie accent was thick with concern. “I’ll stay on the line, sure,” he said. “About an hour? Jesus. Yeah, okay. We could take him over to A and E instead, I guess?” There was a pause. Alex could hear quacking from the phone. “No, no, okay, yeah, I’ll keep him still. No worries. Yeah, yeah, no bleeding that I can see.” Alex zoned out a bit then. He felt a bit dizzy and sick and the all-over pain was coalescing into throbbing in his head and his wrist and his hip even when he stayed still. He shut his eyes. “Where’s Luke?” he heard someone say. Luke was the production manager, their boss. “Went to check out that new lift-and-load place I think, and he was going to get me some more green paint on the way back,” another person replied. Molly? That was Molly. “Clear the room, please, everyone,” said Anais from very far away. “Ben, are you all right? They went right over the top of you.” There was an indistinct murmuring as people left. Why hadn’t Ben been footing the ladders? But…when Alex had looked down, Ben had been to one side trying to steady them. What had caused them to wobble like that in the first place? There hadn’t been anyone else close to them. He knew Ben was pissed off with him…but surely he wouldn’t have tipped them, would he? “Stay with me, mate,” Martin said. “Don’t fall asleep, will you?” Alex shook his head and then winced. It hurt. “The ambulance is on its way, they’ll soon sort you out.” Martin took his hand. “Yeah, he’s still conscious,” he said into the phone. He was aware of a blanket being laid over him gently. “I can’t get hold of Luke,” he heard Anais say. “But he said he’d be a couple of hours and that was an hour ago.” She tucked the blanket over his wrist gently. “All right there, Alex, cariad?” He managed a weak smile for her without opening his eyes. “Yes, I’m fine. You should let me up.” He had to force the words out. They sounded strained and staccato even to him. He didn’t really mean it. He didn’t think he could move. Martin rubbed his hand, still talking to the ambulance people. “I don’t need an ambulance,” Alex said to Anais earnestly, after a while, managing to open his eyes. “I’m fine. I just need a bit of a rest.” “Sure love, I believe you. But just wait there and let them check you out, okay? They’re on their way now and Luke’ll be pissed if we don’t follow procedure.” Alex groaned internally. That was a good point. And Luke would be furious, regardless. This was going to generate a whole mess of paperwork for him and he didn’t much like Alex at the best of times. “Where’s Ben?” Alex asked. “I sent them all out to the café to give us a bit of quiet,” Anais said. “He was all right. A bit shocked.” Alex blinked. He was pretty sure Ben had shoved the ladders, thinking about it. Ben shouldn’t have looked so shocked if he’d pushed them as Alex thought he had. He should have known what would happen. But perhaps Alex was confused. Maybe Ben hadn’t shoved them? Maybe Alex was mistaken? “My head hurts,” he whined, instead. “Not surprised,” said Martin. “You came down with quite a wallop. Yeah, yeah, he’s still talking,” he continued into the phone. “Seems all right. A bit confused, but he knows who we are and what happened.” Alex shut his eyes again. He was zoning in and out. He was secretly quite glad they’d called an ambulance. His head felt odd and he’d definitely done something to his wrist. “Five minutes?” Martin said, eventually. “Yeah, that’s fine. They can pull up at the front. We’re in the auditorium, on the stage. I’ll send someone out to show them…” He stopped talking, and Alex could hear the emergency operator again, still quacking on the other end of the line. “I’ll go,” he heard Anais say. “Keep him talking, yeah?” “Can’t shut him up usually,” he heard Martin say with grim humour. “Yeah, makes a nice change,” she said. “Oh, do f**k off, both of you,” he muttered. “Oh, you’re in there still are you?” Martin said. “Can you keep your eyes open?” “No,” Alex said. “No. My head hurts. The light’s too bright. I banged myself a bit I think.” “Too right you did. You whacked yourself properly. What happened?” “I don’t know. The ladders went one way and then tipped back. And then I saw Ben on the other side of them, this side, the way they fell. He must have been trying to pull them back and they tipped over the top of him…” He trailed off. It didn’t make sense. He filed it under things too complicated to think about right now and let it go. Then the paramedics arrived in a flurry of questions and blankets and a stretcher, shining lights into his eyes and asking him questions about who the Prime Minister was…“that arsehole,” he replied by reflex and she laughed and said “good enough” before explaining they were going to slide a board under him and then move him onto the stretcher. “I can walk!” he protested, but they wouldn’t let him. “Who do you want to come with you in the ambulance?” Martin asked. “Oh, no, I’m fine,” Alex said. “I’m fine, no-one needs to.” “Don’t be a knob,” Martin said, turning to Anais. “I’ll go,” he told her. “Can you come and pick me up a bit later? I’ve got to get Shannon at four.” “Yeah,” she said. “Just give me a ring, I’ll come and get you. You take care now, Alex, all right?” She patted his unhurt arm gently through the blanket. “They’ll see you right.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. He hoped so. He really didn’t feel all that great.