The Bubble Boy (19 page)

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– I can buy a tourist card and get on a bus. I can visit Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London. If the queue isn’t too long,
I can go to Madame Tussauds. I can walk in Hyde Park. I can get on a barge and float down the Thames. I can eat tea at the Ritz; I can see a play. I can do nearly 70 million things, but
they’ll all be closed or it’ll be too dark to see anything at 4 a.m. Amir, what are we going to do when we have to get up so early?

My chest cramps again. I’m not sure I want to go. What if I die? Deep breaths. I won’t be able to go anywhere if I can’t breathe. I lie down beside my laptop and look at the
question again. Dan hasn’t got 3 hours. He’s only got 8 minutes. I close my eyes, think for a moment and open them again.

I turn my laptop off and look at the screens. Nothing much seems to be happening. I’m watching the same thing over and over again. It’s like when the robbers
override the security system and play the film on the CCTV while they steal money from a bank. I yawn and think of trying to find some football to watch. But Amir told me to make notes. I make them
on my laptop.

16:10 Man arrives to repair photocopier

17:05. Motor courier delivers blood.

17:30. Julie says goodbye to Keith and walks down the road.

18:22. Keith is talking on phone.

19:55 Jim arrives.

20:00 Julie meets Keith outside. They kiss in the service alley.

20:30 Jim takes his book to the toilet.

20:46 Jim comes out of the toilet.

21:15 Phil checks the first floor.

22:00 Jim goes to the toilet again.

I close my laptop down. This is so boring. How can Amir say I should watch them all night? I don’t think the Chuckle Brothers are very funny, but they’re funnier than this. Ant and
Dec definitely are. I looked them up.

11 years, 3 months and 10 days

I’m practising my breathing exercises when Greg comes in the next morning. His eyes are red and his face is white; he looks like he’s been up all night. He sits
down beside me and leans forward with his elbows on his knees.

‘Much happening, mate?’ He nods at the screens.

‘Nothing much. Keith kissed Julie and I saw you fall off your bike when you turned the corner this morning.’

Greg tuts. ‘It was the bloody cones, mate. Somebody moved them during the night.’

‘That was Terry.’ I point to screen 4. ‘He’s in charge of traffic lights and cones.’

‘Ha, have you given everyone names?’

‘Of course.’

‘Go on then. Let’s hear them.’

I get off my bed and stand by screen 5. ‘Mike, Andy, Dave and . . . hang on . . . I wish he would stop doing that!’

‘Who, mate?’

‘The guy in security. He keeps moving the cameras.’

Greg laughs. ‘Mate, I think they’re more bothered about stopping crime than they are about you watching TV.’

The camera pans back and I show him Dave and Mike.

‘They’re from Brighton,’ I say.

‘How do you know that’s where they live?’

‘It says so on their van.’

‘Ha, you know everything.’

I walk back to my bed. Greg yawns and puts his head in his hands. I want to tell him that I might not have to make it all up soon, that I might be able to go out and meet them all for real. But
I can’t. He might stop me going and I don’t want Amir to get the sack.

Greg’s pager bleeps. He takes his hands down from his face and looks down at his belt.

‘Mate—’

‘It’s okay. I know.’

‘It’s just gone a little mad lately.’

I want to tell him things have gone a bit mad for me too.

Greg stands up.

‘Is everyone all right?’

‘Yeah, mate, why?

‘It’s just that Amir was busy last night too.’

‘Everyone’s fine, honest.’ He pretends to limp towards the door. ‘You just stay there and tell Terry he better not move those bloody cones again tonight.’

Greg doesn’t come back all morning. I watch the screens and do my breathing exercises until a nurse I’ve never seen before comes in and gives me lunch. She
doesn’t tell me her name but she knows mine. I decide to talk to her but she’s gone before I think of what to say.

After lunch I click on the BBC website. I’ve got a new message.

I smile and start to type.

The door opens. Greg walks in. ‘All right, mate? What are you doing?’

‘Just replying to a message.’ I turn my screen towards him.

‘Hey, great.’ He walks over to my bed and starts to read the messages. ‘Hey, you got one from a girl.’

Greg looks at the screen and starts to laugh.

‘What’s wrong?’ I ask.

He points at my reply. ‘Mate, I’ve not got time to read it all, but she’s a girl, they don’t want to talk about superheroes all the time.’

‘Beth does.’ I also don’t think Greg is right, but maybe Katie doesn’t like superheroes, so he isn’t to know that not all girls are like that.

Greg laughs again.

I look back at my screen. Now that Greg has said that, I don’t know what else to write. I hold my finger over the keyboard and think of pressing the delete key. Greg checks the readings on
the monitors –

Room temp.
: 19

Air purity
: 98.2%

Heart rate
: 77

‘Ask her something,’ he says. ‘Sounds like she’s stuck in a room, too.’

‘Like what?’

‘Anything, mate.’

Greg glances at my screen. ‘Yeah, that’s good.’ He walks towards the door.

‘Are you going already?’

‘Yeah, mate, I’m sorry. I’ve got to get back.’

‘Back where?’

‘What’s that?’ He puts his hand on the door.

‘Where have you got to go back to?’

‘Just the other wards. That’s all.’

‘Is it the norovirus again?’

‘What?’

‘The reason everyone’s so busy. Is it the norovirus?’

‘No, mate, where did that come from?’

‘It’s just you’re busy, and so was Amir.’

‘We all are, but don’t worry. Hey,’ he nods at my laptop, ‘maybe ask her what music she likes too . . . I’ll try and get back to you later.’

I look back at my laptop.

I press Send and lie down. The last time Greg was this busy was when the norovirus was here two years ago. He didn’t tell me what was happening then, but every day all the
nurses were running around looking after people and cleaning and there were TV crews and reporters outside. I watched it on the news. Loads of people were being sick – patients, nurses and
the doctors. Four hundred people caught it. It was so bad they sent some patients home while they closed down six wards for two weeks and sprayed them with disinfectant. I thought I was going to
have to move too, but they told me that would never happen because I was in the safest place in the whole hospital. I haven’t seen any TV crews outside but maybe this time it’s so
dangerous everybody thinks they will catch it.

I open a new tab and type in
Norovirus
.

I scroll down.