Kathryn Bigelow and Janet Johnston hurried to the UCLA Medical Center in downtown Santa Monica. It was almost 12 o'clock in the morning. Downstairs of the hospital where the emergency area of the medical center is located, several police cars and ambulances were still flashing their lights, and several private cars were parked scatteredly nearby.
Without enough time to find a suitable parking space, Catherine parked her car in an open space downstairs of the hospital, got out of the car with Janet, and walked towards a middle-aged white policeman not far away.
"Hello, officer, we are friends of Simon Westeros," Catherine and Janet walked up to the middle-aged policeman, introduced themselves, and then asked eagerly: "How is Simon doing now?"
When the middle-aged policeman heard Catherine's self-introduction, he glanced at the two elegant women in front of him with an unexpected expression, and said: "I am Charles Heck, ladies, come with me first. In addition, you know Simon... Contact information for family members in Westeros?”
Catherine and Janet followed Charles Heck into the hospital building. After hearing the other party's question, Catherine hesitated and then said: "Simon should be an orphan. He has no family."
When Catherine said this, Janet and Charles Heck were both stunned.
Although Simon had revealed enough information in several contacts, Janet still had a hard time believing that such an outstanding little boy would be an orphan. She always felt that many of the things Simon said might just be a joke.
The middle-aged policeman did not expect this to be the case. After thinking about it, he began to introduce it to the two women as he walked: "The thing is like this. We received a call in an alley near Elmhurst Street. We found him. According to the situation at the scene, Simon Westeros should have been riding through there and was attacked by five youths. However, when we arrived at the scene, Simon Westeros had already fainted. So, ma’am, do you know why he rode by there alone late at night?”
On the phone call not long ago, Catherine only heard a police officer say that he saw her contact information in Simon's address book and that Simon was sent to the hospital because of a fight.
At this time, Catherine's heart suddenly lifted when she heard that Simon was besieged by five young men, but she still patiently explained: "Simon told me that he recently worked in a 24-hour supermarket."
Hearing this, the middle-aged policeman nodded and said, "That makes sense. In the 24-hour supermarket, the shift changes at eleven o'clock in the morning. The time is just right."
"So," Catherine asked again, "Mr. Heck, what happened to Simon?"
The middle-aged policeman shook his head and said: "When we arrived at the scene, he was in a very miserable state. However, the doctor is still checking the specific situation."
Janet finally interjected at this time: "Has the murderer been caught?"
The middle-aged policeman glanced at Janet, nodded, his expression obviously a bit strange, and said: "Caught, five people, none of them escaped."
With that said, the three of them came to the emergency area of the medical center.
In the hall of the emergency area, Catherine and Janet looked at the five young men lined up on the stretcher bed, all of whom had their right legs lifted up and were still wailing, and they suddenly understood why the middle-aged policeman had that expression just now.
Catherine looked at the situation in front of her, but could not find Simon around, and her expression became more worried.
Janet's eyes were wide open. She ignored the doctors and nurses who were still busy in front of the stretcher bed and the middle-aged men and women who were obviously family members. She clicked her tongue and leaned over to look at the five hanging right limbs one by one. leg.
Noting that the last young man was not only hanging his legs, one cheek was swollen, but half of his lips were sunken like a toothless old lady, Janet suddenly shuddered slightly.
Turning around and running back to Catherine, Janet's face was flushed with excitement, and she was mumbling: "It's too violent, it's too violent, it's so violent."
Catherine took back Simon's backpack from the police, saw Janet coming over, took her hand and said: "Okay, Jenny, let's go to the CT room, Simon is there."
As soon as the two women were about to leave the emergency room, several doctors and nurses pushed a stretcher out of the adjacent corridor. The person lying on the bed was Simon.
Catherine and Janet walked over quickly, and just as they were about to ask the doctor about Simon's condition, several middle-aged men and women who had originally gathered around the five young men gathered over aggressively.
One of the women with tears on her face yelled and cursed and was about to pounce on Simon. Several policemen guarding the hall saw this and ran over quickly. When Janet saw the woman rushing to her side, not to be outdone, she stretched out her hand and pushed her hard, saying loudly: "Hey, what are you doing?"
The woman staggered back a few steps and was supported by her husband. She saw that several police officers were already separated among the crowd, so she had to give up her plan to pounce on her again, but looked at Simon on the stretcher with a fierce look and said: "The murderer, I I won’t let him go, I’m going to send him to jail.”
"Ha, murderer? Are you kidding me?" Janet heard these words, broke away from Catherine's hand to hold her, and pointed at the five young people on the stretcher not far away: "You are the murderers, five Dealing with one, and even having his legs broken, he is not only a murderer, but also a bunch of losers. He won’t let them go, right? Let’s wait and see who won’t let them go.”
Seeing that Janet was getting more and more excited as she spoke, Catherine had no choice but to step forward and hold her back. After a few words of persuasion in a low voice, Janet followed Catherine and left on Simon's stretcher.
After the small conflict just now, the hospital did not dare to put everyone together in the emergency hall. It quickly arranged the ward and placed Simon in it.
After more than two hours of various busy activities, Catherine and Janet finally sat on the left and right beside Simon's bed.
Looking at Simon who was still awake on the bed despite being given a diaphragm injection, Janet was lying on the bed with her chin propped up like a little girl, and said: "He is really a guy who resists beatings. He has so many injuries on his body, but his bones are not a problem at all. Then The five wastes all have comminuted fractures, and the bones are all broken. Our little boy is really strong. I heard that it will take several operations to recover, tsk tsk."
Catherine looked at Simon's sleeping side face, but she was not as optimistic as Janet.
Several hours have passed and Simon still hasn't woken up, which is not a good sign.
Moreover, the doctor just told Catherine that although Simon's injuries were not serious on the surface, it was difficult to determine whether he would suffer from internal bleeding because he had been attacked so many times. He would need to be hospitalized for at least a week for observation.
Seeing that Catherine did not agree with her, Janet followed her gaze to Simon's face, and then said very happily: "Fortunately, his face was not hurt, and the little boy is still so handsome."
Saying this, Janet reached out and touched Simon's face, then slid under the sheets: "Wow, so strong."
Catherine glared over helplessly: "Jenny, can you stop making trouble?"
"Alright alright."
Janet shrank her neck and retracted her hand sarcastically.
After waiting for a moment, seeing Catherine no longer staring at him, another small hand went directly through the edge of the sheet.
Because Simon was in quite an embarrassing condition when he was sent to the hospital, his clothes had been cut off by the doctor and discarded. At this time, the boy only had a pair of makeshift paper underwear.
However, this time, as soon as Janet's little hand touched Simon, she suddenly felt a big hand holding her wrist tightly.
Janet was startled, screamed, and wanted to take back her hand, but she directly brought Simon's entire arm with her.
It felt like her wrist was being clenched tightly like a vise. As she struggled, the force became tighter and tighter. Janet's face soon turned red from pain: "Wow, little boy, you're awake, right?" Isn’t that right? Let me go, it hurts so much, let go, or I’ll bite you, I really know how to bite someone. Uh-huh, Kate, come and help me, oooh, it hurts!”
Looking at the situation in front of her, Catherine originally thought Janet was playing a prank again, until she burst into tears and quickly turned around from the other side of the hospital bed.
After checking Simon's hand holding Janet's, Catherine tried to break it, but found that her strength could not shake even one finger of Simon, so she had to turn to the boy on the hospital bed: "Simon, you're awake. Really? Let go of Jenny quickly, it’s going to hurt.”
Simon on the hospital bed was unresponsive and obviously had not woken up.
Following the commotion here, doctors and nurses rushed over, and the two policemen who were still guarding the hospital also appeared in the ward.
The small ward suddenly became lively.
"Kate, woohoo, I might die. When this little bastard wakes up, tell him that I will come and talk to him every night. Boohoo, and tell my family that if I don't go back to Melbourne, I will I want to be buried in Los Angeles, I like the sunshine here, woohoo."
"Doctor, can you think of a way?"
"Ma'am, please relax and don't struggle. This is the patient's stress response. The more you struggle, the tighter his grip becomes."
"When we found the kid, he had a baseball bat in his hand. It was like that and we had a hard time getting the baseball bat out of his hand."
"Ugh, little bastard, this is my hand, not a baseball bat."
After struggling like this for a while, Simon's hand holding Janet's hand showed no sign of letting go.
Seeing Janet's dejected expression, Catherine turned to Simon again, suddenly remembered something, and raised her hand to signal everyone to be quiet.
Then, Catherine came to the bedside, leaned over to Simon's ear, and whispered softly: "Simon, can you hear me? I am Catherine, you are safe, everyone is by your side, everything is fine..."
Catherine murmured various words of comfort very patiently, and everyone looked over quietly.
Several minutes passed like this. When Catherine stopped murmuring and everyone came to their senses, Janet found that she had unknowingly escaped Simon's clutches.
However, Janet's originally fair wrist had turned into a piece of carrot.
After following the doctor and running for a checkup, Janet came back again with two ice packs in her hands. She glared hatefully at Simon who was still sleeping. She was even more dissatisfied when she saw that Catherine was already sitting on the bedside reading a magazine as if nothing had happened. : "This little bastard, I should have bitten him just now. It's so disgusting."
Catherine raised her head and glanced at her, smiling: "It's not all your fault."
"Wow, you turned on him, Kate, I'm jealous." Janet complained. Seeing Catherine's unresponsive look, she 'provoked': "I think this little bastard must be a violent maniac at heart, we You should stay away from him in the future.”
"No," Catherine shook her head, looked at the boy on the bed tenderly, and said with some pity, "He should be, but he is too insecure."