Page 67 of Unnecessary Drama

‘Harper, can you help him find it?’ I say.

‘I didn’t know we had a first-aid kit either,’ she says, giving me an apologetic look. She and Jesse hurry off together to investigate.

‘Oh my god, oh my god,’ Kendra says, with a mixture of horror and excitement. ‘I feel faint. That’s a lot of blood.’

‘Stop looking at it,’ I tell her. ‘Tristan, can you please get a towel?’

‘Should we call someone?’ Penny says.

‘Who?’ I ask.

‘An ambulance?’ she says.

‘No,’ I say.

‘Nurse on call?’ Penny says. ‘What does your pdf say, Henry?’

‘I’m only on page four of twenty-six,’ he says. ‘It’s really hard to read on my phone.’

‘Calm down, everyone. We don’t need nurse on call, because I’m a nurse, almost,’ Lauren says. ‘I can assess it.’ She peers at her hand. ‘I pronounce it…totally fine! Let’s go out,’ she shouts, standing up.

‘No. Stop. You’re drunk and losing blood and you might need stitches,’ I say, pulling her back down.

I am suddenly very aware that I’m the only sober person in the room.

‘Here’s a towel,’ Tristan says, breathless, hurrying back into the room.

‘It’s wet,’ I say.

‘It was the one hanging on the towel rack.’

‘It’s not clean. I need a clean one. From the cupboard near the sink.’

‘Okay, okay, cupboard,’ he hurries off.

‘We found it,’ Jesse says, appearing with the first-aid kit.

‘Okay, open it,’ I say. ‘Where’s that towel?’ I yell to Tristan.

‘Blue or red?’

‘What?’

‘Blue or red towel?’ he asks.

‘It doesn’t matter!’ I yell at the same time as Harper yells ‘Red! Red!’ The blue ones are hers.

‘Bandages? Antiseptic cream? Tweezers?’ Jesse is holding things up from the first-aid kit one at a time.

Tristan appears with a clean towel, and I hold a ball of wadded-up bloody paper towels towards him. He steps backwards and gags, and Kendra shrieks.

‘Brooke, Mum’s calling. I’m going to put her on speaker,’ Lauren says. ‘And give me the tweezers, I need to get some glass out.’

‘Why is she calling us so late?’ I know why though. She knows Lauren is here and she’s checking in. Mum has a sixth sense about this stuff.

‘Hi Mum!’ Lauren calls. ‘You’re on speaker. Don’t worry, my hand is fine.’

‘Why wouldn’t your hand be fine?’