145
" What the hell’s going on?” Rami demanded.
“They won’t let me go!” Flynn yelled. “Get them off me, Rami, get them off me!”
“Hold on, old chap. What on earth’s going on, Harry?”
Whispering voices. “Get off me!” Flynn raged.
More whispers. Then Rami’s hand on the back of his head, Rami’s face leaning down, wide-eyed, sweaty, a little out of breath.
“OK, listen mate. I’m going to ask them to get off you on one condition. That you sit up and only sit up, not stand. If you stand up then both Harry and I will knock you to the floor and we’ll have to start all over again.”
“Why?” Flynn yelled. “Why?”
“It’s for your own good. ... "
― Tabitha Suzuma , A Note of Madness (Flynn Laukonen, #1)
146
" OK, listen, this is what we’re going to do,” Rami said at last. “You’re going to come downstairs, get into the car with me and we’re going to drive back to Watford.”
Flynn lifted his head. “No!” he began to protest.
“Actually, Flynn, this is not open to discussion. If you won’t come back with me, I’ll have to take you to hospital.”
“I’m not going to hospital,” he said desperately. “You can’t make me! Just let go of me, just leave me alone”! He tried to pull away, but his arms felt weak.
“Flynn, if we call an ambulance, they’ll section you.”
“Why? They can’t do that! They can’t!”
“They can and they will because right now you’re a danger to yourself.”
Flynn put his forehead back on his knees and bit his thumb hard. He just wished he could go back in time to before the argument, before the dinner, before Rami’s phone call, before this morning’s practice. How could the events of one day have ended in this?
“Don’t call an ambulance,” he whispered.
“Are you going to come back to Watford with me?”
He nodded. Defeated. "
― Tabitha Suzuma , A Note of Madness (Flynn Laukonen, #1)
150
" Um, excuse me…” I hear a man’s voice.
“She’s all right,” Rami says. “She’s with me. She’s my friend. She’s just a bit upset.”
I feel a hand on my shoulder. “Are you all right, miss?”
I drag my hands away from my face and look up into an unfamiliar bearded face. “Do you know this man?” the stranger asks me.
“Y-yes,” I gasp.
“That’s all right then.” He pats me on the shoulder. “There’s a hospital just down the road if you need help,” I hear him tell Rami.
“Thanks,” Rami replies.
“I guess it doesn’t look too good, me wrestling on the pavement with a screaming girl,” Rami says, a smile in his voice. "
― Tabitha Suzuma , A Voice in the Distance (Flynn Laukonen, #2)
153
" What would it be like to fall all that way? Would you scream? Would you have time to shut your eyes before you hit the ground? And when you landed, you would look like a crumpled thing – not real, kind of like a rag doll in clothes – and one of your shoes would have fallen off and you wouldn’t move at all. There wouldn't be much blood, only a thin trickle from the corner of your mouth. People would rush over to you, bend over you, and someone would pull out a mobile phone and call an ambulance. By the time the ambulance arrived, a small gaggle of bystanders would have formed and one of the would be looking up, pointing at the third-floor balcony. When the ambulance arrived, the green paramedics would put a fat white collar around your neck, press your chest and blow in your mouth. But after a while they would stop, look at their watches, write something down, lift you onto a stretcher, replace your missing shoe, smooth down your skirt, then cover you with a white sheet and lift you into the ambulance. And you would never see her again. "
― Tabitha Suzuma , From Where I Stand
154
" Suddenly there was movement behind him and Dan's hand appeared on his shoulder. "Raven, what's the matter? What are you staring at?" Dan covered Raven's hands with his own. Raven's fingers seemed to have frozen and Dan tried to uncurl them and pull them off the rail. "Hey, buddy, it's OK. I've got you. You're perfectly safe. We're just going to kneel and go back down the steps. All you have to do is let go and kneel down. I've got you, I've got you."
Suddenly there was nothing holding him. A strangled sob escaped him.
"I've got you, I've got you. Look, I'm right here, you can't possible fall. I'm right behind you." Dan put an arm round his waist and gripped him tight and told him what to do with his hands and feet, and they began co climb down together.
It took for ever. Raven's fingers were so cold he could hardly feel them. Moving each foot down a rung seemed to take all the strength he had. "Don't let go," he said, his teeth chattering loudly in his mouth. "Don't let go, don't let go, don't let go."
"I'm not going to let go, Raven" Dan said. "I promise Matey, I'll never let you fall."
They finally reached the ground. Raven was so wobbly he could hardly stand. He felt Dan envelop him in a tight, strong hug. "You're all right, mate," Dan whispered. "You're all right." Raven clung to him. He never wanted Dan to let go. "
― Tabitha Suzuma , From Where I Stand
157
" If he kept on going, he could ruin it all. Tomorrow would never come… He turned from them both, went over to the window and flung it open.
The evening breeze felt cool on his face, the sky was made up of shades of inky blue, the branches tinged with silver in the moonlight. He couldn’t think any more, couldn’t be. All he could do was shout, hurt, destroy. He wanted only to break down this interminable life, this excruciating existence, and shut out all the pain…
As he swung his legs over the windowsill, he heard Jannah sream. "
― Tabitha Suzuma , A Note of Madness (Flynn Laukonen, #1)