CraftyLion3D
Member
Synopsis - Beth Hastings has a secret and it involves her sister Alex. When Alex ends in hospital in a coma with heart failure, Beth tries to hide her guilt as well as her crumbling sanity. Meanwhile, nurses Claudia and Gareth must work out how a healthy Alex ended with health failure to begin with.
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Chapter 1 - Part 1
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap.
Alex winced slightly. Beth’s tapping was getting on her nerves and she had been doing it for the past half hour. They were sitting in the waiting room of the office belonging to their father’s lawyer and Alex had closed her eyes in meditation. The constant typing of a computer from the lawyer’s secretary was barely tolerable. Beth’s nervousness, on the other hand, was driving her to distraction.
‘Will you stop that? It’s driving me nuts!’
Beth clenched her fist in a forced effort to stop her own nerves and flashed her sister a small grin.
‘Cover your ears then’ she teased but Alex wasn’t amused.
‘Oh, very funny.’
Alex’s response surprised her and Beth just shook her head in bewilderment. Surely, she could see the funny side of the comment. At that moment, their father’s lawyer made an appearance, collecting some paperwork from his secretary before focusing his attention on the sisters. He looked a little worst for wear and Beth surmised he had probably had a fairly stressful day.
‘Sorry I’m late,’ he apologised, as he shook hands with the pair. ‘I was help up in court. This way please.’
The office he led them into was small and cluttered. If Beth thought his appearance was due to the stresses of the day’s work, the appearance of the office completely overturn her pervious impression of him. The in-out tray on the small wooden desk was flowing with papers and the pile of books that was resting on the edge of the table looked like it was about to topple over any moment.
Both Alex and Beth invited themselves to sit on two plastic chairs opposite the desk as the lawyer rummaged through the chaos on his desk.
‘Now, it appears your father wrote a will before he passed on,’ he informed the sisters, sifting through the multitude of papers piled up in the in-out tray.
Alex could hear the lawyer panting slightly as he desperately tried to maintain a state of outer calm in the height of increasing pressure.
‘Just bear with me,’ he blushed, as a manila folder filled with fell off the table into a nearby bin despite his best attempts to catch it. ‘It’s here somewhere.’
Beth and Alex exchanged bemused smiles but neither made any attempt to clear up after the lawyer. After what felt like an eternity, he pulled out an envelope from the bottom of the tray.
‘Ah! Here it is!’ he announced triumphantly, before clearing his throat and tearing open the envelope to produce the legal document. He gave an embarrassed smile and proceeded to read the contents of the will. ‘It says here … “I, Matthew Joseph Hasting, hereby leave my collection of 13th Century coins to my eldest daughter, Bethany Joanne Hasting. To my youngest daughter, Alexandra Charlotte Hasting, I leave the house and the amount currently residing in my combined bank accounts to the sum of $750,000.”’
Beth’s jaw just dropped in disbelief.
‘Whoa! Wait a second,’ she interrupted in protest. ‘I just get a brunch of lousy coins and Alex gets the house and all the money?’
‘Look, don’t worry about it,’ Alex spoke up, failing to see what all the fuss was about. ‘We’ll share it amongst ourselves.’
Beth had had enough. What was she going to do with a collection of rare coins? The only use they had for it was in a museum and didn’t help her in the slightest. In no mood to argue, she just stalked out, leaving the lawyer staring after her in shock. Alex cleared her throat, clearly embarrassed by her sister’s behaviour.
‘Sorry about that,’ she apologised to the lawyer and went out after Beth.
****
Chapter 1 - Part 1
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap.
Alex winced slightly. Beth’s tapping was getting on her nerves and she had been doing it for the past half hour. They were sitting in the waiting room of the office belonging to their father’s lawyer and Alex had closed her eyes in meditation. The constant typing of a computer from the lawyer’s secretary was barely tolerable. Beth’s nervousness, on the other hand, was driving her to distraction.
‘Will you stop that? It’s driving me nuts!’
Beth clenched her fist in a forced effort to stop her own nerves and flashed her sister a small grin.
‘Cover your ears then’ she teased but Alex wasn’t amused.
‘Oh, very funny.’
Alex’s response surprised her and Beth just shook her head in bewilderment. Surely, she could see the funny side of the comment. At that moment, their father’s lawyer made an appearance, collecting some paperwork from his secretary before focusing his attention on the sisters. He looked a little worst for wear and Beth surmised he had probably had a fairly stressful day.
‘Sorry I’m late,’ he apologised, as he shook hands with the pair. ‘I was help up in court. This way please.’
The office he led them into was small and cluttered. If Beth thought his appearance was due to the stresses of the day’s work, the appearance of the office completely overturn her pervious impression of him. The in-out tray on the small wooden desk was flowing with papers and the pile of books that was resting on the edge of the table looked like it was about to topple over any moment.
Both Alex and Beth invited themselves to sit on two plastic chairs opposite the desk as the lawyer rummaged through the chaos on his desk.
‘Now, it appears your father wrote a will before he passed on,’ he informed the sisters, sifting through the multitude of papers piled up in the in-out tray.
Alex could hear the lawyer panting slightly as he desperately tried to maintain a state of outer calm in the height of increasing pressure.
‘Just bear with me,’ he blushed, as a manila folder filled with fell off the table into a nearby bin despite his best attempts to catch it. ‘It’s here somewhere.’
Beth and Alex exchanged bemused smiles but neither made any attempt to clear up after the lawyer. After what felt like an eternity, he pulled out an envelope from the bottom of the tray.
‘Ah! Here it is!’ he announced triumphantly, before clearing his throat and tearing open the envelope to produce the legal document. He gave an embarrassed smile and proceeded to read the contents of the will. ‘It says here … “I, Matthew Joseph Hasting, hereby leave my collection of 13th Century coins to my eldest daughter, Bethany Joanne Hasting. To my youngest daughter, Alexandra Charlotte Hasting, I leave the house and the amount currently residing in my combined bank accounts to the sum of $750,000.”’
Beth’s jaw just dropped in disbelief.
‘Whoa! Wait a second,’ she interrupted in protest. ‘I just get a brunch of lousy coins and Alex gets the house and all the money?’
‘Look, don’t worry about it,’ Alex spoke up, failing to see what all the fuss was about. ‘We’ll share it amongst ourselves.’
Beth had had enough. What was she going to do with a collection of rare coins? The only use they had for it was in a museum and didn’t help her in the slightest. In no mood to argue, she just stalked out, leaving the lawyer staring after her in shock. Alex cleared her throat, clearly embarrassed by her sister’s behaviour.
‘Sorry about that,’ she apologised to the lawyer and went out after Beth.