Like A Rainbow 🌈 {alternative story and ending}

Chapter 2

*1954*

"Psst Richie wake up!" I shake Richie awake. "What." He rolls over. "It's my birthday, I'm 10 now." I smile in the darkness. "Ell happy birthday, come on then." He lifts up his sheets and I go to climb in. "Miss Starkey you should not be in here." The nurse walks into the room. "But nurse it's my birthday, I want to cuddle my brother." I whine.

"No I don't want you throwing up in the corridor like last time. Come on, up ye get and follow me." She says. I look at Ringo. "Sorry..." He smiles weakly.

"And you Richard, need to rest."

I follow the nurse down the corridors and to my room. "You stay in here and go to sleep alright? Any problems just press this button." She says as she puts the iv I pulled out of my hand back in.

Ringo and I had been in hospital since the beginning of the year and today was March 20th which marks 3 months being in here and my 10th birthday. Ringo was here because he has pleurisy and then somehow developed TB. I had an illness that was unknown to me, mother or my doctor wouldn't tell me but it made me really sick, throwing up all the time, having fainting spells and throwing up a lot of blood. It also made mother really upset so I'm guessing I could possibly die.

I pull out my paper mâché farm that Ringo made me and stared at it. While I was bed bound, Ringo was taught how to knit, make baskets and build a paper mâché farm. Every fortnight he also got to learn how to play with percussion instruments, tambourines, maracas, triangles and tiny drums. I hated being here because I didn't get to do all of that.

I haven't even told George where I was, I just disappeared from school one day and it's been 3 months. My mother hasn't been doing too well either. Both of her children sick with serious illnesses at the same time! She spends a lot of time running back and forth to us. Harry has even spoken to the doctor. "Can't they share a room, it's hard work going back and forth." But they wouldn't allow it.

~~~~~~~

"Elsie!" I hear someone shout as I'm in bed playing cards with my mother. The boy runs in and it was George. "George?" He runs over to the side of my bed. "Ye look awful." He laughs. "Gee thanks." I scoff.

"What's wrong with ye?" He asks me. "I dunno." I look to mother. "It's too confusing for you young children." We both roll our eyes.

George and I sit for a while chatting. "My brother is in here too." I say. "Is he? Same thing or?"

"Nah, got TB and somming else."

"That must be hard on ye mum, if it was me and my sister my mum would feel terrible."

~~~~~~~~~~

*Ringos POV*

"Wait Harry explain the magic again?" I say. "Well you do this aye..." He shuffles the cards. "Then this."

"You're doing it too fast see, I can't understand it." I laugh. "Use your eyes."

"What's going on out there?" I look out of the door to see nurses running. "I don't know." Harry gets up and I get out of bed and follow him. Suddenly we both hear a familiar scream. "Elsie." Harry mumbles and then speedwalks down the corridor. "My baby!" Mum screams as she is ushered out of Elsie's room with a young boy around Elsie's age. "Mum what's going on?" I say. She wraps her arms around me.

Harry talks with one of the doctors, as I comfort mum. He puts his hands in his pockets and walks back. "Oh Elsie dear, come here." He grabs mum. "Can someone tell me what's going on?" I push past the nurses and walk into Elsie's room. I see doctors and nurses surround her bed, and one of them unplugs the heart monitor.

"She died." The young boy standing next to me says. "Died? She can't die, she's my sister. I was supposed to protect her." I fall to my knees. "Come on, you can't be in here." A nurse lifts me up and walks me out of the room.

"Hold on! Plug it back in! I got a pulse!" One of the doctors shouts, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. I break away from the nurse and run over to the bed. "Ell? You have to wake up, do ye hear me." I cry.

The heart monitor starts beeping again. "She's alive!" The doctor shouts. Mum cries out in relief and enters the room to see her unconscious daughter.

~~~~~~~~~

It had been days since Elsie had her trip upstairs and she hasn't woken up. The doctors are getting really worried which makes me incredibly worried. I haven't been too great either, the TB has just gotten worse.

I was reading a book when mum came in, beaming with a smile. "Is she awake?" I ask. Mum nods. "That's great news!"

~~~~~~~~

"Hey Ell." I walk into her room in the evening, to see her covered in tubes and a mask on her face helping her breathe. She just smiles. "You don't need to talk." I say as I climb into her bed. "I can talk." She says in a raspy voice.

"What was it like being dead?" I ask after a few minutes of silence. Elsie coughs. "It was scary, I don't want to die again." She begins to sob. "Hey Elsie don't worry, we are the Starkey siblings, we will refuse to die. We will grow old and be in our 90s and still rocking it." She laughs, causing her to cough. "I would like to live forever." She smiles.

~~~~~~~~~~

*Elsies POV*

After a few weeks I was still pretty much the same but George was allowed to visit me now. "Ello Ells-Bells!" He smiles as he walks into my room. "Ello." I wave. "How are ye?" He asks, then face palms when he realises how stupid that question was. "Well I'm in hospital recovering after literally dying. I could be better." I giggle.

"It was horrible seeing ye like that. Me dad won't shutup about it. The fact that I'm 10 and have already seen someone dead." He sighs. "Yeah sorry I died. But I'm back now." He laughs. "It made me realise something though. You're like me best mate, and I like ye, a lot..." He rubs the back of his neck. He continues. "Like a lot a lot. I know we are young an all, but I want you to be me girlfriend, if that's what ye want of course, if not it's fine." He smiles nervously.

"You do realise that I knew that from the start." I laugh, and he tilts his head in confusion. "It's not everyday that a boy who doesn't know me saves me from getting told off my the principal." I say. "So will ye?" He asks. "Yeah I will, you only live once right?" I smile. "Well for you, twice." He laughs.

"Also, there's something else, I'm going to an all boys school, when we start secondary." He lowers his head. "Oh? Well I don't even know if I'm going to secondary school. I might be working at the bakery me mum works at so she can keep and eye on me." I say. "At least you will stay out of trouble." He says. "Yeah not sure about that. My brother seems to be following everyone and acting like a "bad boy" he's really intimidating." I laugh. "Maybe I should do that." He looks down to his scruffy shirt and muddy trousers. "You're too adorable to do that, you wouldn't be intimidating." I giggle.

"You don't know that. I gotta go, gotta help me dad with something." He kisses my cheek and then waves goodbye.

*********

Hi!

I just wanted to quickly pop on and say that I would really recommend reading a book called "one two three four" by Craig Brown, it's really interesting and funny and I have learnt so much about the lads and I'm only like 50 pages in. This whole thing about Ringo being in hospital for TB for 2 years was actually true and I learnt it in this book!

And yes, Ringo was taught how to knit and make baskets in hospital 😂

All the best

Rhi x