Schoolgirl Secrets

Chapter Seventeen: The Last Fight

The four schoolchildren looked behind them in horror as they saw Miss Brightlight in her bright pink car gliding effortlessly along with them, scattering cyclists as she went. As she drew level with them she opened her car window and pointed a gun towards them.

"Any last words?" she asked, as she placed her finger on the trigger.

"Yeah," said Jenifer, spotting an escape route to the right of her. "Go!"

And she pushed Jane, Miriam and Gregory through the hedge where they rolled down a hill and landed, safe, at the bottom. Jenifer launched after them, but just a split second too late. She heard the gun fire several times, saw bullets speeding over her head as she fell, as if in slow motion, towards the hedge at the side of the road. Just as she thought she would make it unharmed, a blinding pain hit her in her left leg. She shouted out as she tumbled down the hill and the sound of Miss Brightlight's manic laughter drifted away.

Jenifer's vision was foggy with the pain, she could barely breathe. All she was aware of was the sensation of blood trickling down her leg and into her shoes. Blurred figures moved frantically above her whom she vaguely recognised to be her friends and her sister. Her head started to pound and memories from long ago started flicking randomly across her vision, memories she didn't realise she still had...

She was on her scooter, tearing around the streets with her little dog Marley by her side. She was in her school classroom, joking with Jane in the back row. She was five, learning to ride her first bicycle. She was ten, and at her grandfather's funeral while her mother cried.

Before she lost all feeling and sight, she was aware of a loud crash and a scream. But then everything went black, and she was gone.

****

 Jenifer's eyes flickered open and then closed again. Her hand twitched on the soft cotton sheets. She could hear an even beeping noise and feel the warmth of pillows. Her eyes opened completely and she realised she was in a hospital bed, with a tight bandage around her leg and a young nurse beside her, taking her blood pressure.

"Where am I?" she said groggily, trying to sit up, but the nurse pushed her firmly back down.

"You're in Honeybee Close Accident and Emergency, dear," the nurse told her, removing the machine from her arm and propping her up on her pillows. "You were shot in the leg, but the damage is minor."

Suddenly, everything came flooding back! Miss Brightlight! Miriam! Number 15, Kingdom Road, Catalan! The pink car, and the hedge!

"Where's my sister?! And my friends?!" Jenifer asked wildly, looking around her in a panic.

"Calm down dear, you need to rest," said the nurse, walking around her room and opening the curtains. "And you needn't worry about your sister. She is in the ward next door, she'll make a full recovery."

"And my friends?" Jenifer asked. "Gregory Latch and Jane Thomas, are they alright?"

"Gregory Latch has a broken toe, but other than that he's fine. And Jane Thomas is in the waiting room with your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carrick. She's completely unharmed,"

"My parents are here?" Jenifer said, trying to squint out of the window to see them. "Are they angry?"

"No, no they aren't angry," said the nurse, placing a glass of water down on Jenifer's bedside table. "Just a little confused, that's all. But your friend Jane is explaining everything to them as we speak."

Jenifer contemplated this information for a while before coming up with another, rather important, question.

"How did I get from that hill to here?" she asked, puzzled.

"Jane Thomas called us and an ambulance came to pick you up," the nurse explained. "Turns out you jumped into a public nature park and there was a payphone she used."

The nurse smiled at the confused look on Jenifer's face.

"Your parents aren't the only ones young Jane told about your adventure. I think you're a very brave girl, risking all that to save your little sister,"

"Yeah, well, I'm a spy, that's what we do," said Jenifer.

The nurse laughed and turned to the door.

"You're a character Jenifer Carrick! I'm just going to let your parents in to see you,"

And no more than five minutes later, Richard and Mary Carrick came running into the room and collapsed into chairs next to Jenifer's bed.

They both looked exhausted, like they hadn't slept for days. Their hair was a mess, Mary's makeup was patchy and streaked and Richard's beard was full of leaves.

"Oh Jenifer!" Mary explained, throwing herself on top of her daughter and making Jenifer wince.

"Watch the leg, watch the leg!" she gasped.

"Sorry, sorry Jen," said Mary, straightening herself and looking at her daughter.

"Jane told us everything," Richard said. "And you needn't worry about being in trouble."

"We were so worried about the two of you," Mary sobbed. "We thought you'd never come home!"

"And without you Jenifer, Miriam wouldn't have come home," Richard continued strongly. "We can never thank you enough."

At that moment, Jane knocked quietly on the door and came into the room.

Jenifer grinned at her and Jane smiled back and handed her an envelope.

"What's this?" asked Jenifer as she opened it.

"You'll see," Jane said eagerly. "But I think you'll like it!"

Jenifer took out and unfolded a newspaper article and photograph. The photo was of a disgruntled looking group of people in prison, all men, apart from one tall, blonde woman.

The headlines read:

Schoolgirl Saves Sister

12 year old Jenifer Carrick today saved her younger sister Miriam Carrick, and a young boy named Gregory Latch, from a certain death. The group of people who would have been responsible for the deaths, have recently been found to have been responsible for the death of several other schoolchildren from the same school. All of them have been imprisoned for life.

We must now move on to the incredible bravery of young Jenifer and her friend Jane Thomas, who have ultimately rescued most of the children in the county. The group of people, containing school headmaster Mr. Maple, school teacher Amanda Brightlight and known criminal and murderer Rupert Smith, had ongoing plans to test their deadly drugs on most children between the ages of 5 and 15 in this county and others before moving on to use them for war.

So, I can safely say, that all the children, and all the people in England, will stand with me and agree with me when I say a hearty thank you to brave young Jenifer Carrick and Jane Thomas.

Jenifer folded up the article and smiled at Jane.

"We're in the paper!" she said, very excited!

And she and Jane high-fived.