"No." I shook my head with disbelief. There must've been a mistake.
I was his daughter- his only child! How could they forbid me to see him?
"No." I said again shaking the tears out of my eyes.  I didn't want people to see my cry. I didn't want any attention on me. I wanted it all on my parents.

"Al, I know it's awful but there is nothing we can do. I am in no state to see him and you-"

"What about me? There is nothing I can't do. Am I too young? Too immature? Too disruptive? Because I don't care anymore. Throughout these past 2 weeks I have learned to control my anger; I have learned to control my fear; I have learned how to sneak into your ward to see you; I have learned how to get what I want with demands. I have learned all of these things because I want you and father to be okay. The thought of him dying right now kills me and I can't even help him! Do you know how that feels? I am an only child! I have no one else. I never asked for any of this."

"I wish there was something I could do but I-" She stopped to clear her lungs. She grimaced with pain for it was a sharp cough that sounded like it scraped her throat. It was when she was still coughing after 5 minutes that I began to worry.

"Mother? Are you okay? Mother? Can you hear me?" She coughed and coughed without even looking up. In between coughs she wheezed and gulped. It was a repetitive pattern: cough, wheeze, gulp; cough, wheeze, gulp.

I began to get afraid because her coughing was ceaseless and she looked like she was having a fit.
"Somebody help over here!" I was praying that one of mother's own doctors would come to her aid for they were the kindest people in the building. Sure enough, Dr Alan came to see if she was okay.

"Mary-Anne? Can you hear me?" She coughed again and again, each one getting worse.
"Oh good lord..." A look of fear and confusion swept across his face but he covered up with a look of profession that told me he knew what to do.
"Patient 7530 needs a surgery room ASAP! Have a nasal suction at the ready!"  Without a backward glance he whisked my mother's hospital bed down the corridor, along with 5 surgeons before I could ask what was happening to her.

There were 5 doctors left in the room and 1 of them approached me with a feigned confident look on his face.
I ignored this doctor and looked past him to the direction my mother went.
"I'm sorry, visiting hours have now finished. Please find your guardian and make your way to the exit. Your mother will be safe in our hands, don't worry."
I didn't say thank you to the doctor because he just repeated what all of the other doctors said. Yes, my parents would be in good hands but I highly doubted that they would be safe in their conditions.

I left the ward and went to the children's centre. Martha was tying a bandage on to a child's leg but as I walked in, she somewhat hurriedly finished her job to speak to me.
"Is everything okay? How are your parents." I was too exhausted to even tell her. I simply cried and fell into her.
"Oh Allora, don't worry. Everything will be fine. Your mother will be fine, and there is a possibility that they can improve your father. I know, there is nothing I can say to make things better, but I know one thing: you have had an exhausting day and you need some rest. There is a hotel just across the road which allows children to stay in for free if they have relatives in the hospital. I will pay for everything and stay with you okay?"

I didn't take in half of what Martha said. I remember nodding glumly and then ending my day with the sight of closing eyelids.

***

I awoke the next morning on a hard bed with a back ache. My legs felt numb and my mind was exhausted.
"Morning," a voice absent mindedly spoke over their shoulder while they stirred their tea.

"Hi..." I couldn't work out who spoke to me because I was too busy having a head rush. Once it had passed, I looked around my surroundings. It was a small hotel room which had enough space for a master bed with a single bed next to it. In front of these beds was a wooden plank connected to the wall and suspended in mid air.
I looked at the only other occupier of the room to find (to my great relief) that it was Martha.

"How..." I started, but she knew exactly what I was going to ask.

"I told you everything last night but you were gone before I could tell you I was going to stay in a hotel room with you. How are you feeling? Your burns are healing well. I had to put a solvent on them to stop the pain so you could sleep. "

"I'm feeling okay, I guess. I didn't even realise I was in pain..."

"You must have had too much on your mind. Now, how about I make you a drink and you get ready for school? I reckon it's 40 minutes away from this hotel."

I had completely forgotten about school. The memory of the conversation with the Investigator suddenly came swimming back to me and I was filled with fear and dread. Who were the suspects going to be?

And then I thought about having to see him after school. School.
Oh how I would be stared at all day! They would give me that sympathetic look that I knew so well and then they would look at my bare face and see the burn.

How bad was it?

I shot up from my bed, cringing at the dryness of the sheets- and I stared at my reflection in my mirror.
I couldn't believe it was me.

My white blonde hair was straight on one side and in knots and tangles on the other. It didn't fall neatly to my shoulder blades then; it bunched and hung by my chin.

My face was even worse. Once upon a time I had greeny blue eyes- like the colour of the sea on a warm day- but at that point in time they were bloodshot and puffy. I even had flaked skin from crying so much! My burn stood out on the left side of my face. The length went from my cheek bone to my hair. It was grey and it had the occasional black dot from where the sparks from the flame made contact with my skin. It was so visible it was the first thing I noticed when I looked in the mirror.

"Not happening. No. There is no way I'm going to school looking like this."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Allora. But at least people will understand your situation!"

"What? How!"

"Information spreads fast around school."
I looked at her with disgust ashamed to admit she was right. The most likely reason was my friends had told friends what had happened and it had somehow spread around the school. Most of my friends lived on my street and they were secretly known to be blabbermouths.

I tried not to think about all of the bad things that could happen during the day and instead focused on one task at a time.

"What's the time?"

"11.00am. Your school knows that you will come in late today. I told them you'd be there around 12.00pm."

"How did you-"

"Dr. Alan gave me your personal information because I am your temporary guardian. I had to explain everything to them, and they completely understand. They say if you need help, they will be there for you. Now. No more questions and get ready! We can grab lunch on the way. There is a shower in the room diagonally behind you and some straighteners for afterwards. I have bought toothpaste and everything else from the gift shop next door."  Martha took my hand to tell me 'it will be okay.' I accepted her sympathy (even though I hated it) and smiled. I felt like I hadn't smiled in years, but she had been so kind and helpful that thank you wasn't enough.

***

Half an hour later, we were in her orange Toyota and readying the SatNav for our destination.

It was a 40 minute journey but to me it felt like 5- for soon enough the ancient manor of my school loomed into sight.