The Broken Leg of Doom

by Pamela Butchart

  And then he pulled us along the ward, past loads of nurses and doctors who were rushing around covering their heads with their hands and shouting about the water.

  I could barely see a THING because of the water and WEIRD LIGHT but then all of a sudden Seb pulled us into a small room and the water stopped and Jodi was standing there.

  Jodi shut the door and asked us if we were OK and we nodded that we were. And that’s when I looked around and saw loads of toilet roll on shelves and a mop and bucket in the corner and I realised that we must be in a cleaning cupboard. And it made me think of The Den at school and I wanted to be there SO MUCH.

  Seb wiped the water off his jacket and then took his hood down and put his hat with the feather back on. But before he put his hat on I noticed that he had a red rash across the top of his forehead.

  I was about to ask Seb if he was OK when he said, “You guys were lucky I found you all when I did or you’d be completely SOAKED. I saved your SKINS!”

  And that’s when Zach yelled, “No, you didn’t! Why did you bring us here?! We need to get out NOW! We need to find the FIRE ESCAPE!!”

  And that’s when I GASPED because everything had happened so FAST with the NINJA HIGH-KICK and then SPRINKLERS and the HOODED FIGURE that I hadn’t actually realised that the sprinklers being on meant there must be a FIRE!

  I GRABBED Jodi and reached out to open the door. But Seb stood in front of me and said, “Stop! There’s no fire. It’s the CURSE!”

  But I didn’t CARE what Seb was saying because I was SURE there must be a fire so I pushed him out of the way and ran out into the corridor and grabbed the first nurse I could see and yelled, “Where’s the fire escape?!”

  And that’s when the nurse said that there WASN’T a fire and that the sprinklers were just MALFUNCTIONING AGAIN and that I should stay where I was until it stopped.

  So I went back into the cupboard and closed the door and Seb said, “I told you. There’s no fire alarm. It’s just the sprinklers.”

  So I started to calm down a bit. But then I remembered something and I said, “What about Maisie?

  Where is she? She’ll be terrified out there!”

  And I knew that I was RIGHT because Maisie HATES showers and she only has baths. And one time when we were on a school camping trip she FREAKED OUT when she found out that there weren’t any baths in the SHOWER BLOCK and she ended up getting washed in a BUCKET because that’s all there was and also because she’s really small so she could fit.

  So anyway, I was just about to go out and save Maisie when a little voice said, “I’m right here.”

  And I GASPED because the voice was coming from near my FEET.

  I looked down and saw that Maisie was in the cupboard with us and that she was lying on the ground with a pillow under her MASSIVE leg cast. And I couldn’t BELIEVE that I hadn’t spotted her until now and that I hadn’t actually STEPPED on her by mistake!

  That’s when Seb explained that he had carried Maisie from her bed to the cupboard just before the sprinklers MALFUNCTIONED. And I noticed that Maisie wasn’t wet like we were.

  I got down on the ground and went up close to Maisie and asked how she was feeling and she said that she was fine and that she was glad she didn’t get her cast wet because she’d already managed to get it signed by most of the doctors and nurses and that she didn’t want the ink to run. And then she started smiling and pointing to a picture that one of the doctors had drawn for her of a HUMPBACK WHALE.

  And I was a bit SHOCKED because usually Maisie is terrified of EVERYTHING and I didn’t understand why she wasn’t more scared about the whole SPRINKLER THING and I definitely didn’t understand why she wasn’t freaking out about the CURSE because Seb had just mentioned it!

  So that’s when I asked Maisie if she was OK and told her that she didn’t need to worry and that we had everything UNDER CONTROL (even though we definitely DIDN’T have everything under control because we didn’t even have a PLAN yet and there was a curse inside Maisie’s BROKEN LEG!).

  And that’s when I felt someone kick my leg and I looked up and saw that it was Jodi and I was about to say, “Hey! That hurt!” when I realised that she was making her

  and pointing at Maisie and then at her own EARS.

  At first, I thought Jodi was maybe losing the plot a bit because she’d just eaten the first egg sandwich of her LIFE and she just kept pointing to her ears loads and then pointing to Maisie like she was POSSESSED or something! But then I noticed that Maisie had her HEADPHONES in her hand and that she must have been WEARING THEM when Seb had said that the sprinklers were CURSED and that she didn’t actually KNOW about

  So I forgave Jodi for the KICK and she knew that I had because I nodded at her and stopped screwing up my face and eyes like I had been.

  That’s when Seb did a long sigh and said, “Well … it looks like we might be stuck in here for a while. Last time this happened it took AGES to fix. Just as well I hid THIS in here in case anything like that ever happened again.”

  We all watched as Seb pulled out a box from under one of the shelves and looked up at us with a HUGE GRIN on his face.

  And then he said, “I’ve got Coke, Diet Coke, lemonade and sparkling water. I’ve also got KitKats, chocolate digestives, shortbread, a chocolate-chip flapjack and a banana. What does everyone want?”

  We all stood there STARING at Seb as he picked all the cans of fizzy drinks and biscuits out of the box and lined them up neatly on the floor.

  Then Zach said, “I’ll take a KitKat, please. And do you have any fresh orange juice?”

  Seb stroked his chin for a bit with his fingers and then he said, “Let me just take a look in the back.”

  And then he got up and went over to the shelves and pulled out ANOTHER box and said, “I can offer you an apple juice. Would that be any good to you?”

  Zach nodded that it would be and Seb threw it over and Zach caught it and smiled to himself because he hadn’t dropped it.

  Then Seb pulled something ELSE out of the box and smiled and said, “Anyone fancy a game?!”

  And I looked and saw that it was MONOPOLY. And I had

  what was going on or why Seb had a MINI SHOP with BOARD GAMES hidden in an old cleaning cupboard in a hospital!

  Maisie clapped her hands with excitement as Seb started to set up the board.

  And then he held out all the little SILVER THINGS that you have to choose from when you play Monopoly and looked at Maisie and said, “Lady Maisie!” and then he did a bit of a bow thing at Maisie and she giggled.

  Then he said, “Which one would you like to be?”

  And that’s when Maisie said that she didn’t mind as long as it wasn’t the SHOE because she wasn’t going to be able to wear shoes or walk properly for a long time.

  So that’s when Seb closed his eyes and waved his other hand dramatically in the air for ages and said, “Let me see, let me see, let me SEE! I shall pick one at RANDOM and hope it’s one you like!”

  And he winked at Maisie before closing his eyes and picking one of the silver things from his other hand. And then he held it out in front of Maisie.

  And Maisie said, “The HAT! That’s perfect! It reminds me of you.”

  And Seb smiled and took off his hat and did ANOTHER bow and I saw that he had a rash on the back of his head too.

  That’s when I felt someone pinch my arm and I turned and it was Jodi and she said, “Are they boyfriend and girlfriend now or something?!”

  And I shrugged because I didn’t really know WHAT was going on or why Seb had all these HIDDEN SUPPLIES.

  And then all of a sudden the shouting outside the door stopped and everyone cheered and started clapping and Zach said, “The sprinklers must have stopped!”

  And that’s when I noticed that Seb looked a bit disappointed and I knew that it was probably because he’d just finished setting up the MONOPOLY BOARD.

  Then Jodi whispered, “We need to get Maisie back to her bed and then ask Seb more about this cu
rse.”

  And I nodded because I knew that we DEFINITELY DID. Because if the curse could make all the SPRINKLERS go off then who KNEW what else it could do to Maisie’s leg!

  Zach opened the cupboard door and peeked outside and said, “It’s definitely stopped. The lights are back on now, too.”

  So Jodi said that we should all help get Maisie up off the floor SLOWLY so we did. And then Jodi and Zach lifted Maisie up and took an arm and a leg each and I put a cushion under Maisie’s broken leg just to be sure.

  Then just as I was following them out Seb grabbed my arm and held me back and said, “You guys really need to be here EVERY DAY to keep an eye on the curse, OK?”

  So I said that we would be and also that we needed to ask him more about the curse ASAP.

  That’s when Seb smiled and said, “You mean, like an interview?”

  And it sort of WAS like an interview because we were doing an investigation.

  So I said, “Yes. Can you do it when we get back to the ward?”

  And Seb said that he could and he looked really happy about it, which I thought was a bit weird because this was SERIOUS and pretty SCARY.

  Then Seb held out his hand for me to shake and said, “Looking forward to it, Izzy. I’ll wear my best hat!”

  And that’s when I noticed that he had a rash on his hand too. And then he must have noticed that I’d noticed because he pulled his hand away quickly and put it in his pocket.

  Then all of a sudden Zach appeared back at the door with a weird look on his face and said, “Izzy, you’d better come. Quick.”

  When we got back to the main bit of the ward, Maisie’s mum was there and she looked TERRIBLE. Seb actually GASPED when he saw her and I’m not surprised WAR or something!

  Maisie’s mum was sitting in one of the plastic chairs next to Jodi’s mum and she had her legs up, hugging them and rocking backwards and forwards and she had loads of mascara running down her face.

  Jodi’s mum was trying to hold a COOL CLOTH up to her head to calm her down but it wasn’t working and she would have been better just using the cloth to wipe her face instead.

  I noticed that Maisie wasn’t there and that’s when Jodi said that one of the nurses had taken Maisie to the toilet in a wheelchair and that she’d tried to tell Maisie’s mum that she was just in the toilet but that Maisie’s mum wouldn’t listen.

  Then all of a sudden Maisie appeared in the wheelchair and as SOON as Maisie’s mum saw her she stopped rocking and LEAPT off the chair in ONE MOVE like a FLYING VAMPIRE or something!

  Maisie’s mum grabbed Maisie and started stroking her arms and her hair and her face and wailing, “I thought you’d DROWNED, my ANGEL WINGS!”

  I didn’t really think that it made sense that Maisie could have DROWNED because of the SPRINKLER WATER but I didn’t say anything because that’s just what Maisie’s mum is like and she always OVERREACTS to everything.

  Like the time Maisie got locked in the bathroom in her house for SEVEN minutes and Maisie’s mum was so upset that she ended up taking all the doors off all the toilets so Maisie couldn’t get locked in the toilet ever again. And it took her AGES because Maisie actually lives in a MANSION and there are

  in her house. And now when we’re at Maisie’s house I have to get Jodi to stand outside and make sure no one passes in the hallway and sees me or walks in while I’m on the toilet, which is really annoying.

  So anyway, once Maisie’s mum had calmed down and stopped saying the stuff about thinking Maisie had drowned and let Jodi’s mum wipe her MASCARA FACE, the nurse said that we had to pack up Maisie’s things and that Maisie had to MOVE WARDS for the night because everything in Ward 13 was soaking wet but that she could come back in the morning.

  That’s when Jodi asked the nurse if Maisie could maybe just come home for the night and that she’d take good care of her.

  But before the nurse could even answer Seb shouted,

  We all STARED at Seb because we had no idea why he’d shouted that.

  And then Seb said, “I mean. I just mean, it’s late. It’s almost eight o’clock. It’s better to stay here.”

  I looked at Jodi and she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Seb and I knew that it was probably because she was annoyed at him for saying that because she wanted to take Maisie home.

  That’s when the nurse said that Maisie needed to stay in hospital until the doctor came to see her and that he had been on his way to see Maisie before the sprinklers went off and that he’d be back in the morning.

  Then Jodi said, “So Maisie might get to come home tomorrow?”

  And the nurse said that it was up to the doctor.

  Then the nurse looked at Maisie’s bed that looked AMAZING because her mum had covered it in FAIRY LIGHTS and STARS and TEDDIES. But then the nurse made a bit of a face and said, “Perhaps some of this can go home with you?”

  That’s when Maisie’s mum said that it COULDN’T and that she’d only brought Maisie’s ESSENTIALS. And that’s when the nurse raised her EYEBROWS and looked at the GIANT HUMPBACK WHALE sitting on the chair.

  But then Maisie noticed what the nurse was looking at and said, “But Francisco’s my most favourite thing

  And that’s when the nurse brought her eyebrows back down RIGHT AWAY and didn’t say anything else about the whale and I knew that it was because she was scared Maisie was going to start SCREAMING again.

  So I said that we’d help pack Maisie’s stuff and take it to the new ward because I didn’t think it was a good idea for the nurse to be helping because she hadn’t noticed the other bags of stuff under Maisie’s bed yet.

  That’s when Seb said, “Can you guys come over to my bed and help me pack up my stuff too?”

  So we helped Maisie’s mum for a bit and then we went over to help Seb.

  But when we went over, Seb said that he didn’t really need help because he didn’t have much stuff and that he just wanted to start the INTERVIEW.

  I felt bad for Seb when he said that because that’s when I noticed that he didn’t have any cards and gifts and stuff from home like Maisie had.

  Jodi looked over to make sure Maisie wasn’t listening and then she said, “OK. You need to tell us everything you know about the CURSE.”

  And that’s when Seb said, “Well … where to start!”

  And then he jumped up on the bed and crossed his legs.

  That’s when Jodi said that he should start at the beginning and tell us everything about the curse and that she’d write it all down.

  And that’s when Seb said that the curse had been around as long as he had and that he’d been coming here for YEARS and that every time he came back to the ward the curse was more POWERFUL and more DANGEROUS.

  And then he got a SERIOUS look on his face and said, “That means Maisie can’t leave.”

  That’s when Jodi raised her eyebrows and said, “What?!”

  And Seb took a deep breath and said, “Well, at the moment the curse is trapped inside Maisie’s leg cast, which is good.”

  And I couldn’t BELIEVE that Seb had said that! So that’s when I said that I didn’t think it WAS good at ALL that the curse was trapped inside our friend’s leg cast!

  But then Seb shook his head and said that that wasn’t what he’d meant and that what he’d meant was that as long as it was TRAPPED in Maisie’s cast, it couldn’t ESCAPE.

  And then he sat down on the edge of his bed and said, “We need to keep the curse trapped and find out more about it, like where it came from and why it’s inside Maisie’s leg cast and what it WANTS. And that might take weeks or even MONTHS.”

  But then Jodi said, “Or we need to BREAK the curse so it disappears altogether?”

  But then Seb laughed a bit and shook his head and said, “You can’t BREAK a curse, Jodi. You don’t even know anything about curses!”

  And Jodi crossed her arms and said, “I DO, actually.”

  And Seb looked a bit SHOCKED when Jodi said that.

  And he said,
“Oh. Um. Well.” And then he didn’t say anything else for a bit and it was probably because he felt a bit silly.

  Then Seb said, “OK. What do you know?”

  And that’s when I looked at Jodi and Jodi looked at Zach and Zach looked at me because that’s what we do when we are trying to decide if we should share our INFORMATION with people who are not us when we are investigating all the weird stuff that seems to happen to us.

  And that’s when I took a DEEP BREATH and said, “We think it might be an ancient mummy’s curse.”

  And then I explained about Jodi’s research and also about the hospital having loads of displays about THE HISTORY OF THE BANDAGE and that MUMMIES are wrapped in bandages and that mummies might have been STUDIED here hundreds of years ago.

  I looked at Zach and he was gripping the plastic bit at the bottom of Seb’s bed and he had his eyes closed and was making a bit of a weird SQUEAKING sound.

  Then I looked at Jodi and she had her fingers on her TEMPLES and was rubbing them round and round because that’s the new thing she does now when she is STRESSED.

  And I could feel my heart beating really fast because I was freaking out about the MUMMY’S CURSE!

  And that’s when I noticed that Seb WASN’T freaking out. And that he didn’t look SHOCKED or STRESSED and that he wasn’t SQUEAKING or anything like that.

  Then all of a sudden Seb’s eyes went wide and he jumped off the bed and said, “Do you know what? I think you might be RIGHT about it being a MUMMY’S CURSE. That’s so COOL!”

  So that’s when Jodi said that it definitely WASN’T COOL or FUN and that this was a

  and that if he was going to be a part of it, he would have to be more PROFESSIONAL.

  And that’s when Seb looked over Jodi’s shoulder and made a noise with his throat like you do when you’re trying to get someone’s attention. And we turned round and saw that Maisie was standing right behind us with the giant humpback whale under her arm.