Caitlin called for him and I was glad that I was able to have some more pain relief. When the nurse left the room, I asked Caitlin, ‘What does Dad know? I’m in trouble, aren’t I?’

‘No, you’re not in trouble Phoebe, you’re in hospital. None of this is your fault, it’s just what’s happened.’

‘Yeah, and he’ll be angry with me because of Mum.’

‘Well,’ she said calmly, ‘of course we’re upset with your mum. We’d made plans and she promised that she’d be there for you, and she wasn’t. You got hurt and she wasn’t here to look after you. I can only imagine how that feels.’

‘Something must have happened for Mum not to come,’ I reasoned.

Caitlin sighed. ‘Phoebe, something always happens with your mum. However, your dad and I are also your parents, and you are our priority. You are supposed to be your mum’s priority, too.’

I knew what she was saying was true and I was really grateful that she was there with me. Something opened up inside me, even though it felt like my head was exposed to all of the grossness of the world.

‘So Dad’s not angry with me?’

‘Of course not, Phoebe. He’s stressed because his presentation is today, and it was a really hard decision for him about whether to come.’

‘I’m sorry you had to come home, Caitlin. New Zealand is really amazing.’

‘Yes it is, and so are you, Phoebe … and there’ll be plenty of other times for New Zealand.’

‘Dad won’t yell at me?’

‘No, he won’t, but he will want to try to work things out, to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.’

Caitlin’s phone began to ring. She took the call and said, ‘Hi, yep, she’s okay. I’ll put her on.’

When Caitlin passed the phone to me the glow from it felt like razor blades slicing across my eyeballs. I squinted as I held the phone next to my ear. ‘Hi Dad, I’m okay, I’ve just got a gigantic headache.’

‘I’m so sorry I wasn’t there, Pheebs, and that I haven’t raced back. I’ll be back as soon as possible, though.’

‘It’s okay,’ I told him.

‘I’ll make sure to bring you back an extra nice present.’

‘Super Panadol would be good,’ I told him, but there was no way that I could laugh at my own joke, it’d hurt my head too much.

When the call ended, I said to Caitlin, ‘Can you get my phone from my bag and message my friends to let them know I’m okay? Especially Katie and Jane. If they sent me a message last night, they’ll be worried that I haven’t responded.’