"Listen Doctor, I know this is highly unorthodox, but Max's family situation is... complicated, and I really don't think-"

"That doesn't matter," the doctor said sternly. "His parents have a legal right to know the whereabouts and state of their child."

David tugged at his collar nervously.

"Okay..." he said, feeling anxious. "Give me a moment."

He stepped outside and went to the public telephone, then quickly punched in a number, his fingers shaking.

"...Hello?" Came the groggy reply.

"Gwen!" David cried. "It's David!"

"Jesus fucking Christ, David. It's been one day since camp broke up. This is the first day I've been home all summer. What the fuck do you want?"

"Gwen, I'm so sorry to bother you at home," David said. "But I really, really need you're help."

"For god's sake... what is it?" Gwen sighed.

David hesitated.

"You're not going to like this, but... it's about Max."

Gwen groaned.

"Of course it's about bloody Max. I fucking hate that kid. Alright, what's the little shit done this time?"

"Nothing!" David said. "It's- wait, you hate him?"

"Well, no... no, of course I don't hate him. I mean, he's an arsehole, sure but... I shouldn't have said that. He's just a little kid."

David nodded and then remembered he was on the phone.

"Yeah," he said. "Well, it's kind of a nasty story. Max's parents didn't show up to collect him at the end of the day yesterday, so I took him home. I knew that something wasn't right at home... we knew that after Parents Day."

"Yeah," Gwen said heavily.

"So I gave Max a walkie talkie, told him to contact me if he needed it, but only in an emergency."

"Right..."

"I was at home again when he used it."

"Shit."

"He just said "help". So of course I drove to his house, and I found him on the pavement a little way away, bruised and bloody."

"Oh no..." breathed Gwen.

"Yes, but it gets worse," David said grimly. "On the way to the hospital the car spun off the road. We crashed and I was separated from Max. But when someone took me to the hospital, luckily Max had also been brought in."

"Oh Jesus, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," David lied. "Max is really badly hurt, though. And listen- this is why I need you: they're asking for Max's parent's contact details. I don't know what to do."

"Well, don't fucking give it to them," Gwen said.

"But... don't his parents have a right to know where their son is?"

"Not is they treat him like that they don't! They don't deserve jack shit if they're beating the boy!" Gwen shouted.

"But-"

"Do you need me to come down there and pretend to be Max's parent?"

"Well..." David considered it. "It might not be a bad idea, actually. But lying is wrong!"

"You know what's wrong, David?" Gwen spat. "Hitting kids."

David let out a long sigh.

"You're right," he said heavily. "I suppose a little lying is better than Max going home to that again."

"Damn right it is," Gwen said. "Now give me the address; I'm coming."

-

"Max's mother is on her way," David said as he closed the door behind him.
Max sat up in bed and stared at David, looking horror struck and betrayed.
David went to sit beside the bed again and winked at him as slyly as possible. Slyness didn't come naturally to David and it looked to Max like he had forgotten how to blink.

"Excellent, thank you, David," the doctor said. "I just be outside."

David sat next to Max again and said,

"Don't worry. I rang Gwen. She's on her way."