the ER

it was about midnight when T. decided to join her fellow graduates in a bar. SL and Sh. left with her, to go home. the 3 of us that were left were just finishing our drinks before heading home as well. they'd been gone for about 10 mns when SL ran back in, clearly flustered, followed by Sh. it transpired that Sh. had vomited blood and that SL had called an ambulance but that Sh. had insisted on coming back to the pool bar to use their toilet. the ambulance was there a minute later, they got Sh. onboard, ran some basic tests and drove him away with SL. 

there was no way i was going home without knowing what was going on and the others agreed so we went back to my car and drove to the hospital. once there, we spent about 2 hours in the ER waiting for news. SL finally emerged with some: it was presumably an ulcer. we could see him and then go home, she would stay with him until they figured it out and we could come back in the morning. that's basically what we did, although i ended up driving T. all the way home as she refused to stay over at mine, despite the guest room. so in the end, i got to bed at 3.45 and slept incredibly badly, dreaming of hospitals and Sh. nearly dying. cos he could have. if he'd left the bar alone, he certainly wouldn't have called and ambulance and would probably have continued vomiting blood at home for some time before even thinking there was a problem. the ER team said that if he'd got in an hour later, things would have been a lot more complicated. and that is really scary.