Elliot Blythe lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. He'd already memorised the pattern of holes in the square panel directly above his head, and this was only his third day in this hellhole. The smell of antiseptic seemed to be pervasive, getting into his clothes and bedding, and his leg ached unbearably.

"Oi, is it time for my medication yet?" He snapped at a passing nurse, not bothering to hide his irritation.

"Another hour yet, Elliot," the nurse replied, without even bothering to check her watch. She looked harried and was obviously trying to remain polite under duress.

Elliot made a sound of disgust and turned away from her, to stare out the window. Not that there was much of a view. All he could see from here were rooftops and smokestacks, all covered with the grime that was so particular to London. At least the smog had cleared for long enough to let him make out the grime, he thought with wry amusement.

In the bed across from him, a small boy snivelled miserably to himself, and Elliot looked away from the window and back up at the ceiling, wishing he was allowed to turn up the radio. As if being stuck in this dump of a hospital wasn't enough, he thought, he was stuck in the children's ward, no less.

It was useless trying to sleep in this place. The nurses' shoes squeaked up and down the lino-floored hallways all night, taking observations and tending to crying kids. Bedpans rattled and buzzers were pressed. It was worse than his apartment building, with its cheap, paper-thin walls.

Still, at least here nobody was on his case. The doctors rarely actually bothered to speak to him; they were far more interested in his lower appendages. The nurses stayed out of his way unless it was to take observations or give him his medication. And the other kids had learnt quickly not to bug him.

His parents hadn't been back since they'd dumped him here, but that was hardly a surprise.

Elliot yawned, wishing for the thousandth time that the TV above his bed worked, and wondered whether it was actually possible to die of boredom.