Jamie could hear a constant beeping of a machine to his left, uncontrollable sobbing to his right, and howls of pain seemingly from across the room.  He felt numb. His location was unmistakable. He was in hospital.

            Jamie paused for a moment, unwilling to open his eyes and face the inevitable truth. If he just kept them closed, maybe all this would go away. Maybe he would drift off to sleep again and wake up at home, in his own, warm bed.

            Eventually he opened them, slowly; afraid of what he was going to see. The uncontrollable sobbing he could hear was that of his mum. Next to his hospital bed, his dad was holding her tightly in his arms.

            ‘Debbie, look’ he heard him say, the shock apparent in his face. His mum turned with a look of desperation, followed by a smile of delight once she saw her precious son looking up at her.

            Jamie tried to move his hand towards her but the immense pain in his side restricted him from doing so. Instead, his mum moved towards him, held his hand, and Jamie felt that touch that only a mother could give. The contact eased his fear.

            They stayed in this position for what seemed like forever. Jamie looked into his mum’s eyes and she looked into his. Every now and then his dad would wink at him or place a comforting hand on his mum’s shoulder. Jamie never felt safer than when he was with his dad, his figure of safety and protection.

            After a while his resistance gave in and his eyes shut. As his eyelids moved down he saw the changing expression on his parents faces. The momentary happiness replaced by sudden worry and anguish.

            In his dreary state, Jamie began to recall the incidents that caused him to be here as he went through the day in his mind. It had started off the same as every Saturday; Jamie had been playing football, his greatest passion, at the park with his friends. He felt a sudden rush of excitement as he replayed the goal he had scored. That was why he played, for the buzz.

            Following the football, Jamie and his best friend Tony had ventured into the town centre, looking for something exciting and interesting to fill their time. Over the past few weeks they had increasingly spent more and more time sitting on street corners, in children’s playgrounds or any other vacated space where they could talk and have fun. Innocent fun. They were bored of going to the cinema, bored of going bowling; they had run out of ideas.

            That afternoon, they had chosen to sit in an unused basketball court in the centre of a residential area. Armed with only a burger and chips, a bag of sweets and a football they had made their way there.

            Jamie could talk to Tony for hours, felt he could tell him anything and this was exactly what he did. They sat in the corner of that court all afternoon, talking about their dreams of playing football for England, talking about school, talking about girls and talking about life in general. They watched the sun go down and the light begin to fade until eventually they were in darkness. Nobody could see them; nobody could know they were there, just how they liked it.

            ‘Sssshhh’ Jamie said to Tony as he heard someone enter the court. Two tall, slim, dark figures moved across the court, between them carrying a small, struggling woman. Her muffled sounds and evident distress raised alarm bells in Jamie’s head. He remembered the stunned, frightened look on Tony’s face when he glanced at him. Something inside Jamie had told him he could not let this story unfold in front of him, he knew he had to influence it in some way; otherwise he would suffer from eternal guilt. He just knew that woman’s life was due to end that evening, and if it did it would be forever on his conscience.

            Jamie felt himself wriggle in his sleep as he recalled one of the men’s mobile phone ringing, he felt just as uncomfortable now as he had at the time. The man walked away to answer it, leaving just the one man and the woman. The second man soon followed, ushered over by his anxious sounding counterpart.

            They had appeared to be discussing a problem, and Jamie knew this was his chance. It was highly unlikely that they were ever going to be as distracted as they were at that moment in time.

            He crept slowly over to the woman, Tony too paralysed with fear to attempt to stop him. He placed one finger over his mouth to signal silence to the young lady before pulling the tape off of her mouth. She breathed heavily as she tried to make up for her restricted air supply.

            Then Jamie worked on her hands and feet, both were tied tightly together with a thick rope. He pulled his door key out of his jacket pocket and began sawing at the rope. He had just finished the hands and had moved onto the feet when a shadow loomed over him and he felt a presence close behind him.

            Jamie froze. He had not been quick enough. He remembered moving his head round slowly and seeing the two tall, intimidating men standing over him. His first instinct had been to run and he bolted towards the exit of the basketball court, his only hope. If he had just reached that exit he might have been safe, his speed and slight frame may well have enabled him to lose them in a small space somewhere. But in the court there was nowhere to hide.

            He hadn’t made it. The exit was inches away when his shoulder was grabbed forcefully, knocking him off balance. The man who had grabbed him was soon clinging to his ankle, preventing him from going anywhere.

            Jamie had tried to struggle away but just could not beat the man’s strength. After giving up on his struggle Jamie waited for his inevitable fate.

            Jamie felt the sharp pain in his side once again as he remembered the last thing he saw before he blacked out. He had looked round to see a glimmer of shining, black metal as the moonlight struck the weapon the second man was holding. He was pointing the gun towards him. A split second later he had felt indescribable pain, and that was the last thing he remembered.

            He began to become aware of what was going on around him at present again. There was the same sound of the machines, accompanied by a hum of voices. 

            Once again Jamie mustered the courage and the energy to open his eyes. This time he did not just see his mum and dad but his entire family. His nan and grandad sat close on one side, his mum and dad doing the same on the other. At the end of the bed was his uncle and auntie, along with his baby cousin lying in the pram, unaware of what was going on around him and unaware of the world he would be growing up in.

            An overwhelming sadness came over him as he realised that they were all here for one reason only. He was going to die. He knew that that was the only time that more than two visitors were allowed; he had seen it on television. This was the last time that he was going to see everyone who meant so much to him.

            Jamie decided he needed to engage with each one of them once more before he went forever. It was too painful for him to speak, and the pain-killing gas mask over his face would have made him incoherent anyway. Therefore he gestured towards his cousin by nodding his head in the direction of the pram. It was enough. His mum lifted the small precious bundle of life he adored so much and placed him next to him on the pillow, just high enough for Jamie to place one small kiss on his cheek.

            After that his auntie and uncle moved along the side of the bed and both hugged him as gently as they could, and each kissing him on the forehead.

            Jamie looked towards his nan and grandad and remembered all the special times he had spent with them. He thought about all the minor things that made his stays with them so special, like being allowed to stay up that little bit later than his parents would let him, and the constant supply of sweets that always seemed to be there.

            His nan was too upset to speak, just held his hand tightly, unable to let go. His grandad grinned at him, ‘You’re a good lad Jamie,’ he said, ‘I love you.’ Jamie attempted to grin back but it soon became a grimace as he once again felt the enduring pain in his side.

            Then Jamie turned to his mum and dad. He knew he did not have long now; he was beginning to feel more dreary and out-of-this-world than he had since he had woken for that first time in hospital. His dad held his hand whilst his mum stroked his head gently, which was exactly what they were doing when Jamie died. He closed his eyes and fell asleep forever.

            Jamie’s mum screamed in pain, anger and sorrow as her baby boy was taken away from her. Similarly, the grief was evident all around the hospital cubicle, with not one dry eye other than that of Jamie’s baby cousin, who slept peacefully in his pram.

            To his family, Jamie was a ray of sunshine, a much-loved importance in their life. He was the centre of their world. He brought happiness, pride and joy. But now, to everyone else, he was just another victim of gun crime, another statistic.