Chapter 13 Abby
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Abby
“I’ll go check on those labs again,” I say to the older man lying on the bed.
His daughter looks up at me with thankful eyes. I give her a small smile before closing the door as I step out of the room.
With a sigh, I make my way over to my station. Charting is by far my least favorite part of being a nurse. People often think it’s the “gross” parts of the job that are the bane of my existence, but no, it’s the paperwork.
It’s a necessary evil that’s constantly at odds with the part of my brain that wants to be doing something more active.
My fingers clack against the keyboard when Becks shouts, “Incoming… Abby, I need you.”
I’m instantly in motion, quickly moving over to the front bay where ambulances park to bring patients into the ER. The flashing lights gleam over Becks’ head as she waits just outside the glass doors.
I get there just as the EMTs are guiding the gurney out from the back of the ambulance. My eyes widen when I see who’s lying on the bed.
“Leah…” Her name comes out in a worried gasp.
Horror settles over me when I see the state she’s in.
Molten bruises cover her face, with her right eye practically swollen shut. I swear I can see the faint outline of fingerprints on her neck, and I want to punch something… someone.
Her breaths are coming out in short, pained gasps despite the oxygen she is getting from the cannula placed around her face.
Her eyes dart around in fear until they settle on me. She seems to calm down just a fraction with her attention on me. “A… A… Abby…”
I gently place my hand over hers. I don’t want to hurt her, so I keep the pressure light as a feather.
“I’m right here, Leah. We’re going to take good care of you,” I say soothingly as we guide the gurney through the emergency entrance and into an empty room.
She turns her hand, lightly gripping mine. She doesn’t say anything, but her eyes are filled with so many layered emotions it is hard to decipher.
Above all else, though, I see fear.
The EMTs do what they need to, then quickly make their departure. I stay at Leah’s side the whole time.
“Leah, this is Becks. She looks tough, but she really is a big softy.”
Becks scoffs. “Softy my ass.”
Leah lets out a small laugh, then cringes. Her hand moves to her side, gently gripping the fabric.
“Can I look?” Becks asks. All humor has vanished from her tone, leaving gentle compassion in its place.
Leah hesitates for a minute but nods. Becks peels up Leah’s shirt, revealing bruises over her side and abdomen. Red starts to flicker across my vision.
Becks and I share a knowing look, then she turns back to Leah. “I’m going to go grab Dr. Morov, so she can get things rolling in here. Abby’s going to start an IV so we can get you some meds to help with the pain.”
Leah nods a few times. “Okay.”
Her hand is still holding mine. It’s even a little tighter now than it was originally. “I’m not going anywhere,” I tell her. “I promise.”
She finally lets my hand go, so I can get her IV started.
I’ve never been one to beat around the bush, so I just ask. “Did your boyfriend do this to you?”
I wouldn’t normally be quite this forward with patients, but I know Leah, and that bad feeling I always had about the man is raging inside of me. My boss wouldn’t be happy with my unprofessional curiosity, but I don’t really care right now.
Her mouth opens and closes a few times. A single tear tracks down her face. “I feel like an idiot.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself for something someone else did. If he hurt you, that’s on him, not you.”
She takes a deep breath, steadying herself. “He has threatened things before, but never anything like this,” she says, staring down at her lap while I hang the medication on the rack beside the bed.
Her words still come out a little shaky, but there’s a lot more resolve behind them now. “He will never touch me like this again.”
My heart breaks for her, but I love to see the fire and determination burning in her eyes. That determination is what will get her through this.
“Good. He doesn’t deserve to be around you.”
The next few hours pass by quickly with different doctors and tests. I stay by her side as much as I can. Slowly, as the minutes pass, she seems a little more relaxed.
She has bruising all over her body, a mild concussion, and cracked ribs. How anyone could do this to another person is beyond me. It’s honestly surprising she didn’t sustain any internal bleeding with the extent of her injuries.
“I’ll never understand it,” Becks says, echoing the very thought rolling through my head.
We both stare at the closed door separating us from Leah and a pair of police officers. Now that we have her pain under control, they’re taking her official statement.
I was relieved when she said she wanted to press charges. I’ve seen so many cases of domestic violence where individuals don’t want to go down that road.
While I would never judge someone for the choices they make, I’m so proud of her for standing up for herself and putting her foot down.
“Neither will I,” I say on a heavy exhale.
The male officer steps out of the room, walking toward us. “Is she going to be released or will she be staying here overnight?”
“With her concussion, the doctor said he wanted her to stay for observation overnight,” I say. “She’ll be moved up to a room soon.”
He nods. “Good. That’s good.” We wait because it seems like he has more he wants to say. “Can you ladies put me in contact with the head of hospital security?”
He obviously can’t say anymore, but the need for security to be involved is pretty clear. They haven’t been able to apprehend Leah’s boyfriend. It feels wrong to think of him in that way because of what he did to her.
Becks hands over a card with the information the officer needs. He disappears outside with his cell phone already pressed to his ear.
“Are you good to cover things for a few minutes?” Becks asks.
“Oh, sure,” I say, surprised she’s stepping away right now. It’s very un-Becks-like.
She grabs her phone from her station. “I’ll try to figure some things out to help her once she is released tomorrow if….” She trails off, but we both know what she means. If they don’t catch him by then…
I have no idea who she’s going to call or what she’s trying to arrange, but whatever it is, I’m on board. There’s just something screaming inside of me to help Leah.
I want her to walk away from this and find the light at the end of the tunnel.
I want her to look back on all this years from now and see it as a stepping stone in making her a stronger, more resilient person, not as something that destroyed her.