12. Chapter 12 #2
“Ouch. Good news is I can’t see straight through to the floor.
And you have all of your fingers, though your middle finger is in rough shape.
” She pulled some stiff, white paper towels from the dispenser on the wall and handed them to him.
“Keep putting pressure on it.” Nurse Dee patted him on the shoulder.
She helped him into the rolling bed and took his vitals with a monitor.
“We’ll get it flushed while the doctor finishes up with another patient.
It looks like there’s some debris. I’ll bring something to numb the nerves. ”
Julian felt his pulse all the way up to his elbow and shoulder. He was normally okay with pain, but this was close to the worst physical pain he’d ever been in. He was thankful more than ever that Annie had been nearby.
Dee picked up Annie’s coat like it was a dead animal. “Want to keep this coat?”
The white lining was splotched with large, dull, copper blooms .
He shook his head. “I’ll buy her a new one.
Dee barely checked the pockets before unceremoniously dropping it in the trash. She tossed her gloves, too, and left the room.
I hope Annie isn’t stressing too bad. He wished the nurse had allowed her to come back with him. He hadn’t known her for long, but he liked her presence. Maybe I should have told Annie to go get something to eat at the diner… Though, something told him she wouldn’t have gone anyway.
With the adrenaline now waning, it felt like he’d been awake for three days.
He hoped that Dee would be less chatty when she came back.
And talking about the past wasn’t his favorite activity.
A flash of pain daggered and twisted in his palm.
Not such a bad sign that it hurts like hell, he thought.
And Dee hadn’t seemed super freaked out at least. Although her comment about his middle finger concerned him.
It hurt and his skin felt tight, but he wiggled it. Still works, I guess.
The door opened a few minutes later. Dee pushed a rolling tray.
She instructed him to rest his hand on the tray, and she pulled the wet, crusted paper towels from his grip.
He got a small glimpse of his hand out of the corner of his eye, and it was a glimpse too much.
Turning his head, he studied the medical posters and stock photos on the wall as he recovered from his dizzy spell.
Dee was quiet, only giving small instructions. She administered a nerve block. His whole arm went dead to the touch.
“I’m sorry about your mother,” Dee murmured after a while, her voice thick with sympathy. “I felt so bad.
Julian’s vision blurred and his heart raced. For a few seconds, he truly thought he was going to black out. The feeling in the room went from awkward to utterly mortifying. You’ve got to be kidding me .
“A lot of people loved her, y’know?” Dee went on, much to Julian’s dismay. “She used to cheer so loudly for you in the stands. I don’t think she missed a single football game. I wish I could say that for my own mom.”
His good hand wrapped around the bed’s railing, and he squeezed so hard his knuckles went white.
All he wanted was to run straight out of the room at the mention of his mother’s death.
It dawned on him just then that this was the hospital his dad had been taken to after the car accident.
The pain had been so distracting that he hadn’t put two-and-two together when Annie had mapped the closest clinic, and he’d been too focused on everything else until now.
Dee was quiet while she flushed his wound. Thankfully, she worked quickly. By the end, he was dying to finally go back home. She patted his skin dry and said the doctor would see him shortly.
“There is likely tendon damage, and you’ll look like Frankenstein for a couple months. Probably give you an x-ray. Just to be safe.” He relaxed slightly when she said something about prescriptions for pain pills, antibiotics, and an anti-inflammatory.
“Be back in a jiff with the doctor,” she said, smiling.
As she stepped away, a thought occurred to Julian. “Dee, update Annie?” He guessed at least an hour had passed.
“Your girlfriend?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll let her know.”
Finally alone, Julian let out a loud groan.
Damn. It had been months since he’d felt the loss of his mother so keenly.
Dee hadn’t meant any harm, but part of him hated her then.
Reminded him why he needed to be alone, away from the proprietors of old town memories.
Thorny stories they could spin all over him at any given time like a spider’s web.
As his chest tightened and his eyes misted, he tried to block everything from his mind. The pain. The hospital. His mom–
But he couldn’t.
They can’t keep me here much longer. Then I can go home in peace.
Time stretched on forever as Julian sat alone, half-catatonic with misery. Finally, he heard footsteps outside the room. A knock that announced the doctor. The click of the door handle.
Before they caught him openly weeping, Julian quickly wiped away his tears and the wad of snot slithering down his chin.