Good Morning

New York

I wheezed heavily as I shuffled into the living room of the new apartment, the large flat screen TV box resting awkwardly in my arms. My whole body trembled and I squeaked out a small, "Help me!"

My father paused and turned around to stare for a moment before gasping and rushing forward to take the TV from my arms. He gently placed it on the stand before crossing his arms and staring at me with disapproval. My eyes refused to meet his own and I stared at the ground, squirming on the spot.

"Paige" My dad reprimanded me quietly. I groaned and raised my head, waving my arms around dramatically. "I know, I know! Don't lift anything heavy because I'll break my legs and die! I get it already!"

Dad sighed and shook his head, giving me a pointed look, "Obviously you don't if you're trying to lift the TV" He dead-panned. "Look, Paige, I understand you want to help and that you probably feel fine lifting with your new brace on, but we have to be careful to make sure your leg doesn't get any worse before the operation" 

I pursed my lips but nodded reluctantly. Dad smiled brightly and ruffled my hair "Thanks kid, why don't you go check out your new room? It'll give your leg a chance to recover."

I hummed in agreement and quickly hugged him before padding over to my assigned room, my footsteps loud and heavy against the wooden floor. I twisted the handle and slowly pushed open the door, a small creak echoing around the house. I peered inside and took in the mess of boxes piled around my bed, which was one of the first things we set up. I closed the door behind me before hopping onto the middle of my bed. I turned to stare up at the ceiling, occasionally glancing down at my leg covered by a glaringly obvious brace.

I'd been wearing different supports on my right leg for around three years now, being supplied with new ones as I grew taller. The problem I had was called Patellar Dislocation, but I just often referred to it as repetitive knee dislocation or something along the lines of that. Basically, my bone was growing wrong and I don't have an important muscle that my leg needs to hold my knee cap in place, resulting in my knee dislocating at the easiest of things. This meant that running or nearly any type of exercise was non-existent for me. I still tried to stay fit, but it was harder than usual considering the most I can do is walk; but even that's not completely safe.

My lips pulled up into a small smile at the thought of the operation that seemed so far away. I had to wait until I stopped growing completely, otherwise it would have failed. Hopefully, it would correct my knee the first time; then I'd be able to join in on a lot more things.

"Paige?" My dad knocked on the door before opening the door and peeking his head through "I'm gonna be a while unpacking everything before making dinner, do you want to go out or wait and help me make food?"

I sat up quickly and smiled innocently "I'll go out, thanks. I think there's a museum nearby, I'll go check it out."

He chuckled and shook his head, "Of course you will." Dad smiled and released the door handle, "Just make sure you take your phone with you!"

I nodded quickly and shuffled awkwardly off the bed, closing my bedroom door behind me. As I walked towards the front door, I snatched up a jacket and shrugged it on. I picked up my phone from the counter and shoved it into my pocket, as a last minute decision, I also grabbed some money and my headphones,  "Be back soon, dad!" I called back, already half way out of the door.

"Be safe!"

I paused in the hallway and quickly plugged in my headphones into my phone, listening to my music with one earphone out so I could hear around me. I smiled and nodded my head to the beat of the music, entering the buildings stairwell and awkwardly wobbling down the stairs, clinging onto the banister the whole time. It was only three days ago that my father and I went to collect my new brace from the hospital in Wales before we left for New York. It turned out that my old brace was completely useless and I dislocated my knee whilst wearing it a few times. But this new support was, happily,  so much sturdier and, unfortunately, stiff. It certainly stopped my kneecap from dislocating, but at the disadvantage of not being able to bend my right leg; causing me to have adapted an awkward shuffle/waddle. It also made it much more obvious that I was wearing a brace, before I could have just thrown on some black jeans, walked like normal and the brace would blend right in with my trousers, but not any more. Now I just waddled around like a robot everywhere I went.