Vicki Manser Short Stories

A fall to forget

Requested by Stan_The_Pigeon

Vicki POV

I'm messing around with Frankie whilst walking to the stage for warm up. As we go down the stairs I get distracted as me and Frankie share a kiss whilst walking down, and miss a step, causing myself to fall. When I say these stairs are lethal, I really mean it. They go straight down and there is a good 20 stairs. As I fall, I try to stop myself by putting my hand down, but all of my weight goes onto it and I hear a crack. I continue tumbling down the stairs and my head makes contact with one of them. Then I go into darkness.

Frankie POV

Me and Vicki are heading to the stage and we decide to kiss whilst walking down the stairs. Vicki must miss a step and she goes falling down the stairs. She hits her head harshly on one of the steps. She falls right the way to the bottom. I run down the remainder of the stairs to where she is lying. She is unconscious. I see her wrist and it looks really deformed and swollen. "Girls, can someone phone an ambulance?" I shout to the rest of the girls. Then all of them appear.

I hear Lauren on the phone. "She's fallen down the stairs and is unconscious, what else do you want me to tell you?!" She says down the phone, starting to get mad at the person on the other end. After a few hums of approval and a few yeses, Lauren ends the call. "Well that was stressful, wanted to make us wait up to 5 hours for an ambulance. There should be one here in the next 5 minutes now." She says.

The ambulance arrives and Vicki is still unconscious. One of the paramedics comes in and straight away holds Vicki's head still. "How long ago did she fall?" They ask. "About 10 minutes ago" I say. They nod. "Did she fall from the very top?" They ask again. I shake my head "from about three quarters up." I say. They nod again. The other paramedic grabs Vicki's legs and they turn her so she is lying flat on the ground. They roll Vicki onto her side and put a stretcher under her. The paramedic that was holding Vicki's head grabs a neck brace and puts it around Vicki's neck before securing her head with blocks either side.

They check her over and put this thing on her wrist for support. They lift up the stretcher and take Vicki out to the ambulance. I follow. "Can I come with you?" I ask. "Are you family?" They ask. "I'm her girlfriend if that counts" I say. They nod and I hop into the back of the ambulance. Luckily Vicki's good hand is the one closest to me so I grab hold of it.

When we get to the hospital, Vicki get wheeled off to resus and I get taken to the relatives room. I'm told someone will come and get me when I'm allowed to see Vicki.

After around 30 mins a nurse comes and gets me. Vicki is still unconscious but I'm allowed to see her. I go in and see her still lying with her head secured, but her wrist is now being supported by a plain white cast.

I sit and hold Vicki's hand, waiting for her to wake up. I keep squeezing her hand, in hopes she responds and wakes up. She squeezes my hand and then groans. "Ouch, Courtney? Collette? What's happened?" She ask. "Shhh it's ok. It's Frankie. You fell down the stairs in the theatre." I say. "Whose Frankie? Who are you? I don't know anyone called Frankie. What's happening?" She rushed out and pulls her hand away from mine. I press the call button and doctors and nurses come in. "She doesn't know who I am" I say. They nod. "Vicki, do you know where you are?" They ask her. "I'm in the hospital, why can't I move my head?" She asks.

Vicki POV

I wake up and all I can see is bright light. I talk to the person who is holding my hand, thinking it's Courtney or Collette. It isn't. This person is called Frankie. I don't know a Frankie. Some people come in and ask me if I know where I am. I'm guessing I'm in a hospital. I try and move my head to get a glance of everyone, but I can't. There is something holding my head still. "Why can't I move my head?" I ask. A doctor comes over and removes the blocks from either side of my head and removes the neck brace before pushing on parts of my neck. "Does your neck hurt at all?" They ask. I shake my head and then the bed gets sat up.

"what's your job Vicki?" They ask. Odd question. "I'm an ensemble swing in bat out of hell the musical" I say confidently. "Oh erm what year is it?" They ask. Again, odd question. "2018 why?" I ask. "Aha, that's what's happened. You've suffered a little bit of memory loss, because of your concussion, but it will come back. It's just a brain fog. The year is 2022" they say. 2022. No way. How have I forgotten 4 years. 4 years! "No you're lying! It can't be 2022. There's no way I have lost 4 years of my life. Where is Greg?" I ask. This Frankie person sighs. "Vicki, you aren't with Greg anymore. You split up last year when you came on tour with Six the musical. You're bisexual. I'm your girlfriend" she says. No. There's no way I split up with Greg. We are so happy together. "Why did I split up with him?" I ask quietly. "Something about emotional abuse and you couldn't handle it anymore. You haven't really told me" she says. I nod. "Can you show me some pictures of the last four years of my life, see if I can remember anything." I say. Frankie nods and grabs her phone. She shows me a bunch of photos of me in this pink skimpy costume and a pink dip dyed ponytail. She also shows me pictures of me and her cuddling and kissing.

I think I might know who she is. My train of thought is interrupted by some doctors. "Ok Vicki, we just need to send you for an x-ray on your wrist. Do you feel nauseous at all?" They ask. I shake my head. "Ok that's good, does anywhere hurt?" They ask. I nod my head "my back, and obviously my wrist." I say. They nod. "Ok we will look at your back when you get back from x-ray. It is most likely a bit bruised from the fall." They say. I nod and then a nurse comes in with a wheelchair.

"Ok we aren't too keen on you walking too far just yet so if you just want to slowly move yourself into the wheelchair then I will take you up to x-ray." The nurse says. I nod and slowly move myself to the edge of the bed and then into the wheelchair. The nurse takes me to x-ray.

The x-ray is done very quickly and then I am taken back to where I was originally. I get there and the doctor is still there. "Can you just stand up for me Vicki, so I can check your back for bruising." They say. I nod and stand up. They check my back. "It's just a bit bruised and will probably cause a bit of discomfort for a while. How's the wrist feeling?" They ask. It really hurts. I can't tell them that. But I have to.

I start crying. Everything is catching up on me. "It really hurts. Why can't I remember anything? I want to remember what I've done in the last few years." I cry out. I sit myself back down on the bed.

Frankie POV

When Vicki starts to cry it breaks my heart. I want to give her a hug. "Vicks, bubba, can I hug you?" I ask. She nods "why are you asking of course you can, the pictures show you're my girlfriend" she cries out. I forgot she probably doesn't remember hating physical contact, seeing as it has been quite a recent thing. "You don't like physical contact bubba, I always ask" I say as I pull her into my chest. "You'll be ok, I'll look after you." I say as she carries on crying.

~ts a few hours~

Vicki has just been discharged from the hospital and we are going to our digs. She has broken her wrist in two places, but it should heal nicely. She has a pink cast on it.

When we get back to our digs, I message the girls and tell them how Vicki is.

We snuggle on the sofa until Vicki falls asleep and I carry her to bed.