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Imogen Halstead (age 5)
Word count: 1250
Jays POV
I'm stood in the kitchen, chopping up carrots when Imogen comes running into the room holding something she probably shouldn't have, "daddy!" She yells at the top of her lungs, making me jump. I turn around to see her stood by my feet, staring up at me like I have six heads, yet her big blue eyes shine brightly as ever. I frown before she holds out a plastic knife, one that practically doesn't work since it's so blunt, "I'll help you, with dis..." she jabs it into my leg and I sigh, alright then...
After pulling a kitchen chair over to where I'm stood, she climbs up and stands so she's at reaching distance of the vegetables. She squeals when she sees when we're having for dinner tonight, "eeeww, not mush!" she throws her head back. I chuckle and shake my head, keeping an arm around her so she doesn't topple off the chair, "I promise I won't make yours too mushy" I raise an eyebrow. She looks at me quizzically and sighs, "well, ol'right then..." she grumbles like an old man. I sometimes wonder where I found this child. But in chuckle and plant a kiss on her cheek.
Imogen is the very unique child belonging to me and hailey; she was born October 7th, 5 years ago, at 11:11pm. The best day of our lives. I still remember how small she was when she came out of the operation room, she could fit on my hand.
"One for you, one for me, and one for mommy!" She holds up three unpeeled carrots. I nod, "are you gonna eat a whole one of those?" I gasp. She pulls a face, "no, but you and mommy are..." she sets them down and I sigh at her unfazed attitude. She turns around to look at what's cooking on the stove, so I keep an eye on her as I continue chopping the vegetables.
With one eye focused on where the knife is chopping, and the other focused on making sure Imogen doesn't go a clatter off the chair, I'm sure I look crazy if anyone were to take a picture of me right now.
Once I discard of the carrots into the pan, I set the chopping board back down and completely look over to see what's gotten Imogen so busy and quiet. She smiles at the food, "it's bubbling..." she begins rambling on about bubbles when something worrying catches my eye.
My eyes filter down to what my child is currently leaning on, only for me to figure out that she has her hand on top of the stove, which is turned on. I reach over and snatch her off the chair, "Imogen!" I pull her hand towards me to see that half of her hand is already blistering and red raw. She looks up at me with apologetic eyes, yet I can see a hint of confusion too. The sheer look of anxiety on my face must've scared her, because before I know it, she's crying and asking for her mother.
Hailey comes running into the room as I set Imogen onto the countertop, quickly shoving the tiny five year-old hand under the cold faucet, "what's going on? What happened?" My wife bolts over to us. Imogen reaches her good hand out so hailey grabs it and give it a 'make it better' kiss. I sigh, "she had her hand on the stove... she didn't cry, she didn't even notice it was burning..." my voice is shaky. Why didn't she realise her hand was on a 100 degrees stove? Haileys face twists into that of worry as well, "we'll take her to med, I'll go grab a bag" she slides out of the room.
I look over at Imogen and notice that she's settled down fully; she wasn't crying because it hurts, she was crying because I was scared. Why didn't she feel any of that?
~
Imogen's POV
I don't know why mommy's rushing to get me into this place, and I don't know why my hands wrapped up in this marshmallow thing. But I don't like it. I'd rather eat mush than be here right now. Oh look... Uncle Will!
Haileys POV
I run a hand over my face as jay sets Imogen down on the bed, "what happened here, missy?" Ethan Choi sits down in front of my daughter. She sighs, "I don't know... daddy was making mush!" She shakes her head. A clear look of disgust on her face. Ethan chuckles, "oh, well that doesn't sound very appetising" he smiles. Imogen sighs, "no... mommy's a better cook but daddy won't tell anyone" she shrugs, sending an innocent smile in jays direction. I chuckle as jay sighs, "that's extra mush for you" he folds his arms. Imogen opens her mouth in offence, "alright honey, this is gonna sting a little..." Ethan warns as he grabs the antiseptic spray.
Jay looks at me wearily, "I doubt it will, she didn't even know she had her hand on the stove. She didn't cry or complain until I grabbed her, she only started crying because I scared her" he announces. Ethan looks over his shoulder, "she felt no pain?" He frowns. I shake my head as jay does the same, "I'll look into that" he nods. I shoot my husband a worried glare, so he reaches over to grab my shaking hand. I smile weakly as we watch Imogen, who is completely oblivious to the world of pain she should be experiencing right now...
~
Around an hour later, we're all sat in the Children's area playing with some toys when Will and Ethan walk over to us, "good news, she doesn't have CIPA. We would've been able to detect that by now, but she does have a worryingly high pain threshold which could be a sign of a slowly growing child, or a sensory disorder. We're gonna run a few tests and figure it out" Ethan nods. I let out a sigh but nod sadly, however, Imogen's too busy making two fire trucks crash into each other to care about our conversation, "banngggg!" She squeals loudly. Jay nods at his brother, then Ethan, "thank you" he smiles weakly at the pair before we return to keeping our five year old busy.
Within half an hour, Ethan is back with the results, however Imogen's fallen asleep already. He smiles weakly as he stands at the foot of the bed, "fortunately, she doesn't have any kind of sensory disorder. She just has a very high pain threshold. We can try physical therapy to try and stimulate her nerve endings, which should definitely work in the long-run. As for the time being, you just need to keep a close eye on her and make sure she isn't doing anything that can cause any harm. You're free to leave whenever you're ready. I'll give you some pain meds and antibiotics for the burns. You'll need to re-dress them in a few days. Will said he'll explain everything to you regarding therapy" he smiles thankfully.
I sigh in relief once again, "thank you, Ethan" I look at a sleeping Imogen who's crashed out from the days events. As jay says his thanks and says goodbye I pick our daughter up and begin leaving so I can get her into the car seat. Imogen, you're always in the wars little one...
