Redamancy ✷ Simon Riley

Chap 42)

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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫
𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐓𝐰𝐨
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The medical examination table strained under Poppy's tightening grip. It mimicked the satisfying sound of leather stretching as her sharp nails dug into the material beneath her. Exhaling painfully, she delicately rolled her shoulders back with care and straightened her posture to adjust the ice pack on her ribs.

Despite the cloth that wrapped the ice pack, her palm felt frozen.

Turning her head, she glanced at her kevlar vest and sleeved top that was thrown over the back of the metal chair in the corner of the room. When she arrived at the medical building and informed one of the medics about her injuries, she had been taken to a room and had her bloody cuts and tender skin examined.

She had flinched and pressed her teeth into her tongue to refrain from swearing when Maria (the practitioner who had examined her jaw previously) brushed the pad of her fingers over her ribs. Her contusions hadn't formed yet. It would take at least a day or two for her bruises to reveal themselves and bedaub her skin with colorful swirling supernovas and nebulas.

For now, the only thing she did feel was pain.

It spread over her body like a wildfire in a forest in all the areas Graves had punched her. Even simply touching or caressing her sore skin had her sucking in a harsh breath to alleviate the discomfort.

Poppy was told she had only been hit hard enough to break the tiny blood vessels under the surface of her skin to only result in unavoidable bruises. Graves had struck to cause damage but not sufficiently to fracture or break any bones in her body. She knew she wouldn't be sleeping comfortably for a while with the bruises she'd have.

The crisp dry blood on her complexion was wiped from her face and her cuts were cleaned. Thankfully, they didn't need any butterfly stitches and would heal nicely.

Maria left the room to get elastic bandages, paracetamol, and a cream that would help Poppy with her bruises. The sergeant stared at the doorway as her brown hair came sweeping over her shoulders to stop at her sternum. Soon, Maria came back and applied the cream on her ribs and lower back before gently enveloping an elastic bandage around her.

Seeing someone in her peripheral vision, she averted her gaze from Maria and locked eyes with Simon who was in the doorway. She greeted him with a faint smile before flicking her attention back to the practitioner in front of her.

"Once your bruises appear and depending on how big they will be, they should heal perfectly over the next couple of weeks, Sergeant." Maria rose from her seat in front of her and moved it aside. "If you are back in England in the next few days and you experience any extreme pain then I recommend you go see your GP."