She inserted another coin into the vending machine and pressed the button. Just as she was about to give up, it started to move, and to her surprise, the bag fell to the collecting unit. She picked it up and walked back to Jack, who was sitting outside her brother's hospital room. With nothing else to do, she sat down a few chairs away from him. Without making too much noise, she gently opened the bag. He was leaning slightly forward with his elbows resting on his knees, and she could see he was nervous as she turned to look at him. A wave of anxiety swept over her. It hadn't just been a normal bar fight. She reached out the bag towards him, which seemed to have caught his attention. He first looked at the bag and then at her before shaking his head.
- "No, thanks".
She shrugged her shoulders unbothered and picked out some chips for herself.
- "It's not like I'm going to poison you", she continued sarcastically. From the way he looked at her, her comment must have caught him off guard.
- "Are you worried?".
She wasn't worried; she was terrified.
- "Not really. He always ends up in situations like these". He looked at her, seeing through the obvious lie. Her appetite was gone, and their conversation was clearly over. She put the bag on the seat next to her as they continued to wait in silence.
- "What happened with your hand?". He asked, pointing to the bandage covering her wrist.
- "What?". Deep in her own thoughts, it took her a while to understand what he meant.
- "Your hand", he pointed at it, and she looked down on it. But before she had time to tell yet another lie, the door swung open, and someone left his room.
The doctor was looking through her papers before looking up at them in surprise, as if she didn't expect them to still be there. They both sat there, tensely looking at her and silently pleading for answers. She glanced at her notes again before giving them the answers.
- "He will be doing just fine; he has trauma on his left eye and some bruises, but nothing that won't heal."
In relief, she relaxed back into her chair, but then the questions started to come up. Who had done this to him? Was it alcohol or drugs? How long would he need to recover? What should they tell their parents? Since it had happened on the night she was supposed to babysit him, he wouldn't be the only one who would get into trouble.
- "Can we see him?". She even caught herself off guard, asking about him with concern in her voice. After a quick nod from the doctor, they stood up and walked into the room.
- "Would you like me to take a look at that?", the doctor asked her as she was passing by. With everything else going on, she still hadn't thought about covering her wrist. Jack gave her a nod before disappearing into the room.
*
They sat in another room as the doctor removed her bandage.
- "So are you going to tell me what happened, or is that also a secret?"
In silence, she shrugged her shoulders.
- "It seems to be healing well, but if you stumble across any trouble, just come in so I can look at it again. Sounds good?"
She nodded to show that she was listening, but deep down she knew it wouldn't happen. Especially since the doctor had said that it was already healing well.
YOU ARE READING
Burned Pieces
Teen Fiction[Her heart was broken, not like when it drops to the ground and shatters; it was being torn out. She crossed the motel room, avoiding the sound coming from her bussing phone, and headed towards the bathroom. She sank to the floor, tears streaming do...
