You drew stars around my scars

Chapter 8

They sat together while waiting for the nurses to come in and try and get the teen up and walking. Taylor's phone was buzzing every few minutes. She ignored it at first then went over and scrolled through all the messages, she looked up at the girl, smiling softly at her "It's just my mum, she's at my house getting things set up for us now. We will go and get your stuff over the next few days but for right now she's just got you some basics so you're comfortable". The young girl bit her lip, aware that her life was changing rapidly but grateful she had support around her.

Soon the nurses came in, they told the young girl they would give her some pain relief before getting her out of bed but she declined, stating that it made her feel 'spacy'. Taylor giggled slightly at that but the humour disappeared again when the young girl tried to move herself out of bed. She was gritting her teeth as she swung her legs round – the pain in her ribs making it hard to breathe. The nurses guided her to stand up without pushing up using her left hand or shoulder. They all waited until she was upright and steady before attempting to walk forwards.

Taylor stood in front of her, holding her hands out slightly as if guiding a toddler taking their first steps. The girl managed to do a lap of her room and the corridor before needing to rest. They all guided her back into her bed, she finally agreed to some more pain relief. The nurses went to speak to the doctors to agree a discharge time.

Taylor smiled widely at her, trying not to show her own anxieties "that was great! How do you feel?" The young girl grimaced slightly "very sore", when she realised her going home was depending on her not being in too much pain her eyes widened slightly "but not too bad! Broken bones just aren't any fun." Taylor hummed in agreement and then tried to settle the girl down for another nap while they passed the time, the teen wasn't quite ready yet though – "Can I borrow a mirror? My face is sore and I want to see". Taylor hesitated slightly then passed her a small mirror. The girl barely recognised herself, she had a large cut across her forehead with a lot of stitches in, her left eye was swollen. There was cuts and scrapes across her cheek and chin. Overall she looked a mess. Tears threatened to spill out and Taylor reached out to cuddle her "it's ok – nothing will scar. It's all going to heal really well. It just looks like a lot right now huh?" the girl blinked her tears back "just a shock that's all, it doesn't even feel that bad." Taylor moved next to her in the bed, taking her into her arms and rocking her slightly as she hummed a tune. She could feel the girl fighting sleep but eventually felt the slump of her body. She took the time to message her mum and let her know they would be home later that evening, her mum asked if Taylor wanted her to stay and although she really did – she wasn't sure if Jessica would. She told her she'd let her know but was grateful for all her help either way.

When Jessica was still asleep the doctor came back in, he gave Taylor a bag of her medications and an instruction list on timings/dosage.

The young girl had antibiotics, long acting pain killers, anti inflammatories, some liquid morphine for 4 hourly pain relief for the next 10 days, a tablet to protect her stomach lining, some creams for the cut, some gels for the ribs. Taylor had eagerly noted it all down, determined to get it right.

He then took another look at the young girl, "I know it was mentioned previously about an eating disorder. This incident will likely complicate that. The body not feeling hunger cues when grieving is a normal process. She has so many difficult emotions pulsing through her body and it causes a stress response. The body is biologically diverting the blood away from her digestive system to her limbs and organs so naturally the body's ability to digest slows down slightly. On top of the actual emotions and feeling anxious and sick this means she isn't going to want to eat – nobody would. The difficult situation is that most people have a store of energy and fat for when they are going through this process – Jessica didn't because she wasn't eating enough before.