9-1-1: The Family We Chose

S1 E3 - Next Of Kin

"Adult male, down on the hillside. And we got three kids in the bouncy house."

We were responding to a bouncy house mishap at a birthday party. Somehow, the wind blew the bouncy house off of the ground and it was hanging on the side of the hill. The dad had fallen out as it flew up.

"Lia, I want you and Buck to rappel down and anchor that bouncy house. Asses the condition of the kids, and start to send them down one-by-one in a basket." Bobby says.

"Copy that. Buck, let's go."

"Me and Hen will go down to check on the dad. Chim, you're gonna stay up here and work the winch."

"Hey, how come I never get to do any of the fun stuff?" Chim asks.

"Working the winch is fun." I say with a smile on my face.

I walk over to Buck and get my gear on. After securing ourselves, Buck and I were repelling down to go anchor the bouncy house.

"Damn, why's it so hot today?"

"Maybe it's cause you always wear long sleeves in like 90 degree weather? Also why do you? Just wear a t-shirt."

I always wore long sleeves to cover the burns and scars on my arms. I never felt like explaining about what happened.

"Just preference. Don't like t shirts on me." I lie.

"Well, maybe just roll up your sleeves then." Buck says.

Just as we were about to secure the bouncy house, whatever was supporting it gave away a little. This caused the bouncy house to shift and lean towards me. It caught me by surprise, causing me to lose my footing, and have my right arm slam into the hillside and get scraped.

"Shit!"

I look over to see my shoulder and elbow bleeding pretty bad. I hiss at the pain and regain my balance and footing.

"Lia! Are you okay?" I could hear how concerned Buck was from his voice.

"What's going on up there?" Bobby calls through the radio once he reached the dad on the ground.

"Bouncy house shifted. Lost my footing and scraped my right arm real good. I'll check it out when we get back up." I say.

"Okay, be careful Lia. Please."

We were able to successfully bring the dad and kids up, but I hadn't realized how much blood I lost until I got up from the hillside. I could feel the lightheadedness, but I pushed it away until I collapsed into Buck's arms.

Buck's POV:
I knew Lia's arm was pretty banged up so I went over to go tell her to get it checked out after we had reached the top. When I went over to her she looked a little pale, and I saw how her whole sleeve was soaked in blood.

"Damn, Lia, you should probably go have Chim check that out." She just stood there and kind of swayed. I touched her uninjured shoulder trying to get her attention again.

"Lia?" Before anything else could happen, she collapsed into my arms.

"Lia! Guys! I need help over here!"

I grab medical scissors from her bag to cut her shirt sleeves so that Hen and Chim can easily access the wound. That's when I see her right arm is covered in burns, and scars.

"Holy shit.." I mutter under my breath.

I roll her left sleeve up, and it's the same thing. I look up and see Hen frozen. Chim just looked away. Almost like he knew what happened. Bobby just looks like he's about to cry. We could all see each scar, and especially the self harm ones. Big vertical lines, one after another.