Sister Mother

Chapter 14

Addie

The last thing Beatrice remembered was me yelling at her to get out of the car. I asked her multiple times if her head hurt. Each time she reassured me that the only pain she had was in her wrist.

That didn't stop me from freaking out.

Mags drove us to the emergency room. She let Beatrice and I out at the front and then drove off to finding a parking spot. I had taken no more than ten steps before I remembered that I didn't have a wheelchair or scooter.

"Come on," I said as I tugged on Beatrice's good hand. "We'll get you checked in and everything's going to be fine."

She's going to be okay, right? She's awake, talking and walking, but she doesn't remember what happened. She was in a car accident. People in car accidents hit their heads. Oh God, she hurt her head, didn't she?

I dragged Beatrice into the ER and ran to the check-in desk behind a glass window. Not surprisingly, my eyes barely peered over the ledge. "My sister was in a car accident," I said before the man even looked up from his computer. "She blacked out and hurt her wrist. She needs to be seen now!"

The man looked up slowly, first at Beatrice, then at me. He turned around, and said something I couldn't hear to a person I couldn't see. A moment later, a woman wearing bright green scrubs exited a door to the left of the check-in desk. She guided us to a small private room.

"Have a seat, and let me examine you, okay?" she said to Beatrice, gesturing towards a chair.

Beatrice sat down, and the nurse started asking questions. She shined a light in her eyes, took Beatrice's vitals. We told her what happened, and once again, Beatrice reassured me that her head didn't hurt.

"You still need a CT," I spat. "You could have blacked out because you hurt your head and are only awake because of the adrenaline and you need a CT!"

"Miss, I'm going to need you to calm down," the nurse said to me. She looked at Beatrice. "Can you tell me your name and today's date?"

"Beatrice Katherine McKenna. March seventeenth."

"Great. Now can you wiggle your left fingers?"

Beatice obeyed. The nurse wrote something on her clipboard. She looked closely at Beatrice's right wrist. She asked if there was any tingling in her arm or fingers, to which Beatrice replied no.

"That's good. We'll get it splinted as soon as we can. You won't need any imaging. How's your pain?"

"Awful."

"Can you rate that on a scale of one to ten?"

"Seven."

"Is your mom or dad here?"

Beatrice shook her head.

"I'm her guardian," I explained. "I'm her sister and I'm in charge. I want her to get a CT."

"There's no need for one. She's awake, oriented and answering questions. She's got a GCS of fourteen and it's a stable fracture. We'll call you back in a few minutes to splint it. You can start filling out some forms."

I knew that a GCS meant gross cognitive score and that anything above twelve was considered normal, but I needed more assurance. "I'll fill out the forms after she gets a CT."

The nurse sighed. She led Beatrice and I back to the check-in desk and looked at the man. "Marcus, get her checked in and I'll page ortho."

"On it," the man said. A moment later, he stepped out of the check-in desk area and handed me some paperwork. He and the nurse walked away.