Breaking Loose

Rushed to the Hospital

It has already been like 10 minutes since I was put on this stretcher with restraints around my body so that I do not toss out of the stretcher during the ride. It has been a bumpy ride which was very odd because it is not common in this beautiful city! The pain killer the paramedic gave me has made me a bit drowsy, I hope I do not vomit my breakfast now.

When I asked the paramedic that is accompanying me here in my death bed, he told me there is some road construction going on near the hospital. That is good news because it means we are arriving to the hospital.

The paramedic has been very nice with me, telling me it is going to be alright. But then again, I think they say that to everybody, even to those that have been impaled in the chest during a freak accident.

Okay, my fall into disgrace has also been a freak accident in a sort of way. My Physical Education teacher is to blame! I blame him! I hope he learns a lesson and leaves me alone, at least if I do not end up paralyzed. This is very scary.

Finally, the ambulance makes a sharp turn and comes to a full stop so I guess we are at the hospital. I wonder what is in for me now that I have no control of the situation. I hope it is only some bruises and that I get some pain killers to come out walking on my own. I do not want my life to take a turn for the worse, and most certainly I do not want to end up with a cast in my leg! That would be too embarrassing!

The rear doors of my transport open up and the bright sun rays come shining on my face. I can only see two white bodies enveloped in a white light behind them. Have I died? Am I meeting God now? I thought I was supposed to walk to the light, or away from it as I would like to do know if I was not trapped in this stretcher.

They pull my stretcher towards them, it bumps on the edge of the ambulance and that reminds me there is something wrong with my leg because it hurts again.

Now I am outside the ambulance looking up to the blue skies above. The ride on this stretcher would be fun if it was not for the fact that it means there is something wrong with me.

"Girl, seventeen years old, normal vital signs, no medications or allergies, probably a broken leg, there is no displacement of the bone." the paramedic informs the doctors or nurses that have come to fetch me.

I just remembered that my right sports shoe was left at the gym. How on earth am I supposed to walk out of the hospital with only one shoe? Oh no! now they are going to tell my mother as well and she is going to get all pumped up and worried!

This part of the ride is very smooth; my stretcher is rolling inside the corridor.

"You are going to be fine, young girl." the nurse says. That is future tense, but right now I am not fine. In fact I may have a cardiac arrest any time now and I guess Skylar will write my obituary. It would read:

"She was a good friend, unpopular and mostly invisible at school but with a very big heart. She was not so brave but was a good student. She read a lot and hoped to one day become a writer if it was not for her untimely death at age 17."

"What is your name young girl?" the doctor asks. I wish they would stop calling me young girl.

"Corinta James"

"Corinta James? that is a strange name" the doctor says.

When he spoke it out loud I realized I had given the wrong name. Who is Corinta James?

"Sorry, Cristina Jones," I responded, "Cristina Jones is my name."

The ER doctor starts fondling me on my head, neck, on the sides of my small shameful breasts, then on my hips. Nothing, well, I feel my body so that is a good sign.

"It hurts a bit on my hip," I said but before I knew he was already beginning with my thighs.

"Aaaay!"

"Does it hurt there?" the doctor said, was the scream not enough?

"Yes! it hurts."

Then he continues fondling my left leg as I wince in pain. He touches my knee which is sore but does not cause me any pain. That is great, that means my knee was not dislodged! Nobody was telling me how my leg was, for all I know it could have been bent at a 45 degree angle to one side.

"Ouch! That hurts!" I scream in pain again as the doctor probed the bones under my knee.

He continued all the way down my legs to my feet with socks. It was cold here. He began probing my feet, while it was not painful, it was funny yet uncomfortable to have a stranger fondling my tender feet.

"You have a serious condition" I heard him say.

Oh no! I am going to die because of that stupid Physical Education professor! I am broken beyond repair, probably I did break a bone in my leg and it has perforated my artery and now I am going to bleed to death here! I want to call my dad.

"Did you hear me?" the doctor asks. He probably saw my almond eyes wide open and looking at the wall like a brain dead patient.

"Yes, you said I have a serious condition. How serious?" I was now very nervous, all alone in this cold room with all these strangers and now I probably have something lethal.

"No dear. I said that I have ASSESSED your condition," he repeated, "But I think you have something broken."

No, that is not good, I do not want anything broken. This has to be a mistake.

"Take this girl to the X-Rays, neck and legs please, and inform me ASAP." the doctor said.

In no time I was being carried in the stretcher to the X-Ray room.

The X-Ray room was not scary at all. This huge thing was brought over me and they took pictures. Then I was taken out and let alone on the corridor. I dared not to move but this immobility was driving me nuts already. I am freezing here and nobody has given me a blanket. Maybe they want me to catch pneumonia or something so that I stay intern here while they make a lot of money at my expense, or rather my parents'.

After ten or twenty minutes that seemed like an eternity, a beautiful black haired nurse with tanned skin came by.

"Oh you poor thing, you are going to be alright." the nurse said.

Did I say I am tired of hearing I am going to be fine? I want to know what is wrong with me, why nobody tells me? I have been so tense that I did not realize I have not asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing darling, we will get you fixed up in a few moments" she said.

If nothing is wrong with me, why do I need fixing? I don't get it, this is driving me nuts!

Before I knew it my wheeled stretcher was transiting the corridor again with me on it and I feared the worst.