Random oneshots

Burns and traps

"Come on bud," my new physical therapist said as she stood and began to walk away with her bag. "W-where are we going?" I say standing and rushing to follow her. "You and I, my good friend, are going swimming." She smiles as we begin to make our way down to the public pool. I stop as I think of the people that will be there, staring at me, judging me. "Uh no, I'm not going." I said turning and beginning to make my way back to the room we were in when her small hands wrap around my bicep, stopping me in my tracks. "Come on. If you don't do it now, you never will. No one will be starting at you, trust me." She says, looking at me with pleading eyes. I roll mine before giving up and allow her to drag me to the changing rooms. "Lets go change, is you need help just holler, okay?" She says walking to one of the cubicles and placing down her bag. I take a deep breath, preparing myself for what is going to probably happen before walking into the cubicle next to her. Before locking the door I knock on hers, the door clicks and her head appears around the edge with a smug look on her face. "Yes?" She smiles to me. I sigh and rub the back of my neck. "I don't have any swim gear." I say quietly. She chuckle before saying "good thing I came prepared." I watch as she turns away from the door and catch a glimpse of her partially bare back. I quickly look away and wait for her to turn back. She hands me a black pair of shorts, I say thank you and get changed in my own cubicle.

Surprisingly I'm changed before her so I obble into the pool amd wait for her at the edge. The warm water feels odd on my leg but I'm thrown from my thoughts when I see her walk to the pool and slide in. "Come on let's do some lengths." She says swimming to the end of the pool while I shuffle along the edge, not confident enough to swim there. "Come on slowpoke, I'll go slow so you can keep up if I have to." I roll my eyes again and push off from the wall, more focused on staying above water than moving forward.

"So what happened?" She asks as I swim up beside her at the edge of the pool. "We don't really get told much and you never talk about it." She turned towards me slightly and smiled kindly. "If I answer can I ask you something?" I say looking to her before resting my head on the edge and kicking my legs as best I can. "You just asked me something but sure." She smiled and copied my position. "Well, I was out hiking with my friend and we didn't realise there were bear traps around where we were walking. I accidentally stepped on one and ended up losing the bottom half of my leg." I said looking down at my right leg through the water. "Wow, I... l thought you were out in a war or something but honestly that sounds pretty bad ass." She said giggling slightly at the end before looking at me with her beautiful blue eyes. "So you answered now what's your question?" She said turning to me and resisting her head on her arm. "Uh, w- what happened... to your back? Y-you don't have to answer I just saw it a bit when you gave me my trunks and was curious. Sorry." I said awkwardly and looked out to the rest of the pool rather than her. "No need to apologise, I don't mind." She smiled before climbing out and turning so I could see her bare back. I climbed out and left my leg in the water and my right leg at the edge. "When I was little our house got set on fire and the back of my pyjamas caught. By the time I got out and got them removed my back had 3rd degree and my sides and some of my arms had 2nd degree burns. I couldn't get a graft on my back so it was just left as scared up ick." She said chuckling slightly at the end. "Not many people have actually seen my back, most just try to avoid it." She said turning back to me and looking down. "Well were both messed up so who cares." I say sliding back into the water and smiling up at her. "Would you want to come swimming again? It's easy on the joints and means you can exercise without your prosthetic." She said and slid in next to me. I nodded to her, smiling at her bashful face before catching her attention. "I'd love to come swimming with you again, it's better and easier that going walking or cycling and the conversations are fun." I said smiling at her. "Why did you choose physical therapy?" I asked as we both pushed off of the wall and slowly swam together. "Uh, I know what it's like to not want to go back out and join the world so I wanted to help people who are still struggling, I also get to meet lots of different people." She smiled before pushing ahead slightly. "Well I'm glad you did cos I wouldn't have been able to do this if you hadn't." I said before catching her and splashing her slightly.

"Look, I know its not part of the job but I get off in a few minutes, do you wanna go for a drink or get some food or something? It helps me get to know you and help better." She said looking nervous. "I know a pub just a bit down the road, walking distance, we can go there but I warn you, we may see some drunkards." I said beginning to walk out the changing rooms and trying to fix my soggy hair.  "I've handled a few drunkards I'm my time but any way of improving your recovery is worth the possible hassle." She smiles and wraps her arm around mine, letting me lead the way.