La Mort et ses Merveilles ✔

8. Beguile

La Mort et ses Merveilles

Chapter 8: Beguile

"How could this happen?" Josephine asked as she wrapped my ankle in a bandage. "You sprained your ankle pretty bad."

"He fell down a hill," Leslie answered as he leaned against the wall, his hands crossed in front of him. "It was my fault, I didn't watch over him."

"I wasn't talking to you Les," the woman shot back, her tone showing a hint of irritation. "If it wasn't for you it wouldn't have happened at all."

"It wasn't his fault," I said, as the nun let go of my foot. "I wasn't watching where I was going and I slipped and rolled down the hill."

Josephine narrowed her eyes, her eyebrows bent into a frown.

"What about your shoulder?" she asked. "How'd you manage to dislocate it?"

"I hit a. . .tree," I replied, trying to cover for Leslie. "When I was falling down."

I didn't think Josephine believed me, but she never said anything.

My foot felt better with the support, although it still hurt. The young woman opened up the cabinet, taking out a box of pills. Leslie walked up and sat on the edge of the bed beside me. He had on him a faint musky odour of mothballs. It was the deer he was trying to drag, he had told me earlier.

"It could be a fracture, that ankle," the nun said, as she popped a pill out of the casing. "We wouldn't know since there's no way to check it. We don't have an x-ray machine."

"Well let's hope that isn't it," Leslie said, puckering his lips. "I'd hate to think of you being stuck in a wheelchair for months."

"Did you hear any loud crack or anything when you fell?" Josephine asked, pouring some water from a bottle into a glass. "Any snap?"

"No," I told her. "I don't think so."

"Well, we'll have a few days to find out," she said, approaching with a glass of water. "I'm just scared of any hairline fractures that's all."

She handed me the glass of water and the pill she had in her hand. For the pain, she said. Dutifully, I popped the Vicodin in my mouth and washed it down with the water.

"Well, what about me?" Leslie said, cocking his head to the side, a boyish grin on his lips. "You know I'm in a lot of pain."

It was then when Josephine slammed the cabinet door behind her. Turning around, she shot an angry glare at the young man.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with your nonsense right now, Les," she snapped. "You don't know how worried I was over him."

"C'mon it was just a joke," the young man shrugged as he leaned back.

The young woman let out a deep sigh as she folded her arms in front of her.

"You know, Jason," she said as she looked at me. "Just tell me the truth. Tell me what he did to you."

I stole a glance at the young man, who seemed rather nonchalant. The smile was gone, and he shook his leg as he leaned back.

"He didn't do anything," I said, defending the young man. "It was all on me, I fell down the hill and ended up in the ditch."

"You really don't have to be scared of him," she replied. "He can't hurt you. Not as long as I'm around."

The atmosphere in the infirmary was getting tense. I didn't like it at all.