Lights Out • 1 • Formula One ✔️

Chapter 82

I had managed to hide my hand successfully through all of the meetings on Thursday and into Friday morning. I wasn't actually going to be going out in the first free practice as the team wanted to give the slot to my former teammate, Robert. To be honest, I was quite thankful as it gave me time to go to the medical centre and get my hand checked over. The deep purple bruise could also be seen on my palm as well as the back of my hand and was beginning to turn a vile shade of green around the edges.

"Hi!" A chirpy doctor greeted, a wide smile on her face. She shut the curtain behind her before turning back to me. "My name is Sofía. I must warn you that I'm not very familiar with this space since I usually work at the North, Central, and South American Grand Prixs but I promise I do know what I'm doing."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "That's fine. I'm Alyssa."

"It's nice to meet you, a shame it's not under better circumstances." She tucked a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear as she read her clipboard. "It says you're a strategist at Racing Point?"

"Yes." I didn't want to tell them that I was a driver as the team would almost certainly find out. I don't want them stressing about an injury that might not even be that bad.

"Busy weekend ahead of you, eh?" Sofía gave me a warm smile and I nodded my head. "So what's the issue?"

"I, uh," I looked down at my hand feeling slightly embarrassed by the injury, "I trapped my hand in a door yesterday and it's still quite painful."

She gently grabbed my left hand and I winced slightly as she brushed the injury. She examined it for a few moments before inhaling sharply. "It's not looking too good, is it?" She muttered something to herself in, what sounded like to me, Spanish, before looking back up at me. "Okay, can you move all your fingers individually for me?" I did as instructed, mostly struggling on my index and middle.

"It's not broken, is it?" I hesitantly asked. If it was, I could be out for the next two races which would not be ideal considering my undecided career circumstances.

"Well..." She pursed her lips. "I won't know without an X-ray." Fuck. "I can go check to see if our one is free at the moment. I can't see why it wouldn't be. It's just to save you a trip to the hospital."

"Thanks, that'll be appreciated."

"I'll be back in a sec," Sofía tucked her clipboard under her arm before slipping past the curtain. As soon as she was out of sight, I rubbed my face with my good hand and sighed deeply. The last thing I need right now is a broken hand and I couldn't help but chew my lip as my mind ran over the potentially horrible outcomes.

My phone buzzed in my pocket with a text from Emanuel. I had told him that I was going to be watching the practice session from my driver cabin and also get some time in on the simulator. Luckily, he hadn't tried to find me at all and instead just sent a reminder that I'll be needed back in the garage in a little over an hour for prep work. Just as I was about to type out a short reply, Sofía reentered with a wide grin on her face. Just the expression alone made me breathe a sigh of relief.

"Great news! The X-ray is free so I can take you there now. Depending on the results, you should be leaving in about half an hour."

"That's good." I stood up from the bed and shoved my phone into my bag. I followed Sofía into an adjacent room where the X-ray was set up. I had to leave my bag behind the screen whilst the pictures were being taken but the whole process was over pretty quickly.

"Your bag was vibrating whilst you were in there so you might want to check it." Sofía told me whilst it back to me on my good hand.

I let out a sigh, walking back into the room with the bed. "It's probably someone from work seeing where I am."