Short Stories

The Music Room- Part 3

I woke up to my alarm clock yelling and my rib cage screaming at me. I rolled over and gasped in pain, my eyes watering and my hand over my side as if that was gonna stop the pain. I stood up slowly and almost fell over but eventually I managed to walk to the kitchen and sit down in a chair. I sat for a few minutes and ate a small breakfast bar and gathered as little of my stuff from my big backpack and put it in a smaller bag. 

I unlocked my mom's door and hurried as fast as I could out the door and walked as fast as I could to school. I got there right before first period begun and sat in my seat. The first few classes were fine and I managed them but after a few classes, I couldn't do it as easily. 

Finally lunch came and she skipped the lunchroom and went straight to the music room and she collapsed against the wall because her ribs were in agonizing pain. She heard the door open and saw Autumn walk in. 

He smiled at her at first and then he noticed the look on her face. "What's wrong Wisteria?" He asks as he kneels down next to her. He looked over her and asked again, "What happened?" 

"M-My mom hit my ribs last night and they hurt so much."  A lone tear fell down her face and her faces scrunches in pain. 

"Why did she hit you?" I shook my head and he got the message. "What do you want to do?" 

"The hospital, I can wait here for the last class, which is right after our lunch. Come get me after everyone else leaves. I'll explain what happened on the way there." 

He nods, "I'm gonna stay here for lunch and then I'll get you after class ends." He pulls me into a soft hug and whispers, "It'll be fine. You'll be fine." 

He leaves after the bell rings and ten minutes after the last bell of the day rings, Autumn shows up and helps me to his car. I tell him what happened while he drives us to the hospital. We wait in the waiting room for about 20 minutes before they were called into the doctor to see what happened and what might be wrong. 

The doctor looks me over and feels around my rib cage as wince in pain and almost cry out every time they touch my ribs. The doctor writes things down and asks what happened. I explain and he grimaces. "Elbows can do a lot of damage if they hit the right spot to many times. I'm pretty sure you have one or two broken ribs, they aren't the most major but they got worse because you didn't come here immediately. I'm going to do an x-ray to see where you were hurt." 

I nod. Autumn had been told to wait in the waiting room for me. I got my x-ray done and turns out I broke 3 ribs pretty bad but I didn't hurt or puncture any internal organs.  The doctor said that I didn't need surgery but I needed rest and he was going to send a CPS worker to my house to check everything and make sure that this doesn't happen again. He suggested that I find a place to stay over the weekends so that nothing like this or similar happens to me again, the CPS worker will call me when they come over. 

I get released with an ice pack and a prescription for pain medication. I also got a note that excused me from gym for the next 6 or 7 weeks until my ribs heal. Autumn smiles when he sees me, "What was the diagnosis?" 

"3 broken ribs. I get out of gym for the next 6 or 7 weeks until my ribs heal." He smiles and says, "I'm glad you didn't have to have surgery." I smile and nod in agreement. 

"Thanks for driving me here, I wouldn't have made it here without you." I say as we walk towards to his car. 

"No problem. I know we only really met yesterday but do you wanna go on a date with me?" He asks out of the blue. 

I smile even though it caught me off guard. "Yea, it sounds fun. Can you drive me to the cafe? I have a friend there whose house I can stay at for while. I need a place to stay that doesn't have my mom in it and my friend seems like the best place for me right now." He nods and as we pull into the cafe parking lot we exchange numbers and I smile and watch him leave. 

"Is Cierra Sanderson here?" I ask one of the workers at the cashier desk. They look around and say, "She's in the back, I'll tell her that someone wants to see her when her shift ends in a few minutes." I nod and walk over to an empty table and keep the ice pack on my ribs until she comes over and sees me. 

"Hey gi- whoa, what happened?" She asks me when she sees the ice pack. 

"Broken ribs because of my mom, I need a place to stay, is your home a place that I'd be welcome at?" I say trying to talk as minimum as I can for right now to cut back on pain. 

She frowns and then grins. "Well of course my home is always open, do you go to the same high school I do? The city one?" I nod and she laughs and says, "I can't believe I didn't see you." 

"I know right. I thought I was gonna see you. Guess our classes don't overlap." I say smiling at her. "When can we leave? I need some rest." 

"We can leave right now. Come on my car is outside."