PTX Oneshots

Hurt (Loko)

Leigh was a nurse at a hospital. She was a ward nurse, specifically. She prepped patients for surgery, and worked with them a bit after surgeries.

"Hey," her friend, Jenna, said one day, coming up to her. "You know that musician that invented celloboxing?"

"Yeah," Leigh said. "Kevin Olusola."

"He was in a terrible accident today," Jenna said. "His tour bus crashed. He was practicing his cello at the time, and was thrown to the ground. The cello landed right on him, and the case, which had been right next to him, was thrown against him as well. He was pinned against the wall for several minutes, they think. He was unconscious when he was recovered. He must have hit his head. He suffered severe brain damage.

"That is terrible," Leigh said. "Why are you telling me? I would have found--" she stopped. He was in that town. "Is he here?" she asked.

"Yeah, and he's going to be on your rotation," Jenna said.

Leigh stared at her, then hugged her excitedly. "Thank you so much for telling me."

_

Later that day, Leigh was doing her rounds, preparing patients for surgery. She didn't know what room Kevin was in, so she hoped every time she went into a new room that it was him.

She only had a few more patients to attend to, and was losing hope. She went into a room, and looked at the notes she had for the bed number.

"We're amputating the right arm, right?" she asked.

"Yes," the patient said.

"Okay," Leigh said, grabbing a marker from her pocket. She drew an arrow on the right arm.

"There," she said. She prepared the anesthesia.

While she was doing that, the patient frowned. "Why did you draw on my arm?"

"Because surgeons are normally very intelligent," she replied. "This does not stop them from lacking basic common sense. Nurses exist because doctors will amputate the wrong limb unless someone tells them which one to do."

The patient laughed. Leigh hooked up the anesthesia. "I'm done here," she said, leaving the room.

She had one more patient. This had to be Kevin. It would be a great way to end her work day.

She walked into the room, and stood beside the bed. It was Kevin Olusola, and he looked up at her.

"Are you the nurse?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "You have to have surgery. Your arm was damaged beyond repair."

"Oh, I know," he said. "I felt the pain. I felt the ripping. It's hanging on by the bone, right?"

She nodded, then sighed. She wasn't squeamish, but this was not a good sight. She drew an arrow on the left arm.

"Do you need to point it out?" he asked.

"Doctors can be dense," she said simply. "Are you nervous about the surgery?"

"A bit, but I should be fine," he replied. "I apparently used to want to be a surgeon."

Leigh paused. "Apparently?"

"Yeah, I don't remember anything that happened before I passed out. You haven't been here before now, so I guess you don't know."

Leigh checked her clipboard.

"Amnesia. Yes. I was told you suffered a head injury. Did you get a visitor earlier, who told you things?"