The Game We Play

Chapter Fifteen

Ash had been sitting in the hospital bed for hours. She'd opted to stay awake while they numbed her leg and removed the bullet. It felt weird- no longer painful, but it wasn't as though she didn't feel anything. The doctors didn't want her adoptive family watching, so Maia and Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were waiting in the hallway.

She felt herself falling out of consciousness and into a hazy cross between what was happening around her and what was happening in her head.

"It's okay she just..." "Don't wake it's..." "We can let..." "Too early..."

"Child." a voice rang clear through the fog. "You are too valuable to succumb to infection as your timeline suggests. You must wake up and you must plead to see the wound. It wasn't properly cleaned and the only way to ensure your participation in Ludum is if it is. Go now, wake and fix this."

Ash opened her eyes with a jolt. Her leg ached, and she sat up to take a look at it. It was bandaged, but that didn't stop blood from leaking through the cloths.

"Doctor!" she yelled. "I need a doctor!"

A woman rushed in. "You're awake! What's wrong?" she asked in a worried tone.

"There's... something wrong. It feels like there's still something in my leg." she said feigning a frantic tone.

"Ashley, Dr. James fully cleaned out your wound. It's going to hurt for a while but-"

"No!" she burst. "Th-there's something there. Please... just check for me...?" Ash pleaded.

The woman sighed before carefully removing her bandages.

"We needed to replace these anyways." she mumbled as she tossed out the bloodied cloths.

She gasped as she got a good look at the wound.

"I'm so sorry, I can see why you would feel that way. Please, allow me to get my team to clean this out properly." the woman stated as calmly as possible.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Ash heard her screaming at the doctor who had failed to properly clean her injury. A moment later, a few other people came in and removed the bullet fragments he had missed and sterilized the wound. Ash watched them with interest, an almost disassociated curiosity attracting her attention.

"Most people would have fainted at this point." a man commented.

"I've seen worse." she replied.

He went silent, her words leaving an awkward tension preventing any further conversation.

Once they were done, Maia and her parents ran in, happy that she was okay, and still questioning what happened. She explained a gang member had shot her while she was escaping an attempted assault, and Mrs. Johnson phoned the police with her information. Papers were signed and people came in to talk to her, but by midday the next day, she was allowed to go home. As soon as Ash got back to her room, she fell to the bed, and finally cried.

She'd put on a brave face as she always had, but it hurt so badly and the experience had been terrifying. She picked up her phone and checked her notifications. Laurence and Charlie both wished her good luck in healing, but Conner's message surprised her.

"Now I really won't let you go."

"Since when were you the boss of me?"

She groaned as she sent the message, upset with Conner's protectiveness.

"Give me a reason to think that you'd be okay. You just got shot for god's sake- you can't go through with this!"

"I've survived my father leaving me, my mother killing herself, my brother becoming comatose, multiple assaults, and you still think I'm too weak to go? I don't need your approval, thank you though. There's nothing you can say to change my mind."

"How about 'look out your window'?"

~~~~~~

Man this girl is hardcore- she just watched the doctors stitch her up! What do you think Conner wants? Stay safe! <3