And so we have reached the end of another week. Shall we see what today’s short little prompt brings us? Timer’s set, writing tools of choice at the ready. Off we go into the wilds of the blank page.
Huh. Not quite what i was expecting. usually i have some idea of where the story is going, but here I am not entirely certain. Although I did get two story ideas this week that I started breaking out with outlines so I suppose that might be my weekly quota. It feels like this needs to be nestled in some other story rather than be something on it’s own. I just don’t know what story.
Friday, July 21st: It cut deep.
It cut deep. For a second it looked like just a red line across her arm. Like a line drawn with cherry red paint. It didn’t hurt at first. Then the pain hit and her knees buckled. By then the others came running. She could make only small animal sounds as the others bandaged her up. Steve kept up a stream of profanity in a calm and steady voice as he worked to tie up her arm and get her to the car. He slid behind the wheel and was silent as he drove to the hospital. It seemed once his profanity was done, he had nothing left to say. As she was seeing black spots dance across her vision and was trying to breathe through the enormous pain. Sarah didn’t much care what Steve said.
She tried to breathe in and out and concentrate on not passing out. The world flew by in snippets. The car was moving. The car stopped. The door opened. She felt black and red waves of pain as she moved, but the next thing she knew she was inside the hospital. She lost track of things for a while and then someone gave her something to take the pain away and she floated.
When she stopped floating, Steve was there. Silent and sitting in the chair next to the bed. She opened her eyes and he blinked at her. She tried to move her arm, but it felt rubbery, disconnected.
“Drugs,” Steve said. She nodded. “Thirsty?” he asked. She nodded again and he picked up a cup with a straw. He moved it to her lips. They felt dry and parched.
“It the blood loss,” he said. It dehydrates you. Her lips and throat felt like sandpaper, the water felt like a miracle as she swallowed it down. Finally, she came up for air. Sarah cleared her throat.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Wire snapped,” he said. “I told him it was too tight.” He pressed his lips together and swallowed back the rest of the thought. He took a deep breath and seemed as tense as a taut wire himself. “It caught you on the top of your arm. None of the tendons or ligaments were hurt so once healed you should get full mobility. We’re lucky it didn’t go further. It will take a while to heal, and it will hurt, but it will heal.”
The thought seemed to bring him some relief. Now that she could think about it, Sarah found some relief in that as well. She heard the sound now that she could think about it but hadn’t seen anything but the line of blood on her arm followed by the pain.
“One hundred and sixty stitches,” he told her as she looked at her bandaged arm. “They have a prescription for you and a cleaning schedule an they’ll want to see you back here for a checkup. They want to look you over now that you are awake. If you ae ready, I can get them”
Steve had the plastic cup still clutched in his hands. He was already backing towards the door. This was more words than she ever heard him speak in one sitting. She nodded and he disappeared through the open doorway.
Ten til Midnight 