I watched as she glared at both men before just ignoring them and focusing on me as she looked over my chart. Her black hair was pulled into a tight bun high on top her head, and her face was lined with wrinkles from the many years of hard work she no doubt put in here at this place.
“Everything looks good,” she noted, a slightMediterraneantang to her words. “How’s your pain?”
“She needs meds,” Travis said, not letting go of my hand.
“I can talk,” I muttered out, but not really up to fighting to talk either way.
“I’ll get you more pain relief. Since you are awake, I do need to check your leg. You two,” she pointed at Travis and Carlos in turn, “Need to be out.”
“I am not going anywhere,” Travis seethed.
“One of us will stay with her at all times,” Carlos said, pinning the nurse to her spot as he glared at her. I was glad that look wasn’t directed at me as she mentally turned to a pile of ashes.
“Fine,” she huffed out.
I was curious on what was going on, but my I wasn’t able to concentrate on it for too long as the pain began to become a bit more demanding with each passing second.
“You will need to turn around, though,” the nurse stated, holding her hands on her hips as she waited.
“I’ll step out,” Carlos stated. “He's seen it already anyhow.”
Seen what?
“What?” Travis said with a shrug as the nurse now stared him down. I would have laughed seeing his frightened over a woman.
“He’s fine,” I muttered out, wanting the pain meds sooner rather than later. The faster we could get all this over with, the better.
“Alright,” she sighed out, knowing it was a losing battle.
The nurse, who never did bother giving me a name, talked me through what she was doing step by step. Was she scared I was going to panic?
She folded the blanket back over the left side of me, keeping my good leg covered. I couldn’t help but look down, seeing my entire thigh wrapped in white gauze. The rest of my leg was pale with a few bruises that were already beginning to fade. I had wondered what the rest of my body looked like. Probably about the same or worse.
“Now, I’m gonna cut this off and replace it with a new gauze. It won’t take long. The wound will look red and ugly. The bandage has to be changed twice a day so infection doesn’t grow,” she explained as she took scissors to the white material.
My eyes were glued to what she was doing as each snip she made. From my knee, up to almost my hip, I was covered in the material.
Once the gauze was completely free, Travis squeezed my hand, reminding me most likely that he was still there.
Once the patch of dark red padding that was placed on top of the wound was taken off, I wasn’t sure if I was more shocked or grossed out at the angry colors.
A small round stitched spot, maybe as big as my thumbnail, was off to the side from the top of my leg. It wasn’t all that big, but the pain that radiated from it now with the pressure off was more than I was expecting. It was nearly black and blue a good three inches in every direction.
“Looking good,” the nurse said, being careful as she cleaned up around the area.
It didn’t take her all that long to wrap it back up and pushing a small button that was attached to the IV drip, instantly giving my pain medication.
“Next time we’ll start you on oral form,” the nurse said. “And get you to eat a bit of something too. The doctor will also be in after bit to talk to you about the rehab process.”
“Okay,” I said, fighting to keep my eyes opened as the pain medicine took over. It was a relief to not feel all the pain, but yet a bit disappointed that it made me so dang tired.
She gave another glare at Travis, who simply ignored her.
A thought hit me, and even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight the sleepy darkness, I still had to ask. “Zach?”
“When you can stay awake longer, I’ll tell you everything,” Travis promised.
That was enough of an answer before I let my mind fall back into the floating darkness where I’d no doubt wake up sleepy once more.
