Page 28 of Indebted

Justin shot me a quelling look.

Right. Bedside manner.

It was a side effect of spending a majority of my time with computers, they didn’t mind when I insulted them. Well, sometimes they did.

I cleared my throat. “I mean, how can I help?”

“Here,” Midge stuffed a bag into my hand, “hold this.”

Wow. Big responsibility.

I opened my mouth.

Justin shot me a death glare.

My mouth clicked shut.

“We’re going to remove the bandages, Stacy, to see how the swelling is. Have you had any abnormal pain?” Justin started to unwind the bandages, his motions graceful and gentle.

Stacy’s big brown eyes were riveted to Justin and my grip tightened on the flimsy plastic I held in my hands.

I felt Midge’s eyes on me and relaxed my fingers.

Stacy mumbled something to Justin that I didn’t care about because I was too busy keeping my lunch down.

The bandages were thrown into the bag I held, some of them covered in dried blood.

My stomach curdled.

But that was nothing compared to Stacy’s face. Two black eyes and so much swelling, blood crushed in the creases beside her nose.

I was pretty sure I turned green.

“Katie, I need you closer, I can’t reach the bag when your halfway across the room.” Midge shot me an annoyed look. No regard for my poor stomach.

I swallowed my bile and eased closer, holding the bag out as far in front of me as possible. I felt lightheaded.

Fake nails dug into my forearm and yanked. “Here.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from saying anything. I could smell the patient. A distinct disinfectant and soured copper smell.

“We’ll take the gauze out of your nose now,” Midge said to Stacy and used small pliers to grip what looked like a thin cotton ball in Stacy’s nostril. She pulled it out.

Oh god, how long was it?

I gagged.

Midge threw it into the bag I held and went to the other nostril, a curve to her lips that hadn’t been there before. Did she think my reaction was funny?

I was pretty sure smiling in the face of some girls broken nose wasn’t exactly appropriate.

The second nostril started to bleed once the cotton came out. “Oh dear,” Midge grabbed more gauze from the silver tray at her side. “Stacy keep that there. Katie, honey, are you all right? You look pale.”

Thanks for noticing now, Midge.

I clenched my teeth as Justin looked up from his inspection of the patient.

I would not vomit in front of him. But my body had other plans. My vision started to tunnel. The bag dropped from my hands and the last thing I saw was Justin lunging toward me.