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To keep the story moving, this was struck out due to Adrianna not needing her elbow set back into place after she woke up in a sling.
The door to the room opened and in walked my dad and a handful of nurses along with my two doctors. I eyed them all and sat up straighter, wondering why so many were in here. My nerves were already shot. What had happened now?
Dad stepped up to my bedside. I glanced up, uncertain. “The doctors are going to set your elbow, and the nurses will help with the splint. When they’re done, Dr. Kozol is going to talk to you.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Last chance for pain medication,” the doctor said. I shook my head and he grimaced. I needed to get out of here as soon as possible and start draining my system of anything that could hold me back when my blood was tested for the Games. I also really didn’t like that levitating numbness feeling either. Being high wasn’t cool to me.
After he washed his hands, the doctor stood next to my bedside. He leaned over and my heartbeat rose in nervous anticipation. I knew it was going to hurt. But how bad?
“Do people usually do this without pain medicine?” I blurted out.
“Occasionally,” he said, inspecting my arm.
“That means rarely.”
The doctor tried to disguise his delight. “Most patients opt for drugs, but I’ve seen some decline it all together. You’re going to hear it slide back into place. It’ll hurt, but it’s not as bad as, say, getting staples in the back of your head. I’m sure you’ve gotten staples before.”
“Actually, I’ve been fortunate enough to not break a bone or split anything open.” He looked surprised. “Until now, anyway.”
Taking my injured arm into his hands, his fingers were gentle, but I still winced when he shifted my wrist from side to side. I held my breath. He tried to extend my arm and lift it, but he didn’t get very far. I was like a robot without oil.
“When I say take a deep breath, you do it and then exhale. This will only take a few seconds. Blink your eyes and it’ll be over.”
I nodded furiously, trying to mentally prepare for this. I wasn’t sure how something could take a few seconds but still require sedatives. I’d never heard of anyone dislocating an elbow before, so I didn’t know what to expect.
Turning my arm open so my palm faced up, he held my wrist and then placed his thumb at the center of my elbow. His gaze was on the ceiling as his thumb felt around. He stopped when he found what he was looking for.
I swallowed hard, hearing my pulse skyrocket through the machine. It beeped so fast. I wished they’d turned the damn thing off. I was taking small breaths to try and control myself, but they weren’t helping. My eyes frantically scattered around the room until they landed on my dad. He looked as sorry as I felt. We both knew he was the sole reason for my elbow dislocating.
“Please sit on your other hand,” the doctor instructed, moving my attention back to his. My brows angled toward each other. “I don’t want you to swing on me.
Shit. This was going to hurt more than I thought.
“Inhale.” He applied pressure to my elbow and my eyes filled with fear. “Exhale,” he said, watching my mouth and then eying my chest as it fell. Quickly, he pressed down and popped it back into place with a push of his finger.
The doctor was right.
I heard the joints literally pop back into place. My stomach instantly twisted with nausea from the throbbing raw ache that expanded through my entire body.
It took only a few seconds, three to be exact.
Two seconds to correct the dislocation, and one second to black out from pain.
“You caused so much turmoil for others. The guilt eats away at me more and more every day that this happened to you. I know you’re a smart girl, but you let me down.”
This time it was my turn to see through blurry eyes. The guilt ate away at me too. I’d barely had a full meal since I’d been admitted to the hospital. I was afraid to see what I weighed. I clenched my eyes shut and tried to breathe. All I seemed to do was mess up everything for everyone and that truth fed my guilty side.
“In spite of what’s occurred, I find myself asking the same question often.” I frowned, opening my eyes. “If you hadn’t been training at World Cup, would we have ever found out that you were sick before it was too late? That is the one and only thing I can be grateful to Konstantin for—he watched you like a hawk and reported to me quite often. He was the one who reached out to me in the first place to advise me something was maybe wrong with you. I’ll never forget getting the call or what he said. I’ll forever be indebted to him for that, but I’ll never forgive him for what he did to you. He was more than just a friend. So if you think that as time passes I’ll have a change of heart, I won’t. One day…” He paused as his voice started to crack. “One day when you have kids, because you will make me a grandfather,” he said, and tears streamed down my cheeks, “you’ll understand how I feel and why I’m doing what I am.”
I let out a sob. Using my sweater sleeve, I wiped my tears away.
“Did you talk to my coaches? Does anyone know anything?” I asked him, then bit on my lip waiting to hear his answer.
I didn’t dare mention Kova specifically. I’d been terrified to ask him this question since I’d gotten home because I didn’t want to push it. But now that I was preparing for practice tomorrow, I had to know.
“I spoke to Madeline and told her you had a setback with your Achilles and needed to rest it. She mentioned Kova had you on the schedule for a blading session.” I waited with bated breath. My gut knew where he was going with this. “That was when she said Konstantin was arrested for assault, and that Dr. Hart would be doing it for you. I mentioned you dislocated your elbow as well.”
