God, he thought, the blood was EVERYWHERE. He could still see the spray of red droplets and the spreading pool of the dark, dark crimson.
"Shawn, god shawn, you're gonna be ok man. Just...just hang in there, ok?"
Gus could hear movement from Shawn, and his heavy breathing didn't sound labored, at least not yet anyway, so he was still alive, thank god.
"It's gonna be ok...just stay calm"
"Um, Gus, you have your eyes closed, how do you know it's gonna be..."
"Shawn, just stay calm! You have to stay calm and still! That's the key!
I'm gonna get something to stop the bleeding.."
Gus squinted his eyes open, there was Shawn, still standing but looking
pale, the contrast of blood didn't help. He needed to be brave and calm.
No puking Gus! Your best friend needs you!
Gus began feeling his way across the wall towards the bathroom, afraid to
open his eyes any further and have to see the horror of all the life
giving liquid that should totally still be inside of Shawn! Definitely,
not on the outside, smeared across the counters and dripping...
Gus bolted for the bathroom and leaned over the sink, battling his rising
nausea. Come on, get a grip on yourself, you will have time to puke later,
saving your best friend in the whole world comes first.
He took a few deep, non-lamaze, breaths to steady himself and grabbed the towel hanging
on the rack and steeled himself for going back out to the scene.
"Okay, I've got the towel, just keep breathing Shawn, breath with me now,
hee, hee, hoo, hee, hee, hoo..."
Gus edged back along the wall, his eyes open only enough to see a crack of light and the inside of his eyelashes. He stopped when he didn't hear any answering hees or hoos.
"Shawn, answer me dammit, you will not die on me! Breathe damn you!"
"Dude, I'm here, I'm breathing." Shawn answered back, somewhere just ahead and to the right of Gus.
Gus, knew he was going to have to open his eyes further in order to get to Shawn and begin applying pressure to the gushing wound. He pried his eyes open until he could see the blurry figure of Shawn, leaning heavily against the counter near the kitchen sink. As he eased forward, he took a deep breath to brace himself for the site of his wounded friend.
"Shawn, how are you holding up, feeling lightheaded, dizzy, trouble seeing?
Are you still able to breath okay?"
Gus got close enough to reach Shawn, he knew he had to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, but he could admit to himself, he was scared.
"Shawn, I...we've got to apply," deep gulp, "the, um, bleeding, it's..."
Shawn took the towel from his outstretched, shaking hand.
"Dude, I've got it, and I think I'm going to survive...I just need..."
Gus heard a deep moan from the man in front of him, which made his knees begin to buckle, his eyes shot open, terrified that Shawn, was going to pass out or that the pain was getting much worse. The first thing he saw was the pale face of his friend, twisted in pain, his mouth pinched and his eyes clenched shut. The bright green of his t-shirt was darkened with blood, even his jeans were splattered with the red ruby droplets. The bathroom towel was wrapped around his left hand and forearm, hiding the injury site.
"Shawn, is it worse, should I call for an ambulance? Oh god, are you going
into shock, maybe you should lay down, you have to raise the injury higher than the heart,
um, no wait you have to prop the injury, no, oh god, the feet, the feet,
have to be raised, quick you need to lay down, okay, just keep breathing,
hee, hee, hoo, hee, hee..."
"Gus, calm down, man look at me buddy, don't hyperventilate, okay good. Man you're pale, just don't puke on me now, ok, you good?" Shawn, coached Gus down from his temporary panic attack. When Gus no longer felt in danger of face-planting on the floor, he took a look at his friend and saw that he too was still secure on his legs as well.
"You alright?" The concern was touching in his friends voice, though a little misplaced seeing as how all of Gus's blood was still secure inside of blue veins.
"I'm just worried about you, Shawn, there's so much blood, what can I get you, what do you need? Are you sure you don't need an ambulance?"
Gus's gaze darted around, trying desperately not to focus on anything red.
"Gus I do need something, man," Shawn replied seriously.
"Whatever, I can do, just tell me."
"Look at me dude." The pleading in Shawn's voice, made the request impossible for Gus to ignore.
One deep breath for fortitude and he looked right at his best friend, the guy
that he had known since what felt like birth. Who may have made his life crazy,
but also made it interesting, exciting and fun. He knew this day would
come, with Shawn injuries were a considerably high possibility of any given moment, but Gus
wasn't going to let Shawn down now when he needed him most. He would be strong, he had to be strong for Shawn's sake.
So, he looked at him and focused on how best to help Shawn and hopefully not puke.
"Gus, buddy, look I appreciate the concern, and I know you're doing all you can
but we need to face the facts here. Yes, I am bleeding and I got hurt, but, dude, really,
it's just a cut..."
"Just a cut! Shawn, don't lie to me to make me feel better, I saw what happened,
I saw, all the," gulp, "all the blood."
"Gus! Look," Shawn whipped the bloodied towel from his hand and forearm and foolishly brandished his injured arm toward Gus, who immediately paled further and began to feel his knees weaken, he clenched his eyes shut in fear.
"Oh GOD, Shawn, keep the pressure on, keep it on!"
"Dude, shut up and open your eyes!" Shawn insisted.
Gus whimpered, and slowly opened his eyes to see the grisly site. He took in the copious blood that was smeared up as far as Shawn's elbow, but forced himself to keep looking, and there it was, on his hand, looking like it had been scored open like a Christmas Ham, the thumb on his friends left hand had an oozing cut across the pad.
"Dude, it's like maybe half an inch long, all I need from you is a band-aid. Seriously it's not even bleeding anymore, look!" Shawn fearlessly waved the digit about regardless of the potential to incite more bleeding, and plastered on his dumb face was a big idiot grin. "Come on, it doesn't even hurt!" He claimed poking it with his other hand. "Ouch, okay it hurts a little. Man, that knife was sharp!"
Gus had to admit that maybe an ambulance wasn't needed this time, though he would have to be sure that they watched Shawn's hand closely for infection that could possibly set in.
"Alright, Shawn, if you're sure the bleeding has slowed, I guess we can bandage it up, but you should still head over to the clinic and get it checked out, you might need stitches or a tetanus shot." Gus headed back to the bathroom to see if they had large enough bandages and gauze. He pulled out the first aid kit and was sifting through the supplies, when he heard an anguished groan from the kitchen, making Gus drop the roll of gauze and cause the sterile roll to come undone across the bathroom floor.
"What, what is it Shawn?! Is it bleeding again, do you feel nauseous? Or dizzy?"
"No! I'm fine"
"Then what is it Shawn?!" Gus frantically yelled, tripping over his own feet in his haste as he ran back toward his friend.
"Dude, I got blood on my bagel, see?"
Shawn held up a half-sliced bagel that had blood smeared all over. Gus, spun quickly and made it back to the bathroom in time to vomit in the toilet, sure that he would never buy bagels again, such a dangerous food was coming no where near Shawn again.