The night shift was just finishing at All Saints Western General Hospital and many other doctors and nurses were trying to drag them selves out of bed for another long day in the emergency department. Charlotte, Frank, Gabrielle, had just arrived whilst Mike, Erica, Jack and Amy were heading off. It had been a quiet night, thankfully, and the day staff wished it would stay that way. It was a Monday, after all and they are usually fairly quiet.
The morning was going by very slow. Charlotte and Gabrielle were in the staff common room sitting back and enjoying a cup of coffee. Suddenly, the ambulance officers Cate and Bree walked it. Those two made a good pair, they were good friends and they did the job well together. Just as Bree went to make her self a cup of tea, there was a call out dispatched over the radio
"Car 468 are you clear?" the voice from nowhere asked
"Cate groaned, and Bree replied "We are clear"
"We have a situation that's escalating at the local primary school. A 12 year old has been injured and is unconscious. Police are already on the way"
Bree once again pressed the button on the side of the radio, notifying them that they were responding, and with that, they left Charlotte and Gabrielle to enjoy their coffee.
Cate had control of the truck, in which they were racing to this high school in record time, this was of course helped by the use of sirens and lights to avoid the dreadful traffic.
"Oh gosh I really hope this isn't some sort of gang related thing" exclaimed Bree.
"…at a primary school? Seriously? Well I hope its not a armed hold up either" Cate replied, and with that they pulled up outside the school.
Erica had arrived home after her 12 hour night shift. She was best friends with Claire, and they had been since high school and were now sharing a unit together. She walked in the door, at almost 9am, as she had stopped off for some shopping on the way home. She walked through the house, knowing Claire had today off. Something about the house seemed rather strange. It was to quiet, and usually Claire was around the greet her. Erica just assumed she was out. After dumping groceries and unpacking them, she went to the bathroom to put away the necessities.
"Oh hell." She exclaimed as she saw her best friend trembling in the corner of the bathroom, with dry blood down one side of her face and a bruise to her cheek.
After getting the equipment from the back of the truck, they were greeted by the schools principal, Mrs White
"My names Cate and this is Bree..whats happened?" She asked after shaking hands with this lady."
"A girl in Year 6, name is Annabelle has been beaten up by an 9th grader from the high school attached. This boy and his friends have been bullying her for ages but nothing has ever been this bad" she replied.
Arriving in the playground, they were all hoping that the injuries were not to bad, after all, how bad could an 9th grader be? They looked around and saw 2 police officers talking with the offender, a teacher trying to get rid of the crowd of students that had formed, and another teacher kneeling beside this girls body.
They sped up with the walking pace and finally reached where the girl was lying. Just from observation the two paramedics could tell she had a possible broken arm and a face with blood all over it. She was unconscious but as you do, Cate tried to get some sort of response out of her. She knelt down beside her, shining a light in her eyes and holding onto her hands"Annabelle? Squeeze my hands if you can hear me honey."
There was no response and with that, an oxygen mask was placed over her face and she was loaded onto the stretcher She was checked for spinal injuries but nothing seemed to be of worry.
The sirens were put on again ,and Bree was in the back with the girl who out of the blue suddenly awoke and tried to move out from the bed she was strapped down to, not having a clue in the world where she was.
"Hey hey hey your awake. Calm down. My names Bree. I'm a ambulance officer. Can you tell me your name sweetie?" she said, trying to reassure the scared girl.
"Um er Annabelle…where am I?" she just managed to get out while trying not to cry
"Your in the ambulance" Bree responded, while holding her small hand in both of her hands "You were injured during a school yard fight…do you remember anything?"
Annabelle took her time answering, still slightly confused … "Um yeah sort of…I was walking into the playground for recess and suddenly…" she started to cry even more.
"Hey its ok sweetie its ok your safe with us now and we will be at the hospital in no time"
She went and knelt in front of Claire, who was still crying and noticeably shaking uncontrollably.
"Hey.." Erica said in her soothing voice, which was part of her kind and gentle manner she displayed with most patients at the hospital.
"What happened? Can you tell me? Who did this?" Erica was hoping she hasn't asked to many questions, but enough to get some sort of response out of her.
"This is all my fault" Claire whispered, lowering her head down to her chest which Erica then saw as a chance to pull her in for a comforting hug
"No no noooo don't ever say that. Its not your fault. Did Ian do this?"
Ian was her abusive ex boyfriend who everyone always thought was a bit crazy. Claire didn't even have to say anything, but Erica knew as a fresh lot of tears and sobs were made heard
The ambulance came to a sudden stop, and Cate turned around, smiling when she noticed the girl was awake "We've arrived, come on lets go." They wheeled the bed out of the ambulance and were greeted at the emergency doors by Charlotte and Gabrielle.
"This is Annabelle. She's 12 years old and has been involved in a school yard assault. Obs are ok, GCS was 5 on arrival, now 15. suspected broken arm and obvious injuries to the face. She woke up in the ambulance scared and confused but has a slight recollection of what happened" Cate informed the doctor and nurse.
"Hi sweetheart, I'm Charlotte and this is Gabrielle, were gonna take care of you ok?" Charlotte told her with a smile on her face. Annabelle nodded and her tears slowly came to a stop.