Hey, I just want to thank all my loyal reviewers, which just so happens to be only two people, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. But thanks guys, your reviews mean the world to me.
The next morning, I woke, expecting to hear Tru sayâ.something, but instead heard nothing.
That's when reality hit me like a semi, so I looked for Cam instead, but he had already left.
As I showered, got dressed, and headed to the track for my volunteer job as a paramedic.
As I neared my vehicle, I saw Hunter in his racing gear leaning on it.
"Hey," I said, "Whacha up to?"
"Nothing much," he replied, "Thought you might give me a ride."
"Yeah, sure," I agreed, "Hop in."
As he did so, he told me, "Just heard about your friend; sorry about that."
"Cam talked with a receptionist there, and he told us that she only had a broken arm and that she was still out."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him nod; then ask, "You ok?"
"As good as can be expected," I replied.
"You'll be alright," he told me.
I smiled and parked, not bothering to announce that we were there to him. When I was getting out of the car, he grabbed my arm and yanked me back in.
"You sure?"
I smiled and said, "Yes, I'll be fine," and I pecked him on the cheek. "Now go; good luck; your race is gonna start."
After we got out, I locked the doors and headed to the medic tent, where someone clad in yellow sat holding a compress to his head.
"Hey, Dustin, what happened?"
"I don't really know."
"Uh-huh," I said, grabbing a small flashlight and flashing it into his eyes. His pupils dilated, but not a whole lot. "Concussion, dude."
He
nodded slightly, probably to avoid the pain in his head to
rattle.
"You want me to get you a cold one?" I asked, feeling
that the first one had gone warm.
"Yeah," he replied, "that would be nice."
I nodded and as soon as I got one, I saw a gnarly wreck out on the track.
"Here, Dustin," I said, handing him the colder one; then asked Shane, who was standing near by, to watch him.
As I sped out to the track, I saw them pull a bike off the rider with the number "06".
I gasped and dropped on my knees beside him while the others got a stretcher.
"Tell it to me straight, Freed," he said, "How bad is it?"
I knew it was Hunter.
"Your leg's badly twisted, possibly broken. And by the way you fell, something in your back could have been broken also. That's why you cannot get up. You might dislocate it." I didn't even tell him about there being a chance that he might never walk again.
"Figures," he said; then laughed shortly and dryly. "No wonder I hurt like hell." I smiled at him, but I was still scared.
When the stretcher came, I told them what I thought might have happened, and they put a brace around him and as gently as they could, put him on the stretcher.
As I walked with them, Blake showing up out of no where, I told a younger member of the team, Alex, to stay behind and watch Dustin and call if he fell asleep.
As I rode with Blake and Hunter, Hunter could tell that I had not given him the whole truth.
"Freed, you're sitting there like a zombie; you didn't tell it to me straight."
"Yes, I did," I argued.
"No," He said, "Not entirely."
I sighed as tears came to my eyes. "All right, I'm sorry."
"For what?" Blake and Hunter asked in unison.
"Along with a possible broken leg and spine, there's a risk of paralization. I'm not sure how far up or down."
"How big?" Blake asked.
"A fairly good chance," I told them.
Blake's jaw dropped, and, if Hunter wasn't still wearing his helmet, I could probably see his mouth gaping open too.
"I'm sorry," I told Hunter, "I should have told you sooner. I just didn't want you to stress too much."
A single tear slipped out of my control and slipped down my cheek.
They both looked at me in silence.
Before we got there, I wrote some notes on his vitals, like blood pressure and breath rate. When we stopped, I helped wheel Hunter out of the ambulance, but stuck around to close the doors.
I sighed again, and, not knowing what else to do, went into the waiting room and sat in a chair.
"You might want to tell him the other secret you have," a voice whispered in my ear, causing me to jump clear out of my seat.
I turned around and smiled. "Oh, Blake, you scared the living hell out of me."
He smiled as if he meant to do that. "Sorry, but you really should tell himâ..you know."
I nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. "I'm just scared."
"Give it a shot," he told me, "you might be surprised how worth the while it is."
I smiled and shook my head. "How do you know what to say when a girl feels down? Thanks."
"Hey, no prob."
"I'll see you later," and I decided to go check up on Tru.
When I got there, I noticed she was still out, but I went in anyways.
As I sat, I got this gut feeling that she was going to wake soon, so I braced myself.
Almost as if on cue, she bolted up saying, "You can't use the phone!"
As soon as she was out of her daze, she asked, "Where am I?"
I laughed, "In the hospital with a broken arm."
"Ok," she said; then after a pause, "Cool."
"Yeah," I said.
"And why are you here?"
"Well," I began absently but snapped back," I came back to see how you were doing, but I came after Hunter crashed andâ.." and I lost focus again.
"Ha, ha," she said, mockingly.
"Yeahâ.." I replied absently again.
"Freed?" When she got no response, she asked, "Hello? Earth to Freedra! FREED!"
I jumped back into reality. "What?"
She gave me a weird look. "You really like that guy, don't you?"
"More than you know," I replied.
She gave me another weird look but said, "Get going."
"Huh?" I asked
"Go to him; then I can't believe what I'm saying, but just go."
"You sure?"
"Yes, yes. Just go before I throw up."
"Thanks," I replied and walked quickly out to the E.R just in time to hear a yell of pain
"What just happened?" I asked.
"The doctors supposedly sedated him enough to pop his leg back into place."
But what I didn't know was the operating doctors had committed a mistake which would have life altering circumstances for us all.