Setting Your Leg

" What do you mean you can't do that? I need help."

" I mean, it's too risky. I have to handle this situation myself."

" I don't understand what you're saying. Why can't you get a doctor?"

" Because I'd have to hitch a ride. If anybody would even pick me up. This face. It's kind of famous. Not in a good way. The psycho murder shows back up in town; there's gonna be questions and suspicion and doubt."

" Okay, just tell them the truth, please? That I need a doctor. I need help."

" I'm afraid that I can't do that."

Ben slowly stood up and started taking off his belt.

" Whoa, what are you doing?"

" What I should've done already."

" No, no, please! Please don't do this."

" No, stay away from me."

" Ciara, I have to do this."

" No, no, no, no!"

Ciara threw the bowl of water at him when he tried to get closer.

" Ciara, Ciara! Hey, hey, hey, look. Stop, stop, stop. Listen to me. I know that look, fear. I've seen it before."

" I'll bet you have."

" Look at me. I'm not that man anymore."

" Why, because one piece of paper says that you're cured?"

" All I wanna do is set your leg. I need the belt in order to do that. Okay?"

" Set me leg?"

" You have a compound fracture, getting you to town or getting a doctor to come up here. It's gonna take too much time. If we don't take care of this right now, we're just gonna higher the risk of complications. Worst case: amputation."

" Or you're just saying all that to scare me."

" I think I'm scaring you enough without saying a word. Do I have permission to approach? I need you to trust me, Ciara."

" So you can kill me?"

" So I can help you. Setting your leg, it's the best chance of coming out of this, okay."

" All I have to do is trust you."

" It's your choice. You either let me fix it, or you run the risk of losing your leg. What's it gonna be?"

" So you want me to trust you like you're not some psycho serial killer."

" Past tense."

Ciara groaned in pain.

" Okay, look, look, look. The longer we wait, the greater the chance of complications. You need to let me help you."

" How do I know you won't, like, snap and attack me?"

" Guessing my word's not good enough. I get it."

Ben got up from his chair and grabbed a knife from his backpack.

" To be honest with you, Ciara, you're right. You have every reason to be afraid."

" I'm giving it to you. Protection. If I make a wrong move, stab me."

Ciara took the knife from him and held it.

" So, can I help you? Can I set your leg?"

" You sure you know what you're doing?"

" Like I said, when you have a dad that likes to use his fists or whatever else is handy to make a point. I patched up my sister, Jordan, and my mom plenty of times. May I?"

" Okay."

" Oh, God."

" It's all right. Don't touch it. It's all right. Okay. I'm gonna have to rip your pant leg before we can set the bone."

Ben handed her a washcloth, " Here."

" What's this for?"

" It's to bite on."

Ciara put the washcloth in her mouth.

" I have to set the bone in place before we set your leg, and it is going..."

Ciara took the washcloth of her mouth and said, " To hurt like hell?"

" You ready to do this?"

" Mm-hmm."

" Okay."

Ben ripped open her pant leg, and Ciara groaned.

" Okay. On the count of three, okay?"

" Mm-hmm."

" One, two..."

" Mm-hmm."

" Three."

Ben set the bone back in place, and Ciara screamed out in pain.

Ben grabbed two pieces of wood and put them on either side of her leg to make a splint. He then placed duct tape around it to keep it in place.

" You are incredibly brave. You know that? You're a rockstar. You know. I heard that sometimes talking can take your mind off the pain, only if you want to."

" It looks like you know what you're doing."

" I remember this one time. My dad broke my mother's arm. Jordan took my little can of Tinkertoys and made the most badass splint I've ever seen."

" Too bad we don't have any Tinkertoys lying around here."

" Almost sounded like a joke."

" It must've been hard; what your dad did to your mom and your sister and you."

" It's all in the past. Just trying to focus on the future, and making sure this leg sets correctly. Get you back on the dance floor sooner than later."

" I'm not much of a dancer."

" You're not much of a talker, either, since I've been the one yakking the whole time. Now it's your turn. You wanna tell me what happened at the accident? What the hell were you doing out there? Why'd you crash?"

" I just crashed, all right?"

" Good enough. You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to. I respect that."

Ciara watched Ben as he put more duct tape on her splint.

" Well, it's not pretty, but I think Jordan would be damn proud of me. How does it feel?"

" Like I broke my leg."

Ben just chuckled and said, " Yeah."

" Thanks."

" You're welcome. I hope we got to it fast enough."

" Are you hungry? Thirsty? I think I saw some stale peanuts or something in the cupboard. No?"

Ben got up and pulled a thermos out of his backpack. He walked back to the bed and took the lid off.

" I wanna make sure that you stay hydrated. I could be gone for a while."

He handed her the cup of water.

" Where are you going?

" Going to get you help. Get you back to Salem."

" Wait. Don't go."

Ben stood by the door and looked at her.