Abscond

Examination

I didn't really sleep that night. I mostly just sat outside the tent, watching out to make sure Calvin wouldn't find us.
Jessica limped out right before sunrise to find me dozing off, propped up on a rock. I wished I'd heard her coming; she winced as she lowered herself next to me with one arm.
"Hey," she whispered softly. She was wrapped up in a blanket and her hair was a mess...but...it was cute. I smiled, but I could tell it didn't reach my eyes. It was still bothering me that she was hurt. And it was because of me - the fact that she was here was because of me. It pained me to think it, but it was true.
"Hey. How you feeling?"
She gave the same weak smile and said she was OK. But she still held her arm as if it were in a sling, and winced whenever she moved her leg or ankle.
"What did he do to your arm?"
She frowned and bit her lip, hesitant. "He...I tried to fight him. Kind of, anyways. I thought maybe I could make a break for it if I incapacitated him. He twisted my arm back. I think it's dislocated."
I frowned, disturbed at the thought of her trying to fight off someone like Calvin. But if dislocation was the case, it needed to be popped back into place...
"Wait...dislocated? Are you sure?"
"Um, I think so."
I hated to even think about having to do it, but there wasn't any other way if it was going to heal.
"Jessica, it has to be put back into place."
She nodded, but her eyes widened a bit. "Yeah, I know...I just didn't want to try and end up hurting myself even more."
I nodded. "Can I-?" I gestured to feel her shoulder, to see if I could tell whether it was dislocated or not.
"Uh...yeah, sure."
I gingerly prodded her shoulder. I could feel where it rounded over towards her neck and could tell it wasn't totally in the socket. "Yeah, it's definitely dislocated. I'm going to have to put it back into place."
She nodded and bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Okay then. On three, right?" She nodded again, squeezing her eyes tighter. I tentatively slid my arm to hold her ribs still on the opposite side, and gripped her dislocated forearm with the other. "One," she took a deep breath, "Two," I gripped her forearm a bit tighter and she squeezed her thigh with her other hand.
"Three." I snapped it back into place as her scream erupted. She tried to stifle it as soon as it was out, but it had already tore through me. A tear slipped out of her eye, and I longed to wipe it away with the tip of my finger, but I knew that right wasn't mine. I was the one who hurt her, I was the reason she was here.
"Thanks," she whispered, scrubbing her eye with her fist. I frowned and nodded, not sure what to say. I couldn't say, "My pleasure," as it was hardly that, and, "You're welcome," didn't seem to fit the bill.
Mostly to distract myself a little more, I decided to check on her ankle too. Without asking, I sat up and bent over it, gently feeling from her foot to her calf. Whenever I moved up to the higher end of this range, I felt the goosebumps along her leg, and quickly migrated lower. What truly made me want to stay to the lower end was the fact that I got the same shiver down my spine as last night, the same goosebumps along my arms as she did wherever I touched her. But I was sure hers were a different kind. She was afraid, apprehensive, no doubt repulsed at my touch.
I couldn't find an actual break, although I was hardly a doctor. I figured it was probably fractured; if not, then it was sprained (hopefully the latter), as I could see a large bruise fanning around her swollen ankle. I decided to change our route so that we could stop by a hospital and receive an actual diagnosis. I'd taken all that I could find of Calvin's money just in case. I didn't know how long we'd be on the run for, so I took the vast majority of his 'funding.' This is what I planned to use to pay for the hospital visit - Calvin had saved up a decent amount. We'd be able to last a while on that combined with the supplies I'd packed.
"I think it's fractured. I'll take you to a hospital."
"Okay, yeah, one question though."
"Yeah?"
"Even if you knew how to get me to a hospital, how the heck am I going pay for it?"
"You aren't paying anything. I am." She raised both her eyebrows at me, peering from under her lashes.
"Really?"
I sighed, resigned. "I took some of Calvin's money, alright?" She kept giving me the same look a mother would give her child, asking if what they did was acceptable, or saying with her eyes that she didn't buy their excuse. "Okay, most of his money. Happy?"
She let out a little, "Hmph," and stared down at her lap, shaking her head.
"Oh, what? Would you rather be stuck in that place with him?" She flinched a bit at that thought - good, I thought, she should be scared. I could've left her. As soon as that thought came up, I looked up at her beautiful, innocent face and knew, no. I never could have left her there.