BLUNT. | Liam Dunbar

Lack of Oxygen - Chapter Six

L I A M

Annie's eyes fluttered open, and for a split second, she freaked out, not remembering where she was. She looked over at me, clearing her throat. "Sorry," she sat up in the chair.

I laughed briefly, sitting up myself, and groaning when my leg shot pain up my thigh, telling me I shouldn't have done that.

"I didn't know I fell asleep," Annie commented, flattening down her wild hair.

I smiled, even with her hair wild, her makeup runny, and clothes wrinkled, she still looked beautiful. "Most people don't. They just tend to wake up."

Annie huffed a laugh, she tended to do that a lot, and tucked loose strands of hair behind her ears. "Has the doctor been in yet?"

I shook my head, "Not yet, surprisingly, and I've been here for about five hours. I'm guessing they're a little understaffed, considering the whole axe-murderer thing."

Annie nodded, crossing her legs, then uncrossing them. "Yeah, I saw that on the news. That poor Sean kid, and his whole family. I can't believe he got away."

I shrugged, "The kid's lucky."

Annie seemed consumed by her own thoughts, "Really lucky."

At that, an African-American walked into the room, holding his clipboard close to his side, pressing it into his lab coat. He gave Annie a look in the corner before walking over to me.

He sighed, "Okay, just..." I gasped as he lifted my leg up, putting a spare pillow beneath it.

He lifted up my scrubs, revealing the blue and purple indents in my leg. I sighed, "It's broken, isn't it?"

He shrugged, "It's definitely going to need an X-Ray."

"It's broken," I shook my head. "And it's all my fault."

He sat down on the bed next to my good leg. "You want to tell me what happened?"

"I went up against two juniors. One of them is captain of the team," I said, looking over at Annie, and then back to him.

"Remember what we always say... play smart, not hard."

I sighed, slumping my shoulders, "Are you mad at me?"

"No," he shook his head, "of course not. Your mom might be mad at me for getting you into lacrosse, but maybe we should both wait for the X-Ray before we panic. And trust me," he patted my good leg, standing up, "I have a lot more reason to panic than you. It's not over yet. Wait for the X-Ray."

He went to leave, but then turned to Annie. He stuck his hand out, "Hello, I'm Dr. Dunbar, Liam's step-father."

Annie stood up, making an "Oooooo" face as if it all just clicked in her head. She reached out and shook my step-dad's hand. "Hello, Annie Argent, it's nice to meet you."

My dad smiled, "Well, I'll leave you two to it." He nodded to me before walking out of the room.

"That was all very confusing up until now," Annie laughed lightly.

I laughed with her, "Yeah, his bedside manners need a lot of work."

CLASH!

I sat up quickly, looking around the room. Annie's eyes were wide, awake, instead of tired from sleep. "Did you hear that?" I asked, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. "Did you hear that crash?"

Annie stood up, running over to catch me around her shoulders as I almost fell. "Liam!" Annie called out, sitting me back down on the bed. "What do you think you're doing? Your leg is broken!"