Scales

Chapter Eleven

The next day arrived with the loud hustle and bustle of employees and other patients. Doctors were chatting in the hallway and the nurses were helping patients with healed fractures take their first steps.

"Good morning," said one nurse as she opened the door to my room with a food tray with a small amount of food on it.

"This is just to get your system going," she explained as I ate after giving her a respectful thank-you. "Today we will check the wound to see how well it has healed. If it's perfectly healed, then we'll put you through a short, gradual physical test to allow your heart and veins to function smoothly again. Once that is over, then the remaining blood transfusions can begin."

"Makes sense with all the sitting I've been doing," I replied with a chuckle. "When will I get to see my friends again?"

"Shortly after the blood transfusion, once the skin hole caused by the IV line has healed, which shouldn't be long," the nurse told me. "You'll want to be gradual with your physical activity for a month after this."

"Note taken, ma'am," I saluted.

"All right, have a short rest before the wound examination," she told me after I finished eating.

"Thanks." I leaned back and dozed off. It felt like just an hour before the doors burst open again – this time with two doctors, who were pushing a cart with a metal pole sticking straight up from it. At the top of the pole was a transparent IV bag, glowing dark red with the blood inside.

"This might hurt," the nurse warned me as she also entered the room behind the doctors, who were now fixing the cart in position and connecting the bag and its clear tube to an injector.

"Ow!" I winced as the doctors held my arm still and injected the IV tip into it.

"All done," the doctors told me as they adjusted the valve on the IV tube where it connected to the bag. "This could take a good two to three hours, and we will need to monitor you over time."

"That's alright," I replied in a respectful tone.

Placing my injected arm on a support pillow, I leaned back against the pillow and rested while the new blood slowly dripped into my arm's primary vein. As I waited, I thought deeply about what I would do once I got out of the hospital.

Instead of simply being leashed and pulled back into my crummy apartment suite, I'd reunite with my friends and we'd fight for our rights. Although we had placed ourselves in a potentially dangerous environment, we were not to blame for the attack. However, we did transgress the boundaries our parents had set for us. Hopefully they'd be kind-hearted enough to know that the wilderness thugs had already done a good enough job of punishment for us.

After this was all over, I also decided to advise Jack to stay away from any treasure-hunting or mystery-seeking activities; they were just too risky, especially after the near-death experience we all had in the cave.

At two p.m., the doctors and the nurse who'd so kindly cared for me, walked in. I greeted them with a "Good afternoon" and looked up at the IV bag. It was empty. Now I could leave!

But my smile was overturned as one of the doctors shook his head, while the other one held up a fresh IV bag full of blood.

"You had a bad hemorrhage," the nurse explained. "So there's going to be several rounds of these 'drippings'. Alright?"

"You lost like, three pints of blood," one of the doctors added.

I simply nodded and leaned back to relax. The good thing was my arm didn't need to be re-injected. Then I almost jumped as what the doctor had said sunk into my brain. THREE pints of blood?! No wonder I felt so achy and drained when I woke up in the hospital.