Craving For Her

Bitten!

I froze. This was new ground. "Uh yeah... She is..."
I lowered my head and because of the awkward silence, I raised my head slowly to see her looking thoughtfully at me.
"There is no need to be ashamed of that." Was she joking or was she mocking me?
"We all have to survive somehow," She reasoned. "Dignity is nothing compared to that."
I should have felt offended because she was inferring something that should have made my blood boil but surprisingly I felt consoled and as though someone understood that some people have no choice. People like my mother.
"And I find it blatantly unfair that she gets called names when the man is also willingly involved gets called a victim but that's just the life we live in."
I nodded and smiled ruefully. It was hopeless because she was right; that was just how the world worked. I took another munch of the sandwich satisfied at least that I could talk to someone about the issue without being judged.
"What's your sister's name?" I asked
"Sarah." She replied.
"Sarah," I repeated. I felt her look at me from the corner of her eye and say nothing. After a while of silence, she asked another question.
"What about your dad?"
"It's complicated," I told her.
"It's okay," I felt her hand on my back. This prompted me to say something.
"He is mum's husband but I could never call him my dad," I sighed remembering the event that unfolded days ago. "He is a drunk ass that could fuck a tree if given a chance." I was quiet and wondering if maybe I sounded too crude.
Then Sandra burst into laughter. "He sounds like shit." I smiled genuinely at her. I realized I hadn't asked her much about herself. Suddenly the horns of cars sounded at the same time, which made us look towards the road. There was a pile-up there now.
The drivers were yelling curses at the other vehicles and trying to manoeuvre the vehicle out. We stood up and walked over to the road. People who had been walking in the same direction had stopped. They started whispering to each other. I couldn't tell what they were talking about but something must be wrong. Sandra looked at me inquiringly. "That's not good," I said.
"Yeah," She said. "I guess we will be stuck here for a while but it's not like I am complaining." I giggled at her statement. We were on our way back to our picnic site when I heard someone call out in a familiar voice.
"Sandy, Sandy," But this time it was in excitement but in crippling fear. It was Sarah.
My first thought was of the playpen. We looked there but found no sign of Sarah.
"Sandy, please." We heard again. "It bit me!" This time we found her. She was at the far end of the park. At the metal barricade. We ran there as her scream for help got other people's attention.
When we reached her side, she was on the grass with tears falling down her cheeks as she stared at the bite. It appeared that the skin wasn't broken it was just slightly discoloured.
"Are you alright?" Sandra asked panicking. She did answer the question but instead, she told us.
"A snake... it bit me." She said pointing at the bite. I felt my heart drop.
"Can you get an ambulance?" Sandra asked frantically. "Please someone call 911!"
The driver came running towards us with a phione to his ear. "I have the operator on," He went back to the call. "A girl has been bitten by a snake." A pause. "We are the Kindredheart park." 
His voice faded into the background as I concentrated squarely on Sarah's leg. The bite was conspicous and missleading. The venom would be making its way to her heart by now but that was if it was a poisenous snake in the first place. If she would end up having to be injected with anti-venom, it would be neceassary to know which type to administer. We had to locate the snake. 
"Look for the snake," I blurted out in panic. "And get me a first aid kit."
Sandra looked at me through her tears, belwithered. "What...?" She had Sarah's head on her lap.
"Yes..." someone from the small crowd of people agreed. It was a balding, burly man. "The doctor will need to know which kind of snake it is." He turned to a slight man. "Come one, Roger." And like that they passed through the middle sized opening in the fence to look for the snake before it went too far. 
"Here is the kit you asked for," A nervous looking young woman, in a slightly over-size uniform. She had to be an officer of the park but she looked a bit too young. She opened it up for me and I saw what needed.
"They are on their way," The driver announced, I only nodded.
I reached for the bandage and unwraped it. I took Sarah's leg in a firm grip and began wrapping it as tight as humanly possible around her entire leg. I had to reduce the blood flow to inhibte the venom from getting to her heart. It greatly increased the possiblity of atrophy of her leg but it was a far better option to lose her leg than to lose her life. 
"Calm her, down," I practically yelled at Sandra. Sarah's increased due to her fear and restlessness would do far too much harm. 
"It is okay, you will be fine, don't worry," Sandra cooed her little sister, trying to sound as optimistic as she could. I just hope what she was telling Sarah would not end up being a lie. 
"What are you doing," A man's voice rang out from a distance. I raised my head to see a lean short man coming our way. "What is all of this, Lucy?" He asked impatiently as he reached us. He was talking to the woman in uniform. "I leave for a second and I come back to this." He yelled. 
"You were gone for more than an hour," She timidly, said with her head lowered and said nothing more as the newcomer continued to berate her. 
He finally turned to me. "What have you done? Are you a doctor or what?" He demanded, in a tone I did not appreciate. "Have you called 911?" 
"Yes," The driver answered. 
"Then there is no need for all of this just so you can have some fifteen minutes of fame." He came forward. "Leave it to me," He came closer. "And get that thing off her leg, they will be here soon anyway," He reached for the bandage but something else caught our attention as horns from different cars flared on the street. 
My blood ran cold, the pile up had gotten worse. The ambulance would not be able to reach our location in time.