Alteration

Chapter 13

Alteration           

Chapter 13

Ian started running at a speed that Amelie wasn’t sure how to mentally classify. It made the world around her stop, her heart beat much faster, and it took her breath away as she clutched to the sides of the little shopping cart. After eight seconds of being entranced Ian finally jumped, clinging to the cart and the pull of gravity made them roll down the street. Ian was screaming and laughing joyfully while Amelie’s eyes just opened wide with terror. Her mind was totally focusing on what could go wrong, how they could hurt themselves and how a fun and immature situation could turn around into a disaster.

It is not karma, nor good actions, that decide your destiny. It is what your brain decides to focus on, what you freely chose to believe, that cause the events to your life.

Amelie’s terror was very hard to control, not even if she wanted, it wouldn’t disappear. It didn’t matter how cool she wanted to look in front of Maggie, Raymond, Chuck, or Ian; especially Ian.  The way she wished they saw her was irrelevant because her fear attracted the unexpected turn of events. Why there was a small elevation just in front of the cart’s wheels, only God knew. When Maggie and Raymond rolled down the street fearlessly they didn’t face this obstacle.

The small wheel turned sideways as a scared person would close their eyes when facing a monster. The back wheels rose making the cart collapse resulting in Amelie falling on her arm making a horrible cracking sound. Ian fell on her back for a second and then landed down on her side. As the cart rolled down away it crushed Ian’s wrist making him grunt in pain.

He watched as the car flew towards Chuck and looked beside him where Amelie lay facing the other way. Turning her around, he assumed she was unconscious, until she moaned struggling to move.  

“No, no, just hold still” he said realizing what the loud cracking sound he heard before meant. It was one of her bones.

“You guys, come here!” he yelled as loud as his energy allowed but didn’t know the rest of them were already jogging towards where they were.                               

“What did you do? You idiot…” Maggie immediately blamed what happened on Ian.

“Oh, now it’s my fault?” he said struggling to stand up since he needed to support himself on his hand but he felt a crippling pain on his wrist. “Help me carry her towards the car” he told Chuck.

“Let’s just get the cart again and push her up the hill” Raymond suggested

“You’re getting her inside that thing again?” Maggie snorted

“You got a better idea?” Ian said annoyed, being the first time they actually were seriously mad at each other.

None of them said a single word while they got to the car and Amelie continued being only half-conscious. They remained quiet as Raymond drove them to the hospital.

Ian was given a wrist splint and just some over the counter medicines while Amelie had to be admitted into one of the rooms because she still lay unconscious. When the doctor asked them what had happened Ian came up with a story. They would look really bad if they said what actually happened, so he said Amelie and Ian were running down the stairs while Maggie, Raymond, and Chuck waited for them at the street outside their apartments. Then she skipped one of the steps because she had turned her head around to say something to him so she fell. Then he fell with her leg, rolled over her back and down one of the steps and fell over his wrist. 

That was the best lie he could come up with even though it didn’t explain much of the things that happened but the doctor believed him. When Amelie woke up she was taken to the X-rays and the doctors said her arm was broken. After they put the cast on her arm he walked her out of the hospital.