The picture she took...

The picture she took [8]

I sat on the uncomfortable plastic chairs in the waiting room and sighed heavily. I didn’t want to admit it but I was really afraid for Skylar. His situation was not life threatening but he was beaten up pretty badly. The doctor said he had 2 fractured ribs and a big stab wound that luckily didn’t hit anything vital. ‘Oh, Skylar you thick headed jerk, who did you piss off now!?’ I thought to myself angrily. I didn’t know why I was angry at him or why I was afraid for him but I did know that he was going to hear it when he woke up. I buried my head in my hands and sighed again, when I felt a light pad on my shoulder.

“He’ll be alright Carly.” I snapped my head up at the voice. It was Andrew. I got up and hugged him tightly.

“Oh, Andrew.” I hugged him even tighter. “He scared the hell out of me.”

Andrew caressed my back soothingly. “It’s alright. He’ll be alright.” Andrew crooned as if talking to a small child. I for one was shocked by my own behavior. When had I become so attached to these guys? The same guys that I saw pointing a gun at an innocent boy and the same guys that forced me into joining their gang. But somehow it felt right. It felt right to feel this way, to care about them. “You know he’s a tough nut to crack?”

I raised my head to look up at Andrew who had a warm smile splayed on his lips. I returned his smile and buried my head in his chest again. “Yeah, I guess he is a tough nut to crack.” I mumbled into his chest and sighed a heavy sigh.

“Carly.” I looked up and saw George’s tired eyes rest on me. “Thank you so much for what you’ve done.”

“Anytime.” I smiled reassuringly at him and sat back in one of the plastic chairs. The waiting was absolutely boring and unnerving. For Christ sake, how much time do they need to patch him up? I sighed and buried my head in my hands. I groaned loudly cause I couldn’t wait any longer. I stood up from the uncomfortable chair and started pacing around the waiting room. As I paced around like a lunatic, I saw the doctor coming out of Skylar’s room. I rushed over to his side, demanding answers.

“How is he doctor?”

“He’ll be fine. He’s a strong boy. Two of his ribs are fractured and the stab wound was pretty deep but luckily it didn’t hit any vital organs.”

“We know that already!” I snapped at him. George held his hand up effectively shutting me up. I huffed in annoyance and sat back in the uncomfortable chair.

“Carly please.” I groaned and shifted, thumping with my foot nervously. “Now, please tell me, how is my son?”

“As I was saying” The doctor said and turned towards me to glare. I didn’t care. It’s not my fault that he’s repeating himself. Stupid man in a white coat. “He’ll be alright. We patched up and sanitized the wound. We also tended to his fractured ribs. Seeing as it’s a lower rib fracture there’s a potential of an injured diaphragm which can lead to a diaphragmatic hernia I would like to keep him over night.”

“Can lead to a what?!” Andrew  asked confused. The doctor slowly turned towards him, sighed and put his hands in the pockets of his long white coat.

“It’s a complication that can-” I cut him in the middle of the sentence, bolting out of my chair.

“Yes, yes. It can usually occur in cases with fractured ribs, especially on the lower rib cage. Diaphragmatic hernia is a hole in the diaphragm that allows the abdominal contents to move into the chest cavity. Now, can we go see him already?” I looked at the doctor’s dumbfounded face, to Andrew’s shocked one and finally rested my eyes on George’s confused but smiling face. “What?” I asked when they kept staring at me.