I was feeling a little spaced out as I gazed at the black bullet on the table. My shoulder hurt, a lot but the cold air in the wound was pleasant.
Sam reached for a bottle on the table and poured something into a bowl, alarm raised in my mind when the smell hit my nose, it was rubbing alcohol. "What are you doing" I asked, looking at the bowl.
Sam continued to work, pulling out threads and needles from what looked like some kind of sewing kit but instead with a curved needle. She threaded the needle and dropped the thread and the attached needle into the bowl of alcohol. "Sterilizing for stitches"
She stood and moved towards the living area; two couches next to a window looking outside towards the ravine and the forest beyond. "You're going to do that without anesthetic?" I asked.
Sam continued to move, placing a grey blanket onto the couch. When she stood upright, she looked back at me, "I don't have much for pain, I have Tylenol and topical anesthetic gel" she paused "it's not going to be perfect, the topical gel is for poison ivy treatment and mostly dulls the itching."
Sam walked over and offered a hand to stand up. Taking it, she slid her other arm around my torso and pulled my unaffected side towards her to allow weight bearing on her. She carefully walked me over to the couch and placed me down so that I was lying on my belly with my affected shoulder and side was exposed upwards.
Sam walked back to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of tablets from a cupboard and poured a glass of milk.
Glancing at her curiously as she offered them to me, I looked pointedly at the milk. "What about water?"
"I don't know when the last time you ate was and taking Tylenol on an empty stomach could make you nauseous." Sam stated.
I nodded, and gulped down the milk, much to my distaste and swallowed the two pills.
I put my head down and covered my eyes with my unaffected arm, trying to find the will to fall asleep so that I wouldn't be in so much pain.