Fighting Society

kiddo needs help-part 3

The overpowering sounds of the sirens coming from the ambulance rang repetitively in Leah's ears. It hadn't hit her that it was the ambulance that she was sat in making those noises, not wanting to address the urgency of the situation. Instead, her attention was turned to simply running her slender fingers through Jess' hair, just watching the world go by from her passenger seat beside the patient bed.

Opposite her, sat a paramedic, noting things down on a tablet of sorts. She was young, later 20s possibly, her dirty blonde hair was pulled back tightly into a bun resting at the bottom of her head, and her paramedic uniform was slightly oversized on her. Medical equipment surrounded her, wires that were connected up to Jess were all running back to the machines beside her.

Tilting her head to the side, she tried to gauge the outside world from the tinted black windows, quickly realising it was blurred. The mood lighting of the ambulance gave a rather calm atmosphere, a light blue environment surrounding them that held a peace that contrasted the wailing sirens. 

Her head then turned back to see Jess once more, her eyes still peacefully closed, her breathing slightly raggedy with the assistance of the oxygen mask over her face. Nothing about her looked like her younger sister; the scratches, bruises, bumps and pains hid her iconic freckles and smile. Leah sighed as she just watched the movements of Jess' chest go up and down, trying to time her own breaths to be able to regulate.

"She'll be okay, you know? We have no immediate serious concerns."

Leah turned to face the paramedic, who had spoken in attempt to reassure. Keeping her eyes firmly on Jess, her hand still running through her hair, she spoke up on the question she had been meaning to ask for hours, now that she was slightly more assured by Jess' receiving the correct support.

"What- What even happened?" 

"What do you mean love?"

"Everyone's told me about her injuries, and how she'll be okay... but I don't even know what's happened and I just-"

She lifted her face away from Jess for the first time since their conversation had started, finally catching eye contact with the young paramedic. She had a warm smile that Leah hadn't noticed before, slightly warming, which made the whole situation more irritating, if anything.

"I don't know what had even happened. Everything was so quick but so slow."

"Oh my love. I can't imagine how difficult it must be. The only information we got was that she was lashing out and had no control, and accidentally pulled a cupboard off the wall, that fell on top of her. She's sustained obvious crush injuries but..." The paramedic trailed off slightly, Leah looking at her in attempt to try and pressure her into continuing.

"But?"

"These injuries won't have just been sustained from the cupboard falling on her. The physical lacerations, and other external injuries yes but... Well there's concerns at internal injuries as well. With how petite she is, and how overwhelmed she had seemed, it just looks as if her body's given in. Almost like it's tired. I think there's more going on here, but we're going to get her to hospital where she'll receive all the care required."

Leah swallowed the tears building in her throat, turning back to her younger sister with a burning sensation that had returned in her eyes. 

She had thought that the explanation would've clarified everything for her, giving her an idea of how to act next, instead complicating everything further for Leah.

The talk of Jess being overwhelmed lead Leah into a spiral, her mind racing with questions, ranging from how had it gotten so bad that she'd gotten herself crushed to why had it gone so long for her body to become so incredibly exhausted.