Hold Your Head Up High

Chapter Two

I opened my eyes to a bright, large room. Looking at my surroundings, I could tell that I was in an emergency room bed. Across from me was a baby crying loudly for its mom, but since the curtain was closed I couldn't see any part of the room but mine. My mom was sitting in a soft chair next to my bed, and when she saw I had woken up she grabbed my hand and held it tight.
"Oh Maggie, my baby." She ran her other hand through my thick brunette hair.
"What happened?" I asked her, confused and groggy from what I assumed was pain meds or something like that.
"While we were at the concert, a man came up to the audience. You were shot in the arm."
"What?!"
"They gave you morphine to help with the pain. Since the bullet didn't exit your arm, they'll be taking you into surgery in a little while to remove it."
I vaguely remembered what had happened, but it was still a lot to take in. "Okay..."
"Don't worry honey, after surgery you'll recover and feel better." She assured me.
We sat in silence for a few minutes until I heard a familiar voice behind the curtain next to me.
"I'm telling you, I'm fine. Just put a bandage on it and let me get back to my tour bus."
I could tell Dan was in a lot of pain by the way he spoke. My pain started to hit me as well, because they hadn't given me enough medicine to make the pain go away.
"Is that...?" I asked my mom.
"Yes it is." She sighed. "He was shot too. I don't know his situation or anything, but I know he was hit in the foot and fell."
"Oh." I felt so bad for him. He was just singing and having a good time like we all were, but the concert had to end like this.
"Is anyone else hurt?" I heard his soft and wincing voice ask the doctor.
"Sir, you should focus on your own hea-"
"I need to know if anyone else got hurt."
"Okay." The doctor continued. "A boy was shot in the leg, but the bullet had an exit wound so they're patching him up now. However, a girl was shot in the upper arm and will be going into surgery."
"Where are they?" Dan asked.
"The boy is in bed 2, and the girl is in bed 5."
"Bed 5? This is bed 6..." He slowly opened the curtain that was separating us, revealing his scratched-up face that showed he was in pain from his foot.
"Oh my gosh." He saw the large gash in my arm and it looked as if he was about to cry.
"Is... is your foot okay?" I didn't know what to say and how to react to everything.
"My foot's fine, they just need to wrap it up and I'll be okay." Dan looked at my arm again. This time, he actually cried. He covered his mouth as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Please don't cry, I don't want you to be sad. I'm going to be fine." I couldn't believe I had just made one of my favorite people cry.
"I'm so sorry for this. I'm really sorry. Please let me make it up to you."
"You don't have to. Really. It wasn't your fault." I looked into his eyes. "After the surgery I'll be fine. Besides, even though it was cut short it was still the best concert I've ever been to."
He smiled. "That means a lot." He reached over to the table by his bed and picked up a tulip. "I know this is no way to pay for what happened today, but I thought I should give it to you. You know, to make you feel better." I took it and held the beautiful purple flower in my hand.
"Thank you." I blushed.
"What's your name by the way?" He curiously asked.
"Maggie." I loved my name for some reason.
"Maggie... I like that name. Well, I bet you know mine." We both started laughing, despite the pain from our injuries.
"Okay Margaret, we're all ready to bring you into surgery." The doctor walked up to me and spoke.
"You can call her Maggie." Dan said, and we both giggled.
"Sorry... Maggie." He looked down at his chart, then began to explain the surgery. "The procedure could take anywhere from two hours to four hours. We can't give a real estimate until we see how far the bullet has gone into her arm."
"What are the best and worst case scenarios?" I questioned.
"Best case scenario, your arm is fully healed in about three weeks. You will be able to continue with normal daily activities two weeks later. Worst case scenario..." The doctor hesitated. "If there is an infection, and it has gone deep enough to the point where we can't cure it, then we will have to amputate the arm. There is only a small chance of that happening, though, so there is no need for you to worry about it."
"Okay." I was scared, but at the same time I knew that I had no choice.
"Don't worry Maggie, everything will be fine." Dan reassured me. "I'm going to go visit the other boy that got shot, but I'll definitely see you after you get out of surgery."
"Won't you be discharged by then? I mean, your bullet just went right through."
"I was going to leave after I was discharged, but I didn't realize two other people were hurt. I want to stay to make sure the two of you are okay."
"Then I'll see you after surgery." We both waved to each other as I was taken into an operating room with a few doctors.
"Can you count back from ten for me?" The anesthesiologist asked me after putting the oxygen mask on my face.
"Ten, nine, eight..." I slowly felt myself drift off to sleep.
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