"Hi Lexie," Callie says as she enters my room, looking down at a chart that I guess is mine. "Mark asked me to-" she looks up from the chart and stops talking as soon as she sees me.
"What's wrong?" I ask, which I guess is pretty ironic because I'm the one in the hospital bed.
"Nothing, nothing at all. Um, sorry, I didn't really... absorb it yet," Callie says. "I can't believe this happened to you, I-I'm so, so sorry." She leans against the wall and put her hand up to her face.
"It's okay Callie, I'm fine," I say and try to reach over to her, but the movement hurts my ribs and I drop back onto the bed.
"Clearly you're not fine, otherwise you wouldn't be here, but I'm here to examine your ankle and wrist, so that's what I'll do," Callie says. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, takes a deep breath, and walks over to my bed.
She begins by gingerly touching my ankle in multiple different places. I tell her whenever she's hurting me, and she concludes that I probably tore a ligament. Then, Callie examines my wrist, She does the same thing that she did to my ankle, but this time she says it's probably broken.
"I'm going to get you an x-ray just to make sure I'm right about your ankle and wrist, and then I'll get Derek to look at your head injuries," Callie says as she gathers her things to leave the room.
"Wait, Callie, please don't go," I say, and my voice cracks. I drop my head into my left hand as sobs shake my whole body. Callie rushes over and puts her arms around me, hugging me tightly.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asks.
"I-I had a patient. Ava Miller. She came in with a brain bleed, and we couldn't save her. She was brain dead. I was sitting in the stairwell doing post-ops when Julian, Ava's brother, came in. I think he was drunk. He had a cut on his arm and I tried to help him, but he refused, and then he started hitting me and kicking me. It was so scary, Callie, I-I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't speak. I just kept wishing I would pass out, to stop the pain." I look up at Callie, suddenly realizing what I had just done. "Wow, I'm sorry I didn't mean to- I wasn't trying to-" I stop, unsure of exactly what I was trying to say. I can't believe I just let it all spill out like that.
"Hey, it's not a bad thing, what you just did. It's good that you can actually talk to someone about it. I have to ask, though, why me?" Callie asks.
I shrug. "Mark and Meredith would be too sad. I felt more comfortable talking to you about it," I reply. I notice that I stopped crying at some point. "It really does feel better getting that off my chest."
"I'm glad I could help," Callie says. "You're going to have to speak to the police about this, you know."
"Yeah, I know, but can it happen later. I don't mean in a few weeks or anythings, just, maybe, tomorrow, at least?" I ask.
"I'll see what I can do," Callie says, and leaves my room.
I lie back onto my bed and stare at the ceiling, flooded with relief.
Author's Note
Hi everyone! Sorry this took forever to publish, I've been really busy with school and gymnastics. I had a really big meet yesterday and I was practicing for it for a few weeks, so I had no time to write. By the way, thank you for over 600 reads on this story and over 1 THOUSAND views on my other one! Hope you enjoy this part!
