I wake up in bed with my left leg straight out. I suck my teeth as I regretfully move it to the side. "Matt's awake!" my Mom announces. I turn to the right to see her sitting in the chair right next to me. Joshua, Gauge and John all get up from the couch and walk over to the bed.
"You're all here?" I ask. "Yeah, we couldn't not visit you, what kinda friends would we be." John points out. "And, we're missing school as a bonus!" Gauge says excited. I laugh, "Your welcome."
Everyone smiles, but it suddenly goes away when I look at my leg. It's currently in a cast and on the inside I can feel splints keeping my leg straight. I question immediately comes to mind, "How long have I been here?"
"Only a day." Joshua answers. I sigh in relief. It would be terrible to find out I was in here for like a week or something. "Don't worry, the doctor said you could leave as soon as tomorrow!" John says, trying to make me feel better. "Tomorrow?! But tomorrow's the next track meet!" I point out. "Matt, you can't run with your leg fractured!" John tells me.
"Fractured?" I question.
Suddenly, the rooms silent. I look to my Mom, hoping for an explanation. She sighs, putting her hands in her face. "Matt, your leg is fractured. Your tibia-" Suddenly the door opens and a lady in a doctors coat and clipboard walks in. "Well hello Mr. Hernandez, I'm Mrs. Cortez. Nice to see your awake." She greets herself.
"Hi, can you tell me about my leg?" I ask quickly.
She smiles, "Of course." She pulls something out of her clipboard and shows it to me. I recognize it immediately; it's an X-ray of my leg. But in this X-ray, it's clearly broken. "Matt your tibia, or shinbone, suffered a spiral fracture after your fall. Lucky, it only broke, protruding through the skin, and not shattering into hundreds of pieces." She explains.
I know I'm gonna regret asking this, but I need to know. "When will I be able to run again?" I ask.
She looks down, putting the X-ray back on her clipboard. "After some months, your leg should heal." She tells me.
"That wasn't my question." I point out, looking her in the eyes. Again, the rooms quiet for a minute. Mrs. Cortez breaks the silence, answering, "I'm not sure you'll be able to run Matt."
That's what I was afraid of.
YOU ARE READING
The Best Fracture
ספרות נוערMatt Hernandez is deep into his track career in his junior year of high school with his best friend, Jonathan Davis, supporting him the whole way. Matt couldn't be happier until one day of practicing turns out to be the end of his entire life. A fra...
