Press. Release. Wait.

Stuck in His Shirt

I listened to Adam fumble with the phone for a bit. He was trying to get it in a good position with one arm.

"I'm going to put the phone down for a second, okay?" He explained.

"Okay. But don't go off the line."

I heard a shuffling and Adam straining a little bit.

"I'm back." His voice was muffled like he was speaking from far away. "Okay," he said, "what do I do?"

"About... your arm?"

"Yes about my arm!" He sounded annoyed.

"I don't know. Push it into place? I guess..."

"I don't really want to touch it."

"You have to."

"It's pretty bad."

"This will make it better."

...

"Do you know what you're talking about?" He finally inquired.

There was a long silence after that.

"Okay." I admitted. "I have no idea."

"Alright," he said, "I'll do it."

What?

Somehow that convinced him.

"Wait wait wait wait!" I screamed into the speaker.

...

"What?"

"Do you have like something to cover it after? Like keep it in place or something?"

"Hang on," he mumbled. I heard some sliding movements. I thought I could pick out a few pained curses under his breath. The crackle of rocks underneath shoes. A footstep. Then another. Some indistinguishable grumbling.

"Hey," he said.

I knew that tone.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm a little stuck."

I sighed deeply.

"What did you do?" I scolded as if he were a child.

"I tried to take my shirt off. And... I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I mean it's fucking stuck on my arm dude!" he snapped.

"Okay. Okay. Just take it slow. And breathe. Please breath for me."

I heard deep breathing into the speaker.

"Can you just put your shirt back?" I asked.

"I... I guess." He admitted.

He seemed to have a ridiculously easy time slipping his shirt back on. I thought back to movies I'd seen, trying to figure out what they did.

"Hey!" I said suddenly. "Do you have a belt on?"

"Yeah."

"Take it off."

"But my pants will fall down." he insisted, somehow still able to make the worst joke on the planet despite everything. I rolled my eyes.

"Do it."

The red light above the speaker seemed to shine even brighter than before. I looked deep into the speaker, concentrating on the tiny holes that formed a circular pattern above the words.

"Wrap it around your arm." I said. I stared straight into the tiny pinprick holes, seeing how the red light just barely illuminated what was behind them.

I waited a minute for the rustling sounds to stop. Adam was clearly in pain. It must have been awkward for him to wrap the belt around his arm with just one good hand. I heard a slight, startled cry. He must have accidentally touched it.

"Are you ready?" I called out to him.

There was no response. I didn't expect there to be one.

"Pull it as hard as you can!" I yelled into the speaker.

"Cheyenne..." A whimper came back at me.

"PULL!"

What followed was a series of noises that I never thought a human could ever make. The sounds were somehow even worse coming through the speaker. I could hear the audio levels go up and down as he got closer and farther away from the speaker. The muffled sounds only accentuated the thought that Adam was being strangled.

There was silence for a few seconds.

"Adam?" I called out.

...

"Yeah?"

I sighed in relief.

"Did you do it?" I asked, "did it work?"

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean you're not sure?"

"I mean I have no idea what I'm doing!" he snapped at me, "like seriously what is it even supposed to look like? It still hurts like hell? Is that what you want?"

"Can you still see your bone?" I asked. Ordinarily I'd meet his frustration with anger but a strange calm had gone over me.

"No."

I kind of can't believe he did.

"Adam."

"What?" he answered.

"Good job," I said to him.

There was a pause. Then a quick "thanks" came from the other end.

"Do you have anything to just wrap it and stop the bleeding?" I asked.

"I guess... my shirt."

I stifled a bit of a giggle.

"Do you have anything else?" I questioned.

"My pants? They're probably going to fall off anyways."

"Okay," I smiled, "use them."

I looked up into the darkness as I heard him unbuckly his pants.

"It's kind of hard with one hand," I heard him say. I wasn't really paying attention anymore.

I looked up into the darkness for a long time. Neither of us said anything but I could hear him breathing on the other end. I felt... better. A lot better. Things were starting to slow down. I was beginning to realize my situation. I needed to figure things out. How long would it be before we were rescued? What happened to the train? What supplies do I have?

That was starting to worry me again. I looked around and looked back at the speaker.

"Hey Adam?"

I heard a snort from the other line.

"Wuh?" the voice on the other end sputtered.

"Oh," I whispered, "were you asleep."

He paused for a second.

"Yeah."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. What's up?"

"I was just wondering," I said, "was there anyone else in the car with you when you got in today?"

"Uhhhh... yeah there was," he still seemed drowsy from sleep. "Older guy. Snappy dresser seemed like."

"What happened to him after the crash?"

"I don't know,"he said, "I couldn't find him."

"Oh."