Seven (Completed)

CHAPTER 17 ~ Waste of space

CHAPTER 17

Waste of space

Carlos scratched his head with his right hand since his left one had gone completely numb from the pain. He decided to finally talk to Sonia.

‘Hey!’ he called from the distance but Sonia did not seem to notice him. ‘Hello! Sonia?’ he yelled while waving and she quickly ran up to him.

‘Hey, what’s up?’ she asked in a quirky way. ‘How’re you holding up?’

‘Well, actually … Remember when I say I was not in pain?’

‘Yes,’ she answered happily.

‘Yeah, I lied. It’s killing me ever since I woke up,’ he admitted with half a smile and squinting eyes. She could tell he was in a lot of pain.

‘Oh, you poor thing. Why did you not tell me?’ she asked and her voice cracked so she cleared her throat loudly.

‘I call it “bravery” but most people probably call it “stupidity”,’ he answered and turned his eyes to the ground.

‘Aw!’ she answered and caressed his back. ‘Let’s take you to Dr. Anne, shall we?’ she asked as if he was a little child refusing to go to the dentist’s. Carlos did not protest, however. He always loved the attention and he knew he could get easily used to the way Sonia took care of him.

‘Okay,’ he answered.

‘Anne!’ Sonia called and the blonde girl responded right away. She let her backpack drop to the ground, reached the two friends’ side and crouched to reach Carlos who was sitting on the ground.

‘I’m afraid it’s worse than we’d expected,’ Anne said after pressing her fingers around his ribs and Carlos responding with noises that could not be described as human.

‘What is it?’ Carlos asked with a forehead full of wrinkles.

‘Carlos, I think one of your ribs is broken, possibly more than just one actually,’ she answered, desperate for her voice to sound calm and steady so as not to scare him even more.

‘You-you can’t do anything about it?’ he asked then.

‘I’m sorry … there’s nothing I can do, I…’ Anne felt useless. ‘I’ll be right back.’ she said and set out in the search for Lucas.

Her feet let her to Lucas’ way. He was sitting on the ground, collecting his last belongings from under a big tree. Anne called his name and he turned around to see her expressionless face.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked immediately.

‘Carlos. I really can’t … He needs to be examined by a doctor! As soon as possible!’ she yelled and let her hands fall to her sides.

‘We can’t do anything about it now, can we?’ Lucas asked with a strangely calm voice.

‘I-I guess not,’ she mumbled, her mind still processing images of Carlos in pain.

‘We just need a few more days,’ he added. ‘Don’t we have enough pain-killers?’ he asked next.

‘We do, Lucas. But pain-killers won’t mend his broken ribs.’

***

Silence ruled the endless desert in front of them and the scorching heat suffocated them.

Everyone was sweating and their clothes and backpacks felt heavier and heavier as they dragged their feet across the warm sand.