The Girl Next Door

Chapter Ten: Take The Pain Away

Shaina screamed bloody murder.

I bolted upright in bed, "Shaina?!" I exclaimed my hands fluttering over her face gently. "What's the matter?!"

She just curled in on herself and continued screaming. She was in so much pain and I just wanted to take it away.

"Nurse! Nurse! Someone! Help!" I yelled. "You're gonna be okay, Sweet Pea." I told her as I pulled her onto my lap and cuddled her hoping to bring her some comfort. "Sh." I rocked her. "You're going to be okay. Sh."

The night nurse, Jim, came rushing into the room. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" I exclaimed frantically. I was scared to be honest. I didn't even know if she was going to be okay. "She just woke up screaming."

Tears started streaming down her face. Which just made me more worried. "My stomach!" she sobbed.

"Let's get her an MRI." Jim approached the bed. "Here, let me have her, Matthew."

I reluctantly tried to hand her over but she clutched my shirt tightly in her fists. "Please!" she begged. "I need him."

Jim nodded. "Follow me."

I climbed out of bed with her in my arms and hurried after Jim. I held her tightly to my chest as she continued to sob and scream.

Jim spoke into an walkie talkie as we went. "I need an emergency MRI for patient Shaina Collins. She has a hernia and has woken up in extreme pain. I believe the hernia has grown and she may need to be rushed into emergency surgery. Someone contact her parents."

We entered the MRI room and I sat on the board with Shaina curled tightly into my side.

"Alright Shaina, you've got to lay down on your back." He told her.

"No!" She sobbed into my side.

"Shaina," I said softly trying to coax her. "You need to do this."

"But it hurts so much!" She screamed. It hurt me to see her so miserable.

"I know, Sweet Pea, I know." I choked. My eyes filled with tears because she was in so much pain, "But to make the pain go away they have to know what's causing it."

She just continued to sob.

"Please, Sweet Pea." I begged. "Just do this so they can make the pain go away."

Finally, she sniffled and nodded.

I helped her to slowly uncurl and rested her head in my lap as we waited.

A new nurse came into the room, "Hello, Shaina. I'm Liz. So we're going to get an MRI and then we'll take you back to your room and get you some pain killers while we wait for the MRI images to develop. Depending on what we find, that'll determine what happens next." she turned her attention to me. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You can go right through that door and stand in that room. You'll be able to see everything so you'll know she's okay."

I stood, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, whispered in her ear, "You're gonna be okay, Sweet Pea. You'll get through this," and left.

Through the window I saw the nurse inject medicine into a port in Shaina's hans. Her face scrunched up and she looked like she was going to be sick.

The nurse slid the bed into the MRI machine and Shaina clamped her eyes shut.

I pressed my face to the glass. Soon she opened her eyes and looked at me. I gave her a small smile and a thumbs up.

She smiled back weakly.

Liz pulled Shaina out of the scanner and I immediately went back in and slowly helped Shaina to sit up. She turned over and laid back down with her head in my lap. Liz removed the needle from the port in Shaina's hand but left the port.

"You can go ahead and take her back to her room. Jim will meet you over there with pain medication." She told me.

I scooped her up in my arms and hugged her to my chest as we went back to her room.

I pushed open the door and saw Shaina's parents waiting for us.

Both jumped to their feet as I walked through the door.

"Oh Shaina baby!" Janine exclaimed.

I laid her on the bed and sat down beside her per usual wrapping my arm around her. She rested her head against my shoulder exhausted.

"How are you, Sweetheart?" her mom asked.

"My stomach hurts." She mumbled.

"What happened?" Her dad asked me.

"She woke up screaming." Was all I was able to tell him.

Jim came in with a bag of pink fluid. "Hello, Shaina." he said cheerfully. "I have your pain killer."

He connected the pain killer needle to the port and stepped back.

"Is that better?" he asked her.

I felt her tense muscles relax.

"Much. Thank you." She mumbled to Jim.

"Good. Your doctor should be in shortly."

"So I went to the police station." Janine told us as we waited. "They got the boys. I'm going tomorrow to fill out the paper work to press charges. Matthew, hon, they're going to need to go down to the station sometime tomorrow to make a statement, okay?"

"Yes ma'am of course." I told her as I gently stroked Shaina's hair. It was soft under my fingers.

Just then the door opened and in entered a doctor.

Immediately Shain tensed again. I drew her closer to. "You're going to be okay." I whispered placing a gentle kiss on her temple.

The doctor looked solemn.

"Hello, Janine." He greeted Shaina's mom.

"Stephen." she said nodding. "So, what's you find?"

He sighed. "We need to get her into surgery. Like now. The hernia ended up tearing more and from the MRI it appears that her stomach acid began leaking out through the hernia and has done some damage to the top of her intestinal tract and her abdominal wall. The surgery is going to be a little more dramatic than we had first expected. We are going to have to remove the damaged tissue from her intestines, repair the hernia, and restore the damaged tissue on her abdominal wall. Also we'll have to clean out that acid and make sure it didn't damage any other organs. All in all the surgery is going to take about six hours and she's going to have some extensive recovery."

Shaina buried her face into my side.

"What's up, Sweet Pea?" I mumbled to her tuning out the doctor and her parents.

"I'm scared, Matthew." she told me. My heart shattered. She looked up at me and all I saw was fear in her blue eyes.

"You're going to be okay, Sweet Pea." I I promised her, "You'll get through this. And I'll be by your side the whole way."

Sorry guys, this update was supposed to go up last night but I fell asleep while editing. So here it is now and yeah I hope you guys enjoy it and enjoy the soft side we get of Matthew!

Avery