This choice: You felt okay, but you've possibly had a concussion! • Go Back...Chapter #5Having Neck Pain is a Pain in the Neck by: wowee   "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid he's had a terrible accident." echoed a stern males voice from somewhere in the inky blackness surrounding you.
"No! ...Isn't there something you can do?" asked another female voice sounding near the point of tears.
"There's...nothing we can do" said the males voice solemnly "Your son has had severe brain trauma...We...we have to pull the plug."
***
"Nooo!" you suddenly shout erupting awake. Blinking , you gazed about and realized that there was in fact nobody around you. Wait a minute, this was the infirmary! Slowly you began to recall the events that had put you here in the first place. The now sickening scent of pickling juice seemed to be coming from every pore on your body. Now though, where was everyone? How long had you been out? And why did your neck feel so-stiff! Feeling with your hands and turning your head downwards as best you could you realized that your neck was now encased in... What was this thing around your neck? Before you could examine yourself further you had your first visitor.
"Oh good! You're up!" said Nurse Young from somewhere behind the four curtain walls, still seated in her reinforced roller chair. "Oh sorry was my t.v. too loud? I was just watching one of my soaps Dial H for Hospital..." she blinked a bit before remembering something, something that from the look on her face was very important. "Oh!" she said quickly before wheeling her chair out of view. "Mrs. Master's he's awake now!"
There was the sound of heavy heavy footsteps pounding their way across the cool linoleum floor, and then with great speed, the furthest most curtain wall was flung open. Behind the dramatic reveal stood Mrs. Masters, panting and sweating up a storm but with a look not of strain, but shock on her face.
"Mr. Dalton!" she exclaimed crossing the room and bringing her large belly bedside. "Are you okay?-How do you feel?-Where does it hurt? Erika!" You had never heard even the tiniest bit of panic in the usually calm and well reserved Mrs. Masters, but right now she was clearly worried!
"I'm fine." you rasp, your throat feeling a bit dry. "My head still hurts a bit and I'm a little confused about why I'm wearing this...neck thing...but other than that..."
At that moment Nurse Young (still chair bound) had just re-rolled back into the room looking a bit calmer than her blonde boss. "See, he's going to be fine. He's been in here plenty of times before and gone out without a scratch. I already looked at the x-ray's and I didn't see anything severe-"
"Severe enough for a neck-brace..." icily added Mrs. Masters while pointing to your Styrofoam encased neck. You were taken aback by this sudden change in tone by Mrs. Masters, she seemingly had just gone from tender to testy in seconds flat.
"Oh right..." sheepishly said Erika Young, blushing a bit. "Well nothing more severe than a torn Trapezius muscle. No broken bones or signs of a concussion." she said correcting herself while holding up a pair of X-rays.
Mrs. Masters seemed to carefully think things over a bit before deciding on what to do next. "Well, there's no harm in another check up, although I do hope your right Nurse Young. Please give Mr. Dalton a once over and fill him in a bit, while I notify Bunnie, and follow up on that call to Mr. Dalton's parents." and with that, the heavy Headmistress waddled her way out of the room in a way that showed she was still clearly in " all business mode."
"What did I do?" you ask innocently as Nurse Young retrieves a pen-light from her uniforms very tightly packed chest pocket.
"Well, you had quite the accident. So I can understand why she's a bit worried" she begins, while shining the light directly into your eyes. (As Erika mentioned before you had been to her infirmary quite a few times before, and so the check-up process had become pretty routine between the two of you.) "And it wasn't just the usually sort of bumps and bruises your usually in here with. It was a neck injury, and it could have been a lot worse. For example, there's no sign of a concussion as far as I can tell." finished, she clicked her small pen-light off before donning a pair of gloves and opening a new tongue depressor. "Say ah. Good." she continues quickly not letting you get a word in edge wise. "Now, what's really dramatic here is that it wasn't the usual group of school girls tackling you, it was the actual school this time."
"Soah?'" you gargle, tongue still depressed.
"Soooo, since it was the schools accident...We'd be held responsible if...you know things really got bad. I'm only a nurse so I can handle almost everything. Almost. And if you did need major surgery I'm pretty sure your parents could wanted sue the school for medical costs...if they wanted to...You can close now." she says with a snap of her gloves and getting you a paper cup full of cold water. You take a small sip and the cool water feels great going down your achy throat.
"But they aren't bad right? I mean this isn't going to be a permanent thing right?" you point to your new neck accessory and turn your head about a bit, the act give you a sharp pain and you immediately stop the motion.
"Oh yes." says Nurse Young quickly. "I mean pretty much. 90% sure. Okay 75. Wait not like that- I mean you're going to be fine, it's just I don't know how long it's going to take to heal. It could be 2 weeks or 2 months depending on how quick it heals." she explains before wheeling herself back to your X-rays to restudy them.
The new news is a bit shocking to you. Wearing a neck brace for two months was definitely not something you were looking forward to. Before you could ask any more questions Mrs. Masters returned to room, now accompanied by her infinitely stone-faced assistant Abida and one very worried looking Bunnie Blake. The pink haired lunch lady's eyes lock with yours and in an instant her face brightens up exponentially.
"Ceej!" she shouts ready to give you the biggest hug ever-only to stop two paces away, noting your new Styrofoam necktie. "Oh...Oh no. Ceej." she brings a hand to her cheek dismayed at the sight of your injury.
"Not to worry Bunnie." said a now standing Nurse Young, her smile doing it's darndest to cheer the three other dour faces in the room. "I've checked Mr. Dalton here over twice now and he's going to be just fine." Then turning to you as an aide "As long as he keeps that neck brace on. No heavy lifting, and no roughhousing understand? You're going to have to take it easy " she says in a mock stern tone.
"So...you feel fine? There won't be any need to leave or press charges then?" said a still rather tense looking Mrs. Masters.
"What? No? Why would I do that?" you rasp.
"Brilliant!" cried the headmistress breathing a deep sigh of relief, the color slowly returning to her face. "Well, we're all certainly glad you currently fell fine. But, for the future, and to be on the safer side of things, I'm assigning you a caretaker."
Throat hurting to much to talk at the moment, the look on your face does all the talking for you.
"Well, we can't let our most popular student lugging himself around campus and injure his neck any further can we?" explains Mrs. Masters the silky cool as a cucumber tone returning to her voice. "Especially if it means going back across the pond for a REALLY serious injury. Claire would be- I mean the students here, would never let me here the end of it. So, I'm insisting that you have someone who could be a pair of eyes to keep a watch on you, and a pair of hands to help you out."
Okay, you think to yourself. A caretaker might not be the worst idea, especially with this neck-brace on, but who did Mrs. Masters have in mind?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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