by Amy DeMeritt
“I’m still in a lot of pain. The medicine hasn’t kicked in yet.” He smiles in a kind way and steps closer to the bed. “Well, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
“The bad.” He walks over to the x-ray image and points to a spot, but I have no idea what I’m looking at. “The lesser of the bad news, first. You have a fracture in your larynx. You’ll need to be cautious with your throat for a few weeks. You’ll probably have some mild pain and hoarseness. The more you talk, the worse it will be.”
He pulls the image down and puts up another that I recognize as my ribs. I see it immediately and I groan. He looks at me sympathetically.
“You rebroke your eighth rib and it needs to be pushed back into place.”
I inhale deeply and my jaw clenches. I squeeze Madison’s and Shannon’s hands and they return my grip.
“What’s the good news?”
“If your pain is managed with the medicine, you won’t need to stay overnight.” I release a small laugh and shake my head. “That’s not news, doc. I already know that.” He smiles and turns to set his papers down and grabs a pair of gloves. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, get it over with.”
“Ok, please release their hands and hold the bedrails instead. We don’t want you breaking their hands.”
I take a deep breath and release their hands. With shaky hands, I grab the bedrails and lean my head back. I close my eyes and feel his hands carefully adjusting my gown and blankets so he can see what he’s doing, without exposing me. Without warning, he presses hard and fast into my ribs, causing me to scream loudly and arch my back off the bed. The tears come hot and fast out of my eyes, while the cries stay choked in my groans of pain. He feels my ribs and presses in hard one more time. I scream again, but this time I feel something shift and the constant ache and pressure I felt before is gone. I’m still in agony, but it’s different.
“All done.” I look up at him blurry eyed. “Take your time, but as soon as you are able to stand, just let your nurse know and we’ll have you on your way home.”
“Thanks, doc.”
“You’re welcome. Rest up and let yourself heal.”
He leaves and everyone comes back over to the bed. Madison immediately bends down and wraps her arms around me crying. I wrap my arms around her and rub her back.
“Maddi, I’m ok. You heard the good news. I get to go home soon.” Madison releases a sound between a sob and laugh and lifts her head to look at me. “I love you, Kayla. I feel so sick that my parents did this to you.”
“I love you too, Maddi.”
I kiss her lips and she gives me a small weak smile. I close my eyes for a moment and take a deep breath, as deep as I can. It makes me wince, but I don’t coil in pain. I open my eyes and try to sit forward. It hurts, but I’m able to bear it. I use the buttons on my bedrail to incline my bed to a sitting position. I take a deep breath and tap on the top of the bedrail.
“Lower this for me, please.” Shannon and Madison share a look of concern, but Madison lowers the guard. “Baby, help me stand.” Madison shakes her head. “It’s too soon. He just reset your rib.” I smile and kiss her hand. “Help me stand, Maddi.”
She looks terrified, but she wraps an arm around my back, pulls my gown closed, and offers me support while I climb off of the bed. I feel weak and sore, but I’m able to stand. I release her hand and take a few tentative steps. I smile and reach for my nurse call button.
“We’re getting out of this place, babies.”
“I’m surprised your standing already after having that rib shoved back in place. I heard your screams all the way down the hall.”
“I want pizza, so, you know, I have to stand up.” My nurse laughs and starts walking back to the door. “Ok, let me get you your discharge papers and prescriptions so you can get some pizza.”
“I’ll wait for you in the hall so you can get dressed.”
My dad smiles at me as he leaves the room and closes the door behind himself. I smile at my girls and hold my arms out to them. They smile and move around the bed to wrap around me. When they pull back, Madison pulls my gown off and Sam grabs my pile of clothes.
When we get to the car, my dad turns to look at me in the backseat.
“You want to go out for pizza or have it delivered to the house? I can have your mother and siblings meet us if you feel up to going out.”
“We’ll go home, but we need to make a quick stop first.”
“I’ll take your prescriptions while we wait for the pizza.” I shake my head and take Madison’s hand. “We need to stop at Madison’s house.” My dad’s jaw tenses and he doesn’t say anything for a full minute as he just looks at me, but then he turns around and starts the engine. “Ok.”
Chapter Nine
Madison’s dad answers the door and he looks shocked to see us, but quickly opens the door wide for us to walk in. His face looks like it aged since we left. Jacob and Ashley are sitting in the living room, but they quickly stand up and come over to our group.
“Are you ok? I mean, I know you’re injured, but why did you black out?”
“I have a fractured larynx and a broken rib, but I’ll survive.”
“Are you going to press charges?” I smile and shake my head. “No, I’m not. Where is she?” Mr. Carter looks upstairs. “She’s locked herself in the bedroom.”
“I’m going up there, alone.” He shakes his head. “No, I don’t want to upset her anymore. I don’t think she can take any more today.” I laugh and shake my head. “Well, you see, the thing is, I’m the one with a broken rib and the one that just had to have that same broken rib shoved back into place. Which, I don’t know if you know this or not, but that is extremely excruciating, especially when the pain medicine hadn’t kicked in yet to attempt to dull the agony. So, I really don’t give a damn about how emotional she is right now. She’s going to see me and talk to me like a civilized human being.”
“Fine, do what you want, but if you go up there alone, I don’t know what she’ll do to you.”
“I’m not concerned.”
I take a step towards the staircase, but Madison grabs my hand. She looks terrified. I smile and give her a hug. I kiss her forehead, but she pulls my face down and kisses me on the lips. She gives me a quick soft kiss and then lays her head on my chest a moment.
“Please be careful.”
“I will. See you in a few. Which door is it?”
“First on the right.”
Climbing the stairs is painful, but I push myself forward. When I reach the door, I knock a couple times and wait for any sound, but I receive no response. I knock again.
“Mrs. Carter, its Kayla. Please open up so we can talk.” I hear a shuffling around and a scraping sound on the door. She slowly opens the door a couple inches and looks at me through the crack in the door. “Why are you back? To have me arrested? Or to try to beat me up?”
“No, I just want to talk to you.” She just stares at me with a mixture of fear and sadness. “Why did you come back here after what I did to you? Aren’t you afraid I’ll hit you again?”
“I already told you earlier why I am standing in front of you. I am in love with your daughter. I will do anything to make sure she is happy and safe, no matter the risk.”
“You would die for my daughter?” I smile and nod. “I would, if it meant she would be safe.”
She slowly opens the door to face me, but doesn’t remove her hand from the door.
“Why do you want to be with my daughter?” I look at her confused. “You know your daughter. You know the kind of person she is. Can you really not understand why I would want to be with her?”
“I expected you to say something about her beauty.”
“Madison is gorgeous, but I fell in love with who she is as a person. Its what’s in her heart and her mind that made me fall for her.”
“What if I can’t accept this? What if I refuse to pay for her college tuition if she stays with you? Will you break up with her
so she can reach her dreams?”
“No, because your money is not the only money in the world. If you won’t pay for her college, we’ll figure it out and make sure she can stay in college. Mrs. Carter, there’s not a single threat you can throw at me that will make me walk away from your daughter. When I was kid, my mom used to tell me that the sun and stars get their light from hearts that persevere in love. When people love so strongly that nothing can tear them apart, it gives light to the universe. So, it’s been engrained in me from a young age that when you love a person, you must persevere through all things for them. If we don’t, the light goes out and we are left in sadness and darkness.”
“That’s all I feel right now. Sadness and darkness. I tore my baby girl out of the family portrait. I told her I don’t want her in my family. How do I go back from that?” I smile and reach my hand out to her. “By persevering. You may not understand us or like what we’re doing, but you can still love your daughter and treat her with respect.” She tentatively takes my hand and her bottom lip quivers and she breaks down crying. “Why are you being so nice to me after what I did to you?”
“For Madison. She needs her family.”
“I don’t want to lose my baby.” I pull on her hand, encouraging her out of the room into the hall with me. She takes a small step out, but stops and shakes her head. “How can I face her now?”
“Well, it’s not that hard. You just walk down the stairs like you’ve done thousands of times and then stand in front of her.” She releases a small laugh and shakes her head. “She must hate me.”
“I don’t hate you, so I doubt she hates you.”
“What do I even say to her?”
“Well, starting with an ‘I’m sorry’ or an ‘I love you’, sounds good to me. Please don’t ask her how the weather is, because that’s just poor conversation skills and not creative at all.” She laughs again and shakes her head. “You make it very hard for a person not to like you.” I smile really big and she laughs again. “Ok, I’ll try.”
“Good. Now, let’s make you presentable.” She smiles and laughs a little again as I step forward and wipe her eyes for her and fluff and straighten her hair. “What have you been doing in there? Your hair looks like you rubbed a balloon on it.” She playfully pushes my shoulder and laughs. “Ok, are you ready?”
She nods in a nervous way. I take her hand and slowly lead her downstairs, wincing a few times from the pain in my ribs. When we reach the landing, everyone is staring at us smiling and Madison has happy tears in her eyes.
“Maddi, your mom has something she would like to say.” Mrs. Carter is still holding my hand and looks terrified. She clears her throat, but doesn’t say anything. I lean in and pretend to whisper, but say it loud enough for everyone to hear, “Forget about that damn weather, will you?” She laughs and looks at me smiling before she looks at Madison. “I’m sorry for everything I said and did. Can I please still be your mother?”
Madison breaks down crying hard and throws her arms around her mom and I. After a few minutes, Madison pulls back wiping her eyes. She takes a step back, but then looks at me and leaps in my arms. I groan and wince a little, but I wrap my arms around her and hold her close.
“I love you so damn much. Oh my god, I can’t tell you how much I love you.” I smile and kiss her head. “I love you too, Maddi.”
She lifts her head and looks in my eyes smiling. She kisses my lips for a moment and then pulls back, taking my hand in hers as she turns to face her parents.
“Kayla, we both owe you an apology as well. I don’t even know where to begin.” I smile at Mr. Carter and shake my head. “Make me a promise that this will never happen again and you’ll never say the horrible things you said to Madison ever again and I’ll forget it happened.”
“Yes, I can do that. I know we didn’t show it, but we’re really not bad people.”
“I know.”
“Maybe we can start fresh tomorrow?”
“Yes, we’ll come back tomorrow.”
They smile in an appreciative way and Mrs. Carter steps towards us. She looks nervously between us, but her eyes settle on me.
“Are you the girl that was beat up? The one that was in the news?” I feel dread wash over me because of all of the horrible things they had said about me to Madison when they heard about it. “Yes.” She frowns and looks between us. “Why?”
“Mom, I already told you. She was protecting her roommate from her boyfriend.”
“Did you ever…”
“No, never. And I never would. She’s only a friend.”
“You did that for a friend?” I smile and glance at my dad. “I love fiercely.” My dad gives me a big proud smile and Madison gives me a kiss on the cheek. “We’re going to get some lunch and Kayla needs to rest her throat and rib so she can heal. I’ll text you later to set something up for tomorrow.”
“What’s wrong with your throat and rib?” I didn’t get to explain to Mrs. Carter yet what they did to me. I start to answer, but Madison explains to her, in an even firmness, the injuries I have. Mrs. Carter’s eyes tear up and she shakes her head. “I’m so sorry. I really am.”
“I know.”
She takes a step closer to me and tentatively reaches her hand out. I release Madison’s hand and gently pull Mrs. Carter into a hug. I hold her firmly, like I would hold anyone that I care about, and I feel her shoulders relax and she slumps into me. She cries into my neck and whispers she’s sorry several times. After a couple minutes, she lifts her face to look in my eyes. She gently touches the side of my face that she smacked the hell out of, and her lip quivers with emotion.
“Can you ever forgive me?” I smile. “For what? It’s forgotten, remember?” She smiles and kisses my forehead. “You are very unique.” I laugh hard and glance at Madison, who’s watching with a very happy smile. “Your daughter said that exact same thing the first day we met.” Mrs. Carter smiles and looks at Madison for a moment before releasing me. “Ok, go on. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
When we get in the car, I lean my head back and place a hand on my throat. It’s on fire. I really need a drink. Madison gently strokes my cheek and kisses me. I slowly open my eyes and she smiles.
“Thank you. You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met. Sam’s right; you’re not human, baby.” I laugh, but wince and swallow hard. “You’re welcome. I’m sorry, but I need to stop talking for a while.” She nods and kisses my lips. “It’s ok.”
When we get home, my mom and Sara are sitting at the dining room table talking, but they both jump up when we walk in. My mom reaches me first and gently grabs my face in her hands, making me smile. She looks at my face and neck and then looks in my eyes. She stares unblinking in my eyes with her light brown eyes and then smiles.
“Hello, angel. Did you do good?” I smile really big and nod. “I think so.”
“She was brilliant. She’d make a great chief. I’d follow her into battle any day.” I smile at my dad and laugh a little. “What’s my chief name?” My dad grins and ruffles my hair. “Chief Dancing Wolf-Slayer.” I laugh hard, which makes me groan and grab my throat. “I’m going to make you some tea. Go lay down.”
“Ok, thanks, Mom.”
I walk towards my bedroom with my girls in step behind me, but before I go inside, I turn and tell them I’m going to the bathroom really quick. They nod and go inside my room. Once I have the bathroom door closed and locked, I pull my phone out.
Me: Hey, love. I can’t talk, but I wanted to let you know I’m home. I have a fractured larynx and my 8th rib rebroke and had to be reset – it was dislocated. That was excruciating. We went back to Madison’s and I talked to her mom. I think I won her over – at least, she apologized to us and I could tell she was sincere. I doubt she’ll be enthusiastic about it, but they promised they’d never do anything like this again and they’d never say the horrible things they said again. They promised to try to understand, or at least respect her right to live her own life.
&
nbsp; Awenasa: My chest aches knowing that you have another 1-2 months of healing, but I’m glad you were able to get them to at least try to open their minds and hearts to accepting their daughter for who she is. Madison must be very relieved.
Me: She is. All of it was worth it to see the flood of emotion that overwhelmed her when her mother apologized.
Awenasa: You have such a beautiful heart and soul. I really hope those girls know how truly blessed they are to have a place in your heart. I know I count this blessing first every day.
Me: That’s good because you have a permanent residence in there. Actually, it’s more like an entire kingdom, not just a room or even a mansion. Worlds within worlds. You know how vast the universe is? That’s how big the space is that’s all yours.
Awenasa: Even with a broken body and pain radiating through you, you know how to make another person feel infinitely better and important. I love you, puppy.
Me: I love you too, beautiful. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I think I’m going to fall asleep soon.
Awenasa: Ok, feel better, my love.
I quickly go pee and wash my hands, and as I open the door, I jump, seeing Madison is standing outside the door leaning against the wall. She smiles and takes my hand.
“Sorry I startled you. I was just worried about you having trouble with the rib and wanted to be here just in case.” I blush and shake my head. “I’m ok. Sorry, did I take too long?” My heart is racing, thinking I’ve been in here too long and she’s about to question me. She giggles and kisses my cheek. “No, baby. You were only in there a few minutes. Why do you look like I caught you doing something you don’t want me to know about?” I smile and shake my head. “I just wasn’t expecting you to be there.”
She looks at me in a curious way, like she’s not sure she believes me, but she doesn’t say anything and we walk hand in hand to my bedroom. I smile as we walk in the door and see they have the mattresses laid out on the floor. Madison helps me out of my hoodie and button up flannel and then they help me to lay down. I wince a few times from my rib pinching, but once I’m lying down, I’m good. Shannon takes my shoes off and then they climb onto the bed to sit and lay close to me. I smile and lean my head back with my eyes closed.
