With Abby’s giant form waiting by the window of the infirmary room, watching what was going on, Sarah was nervous, to say the least. She had no idea what had happened to this man, but she knew it would not be easy for her to get him patched up alone. Unfortunately, though, the doctor was out for the night and there wasn’t really anything a Large like Abby could do to help her. She knew what to do, but didn’t know if there was any internal damage on the man’s body. She sighed as she got to work on him, hoping there wasn’t any permanent damage on his body.
To say the least, the man was lucky to be able to move around as much as he did before she’d sedated him. By the looks of things, he had a few broken limbs and some cracks in his ribs. Despite this, his breathing while sedated was slow and steady, telling her that his lungs had not been hurt by whatever caused this damage. Before moving on, she looked to the window, telling the giant girl that she’d have to close the curtains to work on him. Although Abby didn’t seem to like the idea of not being able to watch, she complied with the nurse’s wishes and did nothing as she closed the curtain around the bed.
She’d started reaching for her supplies as she moved her attention to his leg, which looked misplaced. Carefully moving it, she forced it back into place, all while watching his face, hoping she wouldn’t rip him from his sleep. As much as she wanted to give him something to ease the pain, it was not wise to mix a sedative with that substance. There was a chance the mixture could make his pain even worse. Thankfully, his eyes stayed shut and he wasn’t awoken by this.
After a few hours of working, Sarah had done everything she believed she could. She ran test after test after test to make sure his blood was okay and none of his internal organs had been damaged. His left arm was in a sling, and his leg in a small cast. He had bandages around his gut and back, protecting his ribs from much outside pressure. He was in a sitting position, though still fast asleep by the time Sarah felt that it was alright to open up the curtain and let Abby see him.
Abby nearly screamed as she saw Jim in so many bandages. Although she knew that he’d been greatly injured, she didn’t think he’d had so many broken bones. The vision of all these bandages made her think back even more to what had happened earlier that day. It was only his first day at the University and he was already hospitalized. What kind of effect would that have on poor Jim once he’d woken up from the nap Sarah’s sedative had given him? She almost didn’t even want to think about it. She didn’t get much of a chance to think about it, anyways, as the nurse walked to the window.
Sarah approached the window and immediately threw her hands on her hips, looking up towards Abby’s face with a serious look on her face. She knew that Abby knew about this man and his injuries, and she planned to find out exactly what had happened. She was responsible for the safety of the students and staff on campus, and the fact that he was brought to her in the middle of the night only made her worry even more.
After taking a deep breath, she called up to Abby, a very serious tone in her voice. “Alright, Miss Abby. Your friend’s all patched up now, but we are far from done here. This man is my patient now, and I expect you to tell me how all of these injuries came upon him in the middle of the night.”
Abby felt a bit of fear and nervousness as she was asked this question. Although she would have no problem telling the nurse what had happened, the very fact and nature of the cause of these injuries made her worry about Fran’s position at the University. Were the entire campus to find out that she’d kidnapped and nearly killed Jim, she could face expulsion. Nonetheless, she knew she had to tell Sarah the truth about what happened.
After taking a deep breath, Abby began to weave the tale of the latter part of the day. She started with Fran coming to her, talking about losing Jim and talked about everything that had happened afterwards. She spoke of her collapsing at the Cheering Practice Zone, traveling with Helen, meeting Emily, traveling to the Large District, and of the blow Jim had suffered against her watch. It was a fairly lengthy tale, but she told it as slowly and clearly as she could.
As Abby finished her story, Sarah’s jaw had dropped. No amount of physical or mental training in her 33 years of living could have prepared for the bomb that was just dropped on her. If Abby were telling the truth, then this man had come here for his first day on the job, met three people that befriended him, got kidnapped by one, taken home and nearly killed, only to be saved by Abby, who had also suffered wounds at the hands of this other girl.
Sarah took a deep breath as she thought about all of this. She’d heard of Fran before. The energetic black-clad girl of the campus. She always knew that the girl could be a little rough with Minors, such as herself or her patient, but never in her life could she have guessed her to be the type to get jealous and kidnap someone because of the reasons that she’d apparently kidnapped this man for.
It was a lot to take in at once, and she took a few deep breaths. As she finished them, she looked up at Abby, remembering that she’d gotten hurt as well during her ‘rescue operation’ in the Large District. Planning on using that to help distract her and cope with all of this, she took a few steps back and called up to Abby again. “Miss Abby, you said you got hurt, right? Lean your hand into the window so I can fix it up, too. I need something to do to help me cope with the story you just told me.”
Sarah’s mind was racing as she saw Abby’s hand slowly entering the room through the window. She slowly walked forward and started examining and feeling around her hand, feeling for any fractured or broken bones. She made a few trips around the hand, feeling around a lot longer than she’d needed to. She knew her index finger had a small fracture in it, but her mind was keeping her from continuing, stuck on the tale she’d been told, and the dangers it held.
Sarah began to think to herself as she ran her hands across Abby’s fingers again. ‘If all of this is true, then what does that mean for us, or the Larges in general? What if someone was around and heard all of this happen? Were the media to catch light of this incident, the Anti-Large Activists would never leave us alone. They’d trash all the hard work we’ve been trying to accomplish all these years. I have to make sure this never goes public.’
As she finished her thought, she looked at Abby, telling her to keep her hand in the building, discussing the small fracture she had in her index finger. Sarah soon left the area around the window and went into a closet, grabbing a very large roll of what looked like over-sized bandages. Bringing it back over with a bottle of medication, she covered a good portion of the girl’s finger in the medication. After taking a moment to softly rub the medication on her finger, she pulled over the roll of bandages and began to wrap up the girl’s finger.
After wrapping the girl’s finger, she looked up at Abby and let out a sight. “Alright, Miss Abby, your finger is patched up. Be careful with it for a few days and it will be as good as new in no time at all.” She then looked back at Jim, wrapped in bandages and walked over towards him, sitting down in a chair, watching him sleep. She looked at Abby and simply said “It might be awhile before he’s awake. You’ve had a long day. Who don’t you lay against the building and try to get some rest? I know you’re worried about him, but you need to rest, too. Nurse’s Orders?”
Abby, fatigued at the moment, didn’t want to stop watching Jim. However, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to stay awake much further, after all the tiring events the day had given her. Since her friend wouldn’t be waking up for awhile, she nodded towards Sarah, agreeing to her ‘orders’. She nudged herself a little and sat down, leaning against the building. She closed her eyes and tried to get some rest, under the moonlight.