Page 34 of Inherited Light
I glanced down toward where her feet were resting on each other and noticed her left ankle was at a funny angle.
“I’m not moving her,” I answered. There was so much information coming at me from all angles I was having a hard time keeping it sorted after the knock to my head. “Her ankle does look funky.”
“Is her airway open and is she breathing normally?” the operator asked.
I skidded back to her head, brushing her hair from her face. “Yes, she’s still conscious,” I said. “I hear the sirens!”
“I’ll hang up now. Make sure to give the paramedics the information about her disability.”
“Yes, yes, I will. Thank you!”
I let the phone fall into my hand and hit the off button then lay down next to her, so our noses were touching. “I’m not going to leave you, okay, sweetheart? I’m right here and I won’t leave you.”
She smiled weakly as pain etched her face. “I’ll be okay. Once they treat my ankle, anyway.”
I ran my hand down her face. “How about if we let the doctors determine if you’re okay, anyway. Okay?”
She laughed softly and flinched, her hand coming up to her head. “My head hurts.”
I nodded, lowering her hand. “Mine too, but we’re both alive. Do you remember anything about what happened?”
She closed her eyes to think, but the blare of the ambulance sirens drowned out everything in our throbbing brains. She opened her eyes again as they drove up to the curb. “No, your grunt hit my ears at the same time a flash of something blue struck out from my right. I just remember trying to get away from someone and then I woke up to you talking to me.”
I sat up and rubbed her arm. “Shhh, it’s okay. They’re going to check you out now,” I said as the paramedics ran into the yard with a backboard and neck collar.
I stood up and put my hand through my hair, groaning at the giant lump growing on the back of my head. The paramedics knelt next to Cat and started assessing her before I could say a word.
“Catalina?” the paramedic with the neck collar asked. “What the hell happened?”
Her eyes searched out the voice and she must have recognized the man behind it. Relief filled her face. “Jorge? Oh my God, Jorge. Someone attacked us,” she cried and he held her arms so she didn’t roll to her back.
“Okay, Cat, listen to me. We need to take some precautions here because of your back and neck. Do you have any pain in either?” He didn’t wait for an answer as the other EMT put the neck brace on her as a precaution.
“No. Well, yes. My back hurts, but it has hurt since I got up this morning. I took Tylenol and Advil right before this happened. My neck doesn’t hurt, but my ankle does.”
Jorge flicked his eyes to the man next to him and pointed in the direction of her leg. “Check it out for me, Jacob.”
Jorge swung his head my direction, still holding Cat steady on the ground. “Do you remember what happened?”
“Not much. I drove her home from her gallery because her van had a flat. When the automatic light didn’t come on, I checked it. Someone jumped me and hit me. When I shook the fog from my mind, I found her like this.”
His eyes flicked to Jacob who gave a slight shake of his head and jogged back to the rig. “Are you hurt, too?”
“I have a knot on my head, but that’s it. Just take care of Cat, please.”
Jacob ran back with an ankle splint and I knelt next to Cat’s head, stroking her hair. “He’s going to secure your ankle now, sweetheart,” I said, rubbing my thumb down her face.
Jorge smiled. “Don’t move, but you can scream.”
Cat chuckled and then moaned when Jacob put the splint on. “I can feel it, but not like you would feel it. I need to roll over, my arm is scraped and sore.”
Jorge held her and Jacob grabbed the backboard. “Let us do the work,” Jorge said. They rolled her backward while I maneuvered the board under her. As soon as she was on her back, she gasped and cried out. She grabbed my shirt in her fist and I leaned down by her. My heart pounded as my own back burned with pain and it took my breath away. Jorge and Jacob scrambled to secure her to the board, but she was writhing in pain.
“My back,” she gasped. “Under my knees.”
I was helpless until I realized what she wanted. I grabbed for the cushion from her wheelchair and handed it to Jorge. “She needs it under her knees. Right, honey?” I asked.
She said yes with her eyes, but instead of the cushion, they used a plastic roll they had. Once they got her strapped to the board with it under her knees she relaxed and the tension in my back begin to ease. She let go of my shirt a little bit and laughed it off.
