Nano 2012 Day Four

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Menhaus saw the car screech to a halt but could not see Peter anywhere. He raced up to where the car was, the dazed driver already starting to get out muttering apologies. He could smell burnt tarmac on the air, could taste fragments of burning rubber in his mouth. There was a small dent in the car’s hood. It was a white car and it had a red smear where the dent was. Jesus.

“Peter! Are you OK?” Tina was yelling behind him, he turned around and saw that Peter had been found lying half under a parked car further up the street. He looked like a crumpled up ball of tissue paper, when someone had not just a cold but a constant stream from hayfever and they hold onto the same tissue for a while and run it ragged but then just dispose or it without a second thought, dropping it to lie where it fell, normally lost within the bedsheets till a disapproving and slightly grossed out partner will find it later in the night, normally by rolling onto it. Menhaus could hear a low groan coming from him. He leaned against the car Peter was sticking out from under, the feel was warm to the skin. “Peter?” Peter’s previously white shirt had a slowly growing patch of red just under the right breast. Menhaus pulled out his mobile phone and dialed emergency. After a short recorded message letting him know that the number was only to be used for real emergencies he was put through to a woman who asked for what sort of emergency it was then put him through to ambulance services.

“OK, where are you?”

“Umm… it’s a restaurant. “Tonsil Hockey””

“Tonsil Hockey? Is that in the city? Can you see what street it’s on?”

“Yes it’s in the city. Umm it’s on… Redgrove Road? No, maybe…”

“It’s alright, I’ve found it. Sending an ambulance to the location now. Now, tell me how your friend looks.”

Menhaus looked down at Peter, who was still goaning but much softer.”

“Not good. He’s not looking good. He… he was thrown when he was hit, he’s part under a car.”

“Can you tell if he’s breathing?”

“Yes, he must be, he’s groaning. There’s… there’s blood oh it’s bad.” Menhaus ran his free hair through his hair and did a quick spin and walked a couple of steps away from Peter. The road seemed made from rubber under his feet.

“OK calm down. Hmm, it might not be best for you to move him then. Is his head lying to the side?”

Menhaus looked down. “Yes, it is.”

“Alright good, you don’t need to worry about that then. Just sit tight and the ambulance will be there soon, OK? In the meantime I’ll keep you on the phone in case you notice anything else. You mentioned he was bleeding, is that correct?”

“Yeah, on his front.”

“Are you able to lift his shirt a little to see how bad the wound is?”

Menhaus crouched down and gingerly lifted Peter’s shirt. Peter inhaled sharply when the shirt passed over the growing red stain. Underneath his ribcage did not look quite right at the base, as it had been flattened and there was a small pool of blood that seemed to increase a little with every ragged breath. Menhaus described this to the woman on the line.

“Are there any bubbles in the blood?”

“None that I can see.”

“Ok, find something to hold against the wound until the ambulance gets there but don’t push too hard, chances are a rib is broken.”

Menhaus quickly pulled his tshirt over his head, balled it up and put it against the wound. Peter grabbed hold of his arm when he did so.

“Men.. Menhaus…”

“Hey, don’t say anything Peter. Just relax.” Menhaus winced at hearing Peter talk directly to him. He shouldn’t be talking, he needed to be conserving his energy. One of Menhaus’s other friends came up behind him. “How is he doing?” He recognized the voice as belonging to Steve. “He’ll be alright I think. I don’t know. I’m doing what the emergency woman is telling me until the ambulance comes.”

“Oh, OK. Peter? Can you hear me?”

“Yeah…” Peter’s chest spasmed slightly under Menhaus’s hand.

“I don’t think he should talk.” Menhaus said, shaking his head subconsciously.

“Yeah. Alright. No worries.” Steve hovered behind Menhaus’s shoulder for a few seconds. “I guess I’ll get back and see how everyone else is doing then.”

“OK.” Said Menhaus, not taking his eyes off Peter. A pink high heeled shoe came into view near Peter’s side. He followed the connecting leg up to see Tina’s worried face. Had she been nearby the whole time? He guessed she must have been, she was the one who had found him.

“Have they said if they’re going to be long?”

“No… actually, she’s still on the phone, I’ll ask her.” He turned his head back towards the previously forgotten mobile phone, which he had been holding in space about the height of his ear since the woman in emergency had asked him to stem the flow of Peter’s injuries. “Hi, are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m still here. I heard what you said, the ambulance should be turning up in a couple of minutes at most. Has anything changed in his condition?”

Menhaus examined Peter closely. He still seemed a bit crumpled up, but seemed to have relaxed slightly. His face was quite pale but not any paler than when he had first come to his side. “No I think everything is about the same.”

“Alright then, just hold tight. It’ll be OK.”

Menhaus heard a siren close by and looked up to see flashing lights approaching. Things felt anything but OK. The paramedics came out of the ambulance and approached where Menhaus was crouching. “Is that the ambulance?” the emergency woman asked on the phone. “Yeah I guess I can hang up now.” Menhaus hung up and looked up to the ambulance workers who had now approached him.

“OK, let’s see the condition of your friend there.”

“Alright.”

“We’ll need you to move out of the way first please.”

“Oh. Oh right.”

Menhaus slowly stood up reluctantly taking the pressure off his t-shirt and took a step back. One of the paramedics quickly swooped in, checked the site of the cut and placed a compress he had at hand quickly there to stem the bleeding that was started up already and taped it on. The other worker had gone back to the ambulance to get the stretcher and was wheeling it back towards Peter. Together they carefully stretched him out slightly and then put him onto the stretcher and lifted it up to its full height. They wheeled the stretcher up to the ambulance and pushed it into the back. Menhaus followed them and asked if he could ride along. They said he’d have to meet tham at the hospital and took off, leaving Menhaus waiting the red trail of light as they blazed around the corner.

“But… which hospital are you going to?” Menhaus mouthed to himself. Tina came up behind him, “Which hospital are they taking him to?”

“I don’t know.” Menhaus started scratching his ear. It felt really itchy all of a sudden. Tina grabbed his hand. “Stop that. What’s the closest hospital?”

“I guess that would be East Chadwick hospital.”

“Alright.” Said Tina and flipped out her phone, “let’s look them up and give them a call in a few minutes to see if he’s gone in.”

Menhaus was torn now between caring about his friend Peter and not really wanting to let go of Tina’s hand now that she was holding it. His arm was awkwardly hovering next to his ear. He tried to casually rest it down on his shoulder. “How um long do you think we should wait?”

Tina took her hand off his shoulder, thankfully taking his hand with it. She gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry about that too much right now. We’ll work it out, OK? Don’t freak out, I’m here. Relax.”

“I don’t need to relax. I’m just fine. Are you alright? Shouldn’t I be consoling you?”

Tina looked bemused, “why? Because I’m a girl?”

“Well… umm… “ it seemed dangerously like Menhaus was going to lose hand-holding priveleges soon, “because you found him right after! That must have been traumatic.”

Tina looked down then sighed, “yeah this whole night has been traumatic really. But I’m not the one who’s shaking. Calm down!”

Menhaus looked at his other hand, the one not currently being comforted by Tina and noticed that, sure enough, he was shaking. Well that was odd. “I don’t seem to be able to.”

Tina came closer and gave him a hug. “It’s alright,” she whispered into his ear, “he’ll be OK. Everything will be OK. Shhhhhh.” She stroked his hair softly. Menhaus could see the remaining friends a few meters away looking on but holding back. A few of them seemed to have left. He couldn’t really focus on the last two to identify them. He closed his eyes. The stroking was helping a big.

“Thank you.” He said softly into Tina’s ear.

“It’s alright”