Summer of Whump Day 28: Injury

Some Juliet backstory for @summer-of-whumptoday.

Trigger warnings – also tagged: blood

———–

“Answer Call” appeared on Victor’s screen. He hesitated. Last night, Juliet had dared him to answer the first call of his shift with, “911, what is your malfunction?” but he wasn’t sure that would fly with his supervisor. He scanned his monitor. He recognized the caller’s number. He sighed and said, “911, what is your malfunction?”

On the other end of the line, Juliet smiled amidst her panic. “This is not what I had in mind,” she said. “I need an ambulance and fire and rescue to Mitchell Park.”

Victor typed into his computer and dispatched units. “What happened?”

“My cousin Ophelia and I were on a hike, and I tripped, causing her to fall over me, and now she’s impaled by a tree branch at the bottom of Stafford Hill by the river.”

“Okay. Responders are about five minutes out, but you are half an hour away from the nearest hospital. Is Ophelia awake?”

“I think so.” Juliet pulled the phone away from her face and called out to her cousin. She couldn’t hear anything, but Juliet saw Ophelia attempting to respond. She turned her attention to Victor. “She’s awake and moving.”

“Great. Where was she impaled?”

“Right thigh, but her right ankle looks pretty bad, too.”

“I will let them know. Your cousin is Ophelia?”

“Yeah. Her older sister is Rosalind, and my brother is Duncan.”

“Wow. Why did I not know this?”

“I guess it never came up.”

———

Juliet rushed over to the bright orange rescue sling. “Offie, I’m here!” She caressed her cousin’s sweat-streaked black hair.

Ophelia moaned. Her right leg was stained many shades of red and purple from her various injuries. A tree limb poked through her right thigh. The hole oozed a deep blood red. Her ankle was bright purple and swollen.

A paramedic Juliet hadn’t met before walked over to the two. “My name is Pramit,” he said. He examined Ophelia’s leg. “We can deal with the branch at the hospital, but I am going to need to reduce that ankle. It looks dislocated.”

Another paramedic carried a med bag over to Ophelia’s arm. “I have some morphine,” he said. He slipped the catheter into her elbow crease, seemingly getting a vein on the first try. He pushed the plunger of the syringe attached to the other end of the catheter. He traded the syringe for a bag of saline.

Pramit called for Juliet, “We are going to put her ankle back. Can you hold the saline up? And also probably her hand.”t

Juliet nodded and took the saline bag from the other medic. She grasped her cousin’s hand.

Without warning, Ophelia let out an ear-piercing yelp, but as soon as it started, it was over. Pramit had reset her ankle.

Saltwater Day

It is saltwater day (brought to you by @brutal-nemesis), and I am finally done with this fic. I would like to thank Nemi for forcing me to create content once again.

Trigger Warnings – also tagged: blood

WC: 966

————

There was no scream, but Kai could tell that something was wrong. A young man seemed to be dragging his leg through the ocean. Kai looked around for the beach’s lifeguard, who gave no response to Kai’s cries for help. He’d have to do it himself.

As Kai neared the man, he noticed a trail of red following the obviously injured leg. Kai held his hand out for the man, hoping to get a response. “My name is Kai. You look like you could use some help.”

The man, wearing a blue swim shirt that matched his floral swim trunks, shook his head. “I’m fine, man.”

“I don’t think you are.” Kai pointed to the man’s leg, which was being followed by an ever-growing red blotch.

“I said I’m fine,” the man insisted. He continued to drag his leg until he reached the shore. Before he could get both feet out of the water, he collapsed onto the wet sand.

Kai rushed over to the man, whose face was now being covered with salty ocean water every time the waves crashed against the shore. He picked the man’s head up and gently stroked it. “Hey, man, can you hear me?” The man’s eyes fluttered open, but Kai got no response. “What’s your name?”

“Roman,” the man managed.

“Okay, Roman, I am Kai, and I am a paramedic. I’m going to take a look at that leg.” Kai pulled Roman up the beach to get his leg out of the water.

On Roman’s left leg, bright red blood clashed against the tanned skin of his ankle. Sand filled the gash that ran from the arch of his foot to the center of his shin about two inches above the ankle. Roman took a peek at his foot and winced, slowly becoming aware of the pain he was in.

“What happened?” Kai asked.

“I don’t know,” Roman responded, a tinge of pain in his voice.

Kai paused, analyzing the injury. “You are going to need to go to the hospital.”

“I can’t drive right now? Should I call an Uber?”

“I know, but no. I can take you. More importantly, I’m going to need to get the sand out of your wound and put some bandage on it before we go.”

“Oh. Okay.” Roman sighed and peered down at his leg.

“I will be right back,” Kai told Roman. He ran up the beach to his stuff. He shook out his purple beach towel and placed it into his black mesh bag, which he then slung over his shoulder. On his way back to Roman, he stopped at the blanket of a family with two young children, both making sandcastles. After a short conference with the parents, Kai approached a young girl. “A man at the shore needs my help, and I need a bucket to do that. Would I be able to borrow yours? I will give it right back when I am done?”

The little girl looked up at Kai and smiled. “Yes!” she cried out, leading Kai over to her family’s pile of beach toys. After studying the pile, she handed Kai a medium-sized purple bucket. “I help,” she said.

“Yes. Thank you,” Kai said to the little girl. After accepting the bucket, he took off running toward Roman. He set his bag down on the sand. Kai shifted his attention to Roman. “Here’s the plan: I am going to get as much sand as I can out of that wound. Then I am going to wrap it in my beach towel. I will then carry you to my car and we will go to the hospital. I can grab your stuff. You ready?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Is this really necessary?”

Kai looked Roman in the eyes. “I need to put pressure on that wound to slow the bleeding and help it be stable until we get to the hospital. It’s not healthy for that much debris to be pressed into the wound.” He grabbed Roman’s hand. “I know it’ll sting, but it’s better to get it done now than needing a huge debriding job at the hospital.”

Roman nodded. “Just get it done,” he said.

“Okay.” Kai grabbed the bucket and scooped up some water from the incoming tide, being careful not to get any sand in. He placed the bucket next to Roman’s leg and quickly applied some hand sanitizer from the bottle he kept in his bag. He used his left hand to brace Roman’s leg just above the cut. With his right hand, Kai slowly poured the salt water over the wound. He moved his left hand to brush out some of the sand. He continued pouring until Roman lurched forward in pain.

“Ow. Ow. Please stop. It hurts.” Roman tried to grab at his foot, but Kai held a firm grip on Roman’s leg.

“I am almost done.” Kai scooped up another bucket of water. “How about you lie back for this?” Kai placed the bucket on the ground again and used his right arm to coax Roman into lying back. Kai picked up the bucket once more and restarted the slow pour.

Roman grimaced in pain and whimpered. Finally, Kai was satisfied with the amount of sand he had cleared. Without warning, he dumped the rest of the water on Roman’s leg, causing him to bolt back up.

“I’m done,” Kai assured him. Kai grabbed his beach towel from his bag and tightly wrapped it around Roman’s leg. He tied a knot and tucked the ends into the wrap. “Ready to head out?”

Roman nodded.

As Kai scooped Roman up, he noticed the beginnings of blood stains forming on his towel. At least he had brought his towel, and not the one Juliet had bought him for his birthday.

Plant Day

This is, of course, a RSS story for @brutal-nemesis’s Plant Day 2021.

And please don’t kill me, but I kinda feel like I bent the rules here. The assailant here is not a fungus or protist. It is a part of the plant kingdom, but not like that.Anyway, on to the story part of this.

Trigger Warnings – also tagged: choking, alcohol, knives, blood, surgery

WC: 897

———-

“911, what is your emergency?”

A panicked voice came from the other end of the phone. “My boyfriend is choking and we can’t get it out!”

“Okay. Where are you?”

“Middle of the quad at OakU.”

“Any landmarks nearby?”
“Across the street from the ADG house.”

Victor entered the location into his computer and pulled up a map of the OakU campus. “Okay, help is on the way. My name is Victor. And you are?”
“Raegan.”
“Okay, Raegan. You said that your boyfriend is choking?”

“Yeah,” Raegan said, panic once again rising in her voice.

“And you tried the heimlich?” Victor asked.

“Yeah. It didn’t work. One of my friends tried that and they tried smacking his back. Nothing helped.”

“Okay. What is his name?”

“Hugo.”

“Raegan, put me on speaker.” Victor paused briefly as he waited for Raegan to oblige. “Okay, Hugo, if you can hear me, please give Raegan a thumbs up.”

Hugo barely moved. He was rocking back and forth, his arms slowly reaching at his neck, but his hands made no attempt to show Raegan a thumbs up. His olive skin slowly grew bluer.

On the other end of the phone, a message popped up on Victor’s computer. EMS was on the way, but Raegan and Hugo were not accessible by road. It would be at least 15 minutes until help could arrive.

Victor’s attention was pulled back to the call when Raegan began screaming.

“Victor, he’s not moving anymore! How much longer?”

“Your location is pretty far from any roads, so it’ll be 15-20 minutes. Can you try the heimlich again?” Victor pulled out his phone and texted Kai.

“I know you’re off, but I need help. College age male choking. Heimlich not helping. EMS 15-20 out. I am conferencing you in.”

Kai responded with a thumbs up and Victor entered his number into the console. “Raegan,” Victor said, “this is my friend Kai. He is a paramedic. He is going to help you.”

Kai cleared his throat into the phone. “Raegan, can you tell me exactly what happened?”

Raegan sighed as tears made their way from her eyes to her chin. “I was working on a project for my photography class. It was, uh, humans in nature. We were doing a shoot and Hugo decided he wanted a picture biting an acorn. I got a couple shots and then he tripped over a tree root. He must’ve swallowed the acorn and it got stuck because he can’t breathe and it’s not between his teeth anymore.”

Kai took a deep breath. “I am going to recommend something crazy, but it should save Hugo, alright? I think that you should attempt a field cricothyrotomy.”

“You want me to cut open my boyfriend’s neck?”
“Raegan, it will save his life,” Victor said. “Now, before I ask you this, I want to remind you that these calls are recorded, but I do want to help.” He paused. “Does someone over the age of 21 in the ADG house have alcohol, a knife, and a straw?”

“Yeah,” Raegan responded, but it wasn’t entirely true. She always carried a pocket knife and metal straw, and she had filled her water bottle with vodka at a party the night before. Victor didn’t need to know where it came from.

“Raegan, I need you to sterilize everything. Dump the alcohol on your hands, his neck, the knife, and the straw,” Victor commanded.

Raegan carefully poured the alcohol out of her bottle, through the straw, and onto her hands, her knife, and Hugo’s neck. “Done,” she said, putting her phone on speaker and placing next to Hugo’s short, scruffy black hair.

Kai took a breath and began to instruct Raegan. “Raegan, you are going to find the cricothyroid membrane, it is–”

“In that indentation below the Adam’s Apple,” Raegan finished.

“Yes,” Kai said with a slight bit of surprise in his voice.

“You sound surprised,” Raegan responded. “I find that knowing human anatomy is incredibly important to my art.”

“Alright then,” Kai continued, “You are going to make a 1-inch long incision. You are going to drive your knife in until you feel a bit of a pop. That means you are in the trachea.”

Raegan squeezed her eyes shut before busting them open again. She grasped the handle of her pocket knife and slid the blade across her boyfriend’s olive-colored skin. Dark red blood oozed from the opening. At the center of the incision, Raegan pushed down on the knife until she felt something different than the feeling of slicing through fascia and muscle. She slid her finger into the cavity and there certainly was a hole in something. “Done,” she informed Kai and Victor as she pulled her finger out of Hugo’s neck.

“Slip the straw into the hole in the trachea and take a breath into it,” Kai instructed.

Raegan slid her metal straw into the hole that had just held her finger. She wrapped her lips around her purple silicone straw topper. She gently exhaled through the straw. Surprised, she pulled back when she saw Hugo’s chest rise in his green hoodie. “He is breathing!” she exclaimed.

“Good,” Victor said. “Paramedics are about 5 minutes out. I can stay with you until they get there, okay?”
“Thank you,” Raegan replied softly. She buried her face into Hugo’s shoulder. Her tears joined the bloodstains on his hoodie.

Spiral Day

This is also a combined (ooh snazzy) sequel to Ice DayandKneecap Day. This work can stand on its own, but some characters make more sense in the context of the past two fics.

And of course, this is a RSS story for @brutal-nemesis’s Spiral Day 2021.

Trigger Warnings–also tagged: Hospitals

———-

“Jaydyn, you said that your cousin is Chaia Glassman, right?” Anna asked.

Without looking up from his hospital crossword, Jaydyn replied, “Yeah. Why?”

“Just making sure.” Anna replied, trying to not sound conspicuous. She walked over to the entrance to the ED, where a stretcher lay in wait. “Bring her over to trauma 2,” Anna commanded.

Chaia hadn’t said a word since the ambulance left the lake. Lucy had agreed to let Maria sit on the stretcher with Chaia when they got to the hospital. Maria’s hand reached into the metallic blob at the head of the stretcher.

Upon their arrival at the trauma bay, Maria jumped off the stretcher. “Hey, lifey,” she said, “we need to move you again.”

Chaia squirmed in Aaron’s arms as he lifted her from the stretcher to the exam table. Chaia kept her legs unusually still, which, while concerning, helped Aaron stay safe during the transfer.

Anna walked over and peeled the metallic warming blanket off Chaia’s cold, wet body. “Chaia, it’s Anna,” she said in a slow soft voice. She slipped her hand into her pants pocket, discreetly pulling out her pen light. “Can you look at me?” Chaia didn’t budge. She kept her head firmly in her soaked sweater. “Please?” Anna tried again, sliding her free hand under Chaia’s chin. As Anna gently tilted Chaia’s head to face out, the movement caused Chaia’s eyes to open. They were open just long enough for Anna to shine the penlight and confirm that Chaia’s pupils were reactive. “It’s over,” Anna assured Chaia, sliding the light back into her pants pocket. “What do you say we get you out of these wet clothes?” Anna bent into a white cabinet next to the exam table and grabbed a dotted hospital gown and patient belonging bag.

Maria placed herself at the foot of the exam table and grasped Chaia’s hands. “Up, up,” she said, gently tugging on Chaia’s arms to sit her upright. With Chaia sitting slumped slightly forward, Maria reached down to the bottom of Chaia’s sweater and began to pull it up and off of her wife. She slipped Chaia’s wet, curly head out of the neck hole and pulled the sweater off Chaia’s arms. Maria shifted to Anna, trading the wet sweater for the hospital gown. Anna placed the sweater in the patient belongings bag. Maria draped the gown over Chaia and buttoned the back snaps. She gently lowered Chaia to a resting position on the exam table.

“Now, let’s get those skates off.” Anna grabbed a pair of scissors and walked down to Chaia’s feet. She easily unlaced Chaia’s left skate and slid it off her wet foot. She swapped Chaia’s sopping wet wool sock for a bright red hospital sock and carefully placed the skates on the floor away from the table. Chaia’s right foot, on the other hand, was a bit more complicated. The right skate was entangled in green slimy plants and looked to be filled by a larger foot than the left skate. Anna cut through the mangled lakeweed to expose the skate’s laces. She carefully untied the bunny ears knot and began to unthread the laces from the eyelets.

At the second eyelet pair, Chaia whimpered and thrust a flapping hand toward her foot. Maria took hold of the hand and placed it against her sweater. “I’m right here, lifey. Squeeze when it hurts.”

Anna returned to meticulously unlacing the skates. As the unlacing neared the ankle bend, Chaia seemed increasingly agitated. Her whimpers turned to moans. Tears made their way down her still-puffy face. She finally managed a single word. “Stop,” she said weakly.

“I’m almost done,” Anna assured Chaia. She sighed and picked up the scissors. She loosened the remaining laces and cut down the middle. “Okay. I am going to take the skate off in three, two, one.” Anna placed one hand on Chaia’s shin and the other under Chaia’s heel. She braced Chaia’s leg and pulled the skate off.

As soon as her foot was free, Chaia folded into a ball.

Anna looked over at Maria. “I need to talk to you out here,” she said, pointing towards the center of the ED.

Maria planted a kiss on Chaia’s head. “I’ll be right back.” She joined Anna beyond the end of the side curtain of the trauma bay.

Jaydyn had heard the chaos on the other side of the curtain and was getting curious, so it was surprising when Maria appeared from the other side of the curtain. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Um.” Maria paused. She pulled back the curtain separating Jaydyn and Chaia’s sections of trauma treatment. “Ice skating accident.”

“Wh- what happened?” Jaydyn asked. He was shocked to see his cousin crumpled almost entirely into a pathetic wet ball. The only exception, of course, was Chaia’s bright purple ankle, which rested against the white sheet on the exam table.

At that moment, Rory walked in and headed for the back wall, where the portable X-ray had been left. “I am so glad that radiology forgot this here today. Oh, and, uh, Jaydyn, your surgery is scheduled for 2:30. They’ll come by to get you prepped shortly.” Rory grabbed the X-ray and headed over to Chaia.

Maria looked over at Jaydyn. “Surgery?”

Jaydyn nodded. “Something about taking out whatever is left of my kneecap. That’s not important right now. I need to help Chaia.” He glanced over at Chaia, who was doing a lousy job of telling Rory to get away from her. Jaydyn shifted forward in his hospital bed, but was promptly stopped by Anna.

“You, sir, are not getting up,” she commanded. “However, I can wheel you over there.” Anna walked to the head of Jaydyn’s bed and unlocked the brakes on the wheels. Slowly, she pushed the bed to align with Chaia’s. She locked the brakes.

“Chaia, it’s me, Jaydyn. Do you wanna hold my hand?” Jaydyn reached for Chaia’s flapping hand.

Chaia uncrumpled and rotated to look Jaydyn in the eyes. “Hey, loser,” she mumbled.

Rory let out an exasperated sigh. “Chaia, I know it hurts, but please stop moving for a minute.”

Jaydyn saw the pain and fear in Chaia’s eyes. “Look at me,” he said. “I have no clue what I am going to tell your mom. Or my mom.” He let out a little laugh. “Oh gosh, what am I going to tell Bubbe? How am I supposed to explain that her two grandchildren got injured in unrelated accidents at the same time?” He waited for Chaia to react but got nothing. “Come on, it is kinda funny.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jaydyn saw Rory pull X-ray images up on the computer. “So, Dr. Byrne, what’s the good word?”

“So, Chaia,” Dr. Byrne started, but he didn’t have Chaia’s attention. She was numbly staring at the ceiling over Jaydyn’s shoulder. However, a short nudge on Jaydyn’s part brought her focus over to Rory’s computer. Rory continued, “it appears that you have a spiral fracture in your Talus bone, which is in your ankle.” He used his cursor to circle an area of white bone with a black line down the middle. “There is some good news. It has remained stable and does not require surgery. Your body temperature appears to be steady and normal, so we just need to focus on getting a cast on that leg. Okay?”

With her free hand, Chaia reached for Maria, who immediately took hold. Chaia locked eyes with Rory and gave him an unsure nod.

Ice Day

I’m not good at titles. This is my submission for @brutal-nemesis’s ice day with the RSS.

Trigger Warning – also tagged: near drowning.

Word count: 800

The cold water stabbed at Chaia and shrunk her itchy blue jeans around her legs. The ice froze Chaia’s fingertips, using the heat to melt free of her grasp. She fell back under the surface.

The cold water stabbed at Chaia and shrunk her itchy blue jeans around her legs. The ice froze Chaia’s fingertips, using the heat to melt free of her grasp. She fell back under the surface.
Maria had already evacuated the lake, switching her skates out for black snow boots. Maria didn’t see Chaia fall back under: she was too focused on the nearing sound of sirens.
Chaia kicked in an attempt to push herself back to the surface. Her skate brushed the bottom, becoming entangled in the lake’s hibernating plants. Chaia kicked her free leg again but could not budge. She was stuck.
An ambulance pulled up on the road in front of Maria. Two paramedics jumped out. “My wife,” Maria pleaded, “she fell through the ice and is in that hole over there.” She pointed at the spot on the mostly frozen lake where the green water made an evident appearance. The hole was only about 25 feet from the road.
“Okay,” one of the paramedics responded. “My name is Lucy. My friend Aaron and I are going to help you out. Is she still conscious?”
“Yeah,” Maria responded, “she was a lifeguard back in college and I’ve been seeing her bob up and down since she fell in.”
Aaron had already started to check out the lake. He’d only put one foot on the ice when he was stopped by Lucy. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked. “If she fell in, why can’t you? Go get the rope. Wife says she’s still conscious.” Lucy turned to Maria. “What is your wife’s name?”
Another unsuccessful resurfacing attempt put Chaia’s panic into high gear. She swam down, feeling around for her caught foot. She was quickly able to wrap her hands around her right ankle. She tried to unlace the skate, but the cold water had stiffened her hands. Every move burned her joints and cramped her muscles. She heard her name in the distance. It was a voice she didn’t recognize. It was the paramedics. Something splashed above her. She reached for it only to graze a finger on the slick plastic surface. Chaia was being rescued, but she couldn’t get herself out. She dove back down and grasped the plants below her skate. Without giving it much thought, she yanked the plants across the sharp surface of her skate.
It had been thirty seconds since Aaron landed the rescue line, and Chaia hadn’t responded. Maria was starting to worry. “Go out there and get her! She’s probably drowning now!” she screamed.
Lucy wrapped the shivering Maria in a warming blanket. “It’s not that simple. We need to make sure that no one else gets hurt. We can’t just–”
“I’ve got her!” Aaron yelled. “Chaia, my name is Aaron. I’m going to get you out. I need you to hold onto that ring really tight, okay?”
Chaia nodded.
Aaron pulled her out of the hole and onto the ice. “Don’t stand up. Just hold on as I drag you across.” As Aaron pulled, Chaia slid smoothly across the ice. While being sopping wet in the middle of winter was quite unpleasant, the water at least mitigated friction on the ice.
When Chaia reached the shore, she collapsed into Maria’s arm’s, taking them both down the frozen grass. Tears poured out of Chaia’s eyes, but her wet face and already red eyes prevented anyone from noticing until she began soaking Maria’s sweater. A metallic warming blanket descended over Chaia’s drenched pink sweater.
“You’re okay, lifey. I love you. You are safe. You are with me.” Maria wrapped her arms around her wife.
Lucy crouched down next to the frantic metallic heap. “Chaia, can I take your vitals?”
Chaia buried her head further into Maria’s chest and pulled her legs closer to her stomach.
Lucy sighed lightly. “Chaia, I need to make sure you’re okay. I just need to take your temperature, blood pressure, and oxygen levels. Very quick. Very low-impact.”
Chaia shook her head in Maria’s sweater.
“Chaia, please.” Maria said softly. “They need to check you out. And then we can get you dry and so much warmer.”
“No,” Chaia muttered weakly. It was the first thing she’d said since falling in.
Maria and Aaron locked eyes, exchanging knowing looks. After a synchronous nod, Aaron scooped Chaia off of the cold, wet, ground.
This did not make Chaia h

May 31st- “Sir?”

[middle of nowhere | freezing | lighter]

@themerrywhumpofmay

Cw: accidental whump, cold, freezing, noncon touching, manhandling, slight guilt

“Oh darling,” Whumper sighed, a frown curling across their lips as they pressed their palm to Whumpee’s forehead. “You’re as cold as ice…”

Whumpee let out a small whimper, their fave scrunching as they nuzzled into the warm touch. Their body was barely trembling, every last bit of energy drained from their being

Whumper’s heart twisted.

Sure, they loved to watch Whumpee suffer, but this… this wasn’t intentional.

They felt… bad.

They felt bad for the poor, pathetic creature that squirmed under their touch, inching closer to the body heat radiating from Whumper’s skin.

They really hadn’t meant to leave the window open. They certainly wouldn’t have done so if they’d known a blizzard was coming.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Ehumper sighed, bundling Whumpee up in their arms and standing up. “Let’s get you warmed up.”