“How do you want to play this Ava?”. Maggie asked.
I didn’t know. I wanted to go over and sucker punch the guy she was with, but I had to remain professional. If we interfered that could make her situation worse, and I didn’t want her to be in any more danger than she already was.
“He’s getting antsy”. She spoke. “Couldn’t understand why I was taking her blood pressure”.
“If it was up to me, I would call Blaze and have him handle that piece of shit”. A sigh fell from my lips. “We need to get her away from him, separate them somehow”.
“He won’t leave her side and she’s too afraid to say anything”.
“You think her cheekbone is fractured, so, we could send her for a head CT scan. That would definitely separate them”. I spoke.
“We have to lay it on thick for her to believe it’s life threatening”. Maggie spoke.
“Page Josh, I’ll start the paperwork and examine her the best I can”.
“You got it Ava”.
I grabbed the iPad and brought up her past information before making my way over to where they were. I pulled back the privacy curtain and tried my best to be positive.
“About time”. The guy huffed. “We’ve been here for almost an hour. Her face is busted, can you fix it”.
I grit my teeth but keep my attention on the notes in front of me. “My apologies for your wait we have been extremely busy today. Ashley, is it?”.
She nodded but her eyes never left the floor.
“What brings you in today, Ashley?”. I asked.
“Her face is busted, stitch her up we’ve got places to be”.
There was no blood in sight apart from her split lip. Her face was swollen and bruised, and her left eye was blood shocked but there was nothing for me to stitch.
“Do you mind if I take a look?”. I asked.
Again, she nodded.
“We’ll you’re the doctor, isn’t that what you’re meant to do”. He huffed.
I bit my tongue as I pulled on a pair of gloves. “This may hurt a little. Do you mind if I ask you what happened?”.
“She fell”. He spoke. “Clumsy on her feet this one”.
The lump appeared in the back of my throat. The distaste in my mouth making it hard to swallow. He was giving me the creeps, the hairs on the back of my neck stood as I felt how close he was to me.
I removed my gloves and grabbed the iPad making sure to put myself at a safe distance. “I want to send you for a head CT”. I spoke.
“No, she doesn’t need that”. He grunted.
“A head CT?”. She whispered.
“Yes, a head CT. You’ve hit your head, and I don’t like how swollen your face is. Your eyes are also blood shocked. Have you been having problems with your vision recently?”.
“She’s fine”. He spoke. “She fell and hit her face. She doesn’t need a fucking head CT. Now fix her up so we can leave”.
“Everything okay over here?”.
I felt myself relax when Josh’s voice reached my ears.
“She needs a head CT; I don’t like the way her eyes are looking, and she fell on her face”.
“Mind if I take a look?”. Josh asked.
“I’ll do it”. She whispered. “If you think something is wrong, I’ll get it”.
“Good, that’s good. Let’s go”.
“I’m coming”. He grunted.
“Unfortunately, you have to stay here. Only patients are allowed hospital policy. We won’t be long”. Josh spoke.
I had already kicked the break off the bed and was wheeling her through the ER and into the hospital. She would be safe and hopefully we could get her to open up about her situation.
Josh caught up taking control of the other side of the bed. “He was pissed but I told him if he didn’t calm down, he would be escorted from the premises”.
“Good, that’s good”. I put the break on the bed once we were inside an empty room.
“What’s going on?”. Ashley asked.
I glanced at Josh before returning my gaze to Ashley. How do I even approach the situation? What if we were wrong? No, my gut was on point with this one. Something wasn’t right and my main priority was getting her to safety.
“You’ve been in here quite a lot over the last few months”. I spoke.
“Okay”. She frowned.
“Some of the things you’ve been in here for have been pretty serious. Is everything at home, okay?”. I asked.
“It’s fine. I thought I was here to get a head CT?”.
“You are”. I smiled. “We’ll head up soon I just want to ask a few more questions if that’s okay?”.
“I guess”. She shrugged.
“The question I asked before about your vision. Do you have trouble with your eyes?”.
She nodded. “I lose my balance a lot, fall over and it always seems to be my face that gets hurt”.
“I see and what about your ears?”.
“No”. She shook her head. “Are my eyes blood shocked because I fell on my face?”.
“How did you fall?”.
The minute the words left my mouth she broke eye contact her gaze landing on the floor.
“I’m clumsy”. She shrugged. “Check my notes I’m in here all the time, I fall over a lot it’s not a big deal”.
I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth as I glanced at Josh. He shrugged making a face. She wasn’t giving up anything, I had nothing to go on and if she says she fell then I had to believe it.
“The guy that brought you in is he family?”. I asked.
“Can we go for that scan now? Jeff gets antsy and I don’t want to keep him waiting”.
“Is he your boyfriend?”.
He was older that I could tell. I also wasn’t convinced she was nineteen.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore”.
A sigh fell from my lips as I got to my feet. “Josh will take you for your head CT and bring you back to the ER”. I felt deflated because I really thought she’d open up.
I knew something was going on; I knew deep down in my gut that she wasn’t safe. I took off my gloves throwing them in the trash.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes to take you up Ashley”. Josh spoke. He nodded towards the door for me to follow.
“I know I probably shouldn’t have gone down that path but I’m certain something is going on”.
“Well, she’s not giving anything up Ava. There’s only so much we can do. We’ll give her the medical treatment she needs but then we need to let her leave”.
“I know okay I know”. I ran a hand down my face. “I’m going back to the ER I’ll check in with you soon”.
“We tried”. I heard him say as I rounded the corner.
Arthur was still here. Sipping away on his coffee reading a paper. I scanned the room quickly to see if Jeff was still here.
“He’s outside smoking a cigarette” Maggie spoke. “It’s about the third time he’s been out since you left. Did she talk?”.
I shook my head. “Nothing Josh is going to bring her back down and then we have to let her go”.
“Then that’s what we have to do. In cases like this we can’t help unless they want it. It’s horrible and we all wish we could do more but until she verbally tells us what’s going on there’s nothing, we can do about it”.
“I hate this part of the job”.
“I’ve seen it many times before Ava. I’ve been a nurse for over thirty years. Black eyes, broken bones even death and history keeps repeating itself. The system is broken but we do our part, and we help who we can”.
It wasn’t good enough.
“I’m going to take Arthur to get his eyes checked. He’s been in here long enough”.
“He gets the best of care”. She smiled.
“Yes, he does”. I grinned.
It would play on my mind, and I would think about it for days on end, but Maggie was right, Josh was right. There was only so much we could do.