Juniper sat on the bed. The stark white walls around her were far from inviting, not to mention the sounds and smells of a hospital were never all that warming to deal with. This was the reason, Juniper avoided hospitals as a rule of thumb. Well, that and they were always an expensive visit. Unfortunately she didn’t have much choice in the matter tonight. Nope, as tired as she was, and as much as she wanted to go home, crawl into bed, and just pass out for the night she needed to get medical attention. The gash on her arm was well beyond her limited medical abilities which only included bandaids and super glue.

She sighed, half wilted in her perch on the bed. She wondered if it would be frowned upon if she just, laid down and fell asleep. Thankfully, she didn’t have long to nurse that thought before a doctor walked in followed by a nurse. The doctor looked at her arm, which had been somewhat cleaned and numbed but still wept blood, and tsked. “You did a good number to yourself there.” He said as he busied himself getting gloves on as the nurse prepared what was most certainly tools for stitches. “Quite the story you have for cutting yourself so badly, falling into a table and smashing a vase.”

As he said the words, Juniper had to keep herself from cringing. Jun, you could have done so much better than that. Damn. Still, whether they believed it or not, the doctor and nurse didn’t seem persistent on pushing the subject.

“Right well, this shouldn’t take too long. You’ll be able to get home and get some rest.” The doctor noted her obvious weariness.

Numbed or not, when the doctor began the stitches, after cleansing the wound again (this time more thoroughly), there was still feeling there. It was more a weird sensation than it was painful and Juniper found she couldn’t exactly watch him doing it. For some reason the open wound hadn’t bothered her but watching a needle go in and out of her skin was a bit much. Instead she let herself focus on whatever else she could find in the room. The machines, random posters or warnings, the people walking past the room, all of it made for a good distraction for the young woman.

As promised, it hadn’t taken terribly long. The doctor was obviously well versed with stitches. The nurse worked at wrapping up her arm while the doctors gave her instructions. “No heavy lifting for a few days. If you pull those stitches out you’ll need to come back. Keep it wrapped up to keep it clean. If you happen to get anything on it, then flushing it with clean water will help or you can use an antiseptic.”

Juniper nodded as she listened. “Right. I’ll make sure to keep it clean.”

The doctor gave her look before nodding. “We’ll give you a few wraps to take with you. Change it at least once a day. You can go see your regular practitioner to get them removed.”

Oh perfect. They couldn’t just give me the kind that dissolve? Juniper sighed but nodded.

“I hope to not have to see you in here again anytime soon, Miss Wilcox. Have a good night.”

With that the doctor left, leaving Juniper with the nurse who was just finishing up the bandage.

By the time she left, Juniper was half dead. Thankfully, the bus was up and running at this point. Now all she needed to do was stay awake long enough to make it home, change, and collapse in bed. A shower could wait until she woke.

total: 620