Dr Monroe blinded Eli with a tiny torch for five minutes before declaring he had a concussion. He rubbed a weird cream on his forehead, and then did the same thing to his cheek. Eli endured the treatment in silence. The whole time the doctor was explaining what to look out for with a concussion to his dad.
“It’s only
“Good to hear.” Eli answered tiredly.
“Okay,” Dr Monroe turned back to his dad, “That’s us finished then.”
“Ah wait a second,” Noah, who’d been completely silent since they’d arrived decided to speak up, “He hurt his wrist too”
Eli bit down hard on the inside of his mouth. Before they’d left the house. Eli had pulled on his biggest hoodie and pulled the sleeves down to hide the bandage on his arms. His efforts had now been wasted.
“Oh,” Dr Monroe immediately turned back to Eli, “Sorry, I didn’t realise.”
“It’s not even sore anymore,” Eli didn’t unfold his arms.
“I’ll just take a quick look to make sure.” Dr Monroe moved in front of Eli, waiting for an arm to be offered. His patient look turned to a quizzical one when Eli still didn’t move. “Which one did you hurt?”
“Eli,” Noah let out an annoyed breath, “Just let him check it out.”
Eli couldn’t find any reason to object. There wasn’t anything he could say that would let him leave without being looked at. Slowly, he offered his wrist.
Dr Monroe offered a warm smile, and moved his attention onto his arm. “You did a good job wrapping this.” He unravelled the bandage from his fingers up.
Eli didn’t even want to look. But he did. The joint was swollen, black, purple and green. Dr Monroe’s smile faded. Eli felt a breath of relief leave him as Monroe guided his arm around. There was no handprint, only bruising.
“Are you able to close your fingers?”
Eli tried. He curled them up, but his muscles were too tight to let them go any further. “No.”
Monroe pushed his sleeve up and unwrapped his forearm. There was only light bruising there along with some swelling. He felt the muscles. Eli flinched. Not because it hurt, but because his hands were freezing.
“Sorry about that,” Dr Monroe put the bandages down on the bed beside him, “I’m going to need you to take off the jumper so I can look at your elbow.”
Eli unzipped it and awkwardly pulled it off. It was hard when he couldn’t move his right arm. He immediately felt chilled when he was left in only his t-shirt. He peeked down at his elbow, finding it in the same state as his wrist.
Noah and his dad were both standing behind Monroe and staring intently at his arm. “Is it broken?” His dad questioned.
Dr Monroe’s face was a mask of concentration.
“It’s not broken,” Eli answered for him.
“Says the guy who wanted to leave without it getting looked at,” Noah crossed his arms and shifted uncomfortably. “Or even come to the doctor.”
Eli watched him squirming. “If you’re that bothered just look away.”
“I don’t see how that doesn’t hurt.”
“It just doesn’t.”
“You don’t feel any discomfort while it’s not moving?” Dr Monroe finished examining his elbow.
“I can feel that the muscles are tight,” Eli shrugged.
Monroe’s frown deepened.
“Is that bad?”
“It’s surprising,” Monroe’s answer didn’t reveal much. “I’m going to need you to take off your shirt.”
He wasn’t able too. Even with Monroe’s assistance, attempting to life his shoulder up was impossible. It made him start feeling the damage in his arm again. It also made him feel sick. Monroe retrieved a pair of scissors and cut the fabric away. Eli was grateful it wasn’t one of the new ones Jenny had bought him.
“Christ.”
“Noah,” His dad said sternly, but his eyes widened in the same manner Noah’s had. Eli could only see the reflection of his back, but it was bad. It looked like he’d been in an accident. He was grateful it didn’t look like someone had done this to him, but at the same time it made his stomach twist uncomfortably tight. It took Jackson a minute to injure him like this, what would happen if he had to go back home?
“Eli,” Dr Monroe’s face moved into his line of vision, and the way he said Eli’s name made him think he’d said it more than once. “Are you feeling okay? You’ve gone very pale.”
“Fine,” Eli’s mouth had gone dry. An odd sensation slowly filled his body. It was like his thoughts disconnected from himself, and he moved onto standby mode. He knew his mouth was moving, and he was answering Dr Monroe’s questions, but he hadn’t a clue what he was saying. He kept thinking about last night. Jackson hadn’t even needed to tell him to keep his mouth shut. But why couldn’t Eli just say it?
He let himself imagine it. He told his dad what happened, the case was settled. His mom would break up with Jackson, and then Eli could go visit her on weekends. She’d be upset at first, but she’d realise she was better without him. She’d realise that the man who made her smile, and who took care of her, and would never let any lay a hand on her, was no good for her. Jackson would accept it.
The vision in Eli’s head couldn’t sustain itself longer than a few seconds.
Jackson would fucking kill him.
As awareness came back into his body Eli was swallowing two tablets. If he’d been running on autopilot for a few more seconds he might have actually been able to take them. Every drop of water in the pint glass was used as he tried to get them down.
His dad raised an eyebrow at him. “Thirsty?”
Eli scrunched up his nose as the rancid taste of the tablets settled on his tongue. “I can’t swallow them” He turned the empty glass towards himself and spit them out.
“I’ll get you some water,” His dad took the glass from his hands.
Eli looked around himself. He was on the couch downstairs, and blankets were draped around him. It was still dark outside. “Water won’t help,” His dad didn’t reply, and Eli realised he’d already left the room.
With a sigh, he lay down on the couch. His arm was in a sling, and was tightly secured to his chest. Eli tugged it off. He rolled over so that his back was to the open air, and closed his eyes. He dozed off, but never fell fully asleep. He was half aware of voices around him, but not able to move or wake himself up.
When he did, it was because his dad was shaking him awake.
“What’s up?” Eli rolled onto his back. He rubbed his eyes, getting rid of the blurriness in his vision before looking up at his dad. His face was a mask of sternness.
“The lawyers called,” He told Eli, “We need to go in for a final meeting.”
“Another one?” Eli had thought they were going to let him live here for a few months before assessing the situation again.
“I’ll get you something to eat, but you’ll have to take it in the car or we’ll be late.”
Eli jerked upright. The movement made the muscles in his back scream out. “Now? The meetings today?”
“Five o’clock.” His dad confirmed. His voice was low, and unhappy.
Eli flicked his gaze to the tv, where the black screen gave him a perfect reflection of himself. “Can’t you tell them I’m not well enough to go?”
“Unfortunately no, it’s essential that you’re there,” His dad replied, “They went on about that for quite a while.”
Eli looked back to his dad. He must have tried to tell them that Eli couldn’t go.
“Nothing we can do about it.” His dad left the room, calling back over his shoulder for Eli to get changed.
Eli understood now.
Jackson didn’t hit him because he was angry, or because he lost his temper. He did it because he knew about the meeting today. The embers of anger started to heat up in Eli’s chest. The fact that the pain racking through his body right now was calculated by Jackson made him furious. Furious enough, that his anger started to drown out his fear.
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