Step Backwards
September 18th, 2021
4:48pm
It was just a simple run, that was all it was supposed to be. Until there was an uneven part in the sidewalk and down she went with the pop of a knee. Annabelle didn’t feel it until a couple seconds went by, the adrenaline rushing off and her right shin to knee hurt.
No one was around where she runs, because she goes the way Quinn tells her to go, by the golf course.
Then she remembers, she is a two minute walk from yost, it’s in her eye line and there is for sure players that she knows in there.
It took a few tries but she managed to get up with a few groans and walked really slowly but it only took Two steps for her to go back to the ground. She’s so close but so far, but she needed help and decided to call someone.
Luke’s contact came up first, but no answer, then she tried Truscott, then Mackie, finally she called mark but was left with a dead line, her phone was the dead line. “Fuck!” She curses and chucks it to the side, most likely cracked.
She didn’t know anyone who was free right now, but all hope was not lost when she saw a figure walking down the pathway, noticing almost instantly that it was Ethan.
“Ethan!” She shouts and his head snapped up, stopping but then jogging to her.
“Anna, what happened- are you okay” he could see the tears almost spilling out of her eyes.
“No, can you get my brother, please” she pleads.
“Yea of course, stay- Nevermind” he sprints, while she smiled at him almost saying “stay there” as if she can get very far.
Not even 2 minutes later Ethan and Luke came sprinting outside. “Annie, what happened” Luke asks as soon as he is by his sisters side.
“I fell and heard a pop, it hurts- really hurts” She tried so hard not to cry infront of her little brother but the pain was only getting worse.
“We’re gonna take you inside okay- Ethan can you-”
“Yep” the Canadian replies, moving over so he can carry her. Since Luke’s coming out of a minor shoulder injury. “Fuck” she groans when her knee bends.
“your okay, just a minute till you can lay down” he mumbles and carry’s her effortlessly down the path and into the building, straight to the medical room.
“woah what’s going on” the nurse in there asks.
“My knee popped and it really hurts” she cries while Ethan sets her down.
“Let me have a look, boys can you step out for a minute” She asks, Luke was about to protest but they heard coach calling and decided to go back to the gym.
“Call me when your done please” Luke says and exits the room.
The nurse came to a conclusion that is most likely a meniscus tear and she needed to go to the hospital, so they called an ambulance and Luke to come back down. Panic washed over mark when he heard Luke say Anna was going to the emergency room. But he had to stay put, nobody went with Luke especially since there was a game in about an hour.
9:51pm
Around 5 hours later, with waiting and tests and a few mental breakdowns they decided she needed surgery which will be taken place tomorrow morning and she needed to stay in the hospital overnight. Which she was expecting, her parents had come and gone but what she wasn’t expecting was most of the guys time coming into her room.
Ethan, Dylan, Mackie, TJ, Jacob, bordeleau and last but not least, mark.
He seemed the most worried, so Luke let him take his seat next to the bed.
“Do you have to stay here tonight?” Ethan asks while looking at all the different machines.
“Unfortunately, which means I’m gonna miss the game tomorrow- shit I won’t be able to dance” she gasps and just like that when she thought she couldn’t cry anymore.
“Hey hey hey, it’s gonna be okay” mark said and reached out to her hand to hold it.
“I know I’m just.. tired and… tired” they all chuckled and Luke coincidentally let out a huge yawn.
“You guys can go, I’ll be fine”
“Are you sure?” Her brother asks.
“Yes Luke, I’m sure. Turn off the light whoever’s last to go out”
She shifted to get comfortable as they all shuffled out but then she noticed mark zoned out.
“Hey, Estapa time to go” she waved at him, which he then snapped out of his thoughts.
“what- no your not staying here alone” he says softly, which takes her by surprise.
“Mark, I’m gonna be -”
“You keep saying that but I don’t buy it, I’m saying” he states and she knows she isn’t winning this battle. “Fine, but go turn off the light”
He smiles and gets up to shut it off, closing the door then reclining the chair to lay down.
September 19th, 2021
9:20 am
Mark had already been awake since he is usually awake this time everyday, when the doctor came in to start preparing for sugary which he gave mark the lovely pleasure of waking Annabelle up.
“Anna” he says gently, which doesn’t do much.
“ Anna” he says again, she starts wake up very slowly but not much.
“Hey princess wake up” he says louder and this time it worked. Thankfully he didn’t notice the small blush that crept on her face when he said that.
“What?” She groans and looks over at the clock.
“Surgery time” he whispers and smiles. Then the doctor arrived and went thru instructions.
“You should be able to go home by tonight, depends on the swelling and pain.” Doctor explains and they start to wheel her away,
“You got this princess, I’ll be here when you wake up” He says as she waves.
10:45 am
Mark sat in the recliner with his legs shaking as he waited for her to be done which wouldn’t be any time now. Jack wasn’t supposed to arrive in Michigan till the afternon but caught an earlier flight when he heard his younger sister was in the hospital.
He had been sat in another chair at the end of the room with Nico to his left because he wanted to visit her.
“Mark, if you don’t want to stay you can go. We’re here now” Jack says to the boy.
“It’s fine, I told her I’d be here when she was done-” just as he says that the door opens and in comes a very loopy Annabelle who was a giggling mess.
“She’s been laughing for 10 minutes, anything is funny now” the nurse says and leaves the room.
“Woah! You play hockey!” She exclaims and looks to mark then Nico. “Hey kid I play hockey too” T this point he was recording for anything worth showing her later.
“No… you seem more of.. tennis guy” which then everyone laughs.
“Where’s moosey moose” she ask but gasps.
“Im tired” she whispers and closes her eyes. Before they knew it, she was right off to sleep.
11:09 am
Once again she wakes up, but mark is gone and it’s just Jack in the hospital room in the chair next to her.
“The fuck are you doing here” she groans, alerting him that she is awake.
“I told you last week I was coming home today, but I came a few hours earlier because you don’t seem to good”
“My knee feels like shit, this hospital bed isn’t very comfy”
“Well don’t worry, we’ll be home soon, just a couple hours but I gotta tell you something…”
“What’s that?”
“You can’t dance until May” he sighs and her jaw drops.
This is gonna be one hell of a year…
