Anni – An Unwilling New Start | Part 6

Pain. The ambulance. Mom and Dad on the phone. Arriving at the hospital. X-rays. A fractured anklebone. Sebastian . . . 

Had all that really happened in the last two hours? Or had I taken some kind of drug that had caused me to dream up this entire crazy story? My head felt numb, as if it were filled with cotton wool. At first I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad – good, I quickly decided, after looking down at my right foot that lay swollen and discoloured on a cushion. It looked like it should be extremely painful, so I was glad I couldn’t feel much at the moment. I lay on a cot in a room that wasn’t for patients. After the X-ray, a nurse had left me here and assured me that his colleague would be with me immediately. I was just wondering where my belongings had ended up when another nurse came in as announced. "Well, it looks like the painkillers have knocked you out a bit, haven’t they?" She said sympathetically. "But better a fuzzy feeling in your head, than putting up with the pain. Your stuff is with your boyfriend by the way – he’s sitting in the waiting area and is worrying about you like crazy! What a sweetie, you’ve got yourself a keeper I think." "Oh!" was all I managed to choke out. It was as if my mouth was filled with cotton wool too. "You're going to get a nice cast on your foot now!" The nurse happily announced, energetically bouncing around the room making preparations. "Which colour would you like?" She held four packages of different-coloured bandages under my nose. "You have two minutes to relax a little more, and then we can start. I hope there’s something there that you like!" I decided to go with purple.
About three hours later, my purple cast finally lay on white hospital bedding. It was past midnight, but I was staying overnight for observation because I hadn’t reacted well to the painkillers. I felt better now, except for the throbbing pain that continued from within my ankle. My parents had been here up until a few minutes ago, but I had persuaded them to go home and pick me up the next morning. In the waiting area they had met a somewhat agitated Sebastian, but apparently – together with the doctor – had persuaded him to come visit me at home later, as I should rest first. Because it was already so late and I wouldn’t be staying long anyway, my bed for the night stood in a dimly lit corridor, surrounded by a partition for privacy. I was about to try to get some sleep when I heard a "Psssst!" coming from the other side of the partition. "Anni, are you there?" Sebastian whispered. "Yes, here!" I whispered back, suddenly awake with excitement. Sebastian parted the partition and slipped inside in such a comical, burglar-like way, that I had to giggle. My laughter compelled him to grin back, and made the strange situation we were in much easier. "I thought my parents sent you home," I said softly. "No way, I couldn’t just leave!" he answered a little offended. "I was waiting and watching to see the direction your parents came from when they left, so I’d know more or less where you were! Oh man, Anni. What is the . . .?" he started to say as he stepped closer towards the bed. "I completely faked my torn ligament and crutches and everything!" I said cutting him off. I just wanted to get it over with. Sebastian stared down at me, lost in thought, and then sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm so embarrassed!" I added, putting my hands over my face. I was probably bright red by now, but at least you wouldn’t be able to see it in the dim lighting. Sebastian cleared his throat and asked hoarsely: "But . . . you did that because of me, right?" "Mmmmh!" I gave an affirming sound from behind my hands, which I still held in front of my face, "So ... so you know that I . . . ?" Sebastian continued. I lowered my hands and looked at him, his face was drawn. "I don’t know anything! Except that maybe this whole situation is so stupid it actually can’t get any worse. But tell me though, are you actually attracted to limping women or sprained ankles or feet in general or crutches or what . . . ?" My gaze wandered over to my cast. Sebastian swallowed, and then said simply, "Yes, I think so!" I blinked, confused. "What, you mean – everything?" "Yes." Sebastian tried to look me in the eye. "It’s always been like that. Well, as long as I can remember anyway. I know that it sounds kind of...well I don’t know. Abnormal? I haven’t talked to anyone about it until now, except online. It’s amazing how many people feel the same things as me. It made me feel better about it somehow actually." I couldn’t say that that fact particularly soothed me, but I also knew I definitely didn’t think Sebastian was deviant or crazy. "So ... did I actually ... accidentally 'lead you on', so to speak, when I twisted my ankle in P.E.?" I asked. "I wouldn’t say that exactly," he explained. "I was already curious about you before, since your first day at school. But I'm not the kind of guy who just comes over directly and starts chatting someone up. When you fell during long jump, that time – no idea. Something just went click and I went right up to you, without thinking." "But why did you then just completely ignore me after that?" Now I actually wanted to know the reason. "Oh god." Now Sebastian covered his face with his hands and propped his elbows on his knees. "It was the first time that I had kind of revealed a little of my 'inclination' so to speak, and I felt really terrible about it. So I thought, better to distance myself, rather than the whole story coming out. I already liked you either way, but I didn’t want to...well...scare you off or anything. But when you came to school a week later with the crutches, I thought, man this can’t be true. It was as if you were baiting me." "Well, I kind of was." I mumbled. I touched him lightly on the back and he finally removed his hands from his face. "Wow, you must’ve really pulled yourself together at Max then," I said jokingly. "And you were quite the actress – the way you got about on crutches was pretty awesome." The last sentence had probably slipped out of him by mistake; as Sebastian was now so red that I could even see it in spite of the bad lighting. I had to laugh and yawn at the same time. "Let's talk about everything again in peace and quiet sometime. I think I need to sleep now; the painkiller is still making me feel a little dizzy." "Okay." Sebastian got up with a somewhat dejected look and started to turn around. I grabbed his hand, pulled him towards me and kissed him.