Blood And Bandages

I was in the kitchen when it happened. From the window, I could see the neighborhood cat eating the cat food I had placed on the porch. She was a grey fat thing, but we loved her. Pausing during my chores, I watched her yellow eyes grow wide. A feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. I knew she was in trouble.

“No!” I yelled, finally seeing the coyote on our porch. I quickly opened the back door and threw myself in front of the cat, rolling her up in my arms. The coyotes large paw came crashing down onto my leg. Screaming, I inched to the ground. It stood, ready to attack again. The cat hid behind me as the coyote took another swipe at me, but this time clawed my chest. A long gauge ran between my breasts. The cat hissed behind me, but quickly stopped when the coyote growled. It backed up, but didn’t go away. My hand fell to my side; I was preparing to reach for my phone. I found the energy to growl at it. Surprisingly, that made it go away. My breathing came in short, rasping breaths. I pulled the phone to my ear, already having hit the number five speed dial.

“Aaron, I need you to come to my house now… this dog bit me and I can’t get up. I’m outside. Hurry.” I paused listening to him ask me questions. “No, come … quickly.” The phone dropped the porch. The cat started licking my wounds.

“Thanks kitty,” I whispered. She paid me no attention. Minutes later, I heard Aaron’s heavy footsteps pounding the Earth.

“I’m back here!” I yelled.

“Oh my God.”

“Call my mother.” I ordered, throwing him the phone.

“What happened? I thought a dog bit you.”

“It was a big dog,” I muttered. The northern wind ripped through my thin clothes and torn skin. I shuttered in pain, leaning my head against the house.

Aaron slid the phone between his shoulder and cheek. “Let’s get you in the house.” He said, moving toward me. I was in his arms before I could respond.

“Yes, Mrs. Warnack I need you to come home right now… this is Aaron. Kayla has been bitten by a coyote. It’s really bad. Hurry.” He paused and I watched his eyes process the information. “Okay.” He replied. After putting me down in a chair and closing the back door, he pressed the phone to my ear.

“Mama.” I moaned. “I’m okay. Alright. I’ll talk to you soon.” He hung up for me.

“She said to call 911.”

“I’m already on it.”

 

I sat in the chair for another fifteen minutes before the EMT’s barreled in the house. It was fifteen minutes of agonizing pain and nausea. The blood smell relentlessly took me on a winding road of twists and turns. Aaron was pushed against the wall while they worked on me. After a few minutes, they rolled in the stretcher.

“He comes with me,” I muttered, while being rolled away.

“Okay sweetheart.”

 

The ride to the hospital was bumpy, but Aaron was by my head the whole time. He had wrapped two fingers around the edge of my collar bone.

“Hunny, you may go to sleep.” The EMT warned.

“Okay.” I replied drowsily. Before I knew it, I was out.

 

I woke up to dim lights and a bleach smell.

“Oh thank God, Jacky.” My mother’s warm voice was beside me. She squeezed my hand.

“It hurts.” I said nothing more and waited for another wave of pain killers.

“Thank you for saving Smoochie, Jj.” My little sister had been crying. I could hear that in her voice.

“No problem.” I replied. My father coaxed her away, saying I needed my rest. Finally, Aaron came in. Through my squinting eyes, I could see his frown.

“Did I save the cat?” I asked, grinning. My lip started hurting.

“Yeah, you saved the cat alright and bled all over the snow.”

“Does it look pretty?” We both chuckled.

“You had me worried shitless.”

“Well you won’t have to worry about any of that anymore, will you?” We grinned again. “I’ll tell ya man, that was hella scary. I’ll never do it again.”

“You had better not,” He warned, smiling.

“Hey! Come on. Why the long faces people? I’m still breathing, right?” Every person in the room did not find me funny.

“Well then,” I muttered, giving into the pain killers.

 

…

The next week at school was Hell on Earth. Because of the white bandages around my chest and the v-neck I was wearing, everyone just had to ask questions. My Biology teacher was the only one who had me explain to the class. So I did.

“It was hella scary, too. I’ll never do it again.” I finished my story. Most of the guys in the class chuckled, but every other girl was sympathetic.

 

Kaleb walked up to me in the hallway.

“Hey, man.” We both grinned and he glanced at the bandages. Patrick just happened to walk up, too.

“How’re you feeling?” he asked.

“Oh just peachy.” I winked and continued to walk. They followed, waiting for more. “The hospital visit was awful, but I got some damn good meds.” That got both of them laughing.

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye.” I waved them both off and reached the bus line. Another story telling time awaited me.