The wound

This is a short story that illustrates how some people don't see or want to see the reality that fuel their irrational fear(s)

Tom is a butcher and part-time taxidermist, locally famous as an absolute wizard with knives. On a night of "sampling" craft beers and in a dangerously inebriated state he announced he was going to juggle some exceedingly sharp butcher knives. His wife and a few others tried to dissuade him from proceeding, but he exclaimed "I have no fear of knives, I know blades better than anyone!"

Tom gave a seemingly flawless performance. He was moving the knives around himself so fast, no one noticed his mistake. Tom excused himself to the bar's filthy restroom to attend to the wound. Luckily, the black carpenter pants he was wearing concealed the bleeding caused by this painful mishap.

The cut was very deep but, oddly, was barely bleeding. In reality, the blade had nearly hit Tom’s thigh bone! Believing this was just a surface wound, Tom proceeded to bandage it with toilet paper and tape that he happened to have stuffed into his well-chosen pants. He returned to his group thankful that nobody made any comments regarding his leg.

The next morning, while nursing a hangover, Tom examined his injured leg and it was not at all what he expected to find. The wound had started bleeding more profusely overnight and the makeshift dressing was trapping all the blood under the heavy duty tape. The blood had forced itself through the toilet paper and had crusted into scabs of congealed blood that resembled cooling lava. This gruesome image caused Tom to mindlessly rip off his improvised bandage, taking with it several areas of skin. This reaction created a bloody mess in the bathroom that, if discovered, threatened his status as a master-of-blades.


After nearly blacking out from excruciating pain, he washed and redressed the wound with a sterile bandage. Unfortunately, he failed to apply any antibiotics or antiseptics. Believing he had sufficiently cleaned the wound and concealed his blunder, Tom carried on with his life.

However, Tom’s perception of reality, regarding this injury, was warped by the pain he experienced as well as potential embarrassment. These thoughts kept repeating in Tom's mind: "... it really hurt the last time I removed a bandage from this wound! … not going to do that again! ...it’s really not that bad and it will heal soon"

[A few days later]

Thinking to himself, "This wound is getting itchy, it must be healing. However, I probably should remove the bandage and check the wound.” Then Tom’s subconcious exclaimed loud and clear, “No! don’t touch it”.

Tom’s fears of potential bandage removal pain and a threat to his social status shifted his focus to think, “I will never let anyone know I hurt myself with a knife, of all things! It will heal, after all it was only a flesh wound”

[A week later]

Tom discovers a group on social media that understands Tom's fear of bandage removal pain. A group that encourages its members to simply add another bandage large enough to hide the bloody bandage below. “Out of sight, out of mind” is their motto.

[Two weeks later]


While expertly cleaning and stuffing a client’s buck, Tom thinks to himself, “This is the 5th new bandage and my leg is starting to really hurt bad!”. After Tom finishes his taxidermy work for the day he heads into the house to shower before dinner. He applies a new bandage just large enough to hide the old ones, and headed down to eat. Looking at the meal before him Tom thinks, “I am not that hungry, I must have caught a cold or something”. Tom started to announce he was heading to bed early but only got out the words, “I think I will” then fell to the floor.

The next day...

Tom, waking up in a hospital room, opens his eyes to see his wife standing by his bedside asking, "Tom, you passed out last night at dinner! Why didn't you tell anyone about your leg?”
Tom looked under the sheets to see that his leg had been removed!!! He started laughing, then crying uncontrollably saying, "At least, I did not have to feel the pain of removing the bandage!"


Morals



"If you don't face reality, you could lose part of yourself”

and

"Sometimes the truth hurts”

Author's Note

My first attempt at a short story...
Any advice appreciated.