Chapter 3
The nurse’s name was Kelly.
She had tired eyes and a voice that made it hard to keep lying.
My father stood too close while she asked questions.
“When did you fall?”
I looked at him.
He smiled.
Not warmly.
Precisely.
“Today,” I said.
“What time?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you lose consciousness?”
My father answered for me.
“No.”
Nurse Kelly looked at him.
“I need Emily to answer.”
His smile thinned.
My mother touched her purse strap.
Brittany shifted against the wall.
I felt the room tighten around me.
I whispered, “Maybe.”
Kelly wrote that down.
My father’s face changed.
Only for a second.
Enough.
The nurse asked my pain level.
I said four.
My father gave a tiny nod.
Kelly looked at me.
“Emily, I’m going to ask you again.”
“Your pain level.”
My throat closed.
My father’s eyes stayed on mine.
I said, “Seven.”
His smile disappeared.
That was when Officer Nolan first appeared near the doorway.
She did not enter loudly.
She simply stood there with one hand resting near her belt, watching the room like she had seen this play before and already knew which actor was lying.
Dr. Grant came in shortly after.
She was younger than my father expected and colder than he liked.
She did not flatter him.
She did not apologize for questions.
She examined me carefully, asked about old pain, checked places I had forgotten could tell stories, and ordered scans.
My father objected.
“Is that necessary?”
Dr. Grant turned to him.
“Yes.”
He laughed once.
“She’s always been dramatic.”
Dr. Grant did not smile.
“Pain is not drama.”
Those four words made me want to cry.
Not because they were comforting.
Because no adult had ever said anything like that in front of my father.
The scans took longer than I expected.
Brittany came with me part of the way, then stopped near the hall.
Her face had gone pale.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“For what?”
She looked behind us.
“For being glad it wasn’t me this time.”
May you like
Then she walked away before I could answer.
Read the full story 👉 Dr. Grant ordered scans despite the father’s objections, and Brittany accidentally revealed this was not the first time.
