Page 78 of Deliverance

When we step inside, I call out to them, a whimpering Bridgette gathered into my arms as I hold pressure on her hand.

“We need some help over here!”

A nurse rounds the corner, her eyes going wide with surprise.

“What happened here?”

“A fork,” I say as she gestures to a bed, forcing Bridgette to sit before pulling back the blood soaked napkins.

“Can you move your fingers, sweetie?” the nurse asks Bridgette.

She barely wiggles them, the small movement causing her to scream in the process.

“MRI free?” she calls out to one of the other nurses.

“Yeah!” the other calls out.

The nurse nods. “Okay, sweetie. Let’s get you checked out.”

I help Bridgette into a wheelchair as the nurse pushes her to a back room with a full blown MRI. Yeah, that’s how out of control our university is. We have a full blown clinic but with all the extra bells and whistles of a hospital.

“No chance of you being pregnant, obviously. I just did your birth control shot,” she says to herself as she helps Bridgette into the MRI. I’m hovering, looking for some way that I can help when the nurse’s eyes come to me. “You can go. Thank you for bringing her in.”

I look down to Bridgette’s pleading eyes. They are so scared and watery, and I know in that moment I’m not fucking going anywhere.

“I’m staying.”

She looks at me for a moment before nodding.

One MRI, a condescending doctor’s opinion, and a specialist brought in from Mass Gen later and Bridgette ended up having to have emergency surgery. There didn’t appear to be permanent damage, but two of her fingers were fractured and several tendons were torn. Harry made some calls and had the best of the best patching her up in no time. Once she woke up from the anesthesia, Harry left on the phone, reaming out Christopher Putnam, which in my opinion isn’t a smart choice if he wants to live to see the next day. I stayed by her bed the entire time, though.

Now we are back in her dorm and I’m laying her loopy ass down into her bed. Her cast starts just below her fingers and goes up her forearm a few inches. She smiles up at me, dazed.

“You take such good care of me, Maggie.”

“When you let me.” I smile sadly, tucking the blankets over her.

“I fucked up,” she blurts. “With Asher. I was just scared. Looking for an escape, you know?”

I frown. Not really understanding what she’s talking about. I nod anyway, though.

“I think I was falling in love with you,” Bridgette admits, causing my movements to pause.

Slowly, my head moves to meet her eyes.

“I know, that’s how I felt,” she says as she points at me. “Like, you’re a girl. You have a vagina. How could I loves you?” she laughs, slurring her words a bit. “But I did, and it’s such a pretty vagina. Tastes good too,” she says, smacking her lips as she moves her head around. “I’m kinda thirsty. Do we have water?”

Blinking hard, I shake my head and move over to her mini fridge in the corner, luckily finding a bottle of water before bringing it to her. She smiles in a daze at me as she lifts it to her lips and takes a few sips.

“Ahhh,” she says with a satisfied sigh.

I cap it and set it on the table.

“Do you need anything?” I ask.

“I think I still do love you,” she admits, her head lulling to the side as my heart skids to a stop.

I stare at her, not sure what to say or do. It’s probably just the drugs talking…right?