The Speed of Sound

“Autumn!” My mom yelled from downstairs. “Can you come here for a second?”

I got up from my computer desk and walked down the hallway to the stairs. I put my hand on the banister and skip-stepped to the bottom. I felt my ankle wobble on the way down and lost my footing, rolling to the bottom of the steps. There was a loud snap, I didn’t know what it was but a few seconds later I felt a shooting pain in my leg. I wailed out in pain, I heard my mom rushing over to the stairs.

“Oh my God, oh my God Autumn what did you do!” She cried.

I felt the pain start to travel farther up my leg, I writhed in pain while my mom grabbed my arms to lift me up only making the pain worse. “Mom. Stop!” I yelled.

“I have to get you into the car, you have to go to the hospital!” She said. She was absolutely freaking out, her eyes were almost popping out of her skull like in those old cartoons and if her face drained any more color I swear she’d have to go the the hospital right beside me.

“Mom, I can’t get off the floor, I can’t.” I said.

“Well, how are we going to get you to the car.” She panicked.

I took a deep breath, leaned back on my elbows. “Call an ambulance.” I said.

“Okay, okay, okay. Where’s my phone. Oh my God, where’s my phone?!” She yelled walking around the living room frantically.

“Mom!” I yelled. “Calm down! Take a deep breath.”

I looked down at my leg for the first time and almost fainted. There was blood, everywhere and my bone was literally sticking out of my leg. I held my head back and took a deep breath. I heard my mom freaking out on the phone in the next room. I leaned back on the floor and took slow shallow breaths.

“Alright, alright, the paramedics are on their way.” My mom said rushing back to the stairs.

I concentrated on my breathing and the thought of paramedics coming to my rescue. “Oh, god. Autumn, Autumn can you hear me?” My mom started panicking.

I lazily opened my eyes and looked up at her. “Yeah?” I said.

“You’re losing a lot of blood, oh dear lord you’re so pale. Keep your eye’s open, do not fall asleep.” She ran upstairs over me, I could hear her thumping around above me. My eyes were heavy and suddenly our hardwood floor felt like a lazy boy.
I could feel my blood pooling around me, but there was nothing I could do, every shallow movement or breath shot pain all over my body. My mom jogged down the stairs, the vibrations shook my leg, making me wail out in pain. My mom took off her belt and wrapped it around my thigh in an attempt to stop the bleeding and put a cold towel over my head. She propped my head up on her lap, I could hear her talking but my vision was going blurry. My eyes crossed and suddenly everything went black.