Morbid

It took an hour before someone called Arnold's name and by then, his eye was swollen completely shut. The bruise was from his forehead down to his cheek, since it was actually two bruises combined. Annie had used Arnold's phone to take the pictures they would need later. When the attending doctor finally saw Arnold and the state he was in, he winced a little.

“Good lord, didn't someone offer you an ice pack or something?” He asked.

“I didn't know they could or I would have asked.” Annie said. “We've been sitting there for an hour waiting.”

The doctor shook his head. “I need to have a talk to them again.” He said and took out a small light. “I don't suppose you can open that eye for me?” He asked Arnold.

“Not fffor the lassst twenty minutesss.” Arnold slurred.

The doctor sighed. “How many hits to the face did you take?”

“Two punchesss.” Arnold said and pointed to the two spots, the side of his forehead and his cheek.

“That figures. The two places that would automatically cause a black eye and near immediate swelling and discoloration.” The doctor lightly touched Arnold's eyelid and he didn't flinch. “Does that hurt?”

“Yesss.” Arnold said and the doctor looked at him in surprise.

“He's always had a high pain tolerance.” Annie said.

“That's actually going to work in your favor for the next few days while the swelling goes down, because it stings like a son of a bitch with having to keep it cold.” The doctor said and very carefully opened the top eyelid and flicked the light onto Arnold's eye. “I'll give you a cold compress and you are to gently rest it on the side of your face. Do NOT press on it. Do NOT hold it to your skin firmly. Any additional pressure around your eye and it could cause permanent damage.”

Annie took in a sharp breath.

“Yes, it's very serious. In fact, I suggest you do not lay down. Reclining is fine. The fluid won't build up too quickly and hopefully your eye can come out of this unscathed.”

“Oh, Arnold.” Annie said, almost on the verge of tears.

“It's not all doom and gloom.” The doctor said with a smile. “His eye is working fine underneath that dark purple swelling. As long as nothing else happens to him for about a week, he should be fine.” He said and let Arnold's eyelid go. “I'm tempted to recommend an optometrist; but, he won't be able to check anything until after the swelling goes down, anyway.”

“What about the compress? How long does it need to get cold and can Arnold use anything else while I have it in the freezer?” Annie asked.

“Don't you dare think of using a piece of meat or a bag of frozen peas or something.” The doctor said. “All you'll do is cause more complications, infections, and possibly damage the eye.”

Annie nodded. “I'll stop and grab another compress at the pharmacy on the way home.”

“Good.” The doctor said and explained about how to use the compress as he gently probed the damaged area around Arnold's eye. “It's actually not too bad.”

“It looks bad.” Annie said and the doctor chuckled.

“Just wait until it starts to heal and turns a sickly yellow.” The doctor said and let out a low whistle. “He's going to look like he's jaundiced on that side of his face. Or half dead.” He shrugged and filled out a few things on Arnold's chart. “You'll find out in a few days.” He said and left for a couple of minutes, then came back with a cold compress and handed it to Arnold.

Arnold put it to his face and only rested it there and the doctor nodded.

Annie let out a relieved sigh. “Can you check his ribs, too?”

“Of course. It's on the sheet.” The doctor said and lifted Arnold's t-shirt. “Whew, look at that. A perfect football tackle.”

“You've seen this before?” Annie asked, a little surprised, and took several pictures.

“Shoulder bruises? All the damn time.” The doctor laughed and expertly roamed his hands over Arnold's side. “There's usually a good upper arm bruise to go with it, too.” He gently prodded the spots and then traced the outline of an arm. “You're a little more tenderized right along here, so he got you good from the right side.”

Arnold nodded. “I got him back.”

The doctor gave him an appraising look. “Big guy, brown hair, mulched face?” He asked and Arnold nodded again. “How are your hands? You really gave him a pounding.”

“I usssed my armsss.” Arnold slurred his s-words as he lifted his forearms to show the dried blood on them.

“I don't normally like fighting, since it almost always turns out bad for everyone.” The doctor said. “I assume he started it?”

“He vandalized our home and then violated the restraining order we had against him.” Annie said.

The doctor gave her a disbelieving look. “You're the Strickland family?” He asked, surprised.

“Our names are on the chart.” Annie said and pointed to the chart.

“I try not to read them until the appointment is almost over, so I don't get personally involved.” The doctor said and checked Arnold's other side. “I can't feel any breaks, even though he slammed you to the ground pretty hard.”

“What a relief!” Annie said.

“You say that now.” The doctor said with a smile. “You have to go pay the bill after this.”

“I'm glad you didn't pad it with twenty dollar pain pills that I can get at the pharmacy for about fifteen cents each.” Annie said and the doctor laughed.

“I assume you've got insurance?”

Annie nodded. “It's paid for the year, so this shouldn't be too much of an expense.” She said. “No ambulance charge, either.”

The doctor smiled. “I'm glad.” He said and took her hand. “Good people need something good to happen to them sometimes.”

“Sometimes? You've read the newspaper articles, haven't you? I need to have everything good happen from now on to make up for everything we've been through!” Annie said and they both laughed. Annie laughed genuinely and the doctor laughed sadly.

“I don't have to wrap your son's chest. He just has to be careful and not move too much for a couple days.” The doctor said, then he gave her a smile. “You're free to go.”

“Can I get a couple copies of Arnold's medical report? The police need it for the case against Arnold's assailant.” Annie said.

“Of course. I'll go make them and come right back.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Annie said and he left. She looked at her son's face and sighed. “I'm so sorry about today, Arnold.”

Arnold shrugged.

“Everything just... with Kelly and then Kevin...” Annie sighed. “We've spent more time at the hospital than we have at home.”

“You ssstill need to get groccceriesss.” Arnold said.

“I need to get you home first and set up to be comfortable.” Annie said, and then chuckled. “I wonder if my shopping cart will still be where I left it this morning in the middle of the supermarket?”

The doctor came back and handed her two copies of the medical report. “I added in the potential lingering damages and the possible permanent eye deformations, just for some flavor.”

Annie tucked the files under her arm and held a hand out to the doctor. “Thank you for that.”

“It should help, especially if you get those pictures printed off and add them to the file.” The doctor said and shook her hand.

“I'll do that when I grab the second cold compress.” Annie said and let his hand go. “Let's go, Arnold.”

Arnold nodded and followed his mother out of the triage area and they went to the main desk to take care of the bill. Annie asked for several copies for both the insurance company and for the two files, then she paid the remaining part of the bill with her debit card and they left the hospital.

“I don't think there's any way to get this money back from Kevin without suing him for damages. I'm afraid that if we try, it will open us up to being sued by him for the damages you did to him.” Annie said as they went to the parking lot. She had to pay for the second hour, even though they were only a few minutes over the first hour, and she drove them to the pharmacy she frequented a lot. She bought another cold compress and also printed out two copies of the photos for the files.

Once that was done, Annie took her son back to the house and did up the couch for him, with a pillow and a blanket, and had him undress and reclined him against the corner and put his feet up. She turned on the television and bent over him to give him a kiss. She stopped when she saw his mouth was slightly misshapen.

“It looks like you won't be kissing anyone properly for a while.” Annie said and placed a kiss half on his cheek and half on the good side of his lips. “I'll be back in a while. If anything happens, call me immediately.”

Arnold nodded and watched as his mother left. Almost as if it had waited for her to leave, his phone beeped at him. He picked it up and saw a text from Kelly.

'I finally got my mom to leave me alone.' Kelly texted. 'Now tell me what happened to you!'

Arnold typed with one hand and held the cold compress lightly to his face as he typed back what had happened. He couldn't see that as Kelly saw each message, she became angrier and angrier. She did her best to not respond with anger, because she didn't want Arnold to think she was angry at him... even though she was. He had broken up with her as if he didn't care about her.

Kelly knew that he did care about her, especially after what he said in the hospital waiting room; but, it still hurt her heart to be tossed aside, just because her father said to. She was also very angry at her father for telling Arnold to leave her alone. She didn't speak to him unless she had to, then it was only in short and terse sentences so that she wouldn't start screaming at him.

She was also angry at herself.

Kelly hated her body even more now, because of what it had done to her relationship with Arnold. Of course, it also made her mentally question everything she was ever going to experience about sex. What would she do if she did meet another guy she liked? When he revealed himself to her and she saw his penis, what would she say? Oh, you're a bit too big for me and I can't see you anymore? Or would it be really small and she would jump for joy that it wouldn't hurt to have such a tiny thing inside of her?

She shook her head as she became self-conscious of not only her own body, but of every body that she was ever going to see, because she was going to have to judge them on the size of their penis and not on their personality or how she felt about them. She closed her eyes for a moment and pushed her future concerns aside, then kept texting Arnold back and forth.

Kelly eventually found out about the security video. When she checked her phone, the unknown sender had shuffled the message into her spam. When she watched it, she was both terrified and very proud.

*

Officer Charlie Hallman sat in the squad room after the little talk the chief wanted to have to the officers that had responded to the call at the Strickland residence. It was actually a pretty loud discussion, and fairly detailed, and he was very glad that his own performance at the scene had been the voice of reason and had calmed everyone down.

The video had been pretty damning for Detective Tanner. Annie had been right and she had her gun out long before approaching the two fighting men on the screen. The worst part was that she hadn't interfered until Arnold started to get the upper hand.

I need to ask that woman where she bought her microphones. Officer Hallman thought.

Everything that was said on the video was clear and concise, to Detective Tanner's surprise, and her little ruse to get Arnold into custody so she could question him was completely exposed. It had even caught her conversation with the two officers that was slightly off-screen as she instructed them to take Arnold into custody, because he was a person of interest in a couple of cases.

The worst part of the video for Detective Tanner was her own evidence explanation. She had revealed several factors that no one caught at the time, because they were all listening to the explanation and not what was actually said. She had knowledge of, previous knowledge of, and actual knowledge of, aspects of Kevin's apparent reasons for being there that day... and since Kevin was unconscious the entire time and she hadn't questioned him to get that knowledge... it was a clear set up to frame Arnold.

To say that the police chief wasn't happy was an understatement. Detective Tanner was on administrative leave, effective immediately, and her role in what happened was being investigated by Internal Affairs, or IA. They were the cops for the cops and a lot of police officers treated them like most normal people treated cops. With fear and respect.

Considering how long Detective Tanner's career was, they had a lot of investigating to do, starting with the current case of the Strickland family. What a huge stinking pile of mess that was turning out to be.

Annie. Officer Hallman thought as he remembered the spitfire that had stood defiantly against three police officers and a detective, essentially spat in their faces as she cursed at them, and called them out on the bullshit they shovelled every day. He wasn't supposed to encourage something like that, and yet, he thought she looked almost regal as she yelled and berated them for being so stupid.

Officer Hallman thought about calling her and telling her that Detective Tanner was relieved of duty for the foreseeable future, then changed his mind. There was no way she would want to hear from him so soon, especially after her threat to get a restraining order against them. The police. He chuckled as he imagined what the judge would say as he saw that case cross his desk of someone asking for police protection against the police.

She's definitely a spitfire. Officer Hallman thought and sat back in the chair he was in and crossed his arms over his chest and crossed his ankles. Her actions just made him like her that much more. I really have to find some way to apologize to her.

“Hey, no relaxing on the job.” Someone said and swatted his shoulder with the back of their hand.

Officer Hallman chuckled and looked at his partner. “You know full well this is my seriously thinking pose.”

His partner nodded. “Thanks a lot for leaving me back at the coffee shop.” He said sarcastically.

“It was an emergency and I gave you a copy of my report.” Officer Hallman said. “Plus, you were taking too damn long talking to the waitress.”

His partner laughed, then his face lost the humor. “I also heard the chief.” His partner said. “We all heard the chief.”

“What a relief it wasn't me this time.” Officer Hallman said.

“Yeah, a relief.” His partner said. “Want to get started on that paperwork?”

“I might as well. I'm just waiting for IA to pop in for a visit.”

“Fun.” His partner said and they both walked over to the communal desks and started working on the generic paperwork that all police officers worked on practically every day.