Doll of Fate
Copyright© 2025 by Heel
Chapter 3: White Rooms
The pain in Seren’s knee didn’t fade within an hour, it had swollen enough that bending it was impossible. Every time she shifted, it throbbed sharply, like a warning. By early afternoon, she knew she needed help.
A neighbor, Mrs. Dalloway from across the hall, drove her to the hospital while Orla sat strapped into her car seat, unusually quiet.
At the emergency department, Seren was wheeled to radiology, her knee gently elevated on a small foam wedge. The X-ray technician was kind, moving her leg only enough to position it correctly. Even that slight movement sent spikes of pain up her thigh.
After the imaging, a doctor came in—a tall woman with kind eyes and a calm voice.
“Ms. Hale,” she said, pulling up a chair, “you’ve got a nondisplaced tibial plateau fracture in your left leg. That’s the top part of the shinbone, near the knee joint.”
Seren nodded, gripping the edge of the bed. “Okay.”
“The good news is it doesn’t need surgery. But it must be completely immobilized to heal correctly. We’ll put you in a long-leg cast today.”
She exhaled shakily. A mixture of relief and dread.
They moved her to a casting room. The walls were bare except for posters showing diagrams of bones. Orla sat on a chair in the corner with Mrs. Dalloway, her eyes round and glossy.
A nurse cut Seren’s pant leg away above her knee. Another nurse supported Seren’s leg at the ankle and thigh, holding it perfectly still.
The doctor began wrapping the skin in a soft cotton liner—thick at the knee bend, thinner up the thigh. The material was cool and gentle.
Then came the plaster bandages.
They dipped each roll in warm water, smoothing the wet strips from Seren’s ankle all the way up to her mid-thigh. The plaster warmed as it hardened. The weight of it increased, slowly and steadily, until her leg felt encased in stone.
“Hold still,” the doctor murmured. “We want this aligned just right.”
Seren stared at the ceiling tiles and breathed through the pressure.
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