Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw

Author:Shane Burcaw
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

Dramatic reenactment.

Then the fun began. After arguing with my gym teacher and the security guard for a few minutes, I was able to convince them to lift me back into my chair. Quite possibly the biggest mistake of my life. As Mr. Kremus lifted my legs to maneuver me onto my back, a sharp pain shot through my right knee and radiated throughout the rest of my body. The first step to rolling me is sliding one hand under my knees. When he did this, it caused my legs to move approximately an inch, rising from the pavement to accommodate his hand sliding beneath them. This movement, the absolute slightest of fucking movements, hurt so badly that I shrieked. Literally shrieked. I can’t even describe the sound I made in human words because the letters needed to create them have not been invented yet.

He frantically slid his hand out from under my knees, sending them plummeting from their inch of elevation to the pavement below. Another incomprehensible screech. I gathered myself and said, “I’m fine. I think I might have pulled a muscle in my right knee. Can you just pick me up from my side and put me back in my chair?” I’m an idiot. But apparently I’m a convincing idiot because Mr. Kremus and the security guard only argued with me for several more minutes before agreeing to lift me back into my chair.

Spoiler alert: it was much more than a pulled muscle. My right femur was snapped in half just above my knee. I discovered that broken femurs don’t support weight very well when the two adults hoisted me off the pavement using my knees and shoulders as lifting points. I’m not sure if you’ve ever felt the two sides of a broken bone separate from each other, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who would like to guarantee that they will never experience a sicker pain for the rest of their life. For dessert, I had the pleasure of feeling my bones rearrange themselves once again as my body assumed the sitting position of my wheelchair. Refusing to accept there was anything seriously wrong, I once again reassured the adults that I had only sustained a pulled muscle as we made our way to the nurse’s office to get my bleeding forehead examined.

After inspecting the gash on my head and listening in horror to my recounting of the crash, the school nurse got my mom on the phone and strongly suggested we go to the hospital to have me checked. Concussions are apparently a bigger deal than I imagined. Even though the cut on my head did not require stitches, every adult involved in the situation agreed that I needed to be looked at by a doctor just to make sure my brain was intact. I kept the pulsing numbness in my right leg to myself while I waited for my mom to arrive with the van.

Accepting I had seriously injured myself happened on the way to the emergency room.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.