Help arrives

Time is passing slowly for Robin, watching the clock seems to be making it go even slower. Constantly looking out the windo every ten minutes to see if the Sheriff has arrived yet. Still nothing, then back to Watching the clock again. Of course Robin is well aware that his cabin is at least an hour away from town and that is in peak weather conditions. With this heavy snow falling it could not only lengthen the trip by an extra hour or even an hour and a half, it could also potentially be dangerous and life threatening on some of the worse dirt roads coming up the mountain. Which the thought of, makes Robin even more tense. 

Feeling like if he had to look out the window one more time would drive him crazy, Robin decides to go check on the girl. For all he knows, she may be dead already. 

Opening the bedroom door, Robin notices his hand is shaking, nerves kicking in now. He definitely hopes to find her still breathing. He edges towards the bed, there is no movement at all from the girl. Baiting his breath, Robin slowly edges nearer, finally taking a breath himself when he sees the blankets rise and fall on her chest as she breathes. Relief washing over him. Robin decides to stay and watch her breathing. As long as he can see her steady rise and fall with every breath, the better and more calm he feels about this whole situation. Grabbing a chair from the sitting room, Robin sets it near the edge of the bed. 

Sitting in the chair, staring at the rise and fall of the blankets, Robin has a million things running through his mind. Still trying to fathom how something like this could have happened. As Robin contemplates all of this, his gaze trails off the rise and fall of the blankets, up to her face. Noticing how stark and pale her skin is in contrast to the bloody streaks, mud and dirt caked onto her face. Looking at her resting face, he can see how the curves of the lines of her face flow. Thinking how pretty she looks even in this awful state she's in. Wondering how, if she looks pretty like this, what kind of beauty she would be if she was clean and all well. 

...

After three agonising hours of sitting on tenter hooks watching this girl laying unconscious in my bed I’m just about ready to climb the walls when I hear a loud

  Bang

  Bang

  Bang, at the door. 

  

  I jump up and run to the door, fling it open and find the sheriff standing knee deep in snow carrying four huge bags. His wife standing behind him, both covered head to toe in snow gear, scarves, hats. Looking like two eskimos with just their bright red noses and round red cheeks peeking through from their tied hooded coats. 

  

  I usher them in and notice there is no vehicle. “How did you get here?” I ask.

  

  Doc Willow replies, “ we got stuck in a snow bank about half a mile down the hill. We had to trek up to you. Poor Henry has refused to let me carry anything.”

  

  Sheriff Henry Penser stood just in the doorway, out of breath he drops all the bags on the floor and unties his hood, “ I dropped one of the bags coming up the hill. It’s not too far down your drive. Right near where the gates are. You'll have to go down and fetch it. It has medical equipment that Willow will need.”

  

  Doc Willow, “ where is this patient? Tell me everything you can before you go get the bag. Henry didn’t give me much to go by other then there had been some kind of hunting accident and there was a girl with an arrow through her.”

  

  I lead the way to the bedroom, it’s not too far from the front door as my cabin is small, I point to the girl on the bed, “that’s about right I guess Doc. I found her near enough stark naked, frozen to the bone with an arrow through her at the bottom of the cliff up past Denton peak. At first my eyes couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and I thought she was some kind of broken dove, is the only way I can explain what she looked like. I’ve covered her with every quilt I could find and I stoked the fire and kept the cabin as warm as I could so she could thaw. Since I picked her up she’s been unconscious, but I have been trying to give her little sips of water and I’ve been watching her this whole time and she’s moved and moaned a few times, so I know she’s still alive”.

  I carry on, “ it was an hour and a half trek back to the cabin with her on my shoulders with only my coat over her. Since that she’s been here in my bed for the past three hours while waiting for you to arrive.” 

  I put my hands to my face and brush the cobwebs from my eyes. I feel for the first time, how exhausted I am after all this, and the relief that I have someone here to help is hitting me now. 

  “Will she make it Doc?” I plead 

  

  Doc, “ go fetch that bag of mine while Henry and I get a look at that wound of hers.”

  

  I walk over to the front door and realise the girl is still wearing my coat. I grab the Sheriff’s coat laying on the table and put it on. It’s a bit tight around the biceps but it will do for a few minutes. I head out into the storm. It’s snowing so hard now it’s almost impossible to see where I’m going, luckily I know my way around my homestead and I find my way to the gate. Sure enough I see the side of a large green bag sticking out of the snow. It’s almost been snowed under, it’s a good thing I came to find it now or I wouldn’t have been able to see it under the snow had I waited 5 minutes more. 

  

  I grab the bag, it’s heavy and awkward to carry. God knows how the old sheriff managed to carry it this far with all those other bags he had with him. 

  Once back inside the cabin I find the sheriff and Doc Willow the sheriffs wife who had been the towns general practitioner for 48 years before retiring a couple of years back. They are both working hard to try and get the arrow out of the girls bloody side. 

  

  Doc, “Rob, wash your hands with that hot water over there, just be careful it’s just been boiled, hurry now!” 

  

  I walk over and wash my hands. 

  Doc beckons me over and points to the arrow, “ your stronger then we are, pull it out would you luv, don’t worry Henry has cut the back end off so it’s a lot shorter now. It should slide out, I don’t think it will have hit any main organs or she would have been dead a long time ago”. 

  

  I feel the blood drain from my face and I feel as if I’m going to pass out. Doc, “don’t fall down on me now Robin! This girl needs your help, please, pull it out. NOW!”

  She looks at me with wide eyes and a look that says if you drop on me I’m going to drop you. 

  I pull myself together and walk up to the girl, she is still unconscious. 

  I tell myself, “She is just a broken dove, you can do it, just pull the arrow from her broken wing. It’s no different to helping an injured animal.”

  I take hold of the arrow and pull. It’s hard and I can feel drag as it starts to slide out, but then it loosens and slides out pretty easy. As soon as it’s out there’s a rush of fresh blood. Doc is quick to stuff some cotton ball looking stuff into the holes on both the front and back. 

  

  Doc, “okay boys, I have it from here, can you two go make us a coffee and something to eat? This is going to be a very long night for us all”.