The Lungs Are Blank To The Ribs 소설 & 이야기

“Unlike you, I have help with breathing; remember?” I frowned, squinting. I didn’t know that. “What do you mean?” “My gills.” I stopped walking. “You have gills?” Kairos's amused and smug laugh echoed all around us. “You’ve never noticed?” “No! What? Where?” He tapped a spot just beneath his ribcage, toward the back, on either side of his body. “Here, they’re subtle on land. They stay mostly closed when I’m above water, and my lungs do most of the work, so they’re not always active. However, they help when my lungs are under pressure." I blinked at him.

I concentrated on the arteries and veins and imagined them healing. My head throbbed. "Focus. Clear all the internal bleeding. Heal it all." I focused on stopping the bleeding. "Yes. Good girl. Imagine his lungs healing." I imagined the lung besides his heart healing. Returning to its normal position. "Very good. Now focus on the ribs. Imagine all the bones connected. The entire ribcage is healed. No fractures." I focused on the ribs. Ribs protect the heart and lungs. I imagined them in perfect condition. Without any cracks and fractures.

I don’t move, I’m not even sure I can until I hear him whisper softly behind me, “Just between the 4th and 5th rib on the left side. Do you feel that? The way the knife slides in clean? That’s the lung,” He shoves it deeper, blood now spilling into both our hands. It’s warm, and wet… but his lips are brushing my ear as he continues, “When you puncture it, air can’t pass through so when he tries to scream, the cavity fills up too fast and he chokes on his blood. It might feel hard to do now, but with your body size and the fact that they will underestimate you because you look like an angel, you’ll be able to do this again,”

Her chest hurt, not the kind of pain you could point at, not the kind that made you cry out or clutch your side, it was worse than that, it sat deeper, somewhere under her ribs, inside her lungs, around her heart, like something heavy and cold that wouldn’t move no matter how hard she breathed.

Everything seemed safe. My body didn't believe it. I lay still and looked up, waiting for the feeling to go away. No, it didn't. Instead, there was a strange pressure behind my ribs that was a warning without words. I put my hand on my chest and breathed slowly like the doctor had told me to. In through my nose. Out of my mouth. Again. Again. The pressure got better, but it didn't go away.

My eyes widened as I shook and turned and jolted my body around. “I’ve had a pain in my chest for years and it’s gone! What magic have you done?” I chimed getting excited at how good my body feels. “You had a few irregularly healed ribs… sounds like they’ve healed properly this time around…” Alpha Max said while scratching his chin. He looks so confused.

I know it hurts but I need to find out why he's struggling to breathe and why he's coughing up blood. I move to his other side of his body, pressing, feeling his broken ribs. I feel one of his ribs broken in further, piercing into his lung. That's what's killing him. I need to get it out. I look around having no equipment here. I get up and quickly find the kitchen. I grab a small sharp knife and clean it, before going back to him. "This is going to hurt." I cut into him where the broken rib is, causing him to roar out in pain. I slide my fingers into his opened wound and pull the broken rib out of his lung and back into its rightful place to heal.

I buried my face in the pillow and muffled screams so that Angie who was sleeping in the other bed wouldn't hear me. "Feel your lungs." I jumped and looked to the side where Ryder was with his forearms resting on the railing, his eyes on the darkness and the damn cigarette on his lips, off, of course. Feel how the air enters and how it leaves. I didn't know why he was helping me but for the first time I listened to him and I felt the air go in and out just as he told me. He didn't say anything else and since I didn't want to see myself vulnerable in front of him I pretended to recover.

She sobered as I poked at the new attachment. “The knife punctured your lung,” she said. “Apparently, that’s called a pneumothorax. They had to put the tube in to manage where the air goes.” Her lower lip quivered. “And make you keep breathing. You can’t leave safely for another few days at least.”

I reassured myself, "It's okay," as I worked to maintain control of my breathing. "It's really not that bad...it's just that there's a certain spot where I have to hit it, you know?" "I don't know," Maxwell stated his uncertainty. "No one has ever broken any of my ribs," she said. "Rib," I was the one to correct him. The answer is "only one."