Laney perched on the edge of the examination table, her legs swinging slightly, the crisp white paper beneath her crinkling with every movement. The faint antiseptic tang of the room lingered in the air, mingling with the hum of the fluorescent lights overhead. She always said she hated the smell of hospitals, even when she was a toddler. Her arm rested on the cold metal plate of the X-ray machine, the Nurse's calm, practiced hands adjusting her position with a precision that felt almost comforting.

The machine emitted a soft whir as the image was captured. Laney flinched slightly, not from pain but from anticipation—her mind still replaying the moment she missed, the jarring impact that left her clutching her arm, half-certain she'd heard a snap.

“It was close,” says the Doctor, holding the black-and-white image up to the light. His voice was reassuring but edged with the gravity of a near-miss. “Not broken, but you gave it a run for its money.”

Laney exhaled a shaky breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Relief coursed through her, mingled with a flicker of gratitude. “You’re lucky you’re the age you are, if you had been a little bit older those bones of yours wouldn’t have been as flexible as they are now!” says the Doctor, the ache in her forearm reminded her of how fragile she was—and how lucky.

The brunette Nurse walks back over to Laney with a smile to reassure her, “If you go back to the waiting room, you’ll be called back in a moment.” Young Price smiles, and moves off the table, keeping her arm tight to her chest, trying to keep as little movement as possible as she makes her way from the X-Ray department.

As she walks through the halls listening to the hustle and bustle of a busy hospital she replays the event in her head, springing off the ropes ready to strike and missing completely. What’s her Mom going to say when she finally answers her phone call, what’s her Dad going to say about taking such a risk? What are her friends going to say about her screwing up so badly?

Glancing through the slim pain of glass in the hospital door she sees a room full of people, who needed Doctors and Nurses much more than she did. There was elderly people towards the end of their lives, middle aged people looking in terrible pain and concerned parents clinging to children like they were on the end scale of cancer.

Laney sighed and pushed the door, turning her head to the ground and just heading to where her Dad was sitting. “What did they say, is it broken?” he asks, his voice almost trembling.

“No, Daddy, but I was lucky. We just need to wait to be seen again.” She says, Stu-E just pulls her in for a cuddle. It’s the sort of cuddle that blocks out everything, the noise and the smell of the hospital. It might seem like an eternity to a young child but it’s not long until she’s called.

“Laney Price?” asks the Nurse. Laney sighs, she can feel everybody’s attention stop and turn towards her, she pulls her hoodie over her head and walks towards the doors she’s literally just come from, but this time she has her Dad behind her, who smiles and waves at the people clearly knowing who they are.

Not a moment goes past until the Nurse explains to Laney, “You’re going to need your arm in a sling for a week or so, until it heals. No dancing, no bouncy castles and no wrestling moves!”

She rolls her eyes listening to the Nurse, she’d told her she fell off a bouncy castle but clearly her Dad had filled her in. Carefully the Nurse wraps her arm up next to her chest hooking the sling around her neck, she smiles politely at her young patient, which is reciprocated as her Dad runs his hand over hear head.

“McDonald’s tonight, eh?”

Laney smiles in acknowledgement as the scene fades out.