The doctor nodded, but it was not the relieved nod I had hoped for.
“That’s what I thought.”
My heart began to beat so hard it was visible in the hollow of my throat.
“What is it?”
He hesitated.
Then he pointed at the image.
“There’s internal bleeding.”
I heard the words. I understood the words. But for a second they had no place to land.
“What?”
“It looks like there’s trauma in the abdominal tissue. Not catastrophic, but significant. Enough that we need to treat him immediately.”
I felt the floor tilt.
“Trauma?”
He looked at Noah. Then at me.
“It appears someone squeezed him very hard around the abdomen.”
The room seemed to contract.
“Squeezed?” I repeated, because I needed the absurdity of the word said twice before I could absorb it.
“Yes.”
