Chapter 9

"Andrew there is no more foreign object in Blake's wound, so focus and pass me the sterilized water I need to flush out as much blood as I can before sewing him up," she spoke.

Listening to Anita's order, Andrew passed Anita the sterilized water, watching as she flushed out the now comatose Blake's wound. Well, paying attention to Anita's actions, Andrew could already see the slight closing of his wound, knowing that without the bullet hindering Blake's natural healing capability, he would be completely healed by the end of the night.

"Now pass me the needle and thread; I need to close up his wound," she spoke as she held her hand out, trusting him to pass her what she wanted promptly.

Andrew, knowing that the wound would soon close, still passed Anita a suturing kit so she wouldn't become suspicious.

It surprised Anita, but not really; not only did they have blood bags but also a saline drip and an IV stand, so seeing a suturing kit was no surprise. Anita pulled her wandering thoughts back to the present focusing on the task at hand as she started to sew up Blake's wound as Andrew watched on.

Anita opened up the suturing kit taking the alcohol wipes that were included in the kit to sanitize the instruments. Grasping the needle holder, she picked up the needle itself with it before threading the thread through the needle eye; grabbing the tissue forceps, she parted the wound slightly just to see what she was working with. Anita noticed the wound wasn't as swollen and inflamed as before, but she didn't question it because she had a job to complete.

Anita lined up the edge of the wound, taking the needle driver. She held the needle against Blake's skin at a 90-degree angle a centimeter to the right of the wound, making sure not to go below the fat layer. When she went deep enough into his skin she twisted her hand slightly clockwise so her needle came out parallel to her first needle hole, when her needle came out from the other side, she unlocked the needle holder and reattached it near the tip of the needle afterward pulling the thread two inched to the other side. Anita used her left hand to hold the thread on the left side of the needle and wrapped it twice around the tip of the needle holder; she slightly opened the needle holder and grabbed the two pieces of thread on the right side of the wound. Using her left hand, she pulled the long part of the thread, which caused the thread that was wrapped around the needle holder to slide off, creating a simple overhanded knot with two loops. Anita was grateful that the wound wasn't large because she noticed, just like with his hands, the toughness of Blake's skin, which caused her to use more strength than usual to suture his wound.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw how intently Andrew and the three goons were looking at her hands curiosity and focus written on their face, "this first loop that I am creating is called the first throw, I have two more throws to create then I will start the process over again as I work my way down". Anita spoke as she used this time to teach as she continued along with her surgery because she could see that Andrew and the rest, except for Samantha, were showing interest in what she was doing.

"For the second throw use your left hand and hold the long end of the thread and this time wrap it around the needle holder clockwise only once, open your needle holder slightly and grab the shorter end of the thread using your left hand again pull the long part of the thread, and now you created your second throw simple enough isn't it?" She said her attention was still mainly concentrated on Blake's wound, but Anita was a multitasker so she had no problem teaching and finishing up this surgery at the same time.

Turning to look at Andrew, Anita ordered, "Andrew take that towel and wipe my sweat for me before it gets into my eyes or before it drips onto Blake's wound." She pointed out the towel with her chin, her face sweating from the strength she had to use to penetrate Blake's wound.

"No problem Anita, and I know we aren't in the clear yet concerning Blake's wound but thank you for all that you have done so far for him," he spoke as he gently wiped her forehead, he was grateful that on their first date, Anita stayed and was willing to help despite her concerns in the beginning.

"No problem, now watch closely the third loop is a little different from the other two, you still do the first steps and for the second step you want to also wrap it clockwise around the needle holder, then wrap it counterclockwise this will prevent the knot from slipping and now we are done with the first suture, now we repeat the steps over and over again as we move a quarter-inch down the wound for each suture as we make sure the knots are all on one side".

Because the wound was only a 30cm circular wound she didn't have to add a lot of suture to his gaping wound, causing her to feel relief as she sped up her pace. "Andrew, pass me the alcohol so I can clean up the dried blood around his wounds, and afterward, pass me the sterilized gauze and bandage."

Anita cleaned up Blake's wound before removing her bloody gloves and replacing them with new ones; taking the gauze, she pasted it on his wound, then taking the bandage, she wrapped it around the gauze to secure it in place. Removing the tourniquet, she was finally finished, now Blake's body just needed to heal.

Removing her gloves she turned to look at the people in the room "Now Blake just needs to rest and he will need antibiotics, and other drugs, also he will need someone to be near him to make sure he doesn't develop a fever and help him handle his bodily waste as he will not be strong enough to get out of bed, I suggest it would be better to send him to the hospital so they can watch out for him instead and handle the aftermath".

Everybody except for Samantha looked at Anita with gratitude reflected in their eyes, Anita was not the only one who noticed how indifferent Samantha was towards her hard work in saving Andrew's cousin. Andrew himself noticed the unguarded look in Samantha's eyes, instead of gratitude and appreciation which should have been reflected in Samantha's eyes all he saw was disgust and jealousy towards Anita, which caused Andrew to have his guard up even more towards her, maybe it was time to demote Samantha or just get rid of her completely if she continues being a nuisance. At the moment, Andrew decided to focus on his cousin instead, and later, he will think about what to do with Samantha.

Anita turned away from the group to wipe down the blood that spilled from Blake with alcohol; in a few, she would remind Andrew to get someone to wipe down the stretcher with bleach. Anita took the suturing kit and all the medical supplies and put them into a bag, afterward placing them into a trash bin. "Andrew, make sure you get someone to wipe down this area with bleach and be careful with the bag in the trash can. It has hazardous waste material in it, and I doubt you want to get poked with a dirty needle".

Andrew grabbed onto Anita's now ungloved hands, grasping them into his own warm callused hands. "Thank you again, Anita. I don't know how to thank you. If you have any wish, just let me know so I can properly compensate you for your hard work tonight".