Beth

Story By Kendal

Illustration By Lily

Chapter 1

Bethany Lawrence was walking with her friend Kira out of the piercing parlor when the group of men stepped in front of them. They looked rather imposing, and were clearly intentionally blocking the two best friends from their car. Beth frowned, her defiant attitude building, "What are you looking at?" she asked, stepping closer with her arms out at her sides. It was then that the largest of the men stepped forward also, his large fist smashing into Beth's face and sending her sprawling to the ground, her glasses flying off her face to break in half on the pavement. Instinctively, she reached for the chain on her belt, trying to unclip it to use as a weapon, but the large man merely chuckled, slamming his foot down on her arm, a sickening series of crunches, pops and snaps erupting from her now shattered forearm, as he twisted his foot back and forth, purposely grinding her broken arm into the pavement. She screamed, looking up at her attacker, just before she felt something solid, almost like metal, slam into her back. The sudden pain drove the air from her lungs, and with that she blacked out.

Chapter 2

It seemed like only moments later when Beth awoke, the sounds of people moving around her jolting her to consciousness. "Twenty year old female...", "Attacked in downtown...", "She's coming around!" Beth blinked rapidly, unable to see everything with her blurred vision and suddenly wishing she hadnt lost her glasses. When a face leaned over her, that of a handsome paramedic, she smiled. "Miss? Miss can you hear me? What's your name?" She groaned, her head throbbing, "B...Bethany..." He nodded, "Bethany, can you move your toes for me?" It seemed like an odd request. It was then that Beth realized she was on a fast moving stretcher, being wheeled down a hallway with bright lights going by overhead. Looking down at her feet, she saw them bare. Strange, she had boots on before. her clothes were also dirty and torn. Her bare feet, which she had long considered her best feature, laid at the end of the stretcher, uncovered and exposed, several little silver toe rings spread across her tiny toes, the black nail polish on them chipped in several places. She loved her feet, even her big toes, which from this distance seemed just as small as the rest today. "Bethany, wiggle your toes for me" he repeated. Nodding a bit, she looked back down at her feet, trying to wiggle them as he had asked. That was odd, she thought. They didn't move. Not even a little bit. They always wiggled. She used to do it just on purpose, to get people to look at them. She would even wiggle her little toes unconsciously without thinking about it... and now, she couldnt seem to get them to move. It was that thought that she fell back to sleep to.

Beth awoke once more, again what seemed like only a few minutes. She glances around, realizing she was in a darkened hospital room. Groaning, she felt her body with her hands, finding herself fully intact, if naked beneath the thin hospital gown she wore. She noticed some pain in her left arm and looked down to see a thick black fiberglass cast there, covering her narrow arm from her elbow to the tips of her fingers, enclosing her thumb. As she was examining the cast, the door opened, and in walked a tall female doctor, who looked to be in her late twenties. "Hello, Beth, I'm Doctor Carstensen." She smiled and Beth instantly felt more at ease, asking softly, her voice slightly hoarse, "W...what happened?" Doctor Carstensen frowned now, glancing at her clipboard, "You and your friend were attacked downtown by some muggers...you were robbed and beaten quite severely." Beth closed her eyes, remembering now clearly. "Beth, you might have noticed the cast... your left arm was shattered quite severely... the bones in your forearm, wrist and hand were in dozens of pieces, and your thumb and fingers were snapped in several places as well." Beth gasped looking again at the cast. "We performed surgery and we think we've gotten everything back together, but you'll need that cast for a few months." Beth nodded, "When...when can I leave? To see Kira?" Doctor Carstensen sighed, moving to the foot of the bed and placing her clipboard down. She pulled away the sheet to reveal Beth's bare feet, which the injured girl quickly turned her eyes to once more. They were the same as she remembered, though pointed inward towards each other, her big toes almost touching. Her sexy little toes were still covered in the chipped black nail polish, still adorned with her numerous silver toe rings. "Beth, can you wiggle your toes for me?" Beth tried, but found once more that she couldnt. Doctor Carstensen sighed and shook her head. "Bethany... a baseball bat was used to strike you in the back repeatedly... your spinal cord was severed along every thoracic vertebrae. As Beth's eyes welled with tears, she continued, "You're a paraplegic Beth... you'll never walk again. You'll never be able to run or dance or wiggle these adorable sexy little toes..." She wrapped her slender fingers around the big toe of her right foot. "Can you feel this?" Biting her lower lip and sniffling back tears, Beth shook her head. "You can't feel anything from about your bellybutton down... and you never will again. I'm sorry..." With that, she turned and left the room, leaving Beth alone in the dark, with nothing but the sound of her own pitiful little sobs.

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Read Kira's Story