Snow Place to Go #5

It had been 18 hours since the lockdown began, and the main issues everyone was fearing were finally setting in;

Boredom, and the feeling of helplessness.

While most of the couples on retreat headed back to their rooms for a little private time, the others stayed in the lobby, which had become sort of the main room everyone spent their time. A hellhound sat by the main entrance, hoping to melt some of the snow, which was now chest level to most of the patrons. A Raiju was allowed downstairs into a maintenance room to see if she could jumpstart anything. Both of their efforts failed.

Nothing worked. The lights, internet, electricity, and heating were all still out. The doors remained closed as they couldn’t be opened without a wall of snow in the way. The only way out seemed to be breaking out of a window, but nobody was willing to do so, especially since the manager said he’ll hold them reliable. Greedy bastard. There was also the skylight in the lobby, but that too, was now covered by snow. All we could do was wait for a rescue service.

I guess it wasn’t too bad with Asyllisus still by my side. Aside from breakfast and using the bathroom, she spent all of her time by the fire. Either due to the warmth, or the fact she wanted to cuddle, I don’t know.

“Isaac?” I heard her begin to ask in a worried tone. “How long do you think we’ll be stuck in here?”

“No idea.” I sighed. “Hopefully not too much longer.”

“Well, if you’re with me, that’s ok.” She hugged my chest again. I was warming up to the lamia I had now begun a small relationship with her. Call me too fast, but I could tell she was warming up to me. Once again, that could be only for heat.

“Well well well, don’t we have a giant teddy bear.” I heard a familiar female voice say from behind me. It was the arachne from the night before, who lent me these blankets.

“Ugh, screw off, Janet!” Asyllisus groaned. The spider chuckled.

“Ok ok, just yell if you need anymore blankets for snuggle time.” She teased before she walked off.

********************

We sat bored out of our minds in front of the fire. Since everything was shut down inside the resort and our phones couldn’t charge, everyone was stuck in the darkness. There was enough to see, but nothing was clear. We heard a few loud thuds and a scream come from one of the stairwells. Most of us in the lobby ran to the source of the noise, and we found something bad.

A red Oni laid on the floor in front of the first story stairs. She clutched her right foot in her hands, and she was wincing in pain.

“Fucking... fuck shit!” She spoke through gritted teeth. I’d didn’t take a rocket scientist to find out what had happened. A few people from the crowd picked her up and carried her to the lobby. Why the saviors didn’t carry her to a room was beyond me. We laid her down on the couch and he got a good look at her ankle. I wish we hadn’t.

Her ankle was badly bruised and had major lacerations that were bleeding. The thing that got to most of us though, was the bone that was out of place. It wasn’t sticking out, but it wasn’t in the right place.

Most of the people that were huddled around her left after seeing her injuries. We couldn’t call an ambulance (obviously), so it was down to us. Luckily, I was a med student in training, so I knew some stuff to help. I asked around, no one else had been to medical school.

Great. I asked her for permission to attempt to fix it, despite not being fully trained and that something may go wrong.

“Fucking do something if you can!” Well at least she’s allowing it.

She was breathing (that’s a good start), the ankle had blood circulation as the cuts were still bleeding. I asked some of the people around to bring some supplies. The Oni had caught wind of what was going on. The cuts were easy to bandage up, nothing a bandage couldn’t fix. I moved onto her toes, asking if she could feel me put pressure on each one individually. Yes, it was embarrassing basically playing ‘This Little Piggy’ with a stranger, but I slept with one last night. She still had feeling in her foot, so no nerve damage.

Then came making a splint.

Taking some old cardboard from the kitchen, I folded a homemade splint case to fit her whole leg (this type of dislocation would heal faster with a full cast). I wrapped her foot in gauze as gently as I could and covered her full leg in a white sheet. Thin layers of towels lined the cardboard casing of the splint before I set it on her leg. Finally, I took some blankets and tied it to her leg.

A procedure that felt like hours took only about 20 minutes, and by that time, most people, including the Oni, had calmed down.

“Thanks, Mr.” She spoke.

“No problem.” Unfortunately, the resort’s cooling system failed, so most of the ice had melted, no cool pack for her. All she could do now was lay on the couch until someone rescued us.

I went to go sit back down with Asyllisus, but was stopped by Travis and Burtina.

“Yo, what the fuck happened?” Travis asked.

“I heard someone got hurt! Are they alright?” Burtina added.

“An Oni fell down the stairs and dislocated her ankle. I fixed her up the best I could.” I felt a warm hug from Burtina.

“Oh, that was so nice of you to help her!”

“Yeah...” I hadn’t thought I’d be in this situation, so I had no idea what to say.

“Hey Mr!” I heard her ask.

“Oh, I’ll be back!” I said to the couple. “What do you need?”

“Think I could have some drinks in this state?” I nodded, couldn’t see how that would hurt. “Great.” She began to get up, but I stopped her.

“Whoa whoa whoa! You’re staying here! I’ll get you some beer if I can.” She groaned, I guess she wanted to get back up on her feet, but I couldn’t allow that.

********************

The second night finally came to a close after the Oni and I filled some legal paperwork with the manager. I returned to Asyllisus, nearly falling into her open arms. Hopefully we’d get out soon...