Chapter 43: Pitiful

WITH ONE SHOVE I was weightless for a few seconds before falling through a dark hole and landing so very, very wrong. One ankle folded under me like a napkin, causing me to wrench back, smacking an elbow on the cement floor. The heavy wooden chair landed beside me, breaking apart, but not before smacking me in the hip. My elbow throbbed. It was the mother of all funny bone injuries. I felt sure that my arm was never going to straighten again and that a bone may have penetrated my skin. The pain stole my breath far too long, and then I was gasping and coughing from lack of air and excruciating agony. I tried not to move, because the tiniest shift in my position made the contents of my stomach rise up.