Jump (Dear Evan Hansen)

Urgent Care

We pull into the parking lot, and Mrs. Murphy swerves into one of the spots. By now, I've almost used the entire wad of paper towels Zoe gave me to clean myself up. I thought I had everything covered about five minutes into the ride, but then I discovered a scrape on my right elbow. Now, I'm 90% sure that there is a paper towel on every bruised part of my body. Overall, I'm just grateful that I didn't mess up my broken arm anymore than I already did. Correction: I'm just grateful that I don't think I messed up my broken arm anymore than I already did.

The car comes to a halt and the five of us open our doors, me still holding paper towels on my wounds. I limp my way to the door, struggling to hold all of the paper towels in place. At first, they made my knees and elbow burn, but now the feeling has subsided. Zoe grabs the door and holds it open for me. I walk in behind Mr. and Mrs. Murphy and Connor. I hate waiting rooms, but soon enough my mom will bring me back to an empty room, hopefully. We sit down in the provided chairs, and once again, Zoe sits next to me. She looks at me and smiles, and for once, I smile back. Something about her presence makes me feel more relaxed, as if it's just the two of us here.

"Evan?!"

My head jerks up and I see my mom in the door of the waiting room. She looks across the room at me, and then at Zoe, and then back at me. The look on her face shows pure shock. She walks over to me, and looks at the paper towels covering various parts of me.

"What- Why- When- Is everything okay?"

"I guess."

"How did you get here? And why?"

"The Murphy's drove me. This is Zoe, and Mr. Murphy," I say, hesitantly skipping over Connor, "and Mrs. Murphy."

"Who's that?" She asks, pointing to Connor.

"Oh, that's... that's Connor. I uh... he... we..."

My voice trails off and my face begins to redden. My head slowly moves towards the floor and I try to focus on my shoes. I can see Zoe and my mom's shoes too, and my attention shifts from my shoes to Zoe's.

"Maybe you can explain better in the back, Evan."

I identify the voice as my mom's and I look up at her. I give a slight nod, get up, and begin to walk towards the back.

"Evan," Zoe says, "do you want me to come with you?"

Without thinking, I begin to nod rapidly and Zoe gets up. I don't think my mom realizes that we will have company, because she continues to walk without turning back. She walks into an empty room; I follow and open the door for Zoe. To the best of my ability, that is. Zoe gracefully walks through the door and sits in an empty chair.

"Evan," my mom starts to say when she turns around and spots Zoe. I can tell it surprises her, because of the way her eyes opened, and the way she pauses.

"Oh, hello," she says to Zoe.

Zoe waves and smiles. My mom shrugs, and I could tell I would have to explain in a minute or two. My mom begins to sift through drawers and cabinets, grabbing various things.

"So Evan..." my mom says as she grabs a box of band aids and turns to face us, "what happened?"

"Well, um... I was going to get on the bus and..."

"Evan saw Connor, my brother, and ran over and pushed him o-"

"Evan Hansen! You beat somebody up? You?"

"No, no..."

"He saved Connor's life, by pushing him out of the way of a car."

Mom gapes at me, obviously in disbelief. She mutters some words as her eyes dart around, and she makes small hand gestures. She looks like she is about to cry. She comes over and hugs me, even though I'm covered in bloody paper towels. Once the hug breaks, we get started, with Zoe by my side.

"Okay, let's just see what damage was done," mom says as she begins to take the layers of paper towels from my right knee. Finally, the scrape appears, and makes me squirm a little.

"Wow. That must have been quite a leap you took."

I nod and my mom continues to examine my various cuts and scrapes, paper towels accumulating in the trash.

"Okay," she says as she grabs a bottle and a small disposable pad, "this might sting a little at first, but I need to disinfect your injuries. I'm going to start with your right knee, okay Evan?"

I gulp, nod hesitantly and she bends down to become eye level with my knee. She takes the bottle, which I can now see reads "Rubbing Alcohol", and pours some of its contents onto one of the pads. She takes the damp pad and begins to pat it on and around the scrape. An intense stinging feeling begins in my knee and pain radiates throughout me. I yelp, try to cover it up with a cough, and grit my teeth at the pain. Zoe wraps her arm around me.

Zoe wraps her arm around me.