"Station 1, Motor Vehicle Collision on Main and 1st, two patients."
The tones drop and I'm grabbing my coat as I'm tripping out the door. I've never been to a motor vehicle collision, and I'm giddy with excitement. I start up the truck and beg my partners to hurry. I want to be first on scene.
We arrive and I see that we are nowhere near the first on scene. Blue lights from the police mingle with the red from the fire engines, and I feel a migraine fast approaching. I grab the giant jump bag from the back and head towards the car. There are two patients and one medic truck, not to mention only one EMT. I sigh out frustration as my partner heads towards the first patient; it's up to me to help the other patient, whom I pray is not in serious condition.
And then I see her. A tiny wisp of a girl, she's crying hysterically and rocking back and forth. She's inconsolable. I know the routine from the other calls I've run, so I start with the spiel.
"Hi, my name is Sam, I'm with the rescue squad, what's your name?" With careful listening, I can pick out the name "Belle" from hushed sobs. "Belle? That's such a beautiful name! Can you tell me where it hurts, Belle?"
She points at her head and wipes away some of her tears with an already soaked sleeve. With a soft voice, I ask her how it got hurt. She tells me that she hit her head against the window; there's no starburst pattern on the passenger window, and I see that due to her small stature, she would have hit her head on the padded bit below the window. I breathe a small sigh of relief and see that the EMT with us is coming around to check on me; our other patient, Belle's grandmother, is more shaken up than injured.
Belle's mother shows up on scene and fills us in on her information. She's eleven years old, has no medical history and her mother doesn't want her taken to the hospital. We advise her to let us take her to be checked out and she agrees.
We're pretty sure Belle's okay. She just needs some oxygen to help with the shock from the accident, but more than anything she needs a calm person around her. I put myself at her eye level and ask her about her favorite things.
She loves her biology class, and really enjoys Japanese comic books. I tell her that biology is my favorite too, even though it isn't. I ask her which comic is her favorite, and tell her that I haven't read it, but I hear it's good.
Belle stops crying and puts her hand on mine.
"You're really nice. Thank you for talking to me, I feel a lot better."
My eyes well up and I choke through senseless responses. "Ohyeahnoproblemit'shwatIdo..."
I smile as we arrive to the hospital and she lets go of my hand.
"Thanks, Sam."

She remembered.