‘Ari, did you get the I.V. set up in room 3?’ Doctor Diaz asks behind one of the nurses’ desks in the Emergency Room of the Army Hospital. I’m three months in and I’ve learned so much. I’ve saved and helped so many of our military men and women and I feel like I’m destined to do this for the rest of my life.
‘Oh, no sorry, I was just finishing giving medications to the patient in room nine. I’ll do that right now doctor.’ Dr. Diaz half smiles at me before looking back down at his clipboard, writing.
Tonight is extremely busy. A training exercise went wrong and we have a lot of military men from all branches coming in with horrible injuries.
I grab the IV supplies before heading into the room. I grab the patient’s chart and get information before I step in. The doors in the ER to each room are glass see-through doors. I stand there in front of them reading the doctor’s directions. Then I look up to see the patient’s last name on the top right of the paper and it looks familiar.
Mitchell, S.
‘Ari Cakes? Is that you?’
Shane. His voice makes me freeze.
My heart drops and my legs almost go weak underneath me. My abusive ex-boyfriend is here. What did I do to be God’s least favorite human? I look up from the chart and I feel like I can’t breathe for a second. Hatred pours into my heart, and I take in a deep breath before I walk over next to him.
I try not to make eye contact and keep it professional as I always do with other patients. As if he wasn’t someone I deeply cared about once. As if I didn’t don’t know him personally. Like he’s somebody I used to know.
‘Mr. Mitchell, I’ll be administering your I.V.’ My voice is monotone.
After I finish doing the IV, I’ll be asking one of my co-workers to switch with me. There’s no way I’ll spend one more minute next to Shane.
I ignore his presence to my right as I set up the IV supplies. Afterward, I grab the room computer and plug in my notes.
‘You know I’ve never stopped loving you. I’m sorry about the night at El Devine. I just can’t help myself when I’m around you.’ I bite down hard on my jaw, my breathing more rapid now.
Just focus on your work, don’t let him get to you.
‘How the fuck do you know Rider, by the way? Is he your boyfriend now?’ My heart flutters when I hear Danny’s name.
‘My relationship status in general, is of no concern to you.’ I snap.
Shane laughs.
‘God Damn, you look good in scrubs.’
He doesn’t get a reaction out of me even though I feel his eyes burning into me, in my peripheral vision. I continue typing away.
I sigh and close my notes. I finish up and walk over efficiently and grab his arm gently to clean an area on his arm with alcohol, preparing the needle to pierce. Shane came in with a horrible injury to his left arm. His arm is badly bruised and cut open. He’s being evaluated for broken bones. Blood seeps through his bandages and he’s going to need them replaced as soon as possible. I make a mental note for my coworker that will be taking over for me.
I set up the IV and then quickly tape it to his arm. All the meanwhile, Shane looks at me, his eyes never leaving my face.
‘Sorry to hear about Paul. I never got to tell you… what a shame.‘ Shane says with sarcasm. He hits a nerve inside of me and I’m heated with wrath. I finally give him the attention he wants. My head turns towards him so fast, hair from my ponytail hits my cheek on the other side. I’m glaring at him. This jerk is smiling while saying Paul’s name. I quickly feel the rage inside of me. The fact that he mentions my brother’s name has me boiling. His smile is wicked. He always hated my brother.
‘Don’t ever say Paul’s name again,’ I whisper angrily at him. Shane tilts his head to the side forcing a sarcastic frown, mocking me. I scoot the chair I’m sitting on away from him, the chair makes a loud squeak from pushing so hard on it. I grab the leftover empty packaging from the IV supplies and dispose of it.
‘Big brother can’t protect you now. He can’t come between us anymore…’ Shane calls over my head.
He’s fucking delusional.
Still, I ignore him, with my back turned and I head towards the doors. The asshole is happy my brother died. I feel tears sting my eyes and they start flowing down, hard out of anger. I truly just want to run away and go back home. But my home’s just a little room now, in the barracks that the military provided for me.
‘Hey, Ari, what’s wrong?’ I’m in the hallway walking back to the nurses’ desk when one of my coworkers stops me. She stops me with her hands on both of my arms, consoling me.
I sniffle and rub my hand on my nose to prevent any snot from coming out caused by ugly crying.
‘The patient in room 3 is just giving me a hard time, can you take over for me, please, Lori? He needs new bandages by the way.’ I beg as the tears keep flowing.
‘Of course, anything you need.’ She sounds concerned. She rubs my arm gently. She’s one of the nicer coworkers I have. Any other person I work with would just tell me to suck it up in this kind of situation.
‘Just take over for me in Room 5. I was just in there, but I needed to get supplies for him. It’s a bad open wound on his back, he’s going to need stitches.’
‘You got it. I’m just going to get myself cleaned up first and then head in.’ She nods and I head straight for the restroom. It doesn’t take me long to find it and I lock the door behind me. I look in the mirror and I’m horrified by my reflection. A bit of my mascara is rubbed off. My eyes and cheeks are red. I grab the tissues in the restroom and clean myself up, trying my best to remove the black mascara smudges under my eyes.
I can’t believe Shane’s here. He’s on deployment which means he might be here for a while.
I grip the sink with both of my hands and look at myself before going back out. I still look like I’ve been crying but it’ll do for now. I look at the ceiling still gripping the sink, leaning on it. I want to cry again as the stress is just too much for me sometimes. I take in a deep breath.
I wonder what Paul would say to me at this moment. He would definitely encourage me and I can hear my brother’s voice in my head as if he’s right here next to me. I look at my reflection and I picture him behind me talking to me through the mirror. I imagine him in his uniform, and I swear I can see him. His brown hair is carefully brushed to the side as it always used to be and the dimples on his cheeks are vividly present in the mirror.
‘Don’t let that asshole get to you. My little sister’s a badass. Stay strong, you’ve got this. Make me proud.”
I smile and the ghost of him disappears. I take another deep breath in and walk outside after turning the restroom light off. I head straight for the stitching supplies I need to give to the patient in room 9. I grab my chart, in my other hand, and I read the patient’s name, before going in as I always do. I always get nervous when I have to do stitches, I shrug my shoulders and sigh but then my heart skips a beat when I see the Devil’s name.
Rider, D.
I gasp.
