EXPECTATION Prologue

 

 

 

EXPECTATION

Prologue 

Working in a hospital is scary. Death becomes irrelevant the more you see them, every one of them becomes numbers, statistics. Some die young, some old. Some die peacefully, some die in extreme agony. People die, that’s just how it is.

            But for Nani, who has seen many deaths during her time as a nurse in the emergency room, every single one of them fills her heart with extreme fear and anxiety. She knows, sooner or later, she won’t just experience the death of strangers, but could be someone she very much loves. One of her biggest fears? Opening up the ambulance to see a certain familiar face, arrived at her workplace.

            Today, that fear comes true.

            As always, she and a few other nurses, assist in taking in some emergency patients who came via the ambulance. The sirens can gradually be heard from the distance. The sound of it is suddenly turned off, the eerie moment of silence means the ambulance has entered the hospital.

            The doctor on call tonight reminds them all to be ready, to be quick in their movement once the ambulance stops. Nani prepares herself, taking a few long breaths to calm herself down. When the tires of the ambulance stop rolling, all of them, in coordination, open the barn doors and swiftly pull out the stretcher with the patient on it.

            While others are moving quickly, one person suddenly become stiff. Among hundreds if not thousands of people she sees coming out of the ambulance, tonight she sees a face she knows very well, unconscious, covered in blood.

            Panic grows inside of Nani, forgetting her current duty right now, left behind by her colleagues who are busy pushing the stretcher into the emergency room.

“Nurse. NURSE!” The male doctor screams at her. “What are you doing? Come here, NOW!”

She collects herself, runs and join the others, catching a glimpse of the man she loves.

“It’s a hit and run case. Late twenties male, hit by a car, approximately 60km/h, GCS 6, unconscious at the scene.” One of the paramedics, gives the doctor in charge the information he needs.

“BP?” He asks for more information.

“BP 78 over 50, pulse 138, sats 89% on 100% oxygen.”

They carefully steer the patient into the trauma bay. In one swift and coordinated motion, they lift him up and slide him onto the bed, ready to give him the emergency treatment.

“Open fracture to the right femur, deep laceration to the scalp with active bleed. Okay, page surgical and anesthesia now. Get the IVs running and let’s get a chest X-ray…… nurse, what are you doing?” The doctor is confused as one of the nurses is standing still at the door, not moving a muscle.

“Nani! What are you waiting for? This is an emergency!” The experienced head nurse is also confused on why one of her staff is being a mannequin in this dire moment, very uncharacteristic of her.

They’re all yelling at her, but no words actually went into her ears. Every voice sounded muffled, the ringing in her ears, dampens the voices even more.

Eventually, she answers them back. But her voice is too low in volume, comes out as a whisper.

“Let him die.” That’s all she said.