Chapter 76 THE EMERGENCY
ARYA'S POV
I woke up the next day, my whole body was numb and my heart was still heavy with being betrayed and hurt.
It was weekend meaning there won't be much activities going on at the camp as most people wouldn't be around. That was the only time one had to tend to their needs unless it's an emergency case which I wished against having one.
I wanted to just stay indoors to rest and get a hold of myself before I started work on Monday fully again.
Though I needed to go to my work center to register somethings before I went back especially since I was not on duty until Monday.
I just wanted to stay in my tent and rest my tired body since I wasn't on duty until Monday.
The idea of seeing Mike or Justin even if it was by chance in the cafeteria was really overwhelming for me. I wanted to hide under a blanket and just let my exhaustion take over.
I had to go to the clinic to finish a few touches that I wasn't able to do yesterday.
I put on my scrubs after bathing and left the tent. The sun was already starting to warm up the gravel outside. I walked quickly to the medical building.
The clinic was really empty. There were a few nurses working the day shift and they were moving around quietly. They were doing things like stocking carts and checking on the patients who were feeling okay and had to stay at the clinic.
I went to the admin desk. I picked up the clipboard that had all my unfinished papers on it. It took a lot longer than I thought it would.
One of the forms needed to be signed by the commander and another form made me go check what was in a storage room that I had not seen before.
It was an hour later when I finally put the cap on my pen. I slid the completed form into the 'Out' box.
I was halfway to the door as I was really looking forward to getting back to my tent and going to sleep because I was very tired.
The small desk phone rang and I stopped what I was doing. It was not my
responsibility to answer those questions or calls since I was off duty, at that time. I did not have to deal with it.
One of the nurses, a really nice woman named Nala, picked up the phone.
She talked for a bit then she looked at me. Nala covered the phone with her hand.
“Nurse Arya, it is Nurse Chloe. She said she is really sick and is asking if anyone can help her cover her shift at the emergency section. Please can you help her on that since you're off duty? She will cover for you on Monday.”
My first thought was a firm ‘NO’ because I was completely drained. I really deserved this break. The work shift was eight hours long, which is a lot and even though weekends are usually pretty slow it was still work that I had to do. I was so tired that I could only think about staring at a wall.
I looked at Nala then said to her;
"I am not able to do this Nala.” I shook my head then continued,
“I just got to this place and I need to rest. I am really tired, Nala.”
When I said the words, the main outside phone, on the desk started to ring. This was the phone that the patrol units used.
“Ding. Ding.” The phone rang.
I looked at the screen as the satellite number was on it. This was the satellite number that Mike used when he went on his patrols. The satellite number was really important to Mike and his patrols.
Mike.
My heart skipped a beat. I was really tired. I wanted to rest but that feeling went away. Instead I felt fear because I knew I had to talk to him. If I went back to my tent he would be waiting for me. Maybe Justin would be there too.
The thought of being stuck in that tent and having to listen to his excuses and lies made me panic. I did not want to be trapped and have to talk to him so I felt really scared. I started to panic about what I was going to do. The fear of talking to him was really strong that it made me not want to go back to my tent.
I turned to Nala with a change of heart.
"Tell Chloe I will take it." I said to her with a flat voice as I meant it.
The phone outside was about to ring for the second time. I did not even look at the desk phone again as the silence from Nala was my answer. I took the shift. It was not because of Chloe or the patients, it was because I wanted to avoid the fight that I was not ready to face. I was not ready to deal with it so I took the shift to get out of it.
Nala looked really happy that everything was okay now.
"Thank you Nurse Arya. You are a lifesaver.” She said happily.
"Show me the schedule and tell me about the patients now." I instructed Nala.
The next few hours were pretty boring just like I thought they would be. The day was really quiet. I did a few things like changing the IV bags for two patients who had malaria. I also wrote down how much fluid they were losing. I helped a soldier who got a spider bite.
My work was a normal routine stuff that I could do easily. It was nice because I did not have to think much. The work was also calming. It kept me busy enough so I would not think about Mike and Justin.
It was not so hard that I got stressed out. I worked slowly and carefully. I really liked the feeling of the empty hospital bay. The hospital bay was very calm. It felt nice to be there when it was empty.
I was standing at the supply cart getting ready to give a patient a dose of Ceftriaxone, which's a standard antibiotic that I gave to patients through a needle into the vein. The medical bay was really quiet. Then something happened that broke the silence in a very violent way.
The air was filled with a loud and angry noise. It was the camp's emergency siren. It was making a loud high pitched sound that went woop-woop-woop. The sound of the emergency siren was very clear. It just kept going.
I dropped the needle onto the tray. It made a loud clink. The sound of the glass hitting the tray was really sharp. My face went white, as the blood drained out of it. My body did not feel tired at all. It got stiff. This was an emergency.
Nala was folding towels when she suddenly dropped the pile and just stood there. "What is going on with the alarm?" she asked. "Is it a practice drill, for the emergency services or something?”
"It is not going to happen on a weekend." I said.