Madison (Maddy) Briggs is from Manhattan, New York. She was in 3rd grade, just 8 years old, when the World Trade Centers fell on September 11th, 2001. Her dad was a firefighter, and his station was one of the first on scene that day.
Her dad, Larry...
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** trigger warning **
Maddy woke up in her bed, alone, for the first time several months. It was weird— it's been a month since Tim was killed, but it felt like he was just next to her yesterday.
She rolled over and clutched the pillow he used to sleep on and smiled, when an image of his sleeping face appeared in her mind. She heard his laugh, and felt his large hands around her, he pulled her close..
*BEEP BEEP BEEP*
"Another dream Tex.. dammit," Maddy mumbled as she rolled over to turn her alarm off. She gave Tex a few loving pets, and shuffled out to her kitchen where she started her Keurig, and cracked some eggs into a pan. "Tex! Come here girl!" Tex came galloping from the bedroom and jumped on Maddy's bar-top island. Maddy placed some treats down for the frisky feline, and turned to flip her eggs. ——————————————————————— "What color scrubs today Tex?"
'Meowwww'
"Dark orange! Good choice.. Tim loved my dark orange ones— it'll be good to wear them again.." She smiled gently to herself in the mirror as she did her makeup.
It was March in Austin, and the weather was acting funkier than anyone whose lived there for years, had seen before, so Maddy needed to wear a light jacket over her scrubs- she grabbed Tim's brown Columbia jacket and headed out the door, after giving Tex belly rubs. She grabbed her matching mask too, and locked her door. ———————————————————————- "Hey Maddy.. how are you doing?" Liz asked when she approached her near the nurses station.
"Hi Liz. Better," she smiled carefully as she played with her badge. "Been a long month.. but I'm better."
"I'm glad... and I'm here if you need to talk." Liz said.
"Thanks Liz." Maddy rubbed Liz's back as she passed her. She went over to the nurses station and looked at what her team was faced with today. ———————————————————————- "Okay.. possible COVID, white female, age 36. Heart attack, 50 year old white male, ETA 5mins. Jerry and Amelia.. take the possible COVID, please. Page Doctor Stanley!" Maddy instructed from the nurses station. "James.. Emily and Kris, you're on the heart attack. What do we need for it?" ——————————————————————— "Thank you miss," the kind old man, who suffered the heart attack, said to Maddy.
"Oh you're welcome sir. It's my job." She smiled back.
"I just wish I could see y'all's faces.. and not on those little cards. I'm sure you have a beautiful smile," he smiled.
Most emergency rooms nowadays, since the nurses and doctors are covered head to toe in PPE (personal protective equipment), have fixed headshots of their workers to the front of their scrubs.
