As the sickness spreads

Amell ~

Atrial septal defect -  a hole between the upper heart chambers (atria).

|| Nolans POV ||
"Amell Jones is 5 years old. He was emitted to this section August 14th last year. He has a heart defect and his physical state is weak, making him unable to live anywhere outside a hospital. We've tried multiple treatments to stabilize his heart but we realized he's going to need surgery."

Mark walks me down the hallways to Amell's room. Every room I see has a child with their parents and each one is decorated differently. Some with pink stickers and stuffed animals and others with sports items.

The sound of different kids tv shows plays through the place.

Amell's room has board games, sea life stuffed animals, a green and blue tablet and some other toys. When we walk in he's watching some Disney show.

He must have seen us through the window about to go in because he sits up quickly and shouts, "Sharky! Sharky" I look at him in a very confusing manner. Then Mark gives him a fist bump.

"Amell likes to call me sharky because apparently my name sounds like it." He tells me while chuckling. The little boy before me has bright cheerful eyes and messy blonde hair. He looks at me and stares. For a full 30 second he just stares and now I feel extremely uncomfortable.

Then he screams.

What. The. Hell.

Was he seriously scared of me? It's my first day and I've already scared off a poor child.

I stand there looking back at Mark and he starts laughing so hard he almost falls.
"Man, the look on your face is priceless. Don't worry it's not you, he does this to everyone." Mark says to try and calm me.

So this is a regular occurrence? I think to myself.
I approach the screaming child slowly. He stops and smiles. "Hi Mr."

"Hi Amell, I'm Nolan," I say wearily, "As I've been told I'm going to be your new doctor. So I'll be stopping in everyday to do some checkups and ask questions, stuff like that." He looks at Mark and says enthusiastically, "I like him."

"Alright kid we'll be back soon but I've got to show Dr.Pierce some more things." Mark stated.
We walk out of the room and head to the elevator again.

"This is the x-ray scanning room. We do our MRI scannings and they are looked at and printed here. Since many of the kids you're working with have cancer, broken bones, or other internal illness you'll be spending a lot of time here. The neurology room is to the left. It's mostly for examining trauma patients." As he says the last sentence I zone out because in that room I see Lauren with her assigned helper.

She's looking around the entire place and at all the machines. Her face is full of fascination but I lose sight of her as I continue down the hall.

"So what do you think?" Mark says distantly. "Nolan?"
"Hm? Sorry, my bad. I think it's great." I replied.

My mind focuses elsewhere for the rest of my shift.  Primarily a brunette, 6 inches shorter than me.

|| Ryders POV  ||

"We have to get Coach a girlfriend. He's out of control with the drills." Jack  says over the phone. I'm out of breath as I'm walking up the stairs. "Hey maybe we should impersonate him on tinder and see who would actually go out with him." I reply sarcastically. He goes quiet on the other end and it makes me realize he took that seriously.

"God Jack, no, he would kick us both off the team you idiot." I couldn't say it without laughing. "I know...... but I'll see you tomorrow. I have to get ready for a dinner party." He says, It feels like I can see his eye roll from the tone of his voice.

As I open the door to my apartment I see Nolan sitting on the island reading a book with dinner.
He looks up and just says hey.

He's a pretty quiet dude overall.

In the background I hear the TV playing. He was watching some basketball team.

"I didn't take you as a sports fan." I said,
"You're mostly right. But it was that or soap operas and I think I know how I would rather spend my time."

"Hey, you can't dish soap operas like that. I found them to cure my depression..."

"You're kidding right?" He replies.

"Nope," I say laughing as he covers his laugh with his hand. "Don't worry I only watch them in the morning with my teddy."

Me saying that makes the look on his face even more puzzled then before. He shakes his head and walks into his room before muttering, "First a screaming child and now this."

Screaming child?

"Do I want to know?" I ask loudly so he can hear.
"No." His voice goes monotone.
...
I spend an hour or so calling my girlfriend and answering emails. It's the same things, promotions, meetings, and a bunch of crap.
I check the time. 10:46 pm. I get ready for bed and while I'm laying down I think about too many things.

Would my skull crack if this shelf falls on me?

How funny would it be if I shaved my hair off and showed up to practice tomorrow?

Then I started humming a rap song I memorized in middle school.

God, someone needs to get me on medication. My thoughts are too weird.

"Shut up Ryder." I tell myself.

I turn to my side and dream of me on a tropical island drinking out of a coconut. I've always wanted to try that. Seriously, it sounds touristy.
And I would wear one of those flowery necklaces and a floral shirt.

Nope I'll look like a dad. .

"Shut up! "I internally scream.