The King's of New York

Dead of Night

"Another night. Another demon. Think I fell off the deep end..."

~

Hermione

A LONG night. That's all could be described of the night that is transpiring. Hermione had a long shift tonight in the emergency room. Harlem Hospitals wasn't the best hospital in New York, nor was it the fanciest. However, it still served hundreds of people.

As a first year resident, Hermione Carter was one of the best future surgeons her supervisors ever encountered. She spent long hours in the hospital doing whatever she could, and if she wasn't at the hospital, she was somewhere studying new techniques and innovating medicine.

"When is the last time you've seen your own bed?" Mrs. Darby, an elderly patient, that Hermione is looking after asks.

"If I tell you the truth, you would probably try to throw your pillow at me again." Hermione says smiling softly at the elderly woman.

Mrs. Darby sat in a pale, blue night gown, with a white, silk turban over her reddish, curly hair. Her tan, browning skin and hazel eyes, was still vibrant even though her age. Hermione smiles at the freshly painted red nail polish on Mrs. Darby's nails.

Yesterday they were pink.

"Well someone has to tell you when to sit your little ass down." Mrs. Darby retorts pursing her lips.

Hermione checks her breathing through the stethoscope, as she places it on Mrs. Darby's back.

"How's your breathing to you?" Hermione asks as she moves the stethoscope around.

"Well I'm alive, so fine." Mrs. Darby shrugs and picks up her old Vogue magazine and flips through it.

As Hermione removes the stethoscope, she writes down a few notes in Mrs. Darby medical chart.

"You have stage two lung cancer Mrs. Darby, it's critical that you tell us exactly how you're feeling. We are here to help you fight this battle." Hermione says softly as she places the chart back.

Mrs. Darby waves her away as she indulges into the 1998 Vogue edition, "I'm reading my classics right now, Dr. Carter."

Hermione shakes her head smiling at Mrs. Darby's actions, "I will be back in forth in the ER and ICU tonight. Just have them page me if you need me." Hermione informs her before closing her room door slightly.

As she makes her way to the first floor, also known as the ER, she flips through documents on patients that needs to be discharged.

Walking to the front desk of the ER she scans the room, it's roughly passed midnight. Many patients are either sleep or watching TV. Visitors in the waiting lounge are sleeping or waiting patiently.

"72 hours, how much you got?" Xena a fellow colleague asks suddenly as she slides next to Hermione.

Hermione smirks at Xena, also known as Dr. Cambridge. She and Xena have this unspoken competition of who's the best resident between the two. They're not really friends as they do not speak outside these hospital walls, but they both understand the pressure of the job. Xena is there when Hermione needs a shoulder, and it's vice versa for Xena.

Xena Cambridge and Hermione Carter, are polar opposite's. Xena is biracial, with rich parents who raised her in the comfort of their Hampton manor. Xena went to Harvard, and drives a G-Wagon.

Hermione was adopted at three months to Jenna and Andrew Carter. Right before she set off to college, her father Andrew Carter died on duty as an officer for NYPD. Hermione wasn't rich, but they also wasn't poor. Her family lived in an apartment in Brooklyn all her life. Hermione went to Syracuse, and she takes the subway.