Sanctuary of the Forgotten

Chapter I

"Rain is pouring outside. Aren't you going home, Dr. Hyun?" said Nurse Lee who was on duty with Dr. Hyun Bin on that cold, rainy evening.

"Not yet. I still have an hour left," he sipped his coffee as he looked outside the glass doors of the emergency room. "It's really raining hard, isn't it? Would you like some coffee, Nurse Lee?"

"No, thank you, Dr. Hyun. I just finished mine."

The forty-year-old doctor specializing in emergency medicine sat by his desk to check his patient's charts. For some strange reasons, the emergency room was quiet and peaceful. He silently thanked the heavens for a serene night. No patients meant no accidents or unfortunate events.

However, as he was fixing his stuff, preparing to leave, the doors opened and a woman drenched in rain and her own blood appeared.

"Help me," she cried.

His reflexes didn't fail him. He immediately put down his things and ran towards the lady. Just as she was about to fall on her knees, he caught her and carried her to the hospital bed.

"Can you remember your name, Miss?" He took out the flash flight out of his pocket and checked the bloody lady's eye reflexes.

She had way too many bruises and cuts all over her body. But amongst it, the worst was a stab wound on her lower right abdomen.

"I just need you to stitch this and I'm good,"

Of course, she wasn't on her best shape. But still, she tried her very best to fight the pain she was feeling and the urge to close her eyes because she knew it would put her life into danger.

"Yes, we will. We'll have an emergency surgery. You're losing too much blood," Dr. Hyun Bin said.

"No. I don't need a surgery..." she was breathing difficulty while uttering those words. "I just need you to staple my skin."

She tried to get up and reach for the tools beside the doctor.

"We cannot simply do that, Miss," the Doctor opposed, fearing that an organ or two may be affected by the stabbing.

But still, she insisted. "Please... I'm begging you please,"

The pain was too much for her to handle. The deep cut was driving her insane. But despite of it all, she used all her remaining strength to push the nurse who was trying to insert IV needle in her veins and ran towards the steel cart where she found the surgical stapler.

And just before anyone could stop her, she punched her delicate skin with four staples. Neither did she cry nor scream. She endured the immense pain, as if her life was on the line... as if she was chased by an unknown divine.

It was a little too late for Dr. Hyun. He grabbed her forcefully and let her face him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry..." she spoke as she was taking short yet deep breaths, "I don't... I don't have much money. But p-please take this."

She handed him ten dollars and ran away. Those ten dollars were her last, the only amount she managed to keep while she was escaping the hell she had been to.

"Where are you going? Nurse... Nurse..." Dr. Hyun tried to chase her. The guards and the nurses tried to chase her. The traces of blood were on the floor but before they knew it, the lady disappeared in a blink of an eye.

The doctor was determined to find her. He knew she hasn't gone too far. She had cuts and it was raining heavily. There's no way that she could escape the vicinity of the hospital. For someone who studied medicine, he knew that the pain from a deep cut would not let her move well, not to forget the four staples she made directly on her skin.