45 days

(1) An apple a day.

Nadine barely rests, cursed with the blessing of being the best doctor in her Hospital. You'd think the life of a medical director would mean smooth sailing in a hospital but the toll on her is more than she bargained for, she couldn't care less what her mental state was like. Angel has been a patient at the hospital for nine years straight and Dr. N. Annad had looked after her for eight of those years and in a way a few years before her admission because Nadine's little sister had always had heart cancer. She went through four surgeries allowing her to survive but not live as she would want to. Angel had a gift, she knew very well she was dying but she never let that stop her from smiling. She grew up in fear but mostly acceptance. Angel was dying, and Nadine was praised left and right for being the great doctor she is. She hated every bit of praise she had received, she couldn't save the one person she became the best for.

On a specific sleepless night, Nadine was in her office researching different ways to prolong Angel's life when a nurse rushed to her to tell her that her sister has gone into cardiac arrest. Nadine's eyes went dark and nearly closed to wide and full of terror. She drops the file that she was holding and dashed straight to the door but was stopped by the nurse. " Out of my way! She needs me! PLEASE!" Nadine was screaming and pleading that she went to see her sister but the nurse persisted in stopping her "Please, calm yourself. you're not who your sister needs right now. She needs you to be Dr. Annad, not Nadine." Nadine drops to her knees and asks with a weak voice "who's with her?" and the nurse replies "Dr. King." Nadine sighs with relief and slowly stands up. She appears to have gained composure. "Nadine, I'm sorry but you're going to have to trust him." "-again, I'm going to have to trust him again. no one has ever taken care of my sister better than he has. Best doctor? I hate when you all call me that. I can't even save the only patient that's ever mattered this much to me." Nadine then goes silent, turns around, and picks up the file she had just dropped. Nadine looks at the nurse's name tag "Anitha, that was my mother's name. she was very protective." Anitha responds "You take from her." Nadine is sat and calm, She faces up with her eyes closed and says with a cold breath "stop shaking." Anitha calms herself too and stops shaking. "Sorry, you just make me nervous. I've always looked up t-" Nadine interrupts " stop, please I told you how I feel about compliments, admiration is no different" 

An hour goes by and King is finally with Nadine. Nadine is ever so eager to hear of her sister's condition. King looks at Nadine with a serious face, which isn't like him because he has a very humorous personality, and says "your sister is fine but if anything like this happens again, and I mean anything, no matter how small, I don't know if I'll be able to save her. please look after her... tomorrow." Nadine looks at him with a confused expression "Tomorrow? Wha-" "Ok look, I understand you want to look after Angel yourself but doing so is destroying you, you're a doctor, you know what days of no rest does to someone. Go home." King tries to get her to go home but- " If I leave then who'll look after her." "The same man who just saved her life, The same man who's been saving her life, the same man you've trusted. Look, Nadine, I'll protect this girl like she is my own family. Now please get some rest. I've already called in three extra doctors. we know you're worth that many." Nadine finally gives in and decides to go home. Before she left the hospital she went to see Angel. Angel wise lying in an ICU, next to her was a defeated Nadine, head facing down with fingers running through her black tired hair. with a seemingly hesitant she says to Angel "you will run again, you will smile, you will hear me, oxygen will be from your own lungs and this will just be another story to tell in the future. I will fix you. I promise you will heal. see you tomorrow" Nadine stands up and leans toward her sister then kisses her on her forehead. 

As Nadine walks out of the hospital. Anitha accompanies her to the exit just for a little bit of small talk. "Dr. Annad..." "shh that's not me right now. Nadine is fine." "oh, Nadine, please get some rest. I'm sure even your sister wouldn't want to see you in this tired state." "mmh" "and also, please look out for a call. Dr. King said he'd call if anything went wrong." "Thanks for shooting up my anxiety kid. Goodnight, you're a good person"

Nadine drives home in the dark foggy rain weather. she stops by a red light and then notices a wanted poster on a pole next to her car "who still makes those?" then she drives off whilst driving she realizes a man-like figure of smoke in front of her fading and reappearing constantly like a little flame in battle with a breeze until it just became a fully naked man with a deers skull as a head facing Nadine dead center. Nadine begins her panic, she pulls the breaks but her car just goes faster, she tries changing course but her steering wheel doesn't budge. her vehicle is headed straight for this hybrid and she can't stop it. The hybrid begins to walk to the charging vehicle. The walk then speeds up to become a jog then a faster run to a full-on sprint, and it's a sprint that would put any living thing on this planet to shame. The moment it is just a metre apart from Nadine's face, she snaps out of it then the red light finally turns green. She is confused, her heart is racing, she looks to her side and there it is the wanted poster by the pole on her side. She doesn't know how to comprehend what just happened to her so she shrugs it off as a hallucination from how tired she was. She drives on home, this time without running into a hybrid which somewhat proved her hallucination theory. She's home.

'I forgot how lonely this place was without you. And it smells bad? wait... that's me" Nadine heads straight to the shower. Her body is a tad bit soaked, not from the rain, she's in the bathroom but not from the shower either, it's her tears soaking her up in such a way. shower, finally on, Nadine steps in, fingers through her hair once again but this time to cleanse herself. She, so beautiful, cold, you'd think strong but breaking apart, Falling on her knees, she cries. her sobs cloak the phone ringing. it's Dr. King