Zodiac

♋ | vi.

[ ALY ]

"Damn, I got blood on my shirt again," Kristen sighs, pulling her obviously red dyed hair out of the way of grey hospital t-shirt as she slides it off of her body and tosses it in her locker.

"Ew," I mumble, scrunching my face. "Please take that home and wash it, preferably with some peroxide."

Kristen rolls her eyes and rolls the t-shirt into a ball and places it into an empty grocery bag and then stuffs that into her backpack. We both quickly finish changing in the locker room adjacent to the emergency room and gather our backpacks that have been locked up all morning.

"Bet you won't miss this place when you're done with your graduate program in a few months," Kristen starts to mumble as we exit the locker room. "I'm sure you want to get as far away from this place as humanly possible."

I shrug, haven't really given leaving Philly a thought. This is my home, but everything around me since the funeral a few days ago has felt numb. I've picked up extra shifts in the emergency room just to keep myself physically busy.

After leaving the locker room, we're met in the hallway by a few of our co-workers that we're going out for drinks with.

"All that time and you ladies still look the same," Madden, one of our second year ER residents, states. Kristen and I both roll our eyes.

"I'm gonna need a few drinks to forget you said that," Kristen mumbles, handing her backpack to her boyfriend, Ben - an ER nurse that works with us.

Bryan, our ER charge nurse, rustles his keys to get our attention. "Nobody's going to get drinks if we don't make it in time for happy hour," He states with a shrug, walking towards the automated doors of the emergency room.

[ ♋ ]

Something about listening to drunken karaoke with your coworkers when you're mostly sober in a dark bar still in your work clothes is depressing. And to top it all off - I've never had a more boring conversation in my whole life.

"-I just think women would be better off if they-" Madden starts, but thankfully interrupts his own thought by looking down at his phone.

Madden slides his phone back into the front pocket of his scrub shirt. "I'm on call tonight and I have to head back from a trauma. I'll see you around, Aly." He mumbles, collecting his black jacket from the chair behind him and waving goodbye.

Looking ahead at my three coworkers embarrassing themselves to the tune of an old Britney Spears song, I decide to take that as my cue and head out as well. I reach for my backpack nestled underneath the chair below me and unzip the top pocket where my parent's house keys are, and I see a small note tucked into the pocket beside my keyring.

Quickly, I unfold the note and dial my phone as I quickly exit the bar. I can't shake the feeling of someone watching me.

Don't worry - you'll see Logan soon -⛎