Invisible String

Chapter 5: Moving On

"Catastrophic blues, moving on was always easy for me to do..."

🦷

A duffel bag and a small suitcase. That was all that Elizabeth had to bring to her new apartment. She looked around the tiny apartment and sighed. A part of her always fantasized about coming back to Chicago after college, even when her plans were leading her in another direction.

The new apartment was small, with one bedroom and the couch had an odd stain on one of the cushions. But the landlord didn't seem all bad, the rent was somehow affordable and it was near enough to the hospital. The plan of getting a roommate proved itself to be even harder the more she tried to find someone to share a place with. An overwhelming majority of the people that she talked to were either creepy or weird, and some girl even had a collection of dolls that Elizabeth was almost sure would one day kill them in their sleep.

That part of her that fantasized about this moment failed to include any of that. Still, she tried to remain optimistic. It didn't seem like anything some decorations and time couldn't fix.

Lizzie put down her bag on the couch. This was her home now. And she would make the most of it.

🦷

The calls had started early that day. By the fifth call, Elizabeth just wanted to throw her phone at a wall. She couldn't just turn off the phone, because she was on shift and Dr. Montgomery was constantly sending her notes to put on charts and reminders to check on some exams. And when she blocked his number, he just got new ones. It started with only a couple of calls a day since she left, but today he seemed particularly motivated. She was seriously considering changing her phone number.

"Stop calling me." she practically hissed at the phone and ended the call before he could say something.

She turned to look at a set of x-rays in front of her, and Will was right at her side, raising his eyebrows.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

"What? Nothing." she answered a little too quickly, too dismissive. "It's just telemarketing, you know. Annoying."

Will put his hands to his hips, shooting her an inquisitive look.

"You know, that" she motioned to the raised eyebrow and his hands. "That doesn't work on me."

"It used to."

"Well, I'm not 9 anymore."

Working at the same place and seeing each other everyday obviously was going to be a little bit of adjustment still, because when Will left for college, she was only 10 and barely out of her princesses phase. Then, he came back to Chicago and she was the one all the way into another state. Back when their mother died they had promised to never grow apart again, but long distance calls and group texts just weren't the same thing. He never really had to deal with her as an adult on a daily basis.

"I know." he pondered. "How was the moving?"

Lizzie shrugged. "Not what I expected, but it's fine."

Will nodded, then leaned to look closely at the x-rays she had brought. "What's that?"

"Probably a dentigerous cyst. It's not malignant, and usually, the patient only learns about it after doing some routine x-rays. I ask for the x-rays before doing extractions and to check for possible impacted teeth." she said, looking more closely at the images. "Here, the left third molar's crown. It develops around the crown of an unerupted tooth, on the dental follicle." she pointed so he could follow her diagnosis. "I'm sending her to oral surgery."