Crash Into Me (Into Me Series Book One)

Chapter One - Crash

Jet's POV

The water swirls in the sink as I scrub my hands, watching the blood mix with the soapy suds as it drips down into the flow of the water. I blink my eyes hard. Don't cry. Not yet. Keep it together. Breathe. I take a deep breath and run my hands under the faucet, the bloody suds disappearing into the drain. Breathe. I turn the water off with my elbow and grab paper towels from the dispenser above me. I glance up at my reflection and don't recognize the woman staring back at me.

There's no light in her eyes.

There's no energy in her movements.

She's not who I think I am.

Deep breath. Seven hours down, five to go. I wonder what fresh hell those could bring me?

The door to the bathroom swings open and I stand up straight, pitching the used paper towels into the trash bin. Well at least I meant for it to go into the trash bin, but it falls just short. Of course. Cause this is my day. This would happen to me. I sigh loudly as I bend down to pick up my trash, placing it into the can while cursing at myself.

"Are you okay?" a voice asks.

Oh yeah, I'm not alone. Someone walked in earlier. Nice going Jet.

I look up at the person who belongs to the voice and feel myself relax when I notice that it's Adelaide, one of the nurse practitioners I work with. "No," I say, letting out a shaky breath, "but I will be eventually." I try my best to give the most sincere smile I can.
"Do you need a hug or is that going to make it worse?" Adelaide wonders.
"Please don't hug me, that will make it substantially worse," I say.
Adelaide nods at me, understanding. "Well, the shift is more than halfway over, and that has to be the worse thing that's going to come in today," she says, motioning to the ER outside the door of this bathroom.
"Don't you dare jinx us," I warn, narrowing my eyes at her.
She raises her arms up in innocence, "Sorry, my bad, didn't mean to. Hey, at least I didn't say the 'Q' word."
"This is true," I counter. I take another deep breath and exhale slowly, relaxing my shoulders. I close my eyes just for a second.

"PLEASE!" she screams in the way that only a mother can, her bloodied hand reaching around my arm, "save my baby! Please! You have to save he-"

I shake my head harshly, willing the thought to go away. I open my eyes and Adelaide is no longer standing there. The door is swinging shut as I see a flash of her dark black hair through the small crack. I furrow my eyebrows. Adelaide never runs out that fast and she never leaves in the middle of a conversation without telling me that she has to go. A cool chill goes down my spine as my adrenaline starts pumping. I start walking towards the bathroom door and open it.

"Massive MVC on I-90, at least 14 victims coming in, 3 are children, 5 minutes out!" Rosie, our secretary yells from the nursing station. My pager starts buzzing at my side, it's shrill ringtone moving me into action.

Here we go again. I told Adelaide that she jinxed us.

Before I can even think about it, I rush over to the supply room, grabbing a few trauma medication boxes. I drop them off in the trauma bays that are still in the middle of being cleaned from the last disaster that took place in here, just a half hour prior. I rip my hair tie out, my ponytail falling in a curtain around my shoulders, and quickly throw it all up into a bun. I pull my mask back up over my nose and step out into the controlled chaos.

My eyes move around the room quickly, assessing the scene before me. Medics are talking with the docs about which patients can be moved to regular nursing floors or step-downs. Clear any and all beds, check. The nurse practitioners and physicians assistants furiously type orders into charts, making the floor to floor transfer possible. They also step into the trauma bays and help housekeeping clean up the rooms. The nursing assistants speed walk in and out of the rooms as well, loading medical supplies up that we used in the last trauma. Prepare the trauma bays for the incoming trauma, check. Drs. Harris, Evans, Barnes, and Rodgers are pulling on their scrub caps while speaking quickly to one another. Ensure that the attending physicians are aware of the incoming trauma, check.