Journey (3)

Chapter 60

liability- lorde 

Natalie, Ethan and I are all sitting in the doctor's lounge, staring at the ground, after what must have been the longest shift we've ever had.

Ever since Ms Goodwin recently devised a new initiative to have everyone work more hours and longer shifts, everyone is exhausted.

"I don't think I can stand up," Natalie says to me. "I would go and get myself a coffee, but I need to preserve my energy for the next patient that comes in."

"I'm hiding out here," Ethan says, and this is the first time that he's said a word to either of us. "They can all fight over the best patient cases out there." He sighs, shrugging. "I'll be in here."

"This new initiative is the worst thing to happen to the hospital," I say, and Natalie immediately nods in agreement. "I've barely seen my own apartment for days."

"I know," Natalie says, nodding. "At this point, it's just easier to stay here. I think I might have fallen asleep on the couch last night, because when I woke up- my shift had already started."

"This is why people told me not to become a doctor," Ethan says. "And I should have listened to them."

"This won't be permanent," Natalie reminds us. "That's what Sharon said, she told us that we wouldn't have to do this forever. Just until they manage to fix the shortages of staff here."

"And you really think they'll ever fix that?" Ethan asks, sceptically. This is a negative attitude from him, a side of him that I didn't know existed.

"They might," I say, shrugging. "Who knows? But for now, we're stuck doing shifts that are almost twice as long as what we were doing before."

A second later, our pagers go off. "Another one?" Natalie asks, sighing. "I just sat down."

"Let them fight over it out there," Ethan says. "You know Will is probably going to be all over this case. He's the only one of us that's actually thriving in this new initiative."

"I think he's busy with a patient," I say, trying to look out of the window at everyone running around, looking exhausted. "Actually, I think that everyone's busy with patients, and that's probably because three of the ED doctors are hiding out." I look pointedly at Ethan. "One of us has to go."

"You do it," Ethan says, quickly. "You're the one who just gave that speech. You go and deal with whatever sprained ankle or bleeding nose that just came in."

"We'll hide out here," Natalie adds. "You and Will can circle around the ED and rival each other for patient cases."

"You're cowards!" I tell them jokingly, standing up. "You never know, this could be some sort of medical breakthrough, and you could be missing your chances to get involved."

"I think I'll just take my chances and stay here," Natalie says, shrugging. "But you should definitely go."

...

By the time I've answered the page, I get to the room at exactly the same time as Will. "Seriously?" I ask him.

"If I want to get in Goodwin's favour, this is the way to do it," he explains. "And I heard from one of the paramedics who brought him in that this was important."

"You have other patients," I tell him. "Don't think that we don't see you running around here and trying to oversee every single patient that passes through this ED."

"And don't think that I don't see you, Natalie and Ethan hiding out in the doctor's lounge," Will says, pointedly.

"Let me take this patient," I say. "I'm not hiding out in there anymore. I'll let you deal with your other cases, and I'll treat this patient."