BEHIND THEIR MIEN

CHAPTER 1-NATALIE

I collapsed onto the bunk bed after a brutal 15-hour shift. My body was beyond exhausted, on the verge of collapse, but I'd seen worse days. Days where one body wasn't just worn out—it was broken. Working in a hospital does that to you. Just when you think you've seen the worst of humanity's suffering, something more devastating happens.

Whenever I think life's too hard—endless shifts, patients piling up—I remember the first time I saved someone. That moment when I felt a pulse return beneath my hands, the monitors blinking back to life, the cries of the family behind me shifting from despair to hope. It's that feeling that pushes me through the hardest days, though sometimes, it still doesn't feel fair. I work just as hard as the doctors, but the pay? Nowhere near. It's enough to make anyone bitter.

"You're a nurse, Natalie. They're doctors. They spent a fortune on their degrees; we didn't. That's the game," Aubrey muttered from the corner without even looking up from her textbook. She was buried in her finals, her voice a monotone echo of every complaint we've shared.

I rubbed my eyes, my eyelids growing heavy. "Chaos outside today. Some billionaire had an accident. The whole hospital's on edge. They even closed off the ICU floor. Privileges, huh?" she added, but I was already drifting off. Screw privilege—I just wanted sleep. The world could burn, and I wouldn't care as long as I got five minutes of peace.

But of course, the universe had other plans. A loud pounding on the door jolted me awake, and someone shouted through the crack.

"Everyone's called to the lobby! Immediately!"

I groaned and glanced at the clock—4 a.m. I had barely closed my eyes. My shift wasn't supposed to start until 10 a.m. This wasn't fair. But there was something in that voice, an urgency that gnawed at my gut. Something wasn't right.

I splashed cold water on my face, rinsed my mouth, and headed toward the lobby. The hospital felt... different. The usual controlled chaos had been replaced with something sharper, darker. Police cars lined the entrance, and security guards patrolled the hallways. The tension in the air was palpable, sending a chill down my spine.

"What's going on?" I asked one of the doctors as soon as I reached the crowd, my voice hushed with unease.

The doctor's face was tight, his eyes hollow. "You can't repeat this outside these walls. There was an attempted murder... of the Wild family's daughter-in-law. She's pregnant—was pregnant."

My stomach dropped. "Was?"

"She was brought in last night—emergency C-section. The baby's alive, but premature. Should've been in the NICU." His eyes darkened. "But... the baby's gone. Someone took the child, and the mother's in critical condition. It's... bad. Real bad."

The words hit me like a punch to the chest. My heart ached for the mother, for the baby. I couldn't even begin to imagine what the family was going through—losing both wife and child in one brutal night. I'd seen death before, plenty of it. But this... this was different. A chill settled over me.

"How... how could that happen? A premature baby just... gone?" I stammered, rubbing my forehead, my brain struggling to process. "The baby needs the NICU, it needs care! This is—this is horrible."

The interrogations started soon after. I didn't have much to say—my shift had been nowhere near the ICU. Still, the gravity of the situation weighed on me. I kept seeing that baby, vulnerable, helpless, taken from its mother.

"Natalie," the chief nurse barked at me, snapping me out of my daze, "I need you to check on a patient in the ICU. It's urgent."

"What? I'm not even on shift," I protested, but she shot me a look that brooked no argument.

"You are now. Get moving. The night shift was a mess, rounds weren't completed. Go!" She stormed off to deal with the police, leaving me no choice but to head to the ICU.

As I approached the unit, my steps faltered. There, in the corridor, was a family—a man in his fifties sat slumped in a chair, holding a woman close, both of them blonde, both devastated. Then I saw him—the younger man leaning against the wall, his back to me, his shoulders hunched in a way that radiated both grief and fury. And finally, my eyes fell on the man sitting on the floor, his legs sprawled, hands limp, staring at nothing. His face was devoid of emotion, but his red, swollen eyes told the story. This was the Wild family. This was the man who had lost everything.

Their clothes screamed rich yet their eyes yelled sorrow. It didn't take much time for me to figure out that they were the Wild family and the man sitting on the ground was the husband and the father who lost everything. My heart broke for him but there was nothing I could do for him.

I went into autopilot—checking vitals, changing IV bags—until a scream shattered the air.

"DOCTOR! SOMEBODY! HELP!"

I rushed back into the hallway, my heart racing, and saw the monitors flatlining. The mother was crashing.

I pushed past the devastated man and began CPR, my training kicking in, even though my heart was hammering in my chest. One minute. Two minutes. I kept going until, finally, the lines on the monitor flickered, the heartbeat returning, weak but there.

"Two minutes arrest. She's back, but her oxygen levels are critical," I muttered, stepping aside as the doctor rushed in.

The tension in the room was suffocating. I worked mechanically, changing her blood bag, adjusting the monitors, but something felt... off. Then I glanced at her face, covered in bandages, bruised and swollen—but familiar.

Too familiar.

"Natalie, you can leave now," the doctor said, but I wasn't listening. My breath caught in my throat. No.

I edged closer, hands trembling as I pushed back the sleeve of her gown. My fingers brushed against her forearm, searching for something I prayed wasn't there. But when I saw it—the small, crescent-shaped birthmark—I froze.

The room blurred. My knees buckled, and I gripped the bed for support as reality crashed down on me.

" What's her name? The full maiden name" I asked but I could hear the fear lacing my voice.

The husband was alert and confused as he looked at me.

" Miss Carson, you need to leave-" Doctor Vance said but I didn't let him finish

" Sh-she looks like my sister.. her name is Mary. I just.. what's her maiden name?" I whispered, my voice trembling, my heart lodged in my throat. but there was no need for any word to be exchanged. The husband's reaction said it all. Her husband's reaction.

I dropped the steel plate I was holding and covered my mouth, fearing once my cries reached my ears, they would not stop. That once I hear my cries it will become real. My eyes landed on my sister's frame lying lifeless. I closed my eyes and shook my head. This is not how we were supposed to meet again! Not like this! Not like this!

" Mary Carson, her name was Mary Carson....Natalie" Said her husband.

Thank you for reading the first chapter. Your likes and comments would be really appreciated on how you find this chapter and what you look forward to. Once again thank you for reading this, it means a lot.