Things happen for a reason

Chapter eight

Miami Hospital Trauma Unit 10:10 pm

      Blood travels from the sliding doors as EMT's and fire rescue bring in more and more bodies. What in the world is going on? It seemed like every time I was on shift the worst accidents would happen.

       Don't get me wrong, I knew what the job description was. But this, no. This is sickening. Four victims unrecognizable due to the charred skin, bullet holes, and broken bones. The smell was starting to get to me as Dinah and I were rushing in the last victim of the horrific crime.

       To add onto all the problem that this is, I felt like I recognized one of them. Like I knew this person. It made my skin crawl to even think about it. To even feel remotely close to someone in such a terrible situation.

      "Camila, I need you to get these people hooked up on IV's NOW!" Dr. Jennifer hollered as I finished putting on the younger looking man on oxygen. She was the fill in for Dr. Richard's, who was still MIA.

      "Dinah, I need you to tell police to wait in the lobby so I can speak with them. I have a really bad feeling about this call." I hear her call out to Dinah.

      The hospital was extremely short on doctors and staff today. That wasn't settling right in my bones. We had each of one doctor that was needed for one patient, not the other three also hanging on for dear life. 

      The higher power heard me. "I paged everyone that's on call." I hear one of the nurses call out. I sigh a breath of relief.

      Getting the man hooked up on IV fluid, I make my way to the other three rooms, where more doctors and nurses were flooding in. I gave an extra hand as I helped inject the right medications into each patient.

      My heartbeat beating faster as one of the machines makes a noise to send a chill down someone's spine. A flat line. Doctors rush to room three where the young woman was motionless. Intubated and not breathing. Squeezing the Ambu bag, one of the nurses injects Flecainide.

      The flat line turns into a bump. Then another. The pulse slowly picks up and a steady heart beat makes the machine beep at a normal pace. I let out a breath of air.

     This would be the beginning.

Three weeks before Lana's birthday-
Week two.

      "BOO!" I jump slightly at the intensity of the voice. Turning around I'm met with the most calming shade of green.

      "JESUS- Lauren what the hell!" I shove her as she laughs loud.

      "You should have seen your face." I chuckled lightly but couldn't fully let out a breathy laugh.

      It had been a three days since that horrid scene and I still have yet to recover. The smell of burned flesh still lingered in my nose, and dismembered jaws still flashed through my brain. Working trauma unit for a while has taught me a lot of things. Has reminded me of a lot of things, and I have seen a lot of things. However, this was probably the most gruesome.

     Lauren picked up on my unusual behavior and guided me by my hands, to sit down in the waiting room chairs. It wasn't busy tonight, and I was taking a small breather.

      "I'm sorry I freaked you out." She starts and rubs her thumbs on the back of my knuckles. "I just haven't heard from you, and wanted to come make sure you were alright." She says in a calm voice. I had my gaze trained down on the ground and let out a sigh.

      "I'm sorry. I just haven't been feeling myself after that horrific accident from a few days ago." I look up to meet her eyes. "It was just so...bad. What's even worse is I feel like I know one of the guys laying in that bed motionless. Like I've met him." I take a breath and she waits for me to continue. "I just feel weirded out. We don't know the names of them, no family have come looking for them, and from what I heard the way they were found wasn't...normal." I lean my body on the chair and rest my head on the wall.