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Hazel is a medical student. Bachelor in science, who is constantly juggling between the demands for these studies and pressures for clinical rotations, she has learned to keep her head down and eyes for...
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I woke up soaked in sweat; the nightmare was still hanging in my brain like a leech. I tried to move on, reminding myself that today was Chace's game.
But my body feels so heavy, and exhaustion drags me beneath the covers. It has been this way for days, these nightmares, the sleepless nights, the constant weight on my chest.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand. Unknown number. I let it ring again until I saw it light up my screen once more. I answered with hesitation and paid the price the very second I heard him speak.
"Hazel, you need to back off."
Father.
His voice was cold and distant, precisely the expression he had worn all those years ago when he found out about my pregnancy.
"That girl isn't yours anymore, Hazel. You know that."
I swallowed hard, the words like shards of glass in my throat. "I'm just doing my job," I manage to say, keeping my voice as steady as I can.
He doesn't need to know how much his words still hurt, how much I still ache for the daughter I gave up.
"Dad..."
"Keep it that way," he says, and then he's gone, the line going dead in my hand.
He's alive... and he never called. All these years.
I sat there for a moment, the silence claiming my ears. I know I need to get up, keep going, see my patients, and act like everything is normal. But nothing feels normal anymore.
Clark Hospital is the best cancer hospital in the country, and every day, every time I stepped through the doors, I told myself that. The only place Violet can receive the treatment she needs.
I had to talk to her parents and let them know they had nothing to be afraid of and that I was not trying to steal her from them. I just want to help her. That's why I traveled to Canada, to meet the Harry's. But once I arrived in Alberta, they changed their mind. They told me to go away.
"You are back!" The little voice of Violet woke me from my daydream. "The doctor said you were gone for a few days."
"Oh, hello, little princes," I said, smiling. "Well, I am back now."
"Hazel, can we talk, please." Dr. Harrison's voice came from the door behind me. I turned around, and before my eyes reached his face, he was already out of the room.
I walked inside his office, "Everything okay?"
"Please take a seat, Hazel." He said, never reaching for my eyes.
One minute of silence felt like an hour of fear.
"Hazel, you are probably one of my best students," he said, looking down at his papers, "I have a great deal of respect for all the hard work that you have put in with the research and with this hospital. But, analyzing a patient's DNA without her parent's consent is. illegal." His eyes finally fell on mine with great intensity.
