scars.

Deja vu

14 years ago:

The early cool, rainy fall morning no longer boded well for anything but dampness and cold. Streams of rain ran down the glass. The trees outside the window bowed their crowns sadly. The birds hid from the rain. Leaden clouds hung over the gloomy city, giving the sun no chance. The city was already slowly waking up and people were hurrying to work. Despite the fact that San Jose was not a big city, there were already a lot of cars passing by on the street in front of the hospital, giving the impression of an anthill. The time on the phone's display said that Melendez was already running late, so he could only hope that his superiors would also be late.

When he arrived, Neil noticed that the other resident's motorcycle was not in the usual place where she always parked it. It was strange, usually she always arrived before him so that she could still visit her child in the neighboring hospital building. But today the parking space was empty. The resident surgeon quickly entered the building and ran up the narrow stairs to the locker room. Once inside, he changed into his surgeon's scrubs in a hurry and put on his white coat with the resident's nametag, grabbed his pager and walked out into the hallway. No sooner had he taken a couple of steps than he was shouted at by a rather familiar voice, to which he turned around and saw a tall and disgruntled blonde with a european appearance, it was Martin Lores the chief residents:

- Neil, have you seen Audrey? I can't find her for 20 minutes, and I need her, she didn't fill out her paperwork yesterday, she threw everything away and went home in a hurry, and I've already gotten some grumbling from the nurses for her today, - Lores said in an angry tone, then added:
- That's not the way to do it. Her shift has already started. This attitude to work discipline is unacceptable. It's not a joke to her, but a residency at one of the best hospitals in the country, which is already full of applicants. I'll be raising her dismissal with the head of the department. She's getting a lot of favors, and she's being so mean about her job. - Her voice was clearly resentful, with anger, bitterness, and resentment toward Audrey. She was jealous of her, even though it was her and not Audrey who had become the residents' supervisor. Audrey had had that opportunity if Martin hadn't set her up. However, the other still had the feeling that she was being treated worse than Audrey and that feeling struck a greater hatred in her for this Asian woman and made her pay more attention to all her joints. And Audrey had a lot of them lately and it was getting harder and harder for Neil to cover for her in front of her superiors, so if her superiors found out about yesterday's situation as well, Audrey could be in big trouble. But Neil didn't have time to answer her, because all the thoughts in his head were interrupted by the sound of his pager. It was the chief of surgery, Dr. Glassman. He had summoned him to his office. Apparently, something serious had happened, if he was called by the chief surgeon, so Neil hurriedly went to the stairs leading to the fourth floor to Dr. Glassman before he could even talk to Martin.

Frantically walking down the corridor Neil wondered what was the reason why the chief surgeon called him to his office. Could it be that the nurses had already informed him that he was late again today? It was the third time he had been late in a week, and it looked like Audrey wasn't the only one in trouble. Finally, he reached the office and knocked gently on the door:

- Dr. Glassman, you wanted to see me? - As if not knowing what the dialog is about, the resident asks.
- Yes, I did, do you know where Dr. Lim is? The nurses and the doctor she was supposed to assist in a scheduled surgery have been complaining about her since this morning. She's not answering her cell phone, where can I find her? - Glassman asked in a low, hoarse voice, not at all happy with the amount of trouble Audrey had caused the department in the last twenty-four hours.
- Maybe she was in the NICU right now? I heard that yesterday her daughter got worse," Neil suggested, remembering the confused image of the girl yesterday.
- I called the ward and asked, and the nurses told me they didn't see her there last night or this morning. - said Dr. Glassman, standing up from his chair.
- It's very strange, she visits her every morning and every evening - Neil began to ponder, at the same time remembering how yesterday, looking for Martin, went into the women's locker room and saw Audrey crying convulsively.
- As if something irreparable had not happened, she has not been herself lately - sighed the head of surgery, noticing that the brunette was thinking.
- Dr. Glassman, can I go see Dr. Lim now? My two scheduled surgeries were canceled, one because of the patient's death, and the other was postponed because the patient was not ready for it - suddenly, interrupting the silence Melendez offered.
- All right, just stay in touch - hesitantly, but still affirmatively answered the chief and said goodbye to the resident.