"Hello? From Anne to Earth."
Sharlene's ringy voice brought me back from my daydreaming.
"Huh, or sorry I was uh daydreaming."
"That was so obvious not." she replied sarcastically.
I smiled at the cute way she talked. That's what I liked about her. Even with her speech disorder she still had a sense of humour and to me, was completely normal.
She looked down at her cut arm and asked me, "so what are you going to fix do?"
"Well, with a cut like that I'm going to have to use a laser beam to remove any damaged skin and with a "grower" I can grow your skin right away."
"Okay, then. What waiting you?" she replied.
Carefully I took out the laser and shone it at her skin and listened for the sizzle.
"It ...it hurts." she whimpered.
"I know, it will only take a while." I replied my memory from my daydreaming coming back to me.
Then I took out a complicated looking machine that was covered with buttons and hovered it over her skin. As expected, her skin grew, stretching and moulding together to cover her cut.
"So how did you do it?" I asked, putting the machine away and taking out of my gloves.
"Jamie made me food steal from the supermarket yesterday. Guards were coming so I ran and arm my cut." she whispered into my ear.
Shaking my head I said, "well I hope you've learnt your lesson."
"Don't worry, have I."
And with that she slid off the hospital bed and skipped out of the ward cheerfully.
"Dr Anne Brown!." a nurse yelled from behind. It took a few seconds for me to register that she was calling from me. It was hard keeping up with my surnames since I was moving around the Unwanted division, changing my surname every few months. Luckily I had decided to keep my first name to keep things easier for me.
"Coming!" I yelled back, while walking towards her and another patient at the corner of the room,
"We need you to cover extra shifts for the next few weeks. Right now the only doctor we have in this division is you." said the nurse, her face blank.
"Are they recruiting any more doctors?" I asked.
"You know yourself how hard it is to get doctors from other divisions. So far this year you were the only applicant which is why we immediately accepted you."
"But you can't expect me to work extra shifts yet! I only just started in this ward!' I protested.
" You're doing perfectly fine with most patients and have handled every situation well. Aren't you a qualified doctor?" she asked me rhetorically.
"Well... um yes." I stuttered.
Hastily she pulled me away to the corner of the room.
"May I remind you Miss Brown that getting a job here as a doctor is no easy feat. It is a lengthy process where the applicants are checked rigidly to see whether they are qualified and whether they really do have the best interest for the people of the Unwanted? The only reason we immediately took you in was beacuse we needed a doctor desperately. As you know, it is extremely rare for people to want to migrate to divisions..... but my point is you better take your job seriously. Especially with the conflicts between The Troopers and the Phronesis for the past year, we haven't had much supplies getting to us......not that it's suprising."
And with that she hurried off to attend a call from the Emergency room.
Glancing at my watch the time was 5pm which meant my shift was over........ 5 minutes ago. Relieved I walked out of the hospital the cool evening breeze settling in.
