Chapter One
“DOCTOR!! ALYX!!” I hear voices call my name from the hospital halls. My head shoots up, to be rewarded with a stinging sensation in my neck. I am accustomed to the whole get up in the middle of the night, go to the hospital, save a life and survive another 36 hours without a wink of sleep.
The white cardboard door (it isn’t actually cardboard but it’s as helpful as cardboard) flings open to reveal Dr. Fisher’s red face. He is out of breath and wears a shocked expression on his face.
“Dr. Fisher, are you OK?”, when your mother is a big a pain as mine you learn that courtesy must rule all situations.
“What? Oh, I’m fine, Sam. There’s a young man that just arrived. Shot in the knee and the nurses are annoying me. They are too afraid to remove the bullet and are demanding that you come. I do apologies; I know it is your first sleep break in two days. You think you can do an old man a favour?”
“Of course, Doctor. I took an oath, didn’t I?” I give him the most innocent smile I can manage with my low-on-caffeine state of mind.
He doesn’t respond, just holds the door open a little wider whilst tapping his foot patience. OK, I’m coming. Hold your horses, will ya’? I get up and walk towards him. Once I’m out in the brilliant white hallways of Buenos Aires General Hospital Dr. Fisher gets a hold of my elbow and tows me down the long porcelain corridor towards Emergency Care.
Then I see him, the young man who needs the bullet removed. My do-good-doctor mode switches to automatic and I am instantly moving graciously around the gurney he is on. I grab the tweezers from the tray and prepare to remove the bullet.
“Hold onto your mother’s hand, please”, I use my I-know-what-I’m-doing voice.
He looks at me and gives a slight nod. He is really good-looking and that’s the first time I ever said that about a guy except, he wasn’t a guy but rather a man. A man with the most intriguing blue eyes that was both dark and light. His hair was a dark brown but not as dark as mine and he possessed the most attractive cheekbones I have ever seen. The second I felt a red flush approaching I pried my eyes away from the most beautiful being only for my eyes to fall on his abdomen. The nurses had ripped open his shirt- an unnecessary action- to check for any extra scars, bruises or other injuries that would require stitches, and with a quick glance I saw that he had a six-pack- I never understood that term: six pack. I mean, why 'pack'?
Before my face turned into a road stop sign, I paid attention to the very important task of making sure this mass of unworldly beauty didn't bleed to death. I decided to use the oldest and fastest trick to seal a bullet wound. With his hand firmly in his mothers, I grabbed the chunk of metal in the flesh of his muscular leg and yanked it out. He clenched his teeth together in an effort to stop screaming, he obviously doesn't realize that THAT was the painless part.
"OK, that was the easy part. I am going to seal the wound as fast as possible because it isn't clothing*", I said smoothly.
"Yes, I understand.” he replied. I risked one peek at his face to see he was looking intently at me, as if studying me like I was a foreign creature. It must be my accent; I'm from South Africa so our accent is unique.
"OK, I'm going to count to three and then you will feel a heated pain. Try your best to control it", I said.
I am going to seal the wound with a hot metal spoon. Dr. Fisher heated it with a ********* and handed it to me. I held the plastic handle firmly even though the heat was burning my palm; I placed it above the bleeding wound.
"1...” I began.
I saw his jaw tighten along with his mother's grip.
Now or never. I pressed the heated metal to his flesh and he gasped from the initial pain but seemed to have a hold on himself and never uttered a sound throughout the experience.
