Can You Teach Me What Love Is?

Chapter two:

Chapter two, 8 hours earlier:

*Wendy

          I sighed looking at myself in the mirror, nothing was right, which, was anything ever right to a person who had OCD? My disorder seemed to control me at times, plus, it was stronger on me than others, especially when it came to occasions and my looks; everything had to be perfect. A clock couldn’t hang crooked at the least little bit, a single strand of hair couldn’t be miss placed, and the house always had to be spotless, nothing out of order. Everything had to be perfect, and I clearly wasn’t, well, at least when it came to my looks. Beauty, fashion, and I didn’t blend very well together.

     But I had to be perfect, I thrived on that. What made it hard was, in everybody else’s eyes I was far from being perfect, nothing was satisfying. Maybe that was why I had the disorder in the first place? I would hope not.

     “I’m trying, Harry, I really am,” I told my perfectionist boyfriend, Harry.

     “Just tell me why,” He whined, his blue eyes showing a bit of irritation.

     “Work comes first. Y-you know how I am, sweetie, you know what’s wrong with me.” Out of the millions of things wrong with me and my disorder, the disorder made me put work above everything, including relationships, expect God.  Harry and I hadn’t been able to spend as much as a full hour together in the past two weeks and it was bothering him. Life, relationships, and even free time fell below my job; simply because I loved my work, ruling free time out.

     “That’s your excuse? Its either work or church; ya’know, Wendy, I’m sure God intended on you having a life,” He hissed and shook his head in disappointment at me.

     We were sitting on my couch together; I was scratching his knee while pressing my forehead against his. “I’ll make time, sweetie, I promise,” I said and pecked him on the lips. He pulled away and I felt a bit of rejection.

     “Whatever,” He said under his breath at the rolling of his eyes, sighing with disgust.

     He stood up and I immediately assumed he was leaving. “Where are you going?” I asked. “Aren’t you going to stay while we still have a little time?”

     With a moment of silence, he frowned, putting off more disgust in the actions of his face. Before I could stop him, he was already about to exit. “I’ll call you tonight, since you have better things like work to do today,” He informed and slammed the door as he left. I felt highly insulted, so much that my blood started to boil. As if it was my duty to make time for him today, when, I had already told him I’d do so on another day when I did have time. He was a jerk.

      Sure he could call, but I wasn’t going to answer, not after the way he just acted.

     Before I would let it bother me anymore, I got dressed and drove away to my favorite place, my job. I was a hall monitor nurse on the ICU floor of the hospital I worked at; it was sad at times yes, since ICU usually meant serious injuries or major health issues, but I still loved my job no matter what I had to see.

      I was working the late shift that night when my pager started buzzing, which meant I was needed, and fast. I rushed toward the nurse’s station to see where I was needed at. “C’mon, we’re needed in the emergency room; doc only has one nurse with him! They got a man on the defibrillator!” My friend, Taylor, explained as she sprinted out of the station and followed me down to the emergency room.

     When Taylor and I arrived to the scene of a scrambling doctor and only one nurse to help him, Harry was there mixed in with all the chaos, which made me immediately wonder why. I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him aside off to a corner in the room. “Why are you here?” I asked.

     Fear was blazing in his eyes and his hands were trembling, and instantly, I felt sorry for Harry; Maybe the patient was somehow related to him? “That’s my brother Max, he-he committed suicide!” Harry cried, and ran his hand through his messy blonde hair.

      “Don’t worry, we’ll get him back,” I assured, and then hurried away to the patient.

     The doctor charged the defibrillator and shouted,

     “Clear!”