As Derek and I are on our way to the ER, I begin to feel nauseous again. This has been happening almost every morning for the last few weeks. Derek and I had been jogging down the hallway, but I slow down as the world begins to spin around me. A few moments later, Derek notices that I have fallen behind.
"Lexie? Lexie are you alright?" Derek asks, but his voice sounds muffled as if he is talking to me from the other side of a wall.
"Yeah, just a little dizzy," I reply as I sit down on the nearest chair.
"You look really pale, are you sure you're not sick?"
"Yeah, just give me a moment." I put my elbows on my knees and rest my head on my hands for a few moments as the world becomes still and comes back into focus. I still feel nauseous, but not nearly as much as before, and I tell Derek that I am ready to get back to work.
"Are you sure?" Derek asks again.
"Positive," I reply and smile.
"Okay... let's go," he replies hesitantly and helps steady me as I rise from the chair. We continue down the hallway, at a slower pace this time, until we reach the ER, where several people appear injured. I see Mark talking to a little girl in the waiting room, and there are many other doctors treating the wounds of other patients.
Owen is treating an older man who seems to have the worst injuries, and he waves Derek over for a consult. "Go to April to see what you need to do, and let me know if you need anything," Derek says before rushing off to help Owen.
I look around until I see April, who is writing something on a large board. "Hey April, where do you want me?" I ask as I approach her. April doesn't seem to hear me as she continues writing on the board, her face contorted into a worried expression. "April?" I say and tap her shoulder.
She jumps and turns to me. "Hey, Lexie, sorry I didn't see you there, I..." she trails off and erases something on the board.
"April?" I repeat, suddenly worried for a girl who I had hated until just a few months ago. "What's going on?"
"Well, since the hospital let me stay here as a resident and try to take the boards again in a few months, Owen has been putting more and more pressure on me to make sure that I'm ready to be an attending. He put me in charge of the whole ER two days ago, and I've barely been able to eat or sleep. And it's just so stressful and hectic. I put together this board to keep everything organized but I don't know if anyone is even using it and-" April stops talking when I grab her shoulders. She seems more relieved from the rant, but her eyebrows are still furrowed in concern.
"April, you're still a resident and you're in charge of the ER, and it's for the first time! You're doing amazing, and this board that you're using is going to help keep the ER organized. It could even save a life for all you know. So what you need to do right now, for your own sake, is to calm down. You're doing your best, and it's paying off," I say and motion around us. April looks around and sees that the ER is extremely organized; every patient is in a bed with a doctor caring for them, and there is space cleared in the middle for people to pass through. It is also much quieter than I remembered because everything seems to be under control.
April sighs, finally releasing that last bit of anxiety. "Thank you Lexie," she says and pulls me into a hug, but lets go a few seconds later as she realizes why I came to her in the first place. "Oh right, I almost forgot, you should go to beds 4 and 5. There are 2 patients with possible head injuries."
"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask April.
"Yes, I'm fine. Now go, you have lives to save!" April exclaims.
I smile at her and rush over to bed 4.
Author's Note:
Hi everyone, I'm so sorry it took so long to update, but my summer break started last week so hopefully I'll be able to update more often. Sorry this chapter wasn't all that exciting but stuff will start happening soon. Thank you all so much for reading!
