Haven, Withstanding -The Traveler Series ✔

Chapter 2 - Ethan

6 weeks later...

"Welcome! We at Northwestern Memorial Hospital want to extend our warmest greeting to this year's newest residents. After you finish your residency here, we hope you will consider staying on as full time doctors with us, as we are always striving to be the best hospital in Chicago!"

"Highly unlikely," Seth whispered under his breath next to me. I smirked at him. The medical director kept on with his speech but it was only muffled background noise as I became lost in my own thoughts.

Seth was my best friend and roommate through all seven long years of med school, but I knew he only applied for a residency spot here for me. He would much rather have been in New York or L.A. living it up as a rich bachelor. But he was the closest thing I had to family and my only support system. I wasnt confident enough to start this journey alone.

I had always been jealous of how easy and natural this career path came to Seth. I had studied my ass off, barely leaving our apartment all these years while he was able to just wing every exam. It was frustrating. I had graduated from Loyola at the top of my class... Seth was second. Had he put as much effort into his major as me, he would have easily surpassed me in GPA. I had to constantly remind myself that I had gotten here through pure hard work and I should be proud. I mean, I was proud. But life would have been so much easier if I had a photographic memory as well. Of course, I didnt choose to be a doctor because of money and women as Seth had made sure I had known that was his motivation on the first day we met. It still was. I, on the other hand, just wanted to help people.

"Please welcome your attending physician, Dr. James Goode," the director continued as he motioned for Dr. Goode to approach the microphone, "He will be the one you report to during your training here." There were 6 of us in all. I found it a little overly dramatic to put us in an auditorium for orientation. The use of a microphone when we were all sitting in the front row really topped the whole thing off. It was almost comical. Dr. Goode must have felt the same as he chose not to use the mic.

"Good morning," he greeted us flatly, devoid of any emotion. I'm sure this was not what he wanted to be doing for the next three years. "I'll just be brief and get straight to the point as you must be eager to begin your training," he gave a half smile that never quite reached his eyes, "We are going to try something different this year. Each of you will be assigned one long term patient to attend to while here. They are yours and yours alone. The floor your assigned patient is on will be your starting floor in your residency. As you settle in and become comfortable with your patient and their floor, we will move you to a different area of the hospital for more training. However, you are still expected to treat your assigned patient, regardless."

He paused for a moment, making eye contact with each and everyone of us before continuing. His stare was slightly intimidating. "You will consult with me every day on their prognosis and treatment plan. Of course, all major decisions must go through me first but aside from that, their lives are in your hands. I realize this is extremely unorthodox and I am forcing you to sink or swim, but my schedule is busy as of late and I must lighten my load. Before you leave this room, please see me to get your assigned floors and patients. Thank you." And with that he walked off stage and back to his seat beside a pile of manilla folders, which I assumed belong to our 'assigned patients.'

"I hope I get a hot chick with short term memory loss," Seth whispered, nudging me a few times and raising his eyebrows up and down. I rolled my eyes. Was that all he ever thought about?

The rest of orientation was the HR department's power points on benefits, doctor morale, sexual harassment, blah, blah, blah. All common sense things that didn't need to be drilled into us for two hours. I was excited to get my career off and running but the time ticked by so slowly.