Med School

Chapter 9

26/12/2011, 03.34am

THUD, THUD, THUD.

I jolt awake from my Nutella-induced sugar coma.

So, Beth hasn't been gone since the Christmas holidays started because she thought it would be a fantastic idea to ABANDON her best friend, note: her best friend who is legit weaker than a footstool from Poundland, and go off on a winter ski retreat with her family. (She's just a little bit basic but I still love her)

To be fair to Beth, I am going home to see my family for the holidays, but I booked my train ticket for two days from now, so I guess I'm just gonna have to deal with the incessant banging myself. (I know, I know, if it's an axe murderer and I, shock horror, get murdered it will be my own fault for deciding to be Veronica bloody Mars).

I make my way out of bed, tighten my dressing robe and look through the peephole.

Weird. Aiden's there?

I open the door as he begins his knocking again.

"Sorry.... did I, did I wake you?"

I can smell the alcohol on his breath from 2 metres away and I immediately cringe.

"No, of course you didn't, it's only 3 in the bloody morning, I was just getting ready for a tea party. Wanna join?" I excessively smile at him.

"PARTY? Hell yeah!"

I did not think that one through.

I chase after Aiden but before I have the chance to drag him out of my room, he collapses onto my bed.

"Hey, can I just, can I ask you something?"

I look at him and for the first time ever, he looks like he's not about to ask me to pull his finger.

"Yeah, sure. What's up, Aiden?"

Aiden manages to sit himself up and leans against my wall. "I just don't understand what the point of it all is. You know, Medical school and being a doctor and a crippling workload. What is it all even for?"

I smile at him, because he seriously sounds like he's on bath salts.

"I think it's pretty obvious, and kinda cliche. We wanna help people"

Aiden groans. "I know, I know but why help by being a doctor? There are so many other ways to help! We could have been NGO workers, we could have gone into politics and made campaigns to better the community. But no, we chose Medicine. Why? Why Medicine? Why subject ourselves to this torture, when 99% of the time, we get nothing in return?"

Wow. This is turning into some mad interview.

"Well, why not Medicine? We aren't just putting a cast on a broken arm or just prescribing pills for the sake of it; we are changing lives, we are improving them. We are the ones responsible for who can battle another day out and for who flatlines. We are in Medicine for the people, not the glory. We do this for the knowledge that, even though we are rarely thanked or appreciated, we saved that lawyer who would then go onto get hundreds of people out of wrongful convictions, we cured that teacher who would continue to inspire and nurture the next generation. It isn't easy, Lord knows it makes me wanna jump out of a window, but this is it. This is what you and I were made to do. "

I am met with silence and for a few seconds I think Aidan fell asleep.

"No wonder you got in to Oxford Med." Aiden smiles back at me and looks off into the large expanse of moonlit greenery my window provides.

I take a seat next to him and look at him for a quick second. His eyes are no longer gleaming with the shine of mayhem that they usually do; he looks halfway broken, as if his eyes have almost given up trying to put on the facade that life's good.

"Hey." I say to him quietly.

He snaps out of the trance he's been in and just stares at me.

"You're gonna be okay. "