Neural

My Name is Alina Kushnir

My name is Alina Kushnir. I work for a hospital in Ukraine. It pays well. Not everyone is as lucky as I am. It takes many years of schooling to become a doctor. Even then, the hospital we work in isn't the best in terms of how it was built. It was built back in the early days of the USSR. It was a very old building. From then and now it would get updated. But I could clearly see we were not in the government's focus. Indeed, depending on where you lived in Ukraine, it might be hard to live. There were tensions at the border next to Russia. Tensions never seemed to die down, but it was calmer compared to a while ago.
Lots of history here, too. A famous event in the history of man were the Chernobyl meltdowns. While the hospital was at a fair distance to be safe from the radiation, I had heard we experienced the affected people of the radiation. I wasn't around back then, but there were children coming in, adults, men, women. Hair falling off and everything. A lot of people didn't make it. Now, the radiation is fine. It's contained. And we shouldn't worry about anything besides ourselves and our patients around here, anymore.

Alina approached the hospital. The sun had barely risen and it was cold, early morning hours in their small town. She made sure her sleeves were tucked around her gloves as she opened the door, quietly greeting the front desk before heading to her own small office. Alina kept things fairly neat in her office. She wanted to be able to find things easily.

After a while of walking through a hallway, she arrived into her office - a small, quaint place. She took off her jacket and gloves, hung them up neatly, and began to prepare for the day that was ahead - logging into her computer. Her reports were all stored neatly on her computer, and once she was ready, she checked in. Her assistant arrived, and Alina greeted him, too.

"Quiet morning?" She spoke, eyes on her screen.
"Yeah, not many people at all besides the overnight patients. It hasn't been very busy either lately." Artem responded, following up to her in Ukrainian. Alina knew English - but it was important to speak her native language in a place where most of the patients would be speaking that language. Artem also knew English, but not as much.

"Did you hear about the meteor shower?" Artem questioned.
"Hm?" Alina looked up. "No, I haven't." It wasn't odd for them to witness meteor showers every now and then. She was curious, though. She motioned for him to explain.
"Well, they say that the shower was a result of a larger rock hitting a smaller rock up in space. Apparently it broke them up and sent them flying at us. Luckily, none of the rocks aren't that big, so they all burnt up."

Oh. Now that she realized, the children were chatting excitedly about the lights in the sky, the shooting stars on her way to work today. "And the larger meteor? Is it going to go toward us?"

"Welllll..." Artem drawled. "I don't think so. There wasn't really an update besides that, though considering all the near-misses of the asteroids we've had, I think we'll be safe from this one, too!"

Alina nodded, giving a slight smile as she finished the last of her reports. Artem was a good man. Young, but smart. Knew what he was doing almost all of the time. Their town tended to produce hardworking individuals, and Artem was no expectation. He might seem silly and laid back sometimes, but there was one time where there was a 12 hour operation. Maybe more, but Artem worked hard alongside all the other doctors. The operation was well, too!

Her phone rung, and Artem grabbed it from the wall, handing it to her. Saying a quiet thanks, Alina answered. "Hello?"

"Is this Alina Kushnir?" A woman asked.

Clicking her tongue, Alina responded. "Yes? Who is this?"

"It's Sofia. Sofia Babyak."

Sofia was one of Alina's close friends. At first, she smiled, but realized the worried tone in Sofia's words. She was typically a sturdy woman, rarely feeling afraid.

"What is it?"

"It's my son..Yegor. He isn't responding to me and I- oh gods, Alina. I don't know what to do!"

Alina considered her options before responding. "I'll be there in a few." Looking up at Artem, she barked orders, but not unkindly - just to let him know this was serious. "Let Danylo know and meet me at the front desk. We're going to Sofia's. Bring your supplies."

"Right!" He responded, quickly heading out to let Danylo know and to grab his own items. Quickly, she told Sofia, "We will be there soon. Give your son some water if possible."

"Alright.."  Sofia trailed off. "I will see you soon." She hung up.

Heading to work almost instantly, she put away the phone and got her stuff. Her medical bag, which would come in handy, and her own work phone - a mobile one, not the one in the office already. Doing a quick double check, she turned away and locked her door before walking down that same hallway to meet up with her assistant.

Sofia and her son would be fine. Her name was Alina Kushnir, and she was a good doctor.