The Inmates Mate

Chapter Two

The Inmates Mate

Chapter Two

Ebony

   My day off went extremely well. Better than expected since I spent the majority of the day in bed surrounded by my pillows and in my dark bedroom. My curtains were handmade and extremely dark on purpose so I had nothing but peaceful sleeping, uninterrupted by the damned sun.

I had to wake up for work this morning at 6, getting report at 6:45 was critical since most of the night nurses are sometimes cranky after a long night up. So I always try to get to the floor sometimes early for them so I'm not on bad terms.

Entering the prison is always a pain since I have to scan a lot of doors with my employee badge. After going past the four main doors with lots of security, getting into the hospital wing isn't as long and hard.

Today I decided to wear a pair of dark purple scrubs and my hair somewhat breaded into a ponytail. I even decided to add a small bit of mascara on this morning just because I felt like it.

The security guards can be nice guys most of the time as I put my stuff through the metal detectors. But I get the occasional asshole that whistles at me as I walk by.

Since it was a male state prison facility, the majority of people around me are men. Besides the other nurses and the three women guards employed by the prison.

As I entered the floor I greeted the nurses in the nurses station and continued on into our locker room. I placed my stuff inside my locker while stopping in the break room for a cup of coffee.

I went to the patient board and found only two patients under my name, more than what I would expect since it was night shift and the nurses never liked to keep the patients overnight. One patient was the tuberculosis patient from two days ago and the other a patient with reported chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation.

I got report on them from the night nurse, Amy. She is a nice girl with a family of two. But when she was done the head nurse pulled me aside asking me to do 8:00 medications for fifty patients on the first floor of the prison.

I wanted to roll my eyes since they still haven't been able to find another hire and I have to keep doing the job of another nurse. That meant I had to leave my patients almost immediately after entering the floor.

I eventually asked after saying yes, "How are we with finding a new hire?"

"Oh! I am interviewing someone today, hopefully we can get her in soon so we don't have to keep doing Martha's work," Beth said with an eyeroll.

I almost scoffed and corrected her to not use we since she hasn't done a damn thing. She has only worried herself with finding who can cover her shifts but she hasn't worked any of them herself.

I checked on my two patients quickly. The patient with COPD exacerbation was awake and let me do a quick assessment on him while he watched the morning news. I turned up his oxygen a liter before leaving and giving him his morning medication.

The TB patient was still asleep so I was able to listen to his heart and lungs without waking him up. I had to wake him up for his medication but he took it and fell right back to sleep. I washed my hands after seeing the TB patient, and wiped my stethoscope down with an antibacterial wipe.

My phone in my pocket buzzed making me reach for it outside of my patients room. It was a text from my best friend, one of the only friends I still keep in contact with from college. Cameo, was an education major but we first met when I had to complete anatomy and physiology before I took my nursing classes.