Chapter 1: I'm a mess

One year later.....

River POV;

 

Tonight was not my first night shift at this despicable hospital which was the least to say about it. However, this was my first night shift without any breaks. It was messy, with a shortage of staff and equipment, network problems, even the instruments and machines started to be disobedient and, just to make it worse, patients were flowing in nonstop... As a not fully trained ER doctor, the responsibility didn't lay on my shoulders. Anyhow, my devotion to work made me work as hard as I could, I even tried to do the nurses' job and volunteered to fix some of the machines using my years of experience as an electric technician which I had as a side job besides studying. 

 

The night kept going on like it was taking the price of each and every single calm night we have ever had at this place. I don't know how much time passed before my phone alarm started ringing which meant that it was already morning. It had been an insane night and I don't know how it passed or how many patients I had seen during these hours. I honestly didn't want to know the answer because I know it would be shocking. Yet, I couldn't stop wondering. The craziness of the night hung along through the morning as well. After a couple of hours, I couldn't take it any longer so I went quickly down to the on-call room, I just gave up. Hours, which felt like minutes, went by before my phone woke me up. My phone dancing to my very cheerful ring signal pissed me off. Or maybe it just was my sleep deprivation that was pissing me off. 

 

"Good morning" I answered the caller. "What morning? It's already evening River," the caller who sounded like my sister Caroline replied. "Do I need to describe to you what life as an ER doctor looks like every time?! You should know that already, you are a doctor yourself," I angrily replied. 

 

"Whatever! where are you anyway?" Caroline asked. "Oh let me see, this looks like the on-call room at the hospital I think.." I answered in embarrassment because I really didn't know where I was sleeping at first. 

 

"You are going to kill me someday! I feel like I am letting you down by allowing you to work at this filthy place. You know that our mother wanted me to take good care of you," Caroline said sadly. 

 

"Caroline, please enough with this already, this is the life I chose for myself and I am not changing it. I want to build a career for myself, therefore, I can't accept any help from you or your husband Jackson for that matter."  I replied with a higher tone. 

 

"Your stubbornness is unbelievable! But you are my younger sister anyway and I am not quitting offering you help. You know that Jackson won't quit either, he sees you as a sister too," Caroline replied with a motherly voice. 

 

"My beloved sister, don't worry about me. And if you really want to help, please cook some food for me because I might poison myself by mistake if I go home and cook in this state," I replied. She chuckled. 

 

"Okay come home then, I have already prepared food, your nephew is just your copy and by that I mean unfortunately always hungry like you!" Caroline laughed while replying. 

 

"That's my boy! I am gonna go for a run and then take the straight way to your place. Should I bring something?". "No you only bring that sweet little stupid face of yours because I miss you," Caroline replied before hanging up. 

 

On my way out and after I changed my scrubs, I heard some noise that sounded like a fight and it kept escalating. By this time, I couldn't make a call, I obviously had two choices, the first one was going out for a run and pretending that I didn't hear the growling noise. The second option which I stupidly chose was to go toward where the noise was coming from. There was a part of me, let's call it my dumb half, that always made these calls. The calls I often regret. However, my dumb half wasn’t only dumb, it acted like my moral compass sometimes so I let it live. 

 

Among the noises coming from down the reception hall, I heard Sophia's voice. Sophia was head of nurses and chef of reception. She was always in a mood but for a good reason. when you are in charge, you take the blame even for things that you aren’t directly involved in so I could understand her attitude sometimes. However, I felt like she gave in to that attitude and never tried to be better. 

 

"I have told you many times now gentlemen, we can't take your friend in if you don't register him at the reception so please fill in the applications," Sophia told a group of around seven men wearing the same uniform by the desk. A man in the group was the only one wearing a different shirt, a light blue Polo shirt with a pair of black jeans tucked into a pair of black Prada leather boots.  "No one is getting registered, you take a look at the kid or I am going to give you problems!" said the man with Prada boots in a threatening tone. 

 

I felt like it was about time for me to step in. "What's going on right here? You guys realize that we are in a hospital where sick people who need rest are??!!" I whisper-yelled at the man and his group. "Doctor River, the men here have been told by me several times that we don't take anyone in without registration but they refused to fill out the applications and want us to examine their friend without registration" Sophia clarified pointing at a young man sitting on a bench near the reception desk. 

 

Looking at the young man, I realized he was injured and blood covered his white uniform shirt turning it red. I knew it was white before by comparing it to the other men's shirts. He looked like he was about to faint and seemed very young to be working at all. Looking at the other men's shirts, I saw a logo that I recognized from my run rounds around the hospital. It was a boat-formed logo with green and blue colors that belonged to an Export-Import company of the ports companies. 

 

I had previously known a guy working at the port. He told me that some of the workers there are illegal immigrants. This might explain why they didn’t want to register the injured guy.  

 

"How long has he been bleeding like that?" I asked the men looking at the poor young man. However, I was operating on my dumb half only. "Around three hours," said a man in the group nervously. "Sophia, take him into a trauma room till I change my clothes and if anyone of the staff talks to you, let them refer to me," I told Sophia while I was already on my heels back to the locker room. Sophia nodded and I could see her look by the side of my eye, she looked grateful for once, she never thanked me for my handling of the situation but at least she was not angry about it.

 

In the trauma room, I started examining the injured young man and asked him about his name and age among other things. He said his name was Antonio and he was twenty-one years old but something seemed off. He looked much younger than this. However, I already had myself in trouble by checking him in without legal registration so I had no desire to get myself in more trouble by digging into this matter. 

 

I sewed Antonio's head wound which was superficial, of course under the observation of the man with Prada boots. Then, I told him to return to the hospital a week from now to get the stitches out and told him how to clean and take care of the wound. 

 

Leaving the room, I felt like I had to do something. This could be a matter of human trafficking. However, I was too tired to bother and all I wanted by this time was to leave the hospital and go home, especially after I saw on my phone screen that I already spent two days here. So, I decided to go straight to my sister's house and changed my mind about running. Running wasn’t that appealing after my encounter with possible human traffickers. This job was going to be the end of me. Why did I become a doctor anyway?…