careful there [open]

[jess1z1]

“Got those labs yet?” Luke asked the intern. He turned to the young doctor and away from the woman whose hand he’d been stitching up due to a fried chicken-related domestic dispute. He gently pushed the utensil tray away and stood up from his stool as the intern rushed off in a fright, sure enough to go fetch the results. Luke pulled the curtain around the woman’s bed just to stop her asking him if he was absolutely sure she didn’t need to be admitted and walked away.

One chart less to worry about and a bunch of others to go through. Most of them were follow-ups, however, and there were a couple of patients he had to go upstairs to check on before handing over to their rightful specialists. After making sure the current “emergencies” were taken care of by a resident or nurse, Luke headed for the elevator. It was a short round he would be making, but unless he was paged downstairs, there was no reason to hurry. He visited the patients in order of urgency. It was probably nighttime by the time he was done. He couldn’t tell unless he looked out the window. But things were quiet and immediately Luke seized the opportunity and attempted to get some sleep. Thankfully, all he had to do was rest his head on the pillow and gone he was.

Four hours, which seemed like five minutes, went by. At the second beep, Luke shot up, his eyes still closed but the rest of his senses sharpening quickly. It was dark when he forced his eyelids open, only a dim glow showing through the window. Before he gave his eyes time to adjust to the pitch black around him, Luke hastily reached for his pager and jumped out of the bed without even glancing at it. At this time of night, he knew whatever it was required him to rush to the ER and it had better be good. His sneakers squeaked on the shiny floor as he marched out of the on-call room and darted toward the elevator.

Down in the first level he was met by a nurse who informed him of an ambulance that was to be arriving any second now. No time to hit the espresso machine. Luke hurried to grab his equipment before approaching the double doors followed by another nurse and pushing them both open. He only had to take a few strides toward the cool morning air and the siren could be heard pretty near and growing louder. The doctor was ready for the gurney as the paramedics jumped out of the vehicle with it and helped Luke push it inside the building. The victim looked completely disoriented, but Luke was paying attention to the list of symptoms being recited to him.