emergency call for a night shift, " Please save my daughter"

" Yeah so, we agreed in the end for me to address him as Dr Evans instead of Calix, thank god." I said to Hannah and Dove as I was explaining everything that happened a few hours ago to them including the afternoon ward rounds at the paeds and emergency departments. It had honestly being a very long day that I hope would not have any repeat. While lost in my thoughts I heard Hannah say,

" Well, that's weird." 

" What is?" I asked while throwing myself in my bed.

" Well, for starters, you mentioned the lunch date before your academic ward rounds." Dove stated matter of factly. 

" And that's what you are finding weird right now? seriously?" I answered sluggishly because i was sleepy.

" Secondly, you said that you were happy that the surgeon allowed you to call him " Dr Evans"?" Dove continued ignoring my previous remark and her statement made me jolt from the bed and sit up straight. 

" Do not get me wrong, okay! I just did not feel comfortable addressing Dr Evans on a first name basis, it just felt wrong no matter how he said that it was cool." I said 

" Why are you being so defensive? We are not a part of the YSH groupie, we won't bite you know." Hannah said but she looked lost in a thoughts.

" Agreed. Lastly you told us the sequence of events that transpired during your lunch time at least three times...was it four, I lost count." Dove said.

" Did I? I did not notice." I said with a nervous chuckle looking anywhere in the room but not in Dove's direction because she was giving me a look only reserved for Hannah. She was doubting me!

Hannah on the other hand came up to me and touched my forward and turned to Dove and said, " Nope, It does not look like she has a fever. Do you think it's a crush?" She asked Dove then suddenly shook her head as though answering her own question. 

" No, it's probably her being tired or something." She said then laughed, " No way would Alyssie crush a guy, it is just not possible." 

" Anything is possible, Han." Dove said with a sigh 

" What crush?" I asked clearly confused and offended that they were leaving me out of the discussion.

Sigh, " Girl, your mood does not change by 360 degrees from sadness to anger to embrassment and then happiness because of one person all in a span of a day to a week." Hannah said to me while she was looking at Dove as though she was telling her to back her up and she did!

" Huh?" I asked 

" Han may be right, Alys." Dove said using the shorter version of my nickname Alyssie. I know this, I can see how this is playing out. Dove only uses this version if she is trying to persuade me for or against something. Which one will it be now? Though they are are wrong, I do not have a crush. 

"That's crazy. We are not about to have this discussion again. Do you guys remember the guy we met in Country C by the swan lake? What Dan our classmate? Then there was the Ceo of motorsports Enterprise? Did you forget that you guys thought I liked these guys too?! But you were wrong and you promised not to do this again, so please." I said. Okay maybe I was getting a little bit out of hand with my anger but I can not have my bestfriends doubting me with each new guy I spend time with. The next you know, my family is involved in this. 

" Yes, we were wrong back then. But Alys..." Hannah said and I interjected, " No buts. No jumping to conclusions and no trying to get me together with the doctor like you attempted to with the others. I still do not want love or a relationship of any sorts because ...." I said but i could not finish because they interjected this time 

" Love is an emotion that fleets away." they said in unison. 

" But Alyssie, sigh, never mind." 

" No, say what you want to say, I want to hear it." I stated with arms crossed and my sleepiness out the window. Just then my phone rang,

" Hello?" 

" Good day, am I speaking to miss Alyssa Falls?" The person on the other side of the phone asked 

" Yes, may I ask who am I speaking to?" I answered back.

"Miss Alyssa, this is the secretary from the paeds department and your name was listed for the students night shift (call) for tonight. I called to inform you miss Alyssa in case you were not informed because your shift has started and you are not here." The secretary said clearly annoyed.

" I am sorry ma'am I was not informed about this and my name was listed for being on call only next week Tuesday, why was it shifted to today? " I asked incredulously, What was going on ? 

" Well, you have just been informed miss Alyssa please make your way to the department right now. Thank you and goodbye." Just like that she hung up. What? I sat on my bed hands covering my face because like what just happened? 

" What is going on?" Hannah asked as she and Dove sat on either side 

" The secretary from paeds just said that my name was put up for today's night shift which starts in the late afternoon at around 5pm." I stated dejected. 

" What but its like 6pm right now! Why would they sudddenly add you to the list and not even inform you in time?" Hannah said as shocked as I was. Dove stood up went to my wardrobe and started picking out... an outfit? 

" Get ready Alyssie, we will drop you off." She stated as she looked for a set of scrubs for me. 

" What? She is an hour late Dove! And they did not tell her in time so it is not her fault. why should she rush there the minute she is called?!" Hannah said as she threw her hands in the air. One thing about my friend, is that she does not fend well in cases she believes are pure injustice.

" It is the way of this hospital. Rules are rules Han whether she was informed or not won't matter when this gets to the higher ups." She said to Han then turned to me, " Just go and get ready." She said

Recovering from my shock I followed Dove's advice and got ready for the night shift for which I was already an hour late. Preparing took me forever and so we arrived at the department an hour later making me at least two hours late for the shift, just great. sigh.

" Good luck." Hannah said as she waved.

" Try to find out what happened, Alyssie." Dove said, she looked worried. 

"I will, thank you guys. Good night and get back safely." I said as I got out of the car and waved. 

Rushing to the department reception, I saw Bianca standing with a group of girls, they better not be the YSH. 

" Hey, where have you been?" She asked as she rushed to me

" Home, getting ready for bed." I said dryly.

" Oh, sorry mate. Turns out our group was specially requested to aid today's group with the night shift because it might be " beneficial" for us the 'non-M' ( M-military) students." She said sourly then added " We were all called over by one military student and so I assumed that the one assigned to you would have called as well but I guess she did not because I had the secretary call you after I saw that you were missing." 

" Thank you." I mumbled. 

" It's a pleasure, I do not know what she has against you honestly." She said shaking her head and then as she remembered something she said, " You better go because you were late you got assigned to the paeds emergency ward in the emergency ward." She said with a tinge of sadness. 

" It is okay, thank you again." I said giving her a reassuring smile. The emergency paeds section is the most hated post because the emergency department is forever in short of hands and they pull in any student available there to help out with emergencies should it get busy. Well, it's more like running errands for the emergency doctors. 

So I made my way to the emergency department, I needed to get this over and done with without any trouble. 

...

" It is too quiet today." One of the medical officers in on call in the emergency department ( ED) said

" I agree, I think it is the students' faults. Not that I blame them, I would welcome this quietness and peace any day." the other medical officer said and they both laughed.

" Man, I did not sleep for the past 24 hours and now I am here." One of them complained. 

sigh, " I even forgot that there was such a thing called sleep in my life." And they laughed again then sighed

" It is ominous though." one said spoke again

" definitely, if nights start off this quiet, they never end off peacefully for us." the other added. 

" Are you wearing red today?" The first medical officer asked 

" No. Are you?" The second asked 

" Nope. I am too tired so I have been trying to avoid wearing red the whole week." the first responded and they laughed yet again. 

I walked past the two medical officers to look for the other students on call in the emergency paeds department. And luckily, I found some familiar faces. 

" Alyssie." Aidan said as he ran to me. " You are here too, how exciting." He said

" was a call a surprise for you too?" He asked wiggling his eyebrows. He genuinely looked excited. 

" Yeah." I answered 

" Oh sweet, we're destined then." He said with a grin 

" Destined?" I asked 

" Yes, we had lunch together and now we got called for this night shift together." he said to me and I rolled my eyes 

" Don't worry, It hasn't been busy since we got here and so I bet everything will go smoothly." He said 

Suddenly, the intercom announced

" all emrergency doctors please make way to the reception, we have ten ambulances on their way from an accident scene with four adult patients and six pediatrics patients. Repeat, all available emergency doctors please make your way to the reception." 

" Oops, spoke too soon." Aidan said to me as he touched the back of his head. 

" Okay, okay. You heard that everybody. I want four students with one paeds doctor." A doctor whom I assumed was the one in charge tonight said. We scrambled and quickly joined a paeds doctor in groups of four and made our way to the reception. As we waited, I could tell that most of the students were nervous, military or non-military did not matter in this case, we were all nervous. 

" Alright, they are here. Students do not stand in my way. we will call you guys if we need you." Our assigned paeds doctor said then added, " Only the military students may remain the rest please clear the reception." Okay, this is a weird set of instructions but okay we cleared the recption and moved to the back. 

Everyone was in a frenzy as they rushed to the patients. They categorized the patients according to who needed immediate attention to those who can wait a bit longer. Suddenly, one of the patients who was deemed to be in a less serious condition walked up to us and some of the students move back so he caught me instead.

" Please help my duaghter." He said failing at an attempt to pull my hand. 

" Please doctor, she can not wait like they said she should." He continued breathlessly, he was not in a good condition either. 

" I do not want to lose her, please save her." He said, the man looked fine with minor cuts but his overall state was decieving because his movements were sluggish and his eyes did not look normal at all. 

" I understand sir. Let me call one of the senior doctors for help."I offered 

" No! they will make her wait. Please help her now." He said as he started to sob as well.

" I am sorry sir but I can't..." I started to say but got interrupted 

" No please do something, she has not been moving like she used to. She did not even cry after the accident. Please." He begged 

" Look at the child to make him calm down, the doctors have assessed her already so just do it to make him more relaxed." One of the students behind me whispered. 

" but..." I said clearly not happy with the suggestion 

" Just do it Alyssie, he picked you so go over and have a look." Aidan who popped out of nowhere probably because of the commotion added.

sigh, " okay."

" Oh, thank you so much." the patient exclaimed 

I did a general assessment and took my stethoscope to listen over the chest. I listened again and again then frowned. 

" What is it?" The patient asked anxiously, biting my lip I chose not to worry the father as yet because he is also a patient here in need of assistance and I did not want to worsen his condition. I looked to Aidan for help and he rushed to my side. And he also listened. 

" I can not hear anything." He said giving me back my stethoscope.

"My point exactly." I said to him and then turned to the patient " I will call over a senior right now." This was an emergency, the child's life was in severe danger.