I walked up to the large building, glass winking visions of the sun at me. As I walked to the elevator I breathed in slowly, trying to calm my nerves.I clutched my bag and hit the button for floor 11.
"Hi, I'm Alyss Stark, I'm here for the job opening." The secretary I was talking to eyed me carefully.
"There is a woman here for the job opening. All right. Okay. I'll tell her." The secretary hung up and organized a couple papers.
"You can go in now." She said, like I was supposed to know. I thanked her grudgingly and walked through the double doors.
Surprisingly, the person behind the deep mahogany desk was a woman. She looked terribly busy and flustered, her blonde hair skewing around her pretty face.
"Is this not a good time?" I asked her. "I can come back later." She looked at me oddly and smiled.
"Don't worry, it's normally like this. I'm Kate, by the way, go ahead and sit down, make yourself at home." I smiled back at her and sat. "So I see that you went to Pittsburg to get your paramedic degree. Which you got and then decided to return to get your ME degree." She glanced at my resume again. "Wow, you also worked in Pittsburg for two years. How was that?"
"Really long and interesting hours." I smiled and she laughed.
"You know Alyss, I've looked over your file many times, and I think you'll fit in here. Considering, you're very young to be a doctor and a medical examiner but I'm going to hire you as another ME, not an assistant. To be honest, no one else has applied." I smiled. "Just watch out for Megan."
"Who's Megan?" I asked her.
"She's the head ME here. Don't get on her bad side."
I walked out of the office and walked over to the employee lockers. I hung up my bag and replaced my coat with a long, white doctors' coat. When I was still in Kate's office she had asked me if I could start immediately. I naturally said yes and found myself heading off to work; right now.
I walked out of the locker room and navigated my way to the morgue, trying not to seem too fascinated. When I reached the morgue I noticed a woman clearly focused on her work, a man in his thirties with bruising on his neck and legs. Another man (this one alive) hovered over her, asking questions and suggesting things. I took a deep breath and entered the room.
"Ah, Morris, do you have my tox. screen report? And while you're at it could you get me a DNA sample of the plant growth around the crime scene?" The woman said as the door shut behind me. She was so focused she didn't look up from the dead man.
"Um, Megan, that's definitely not Morris." The hovering man said to her as he stared at me.
"Why would anyone else be coming into my lab?" Megan asked and turned to me. "I'm sorry, who are you?" She asked me. I finally saw what Kate meant by 'don't get on her bad side'. Megan looked tough and mean, but compassion also lay in her eyes.
"I'm Alyss Stark, the new ME. It seems like we're going to be sharing the lab for a while." I smiled and tried to breeze past the introductions.
"Alyss, I'm Megan." Megan turned back to the dead man.
"What can I do? " I asked her.
"Actually, there's nothing to do right now. If you come back tomorrow I'll be more organized and ready for you." Megan told me over her shoulder as she weighed the heart and lungs.
"Oh, well, okay. Um, nice to meet you. See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." Megan said before I walked out.
I walked out of the building, tired after my interview and introduction with Megan. I climbed into my Camry and drove off to my house. I entered my apartment, car keys in hand, and almost shrieked when I saw my (soon to be ex) boyfriend in the kitchen.
"Alex, you scared me." I said, holding my chest.
"Hey baby." He said in reply. I rolled my eyes, Alex didn't listen very well.
"Alex, we need to talk." No reply. "I think we need to break it off." Everything came out in a rush and I practically gasped when I finished.
"Excuse me Aly? What did you just say?" Alex stood up to his full height, transmitting his violent nature.
"I'm breaking up with you." I said bluntly, finally not caring about his fists or height.
"That's what I thought you said." Alex grabbed a fist-full of hair. I grabbed his hands and backed up. "Maybe I should teach you a lesson." His hands flew to my shoulders and I flew into the wall. I let myself fall to the floor, knowing it would be over soon. He grabbed my hair again and pulled me up. I closed my eyes and waited for the first punch, the first slap. Instead I heard the door open and people coming in. I felt Alex's hands leave my body and after a few minutes, I opened my eyes.
Alex was gone. In his place were cops and medics, all circled around me and chattering. I looked out the window and saw red and blue squad car lights. I sat down on the sofa and let the medics look over me. I told the cops what happened and how he had hit me.
"I never want to see him again." I told them.
"All right ma'am, that'll be it. Are you sure you're going to be all right?" I nodded and slowly the crowd filtered out. After the last cop left and I had closed the door, I sighed and put a hand to my head. I jumped in the shower and stared at old bruises that Alex had made over jealousy, anger, and anything that I did wrong. When I was perfectly scalded and clean, I fell into bad and fell asleep.
When I woke up in the morning I felt awful. Every muscle in my back was tight and sore from the fight and the stress. When I looked in the mirror I saw huge hand-print bruises on my shoulders and neck.
"Ah, crap." I said to myself. "I can't cover that up with a scarf." I sighed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a blouse. I put on a scarf anyway and popped two tylenol. I walked out my front door with keys in hand.
I parked my car in an employee parking space and smiled. I was finally employed at a good place where my work would go to something useful. I locked my car and dropped my keys in my purse, my boot heels clicked on the pavement and I looked up at the clear sky. I breathed in the fresh air and walked into the first day of my new job.
I hung my purse on a coat hook in my locker and started toward the door. I opened the door as Kate was coming in.
"Alyss, just the person I was looking for." She smiled and took my arm.
"Well, I'm here now, what's up?" I asked her as she led me to the autopsy room.
"Have you met Megan yet?" She asked as she walked in front of me.
"Yes, I met her yesterday, why?" I was momentarily confused.
"Good, good. She has and autopsy to do and there is another body on the way, it seems like we're going to need you to do an autopsy sooner than I expected."
"Isn't that what I'm here to do?" I asked her as she pushed open the doors.
"Well, yes, but I wanted to watch you do it. You know, see how you worked." She stopped in front of a desk where Megan sat.
"But you don't have time today." I finished for her. "Don't worry about me Kate. I'm sure if I need it Megan can help me." Kate nodded.
"You're right. Well, I'm already late, see you later." Kate left before I could say another word.
"She talks a lot, doesn't she." Megan said while still looking at her computer.
"Thank god I'm a good listener." I muttered. Megan laughed and stood up. She was taller than me by several inches and I could tell she could see the bruises. I unconsciously shifted my scarf.
"All right, this is Jane Doe, found in the park late last night. You can take her or the body they found this morning by the river." Megan had walked over to a body and lifted the sheet back, revealing the face of a plain woman.
"I'll take Jane Doe." I said, still looking at her. Megan nodded and handed me a doctor coat. I thanked her and slipped it on. I removed my scarf before I realized what I had been concealing. I glanced at Megan and found her looking at my neck.
"Alyss, those bruises look like . . . ." She trailed off.
"Hand prints. My ex-boyfriend went to jail last night. He had some anger issues." I shrugged it off and pulled on a pair of the blue gloves lying beside the autopsy tools.
"Well at least you'll be all right." I stopped for a moment, making sure I heard her right. She had not asked me if I was all right. She had not breached my privacy or made assumptions. She had simply stated what she saw.
"Thank you." I said quietly.
At lunch I was weighing the vital organs which had seriously put a damper on my appetite. The door opened and I looked up to find a girl of about fourteen standing in the doorway.
"Hi, is my mom in here?" She asked, looking around.
"Who's your mom?" I asked her, trying to get an accurate weight fro the liver.
"Megan, she's the head ME." The girl looked directly at me.
"Yeah, Megan will be back in a minute. She needed a tox. report for a body." I talked frankly to the girl, I didn't believe in sheltering someone from the truth.
"Lacey, when did you get here?" I heard Megan's voice ask.
"Just a couple of minutes ago. She said you were getting a tox report on a body." Lacey must have been referring to me.
"'She' has a name." I said to her and turned around, taking my gloves off.
"Sorry, I'm Lacey." Lacey smiled sheepishly.
"I'm Alyss, nice to meet you." I smiled back at her.
"Lace, what are you doing here? Wasn't your dad supposed to take you to Charlotte's?" Megan interjected.
"Yeah, he was supposed to but Charlotte's parents forgot and they're having this big party so I can't go over there today. Dad has a stupid lawyer thing to do too so I told him I'd come and hang out with you." Lacey talked as much as her mother.
"What am I supposed to do with you?" Megan asked.
"I'm done with the autopsy now, I could take Lacey to a mall or something if you want." I offered, taking off the lab coat.
"Really, you'd do that?" Megan asked me like I had suggested going to a bar.
"Yeah, I don't mind if you don't mind." Megan thanked me and said goodbye to Lacey.
"Thanks again Alyss, I don't know what I would have done. Drive safe, all right. Bye." I said good bye and walked out with Lacey.
"I love the mall." I heard Lacey say when we entered into the Forever Twenty-One.
"I do too, the smells, the people, the stores. I love Hot Topic the most though." Lacey looked at me with eyebrows raised. I laughed and she smiled, I had made friends with my co-worker's daughter faster than I had made friends with my co-worker.
The next few hours were filled with the whirling of mall life. Lacey and I laughed and smiled our way through stores that we both loved. We stopped in at Hot Topic first, then off to Wet Seal and Urban Vibe. Lacey wanted to go into Gap so I accompanied her and ended up getting a cute shirt even though I had never liked Gap clothing.
After all that craziness I decided that I wouldn't be able to run around a mall without getting a late lunch. Lacey agreed that she was hungry too and we went to a sub sandwich place and sat down at a table. Lacey had picked out her favorite table, one that overlooked the city. We looked down on people scurrying around and ate our sandwiches. I looked around the mall again and breathed in the smell of new clothes, perfume, fast food, and shoes. I looked above me, trying to find Icing, and saw instead an elderly man. Something about that man grabbed my attention. I thought maybe I knew him but it was hard to see his face from a floor below. Then someone pushed the man as he got close to the escalators. I stood fast and ran to the escalator, just in time for him to fall at my feet. He was bleeding from a cut in his head and bruises were forming on his arms. I took off my outer shirt and pressed it to his head. The way he was lying suggested no break in the spine but I had to be very careful in case his neck was broken.
"Sir, sir are you all right?" I asked him.
"Are you an angel?" The man asked, his words slightly slurred.
"Well, at least you're conscious." I said to myself. I quickly took his pulse and found that it was fast, but that wasn't surprising because of the adrenaline and fear he must have been feeling. My hands went to his and I squeezed them periodically.
"Sir, can you feel this?" I squeezed his hands. He nodded and his head rolled a little. "Shit." I muttered. "Lacey! I need you to hold this guy's head straight." Lacey came out of the crowd and knelt by the man's head. She hesitated and chewed on her lip. "Just hold it, he's not going to bite you." Lacey tentatively held the man's head and I continued to evaluate him.
"Sir, what finger am I squeezing?" I squeezed his index finger. The man moved his mouth but I couldn't hear him. "Sir, what finger am I-"
"He said index." Lacey whispered. I looked at her shaken face and smiled. I moved to his feet and was about to assess when uniformed paramedics circled around me.
"Ma'am, we need to get in here, please move." I moved and took one of them aside.
"He's conscious and responding, his pulse was fast but I took it about two minutes ago. He can feel his finger and hands, I was about to do his feet but you got here." I told the man I had pulled aside.
"Thank you ma'am, did you see what happened?" The paramedic's eyes lowered on me, narrowing, making his handsome face seem violent. He reminded me of Alex.
"Someone pushed him, he fell down the escalator. I got my paramedic license and knew I could help until you got here." I rushed through the explanation, making myself seem flightily and dramatic.
"Ma'am, are you all right?" I nodded and smiled for effect.
"I've got to go, I'm watching my friend's kid." I rushed off and melted with the crowd. I turned around in circles, looking for Lacey but couldn't find her.
"Alyss! I'm over here." I heard her call out and I ran to the sound of her voice. She was sitting at her favorite table, waiting for me. She smiled and waved me over. I smiled back and walked to her.
"That was amazing, what you did for that man." She said when I got close enough.
"I do what I can for people Lacey, it's just my job." I smiled and sat down. Suddenly Hurricane by Panic! At The Disco started playing and I realized it was my phone. I dug around in my purse and pulled it out. I looked at the screen, frowned at the unknown number, and answered.
"Stark."
"Where the hell are you?"
"Megan?"
"Of course this is Megan! Where are you and why aren't you back yet?"
"Oh, sorry Megan, I guess we just lost track of time. I'll be back at the lab in fifteen minutes."
"Okay, see you then."
"Bye." I hung up and looked at Lacey. "Your mother is royally pissed." Lacey laughed and we gathered our things and left.
"There you are! You said it would be fifteen minutes." Megan yelled at me again. I sighed and put down my purse on a chair.
"Sorry, there was traffic and there was a little accident at the mall."
"Accident?" Megan raised her eyebrows.
"A man fell down an escalator and he needed help fast. I did what I could until the medics got there." I sighed again and sat in a chair.
"Really, well I guess I can't be too mad at you then." Megan sat by me in a chair and sighed. "Sorry for freaking out on you, I just get kinda frantic about Lacey." I nodded instead of replying because Lacey was coming inside. Megan had given her the car keys so she could throw her shopping bags in the car.
"Mom! You would never guess what happened at the mall. A man fell down the escalator and Alyss ran over and started helping him and then his head was rolling around so she had me hold it still for her." Lacey was enthusiastic. Megan looked angry, amazed, weary, and kind of happy.
"Lacey, it wasn't that big of a deal." I smiled tiredly.
"Obviously it is." Megan said and stood up. She put her arm around Lacey and turned to leave.
"See ya tomorrow I guess." I said quietly.
"Yeah, see ya." Megan said and ushered Lacey out the door. I sighed and put my head between my knees. The day went through my head over and over again. What could I have done? What would have happened if I didn't do this? I raked a hand through my hair and grabbed my purse.
The next day I came into work early, expecting to be the second or third person there. I entered the lab after putting my things in my locker and jumped when I saw Megan working at her desk.
"You're early." She said, looking at her computer.
"Hi, and yeah, I just thought . . . um, well . . . I don't know what I thought." I sat down in a chair placed in front of her desk.
"Is there something wrong? Boyfriend out of jail?" I winced.
"No, I just . . . I guess I just don't feel safe there anymore, you know? Like he could come back and kill me any day." I sighed and put a hand through my hair.
"Alyss, you seem like you could use the truth, so maybe you should start telling it to yourself." Megan looked at me seriously and sympathetically.
"Thanks Megan." I whispered.
I finished my lunch quickly, needing to get back to a body. I walked quickly back to the lab and was stopped by the receptionist, who had stared over me while I waited to get my interview.
"There's a guy saying he knows you. Do you want me send him to the lab?" She asked blandly, like she was bored with me.
Without thinking I replied, "sure" and started back to the lab. I remembered my purse on my arm and sighed, not wanting to put it in my locker. I tossed it on a chair and nodded, that would be the end of it for now. I pulled on the white lab coat and snapped on a pair of blue rubber gloves. I grabbed a scalpel and was just about to cut when the doors opened and I heard a familiar voice.
"Baby, I didn't know you got a job here. Why didn't you tell me?" I stopped what I was doing and turned around.
"Alex." I whispered, suddenly finding my lungs void of air. I dropped the scalpel and bent to pick it up when I heard the familiar edge to his voice.
"Don't worry about that Babe. Come here and give me a kiss." Alex stepped forward and I stepped back, into the gurney. I remembered Megan was still in the room when I heard her stand up.
"Who are you?" She asked, feigning her agitation.
"Who are you?" Alex asked her back.
"I'm the head ME here, now who are you?" Megan stepped out from behind her desk.
"I just happen to be Alyss's boyfriend." Alex puffed out his chest a little, like a bird.
"So your hands are the ones that match those bruises." Megan stated like she had an "aha" moment.
"Hasn't anyone ever taught you your place bitch?" Alex asked, walking toward Megan now, his hand balled into a fist.
"Alex no!" I yelled at him. He stopped and looked back at me.
"I guess she needs some teaching too." Alex grinned and made his way to me. His slap felt the same as it always had. I flinched the same way, and it hurt the same way. This time, instead of the police saving me, Megan did. She picked up the scalpel on the floor and held it to his throat. After that everything seemed to melt together and fade away. I remember sort of falling to the ground, hard, and landing on my knees. I put a hand to my face and wiped blood off my nose. I heard Alex grunt and I looked up as he spun around on Megan. Her eyes were wide and she knew she wouldn't be able to stop him with just a scalpel. Megan tried to save me, I couldn't turn my back on that. I got up and ran to my purse.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Alex asked while he held Megan by her hair.
"Alex, I want you to put Megan down, and walk out of here." I told him this calmly, after all, I had the upper hand in this situation.
"Go to hell, you can't tell me what to do." Alex let go of Megan, and I did a mental sigh of relief. Then I realized he was running to me. I turned to my purse and grabbed the .9 mm I always had tucked away for protection. I pointed at Alex and watched him back-pedal in surprise. To my dismay, his surprise didn't last very long. It quickly turned to rage and he was going forward again.
So I shot. I shot three times with my eyes wide open. I watched the bullets slice into him like careful and precise knives. Megan stood and gaped at Alex's body which was most certainly dead.
"Well, there's another mark off on my bucket list." I muttered.
"What, killing someone?" Megan asked incredulously.
"No, making things right between me and Alex." I said, looking down at the growing pool of blood.
"Some way to make amends." Megan muttered and rolled her eyes. She walked over to her phone and called 911. I sighed and put the gun on the ground. I sat down in a chair again and closed my eyes.
"Is there anything else you want to tell me Alyss?" Megan asked. I could hear weariness in her voice too and wanted so badly to make everything better.
"I don't think I'm cut out for this job." I whispered, wiping at my suddenly wet eyes. "I'm going to go now. Thanks for everything. Bye Megan." I grabbed my purse and headed to the door when Megan's voice stopped me.
"So that's it? You're running away?" She sounded hurt, her voice cutting into me like the bullets that cut into Alex.
"No Megan, I'm not running anymore, I'm hiding." I pushed the door open and walked out, leaving Megan in a glass room with a dead body that had only been dead for five minutes.
It rained outside, definitely not improving upon my mood. I opened the door to my car and sat down heavily in the leather seat. I sat there for a while, watching the rain streak down the windshield. I choked back a sob and put my head on the steering wheel. After five minutes of sobbing I sighed and turned the car on, needing the comfort of my warm house and sheets. I sniffled and drove out of the parking lot, wondering if I should go back to apologize to Kate.
My house was warm, thank God, and after I locked the door I went right into the bedroom and got into snuggly pajamas. I lit a vanilla candle before slipping under the covers of my nice, soft bed and falling into a deep sleep.
So deep, in fact, I didn't hear my alarm go off at 6:00. I was so stressed and exhausted that I didn't wake up until 11:37! I groaned and jumped in the shower, threw on a respectable blouse and jeans, and flew out the door with just enough alertness to lock the door. Going through the drive-through at a coffee shop and missing morning-and-lunch-hour traffic, I made it to the office at 12:09, then wondered what I was doing there for another 11 minutes. On sheer will power I ran into the office and vaulted into the elevator. Too late to turn back now, sucker. I told myself and stepped out of the elevator, waltzing right up to miss persnickety receptionist.
"She doesn't want to see you." The receptionist said when she saw me, raising her nose in the air a couple inches.
"Thats too bad, since I need to see her. Is she in a meeting right now?" I said, smiling just enough to get a disgusted look from miss persnickety.
"No, but she's really busy and-"
"Then this is a great time." I cut her off and walked into Kate's office.
Biggest Mistake Of My Life
Megan stood off to the side, hands on hips and body language saying 'why me?!' Kate sat behind her desk, a murderous glare fixed on Megan. When the door closed behind me they both whipped their heads to me. I almost backed out the door when I saw the looks on their faces, but I held my own and took a step forward.
"Alyss, nice of you to join us." Kate practically hissed. Megan crossed her arms across her chests and leaned on one leg.
"I'll leave you two to your business." Megan said icily and walked out of the tense office.
"I'm sorry for interrupting, but I needed to apologize for what happened yesterday and not coming in on time today." I said to Kate, taking another step into the office.
"So you're staying with the department." Kate said matter-of-factly and sat down in her chair, adjusting a stack of papers.
"Yes, after a long consultation with myself I decided I really needed the job." I smiled sadly and sat down in front of Kate's desk. She sighed and we sat like that, in silence, for a while.
"Megan's pretty pissed, isn't she." The question came out like a statement.
"Yeah, we were arguing about you, actually. I told her if you didn't come in today then I would fire you. She defended you like you were related." Kate snorted. "You remind me of her, actually, just less outspoken." I smiled and Kate laughed to herself.
"Megan has been pretty nice. My parents died in a plane accident when I was thirteen. I learned the hard way that nobody wants a thirteen-year-old girl unless she's offering sex." It was my time to snort. "I spent three years with the sick bastard before I went to the police.
"Then, back in the foster system, I stayed in the system until I was eighteen, then they set me on my head, spun me a couple times, and made me run into the world all dizzy and disoriented." I didn't know why I told Kate all of this, I suppose I just needed to let it out. "I got a bunch of scholarships while I was in high school, enough to attend the University in Pittsburg and get my paramedic license. Then I decided to do something more permanent and got my ME license. Now I'm here, my abusive ex is dead by my hand, I have a mother figure in my life, and I'm this close," I held up my fingers to show a little space, "to losing my job." I sighed and put my fingers on my eyelids, closing my eyes.
"I'm not going to fire you." Kate said quietly.
"What? After everything that happened?" I took my hands off my eyes and stood. "Kate, how will I ever thank you?" I asked her, suddenly serious and excited.
"You're a good ME and I can't lose you, and it seems like you need a couple friends in your life right now." Kate smiled. "Now get to work, you have this morning to make up for."
"Oh, Kate, thank you so much, but after the hell fire Megan gives me, I don't know if there will be much of me left standing." I smiled and rushed out of the office. I put my things in my locker and grabbed a pair of scrubs, knowing I would need them. I took a deep breath and opened the door to the morgue/autopsy room.
Just as Megan shared a kiss with detective Peter.
They both looked up at me and Megan blushed ever so lightly until she remembered her anger at me.
"I thought you weren't coming back." Megan said forcefully.
"Yeah, well, I thought a lot of things." I said, the happiness of still having my job dwindling.
"Is this your last day?" Megan asked as Peter slid away from her.
"Megan, I get the feeling like you don't want me here." I finally said it, and it lay open in the air like a dead body.
"You're feeling's wrong." She muttered.
"I'm gong to go, I wouldn't want to impose . . . ." Peter left quickly, before anyone could even tell him otherwise.
"This is my job Megan, I'm going to stay here for a long time. Hopefully no more funny business will go on with my personal life that will be brought into the office."
"I should hope so." Megan gestured at a large lump covered with a sheet that I knew right away to be Alex.
"You're not going to make me do an autopsy on him as punishment, are you?" I whined, almost pouting.
"No." Megan laughed. "No autopsy is necessary. It's obvious enough that you killed him when you shot him." I laughed and the tension in the room eased immensely.
"I'm glad I'm here Megan, I don't care what you or anybody else thinks." I sat down in a chair and looked at the ceiling.
"I'm glad too." Megan whispered and leaned back, staring into the dull ceiling with a wistful smile.