I awoke to see the morning light seeping through the crack between the curtains at my window. Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I looked at my clock. 07:50 am. "Crap!" I exclaimed out loud, "I have to be at the hospital in 10 minutes!" I threw my blanket to the bottom of my bed and jumped up out of my bed. I quickly brushed my hair and teeth, then stuffed some bread into the toaster to toast while I changed. I put on my doctor's clothes and rummaged around in my drawer for the badge I'd been given a couple of days ago. I found it soon enough. Millie Summers, Intern Diagnostician. I fixed the badge to my jacket and grabbed the toast from the toaster. Stuffing it into my mouth, I came outside, shut the door behind me, locked it, and ran for the bus stop. I arrived just in time to see it go up the road. "For god's sake!" I said through my breakfast-on-the-go, my hands on my head and the toast sticking out of my mouth like a bread-shaped cigarette. My first day of my internship at Resurgam, and I was late. To top it all off, the other diagnostician there was a total grump moron, who'd probably kill me. Not a good start at all. "Well, time to hitch a lift," I muttered, walking to the kerb and waiting for a car to come by. After a short time waiting, some rust-bucket of a car came speeding around the corner. I waved frantically, hoping to catch the driver's attention. They acted like they didn't notice me, and sped onwards. "Well, you're a charming person, aren't you?" I yelled up after them. I then decided that it'd be best if I walked to Resurgam instead.
Whilst walking, I wondered what I must've looked like. A girl who looked like a doctor yet wasn't a doctor, a girl who looked young enough to still be in school; eating cold toast whilst walking down one of the busiest roads in Portland. Damn. My whole life had been a mess since I left home to move to Portland and become a doctor. Well, I suppose it could be worse. I could still be living with my waste-of-space brother on the dodgy estate that had the highest crime rate in the whole country.
I arrived at Resurgam a whole hour late. That wasn't a good start. The worst I could ever have. In my daydream, I hadn't been looking where I was going, and walked into a dark skinned woman with a yellow EMT jacket and shorts. "Who the hell are you?" she hissed at me, then narrowed her eyes as she realised that I was the new intern; I was the late intern. "Well, aren't you a moron! You turn up late, so I'm the one that's had to do your jobs around here!"
"Sorry," I muttered, suddenly frightened by the woman's defiance, "I slept in."
"Oldest excuse in the book!" she spat back at me, "well, you'd best get to Doctor Cunningham's office! I'll bet you'll get yelled at there too!" she finished, storming off out of the door.
Great. My first day, and I already had an enemy.
"God, this place is a maze," I muttered to myself, wandering around aimlessly, trying to find the diagnostics department. Still being careful to not walk into people and trying to ignore their puzzled looks as to just who I was, I eventually found the place I needed to be at. With my hands trembling at the thought of yet another lecture on lateness, I knocked on the door. A couple of seconds later, I was answered by a gruff, "come in." I took a deep breath and opened the door.
"Just where the hell have you been?" the man shouted as I entered the room. This was Doctor Cunningham then.
"I slept in, then I missed the bus, I had to walk here…" I replied; flinching at the cold, hard stare he was giving me. I also wrinkled my nose at the pungent stench of cigarettes. "Doctor, the intern is exactly 1 hour 6 minutes and 48 seconds late," came a robotic voice from the corner. "Shut up, RONI!" Doctor Cunningham hissed, throwing his empty coffee cup at the robot in the corner, "nobody asked for your input!"
"But, Doctor, it is my duty to inform you of these things."
"Shut up! Now, before I throw you out of the window!"
RONI did as it was told and stayed silent.
"Now, as your punishment, you won't be helping me today! You can see to Kid's patients and look after them, understand?"
I nodded feebly, not wanting to get into another argument.
"Good! Go!" Doctor Cunningham hissed, with a dismissive flick of his hand.
I did as I was told and scurried off out of his office.
It was only when I was walking that I wondered who 'Kid' was. Surely, if this person were a doctor, they'd be doctor and not kid. Maybe this person just had the nickname kid because they were almost as young as I was. I shrugged and carried on walking to the wards. Maybe I'd misheard what he's said, and this person's name was 'Kit'? Nah, Doctor Cunningham had definitely said kid. I sighed and continued on to where I was supposed to go.
Once I reached the wards, the smell was much more hygienic and sanitary, rather than the stink of smoke in Doctor Cunningham's office. RONI's lucky that she doesn't have a sense of smell, I thought. Then I was met with the task of finding this kid that I needed to help. I decided that calling out the name Kid would help me find them. "Uhhh…Kid? Hi?" I said, waiting for a response. Nothing. It was a good thing that all of the patients on the ward were asleep; if they weren't they'd be wondering who I was and what I was doing. I cleared my throat and called for Kid again. I waited for around ten seconds, when a man with black hair and crimson red eyes appeared from behind a door.
"You called me?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, I-I did," I stammered. Was this person truly a doctor? He seemed slightly edgy and strange to be one.
"Oh, you're that intern Gabe just called me about," he replied.
I looked at me feet, not wanting to be yelled at yet again by another stranger.
"I guess you are then. And I also guess that you've been yelled at more than once. Well, don't worry. My name's CR-S01, but everyone around her called me Kid," Kid said.
"Hi, Kid," I replied, a little less wary but still slightly pissed by the fact I was in almost everyone's bad books, "My name's Millie."
"Well, hello Millie. You can start by getting every single one of the patients a glass of water each," Kid instructed.
I nodded. Privately, I thought that giving each of the patients a glass of water each was a rather boring and dreary task, but I realised that the sooner I did as I was told, the sooner I could get back to doing what I came to Resurgam to do. I grabbed eight glasses form a cupboard and filled each in turn with water. I found a tray in a cupboard and placed each glass on the tray, then carried the drinks back to the ward. The tray was heavy and I was doing my level best not to drop it and make a fool of myself. I put a glass of water on each patient's bed-side table, and the tray became lighter each time. Once I was done, I went back to see what Kid wanted me to do next.
I yawned as I trudged back to Doctor Cunningham's office. Kid had had me on my feet all day, and I secretly hoped that Doctor Cunningham wouldn't make me help Kid two days in a row. He seemed nice enough, but running around after people just wasn't my thing.
I eventually arrived back at his office. "Had a good day?" he asked, sarcastically, as soon as I entered the room.
"Does it look like it?" I snapped.
"Of course not. But you have to face the facts. Being late equals crappy jobs for the day," he replied with a smug expression.
I shot him a fierce stare and sat down with a cup of coffee.
"Well, you wouldn't have liked it around here either. All there was to deal with today was a grumpy old man, a spoiled fat child and a bratty teenager. So, I'd vote for helping out on the wards today," Doctor Cunningham commented, "besides, there's another intern starting tomorrow to do those jobs for you, so no worries. I've heard they're gonna be a surgeon."
"Lucky them, they don't have to hang around here with you all day," I muttered under my breath, and then said: "Well, let's hope they're not late then," and this time made it audible for him to hear.
"I doubt any other intern could be as scatter-brained as you," he replied.
"Well, you're stuck with me, so deal with it!" I said, with a matter-of-factly tone.
"I can't stand being around you any longer than necessary today. You can go home."
"Yes!" I whispered, standing up and leaving the hospital.