Chapter 1

Gavin was nervous. Today was the first day of the rest of his life at least according to his mother. She was so proud of all his hard work and dedication. Today all that hard work and endless hours of studying would come into play because today, he started his internship at Hope Zion hospital. Everything was supposed to prepare him for this very moment but as he reached over, slamming his hand over the alarm clock to stop the shrill sound he felt anything but. It didn't help that he lay awake most of the night in anticipation. Sure, he was at the top of his class and aced almost every test, but working with patients; well that was a different story.

Nothing could really prepare you for that, but today he was being thrown into the deep end without truly learning how to swim and he hoped in the end he would be able to stay afloat. That's the way it always was with these things. They all knew the stats: only a few would actually make it, separating the weak from the strong and all that. He wanted to get to work early because, as his mother always told him, 'it was better to be early than it was to be late.' He was usually a very punctual person to begin with but this was something that was very important to him. Not many twenty one year olds knew what they wanted to be but he had known since he was ten.

It was a lot of work; twelve to fourteen hours of direct service each week with extra hours in a number of other areas. He couldn't wait to get started but just like anything else that was new to him he was nervous, dealing with first day jitters. He was a natural born worrier; he thought about everything and anything that could or would go wrong instead of the things that could go right.

After a quick shower he grabbed his bag and headed out the door. He stood for a second staring up at the large imposing building where he would be spending his days. Taking a deep breath he decided it was now or never. Stepping through the sliding double doors he entered the lobby, he was supposed to report to the front desk and they would assign him a mentor. "Hi," he said to the blonde lady sitting there.
"You'll have to take a seat over there sir," She said pointing to the lobby where dozens of people waited to be seen.
"Um... no I'm starting work here today. My name is Gavin Murphy."
"Alright you are assigned to Dr. Micheals and you can head down to the auditorium with all the other interns."

He headed down the hall where she had pointed and turned left and headed down a second hallway, now was it right or left at the end of this hall. He was lucky he had come early because the hospital was huge and he would most likely get a little lost. It took a while but he finally located the auditorium which was already packed with eager, young interns and a few more were still arriving. He took a seat a seat near the front since there weren't many left. Glancing to the left he noticed he was sitting beside one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. She looked to be about the same age as him with shoulder length dark hair, brown eyes and the cutest smile he had ever seen.
"Hi," he whispered leaning over to talk to her.
"Hey."
'Come on Gavin you can do better than "Hi" say something clever,' He thought to himself.
"What is with this guys voice, can you possibly be anymore monotone?" he commented about the Doctor giving the lecture. The girl beside him laughed and went back to taking notes in her little notebook.
"I know I'm about the fall asleep over here," She joked back.
"You two in the back you wanna share with the rest of the class?" the lecturer asked as everyone else turned to look at them.
"Uh...no sir," Gavin replied realizing he had been caught. This wasn't the first impression he had planned to make.

After the hour long lecture the group of medical interns were left to find their attending who would give them their schedules and let them know what they would be doing over the next couple months. He was assigned to a Dr. Thompson, a short, fat, balding man who looked to be pushing fifty.
"Let's go I don't wanna be here anymore than you do." the man said leading his three interns down the hallway.
'Well wont this be fun,' Gavin thought to himself. Of course he would be assigned to a attending who didn't care one bit about the interns he led.

They were dealing with a man who was suffering a mental breakdown, he was rocking back and forth on the bed and wailing about something as they entered. Gavin watched as Dr. Thompson spoke to the patient before asking one of the interns to read his chart aloud. "What's wrong with me?" the patient asked looking right at him.
"Dr. Murphy please explain to the patient our diagnosis."
"Well...Sir." Gavin said stepping forward nervously. His whole career felt like it depended on this very moment.
"Tell me...Is it bad...It's something bad isn't it." the man asked interrupting him as he started rocking again.
"No sir it's nothing bad, just something you need to deal with. We..."
"Deal with, deal with your gonna put me away aren't you. Lock me up and throw away the key, that's what you people do," the man said standing up from the bed.
"Sir you need to calm down and stay in bed, please." Gavin said trying to get the man to listen to him.
"No leave me alone," the man said hitting Gavin in the face before taking off down the hall.

Gavin stood before his fellow interns holding his face where he had been hit, Dr. Thompson was laughing at him as an orderly brought the patient back in and restrained him. He felt like a fool what kinda person couldn't handle a patient. After making their rounds for the day Gavin was relived that it was finally lunch time. His first day hadn`t gone the way he had imagined it would and with half the day still left he was already exhausted.

He took a seat by himself at one of the tables and took a bite of his sandwich. His face was still throbbing from where the man had hit him and he knew without a doubt by tomorrow he would be sporting a shiner. "Hey I heard you got beat up by a patient," he heard from behind him as he turned to find the girl from this morning.
"I did not, he just hit me and ran off." Gavin replied as she dropped her tray and sat down across from him. "Does it look as bad as it feels."
"Look's like you'll have a shiner by tomorrow," she said as she reached out and touched his stinging cheek.
"Thought so, maybe I can convince people the other guy was worse off."
"Tell people you got it in a bar fight," She said with a laugh as she took a bite of her apple.
"I didn't get your name by the way."
"Maggie Lin," she said reaching out to shake his hand.
"I'm Gavin."