DISCLAIMER: If you really have the urge to read this again, go back to
chapter one and read it. No one's stopping you (not that anyone actually
likes the disclaimers, anyway...)
So now, on to Chapter 3! This one's short, but Chapter 4 will be longer to compensate (
SAVING GRACE- CHAPTER 3
A key turned in the lock of the apartment. The door swung open and Carter stepped in from the hall. It was cool in the apartment building, not like outside. The night was warm, but the Chicago people and pollution made it seem much harder. Carter dead-bolted the door, and dropped his keys onto the table near the door.
The apartment was a modest one. Now that Carter had finally inherited some of his family's money, he could afford to live in a nice apartment of his own. The flat was a nice two-bedroom one, with a nicely furnished kitchen and bathroom. There was the kitchen, with table and four chairs, not that he really needed more than two anyway. And there was a living room, and a study, and a nice little walk-out balcony from which one could see Lake Michigan clearly. Carter hardly ever used that balcony. Now, as he looked out, the sun was rising. It was 6:30 in the morning, and his shift had just ended. Another one would begin again at 3:00.
Carter snorted. It had been a very long time since he had gotten eight hours of sleep at one time. It didn't look like he would start now. He wandered over to the refrigerator, suddenly quite aware that his stomach was growling rather painfully. He opened the door and looked inside to find various food items, including a quart of orange juice and two or three half-eaten cartons of Chinese take-out food. He fished around in the drawers of the fridge.
"Don't I have any vegetables around here?" he muttered to himself as he unwittingly found a plastic bag of what looked like it might have contained a head of lettuce some weeks before. He wrinkled his nose, and tossed the once-vegetable down into his garbage can. Back to the refrigerator, he rummaged through various salad items. His hand found a single carrot. He snorted to himself.
The carrot looked relatively unharmed, untouched by any sort of mold or fungus. It was just a carrot. He washed it in the sink, and set it aside. He grabbed a carton of Chinese food at random and stuffed it into the microwave, nuking it to an edible temperature. Carter waited for it to heat. He turned back to the carrot. Another memory struck him unexpectedly.
He remembered the early days of Lucy's first ER rotation. She had been pleasantly gullible and relatively naive. The patient had punctured his intestine with a carrot, a whole carrot. Lucy had been mesmerized.
"A whole carrot? How can somebody swallow a whole carrot?" Carol had been there too.
"He didn't swallow it," She said. Lucy raised her eyebrows and understood.
"Oh," she had said, a look of mild bewilderment on her face, undoubtedly wondering why on earth anyone would be so stupid.
"Yeah," Carter had replied, clearly laughing on the inside at her stupidity.
That joke had gone on for weeks. It was one of the only things that the ER staff had had to laugh about.
The microwave suddenly went off. Carter grabbed the container and a fork and began to eat the lo-mein without even sitting down. He stood like that, leaning on the kitchen counter, eating his makeshift breakfast, almost thoughtless.
He didn't know why he was suddenly thinking of Lucy all the time. It confused him, really. For the past, well, four and a half years, he had tried his best to forget about Lucy. Something deep within his mind had told him that that would be impossible, and he really didn't want to forget her. After he became addicted to painkillers, he tried to get over it. Just because he finally became aware that he was taking physical painkillers for a pain that could not be cured with a pill or an injection. The loneliness, the guilt, the psychological pain, was too much, but he decided, with help, of course, that he would cope with Lucy's death. He even began to correspond with Lucy's mother, Barbara, through letters. She helped him realize his pain, she helped him to cope with his sadness.
And he had gone on with his life as best he could. But, on some days, thoughts of Lucy, and a very little bit of pain, worked its way into Carter's mind. There was nothing that he could do about it. Lately, though, it was as if the clock had been turned back to the days following Valentine's Day 2000. He truly could not forget about her.
Carter threw his container of Chinese food into the garbage, having eaten barely a dozen bites of the food. The fork was washed and returned to the drawer that he had pulled it out of earlier. He paused at the carrot, then, with a nonchalant sweep of his hand, the carrot dropped into the wastebasket.
Declining a shower, Carter opted to go straight to sleep. He stripped to his boxers and situated himself underneath his bedcovers. Setting his alarm clock for 2:00 pm, he tried to drift off into sleep. Eventually he succeeded. He tried not to think of Lucy, but try as he may, he could not extinguish his memories of her from his mind.
Somehow, Carter got through six hours of a dreamless sleep. Awakened by the annoying buzzer on his alarm clock, Carter grumbled and rubbed his eyes. He then proceeded to pound the 'off' button on the clock. Still a bit groggy, he pushed back his sheets, and sat on the edge of his bed for a moment. He tried to gain full orientation (you know how people are when awoken from sleep) for a moment. Awkwardly, he rose and headed to his closet for fresh clothes to change into, but on the way, his foot caught onto a leg of his bureau, causing it to shake. As Carter recovered his balance, he bumped the bureau again, this time causing something to fall off. He winced as he heard glass crack.
He stood carefully, running his fingers nervously through his hair. Crossing the bare wood floor, he investigated the source of the noise. Sure enough, nearly behind the bureau was a picture frame, lying face down on the floor. Before he had even seen the photograph that it contained, he knew which it was. He gingerly turned over the frame.
"Dammit!" he groaned. It had been his best picture of Lucy. Her sparkling blue eyes were now looking up at him from behind a spider-web series of cracks in the glass of the frame. She looked radiant in the photograph, her hair tousled a bit from the fun she was having at the time, cheeks with a pink blush, white med coat on, stethoscope slung behind her neck, teeth white as they were revealed by her laughter. She wore no makeup, but she had natural beauty. Carter smiled to himself.
That day that the picture had been taken had been a fun one. There had been a bunch of the ER staff messing around in the lounge, waiting for the action of the hospital to pick up a little. Everyone from before had been there: Peter, Mark, Doug, Carol, Elizabeth, Chuni, Yosh, even Jerry had been there. Somebody, Carter couldn't remember who, had brought in a camera. They had all been laughing up a storm, making stupid poses at the camera. Carter remembered when he, Peter, Doug, Elizabeth and Carol and Lucy had tried to make a sort of human pyramid, and toppled over, laughing, after Doug had "sneezed" on purpose, causing everyone to topple to the floor before Jerry could capture the moment on film.
Carter almost laughed out loud when he remembered Elizabeth, Lucy and Chuni doing their little 'Charlie's Angels' pose, and when Carter himself had busted out the James Bond attitude, Elizabeth all the while criticizing Carter's phony British accent. Mark had made several bozo faces into the camera.
The shot of Lucy that Carter now held in his hand was an after-shot. Lucy and Carol had been fooling around in front of the camera lens. Lucy couldn't hold a straight face, neither could Carol, and Jerry had unintentionally snapped that photo of Lucy. He had given it to him later, saying that he could blackmail her with it (she had hated that photograph herself). Of course, he had done nothing of the sort. He had put it into the frame and kept it with him since the day he received it.
Carter made a mental note to buy another photo frame, and set the cracked one back onto his bureau. Collecting his clothes, he made his way to the bathroom and took a shower letting the warm water hit his bare back. He dried himself with a towel, dressed, combed his hair, and, after a quick cup of instant coffee, brushed his teeth.
Carter put on his watched and glanced at the rectangular face. 2:31. He had to hurry if he wanted to catch the train in to the hospital on time. He grabbed his keys off of the table by the door, and left the apartment. He locked the door behind him, the lock clicking into place as Carter left for another day in the ER.
Anyways, like I said, I am definitely gonna make the next chapter longer, and I should post tomorrow or the day after, so you shouldn't have to wait in suspense for so long (
Many thanks to my 2 reviewers, MeliGirlJO and tv-crazy for their support through their reviews. The rest of you should learn from their examples
Until next time,
Snapdragon
So now, on to Chapter 3! This one's short, but Chapter 4 will be longer to compensate (
SAVING GRACE- CHAPTER 3
A key turned in the lock of the apartment. The door swung open and Carter stepped in from the hall. It was cool in the apartment building, not like outside. The night was warm, but the Chicago people and pollution made it seem much harder. Carter dead-bolted the door, and dropped his keys onto the table near the door.
The apartment was a modest one. Now that Carter had finally inherited some of his family's money, he could afford to live in a nice apartment of his own. The flat was a nice two-bedroom one, with a nicely furnished kitchen and bathroom. There was the kitchen, with table and four chairs, not that he really needed more than two anyway. And there was a living room, and a study, and a nice little walk-out balcony from which one could see Lake Michigan clearly. Carter hardly ever used that balcony. Now, as he looked out, the sun was rising. It was 6:30 in the morning, and his shift had just ended. Another one would begin again at 3:00.
Carter snorted. It had been a very long time since he had gotten eight hours of sleep at one time. It didn't look like he would start now. He wandered over to the refrigerator, suddenly quite aware that his stomach was growling rather painfully. He opened the door and looked inside to find various food items, including a quart of orange juice and two or three half-eaten cartons of Chinese take-out food. He fished around in the drawers of the fridge.
"Don't I have any vegetables around here?" he muttered to himself as he unwittingly found a plastic bag of what looked like it might have contained a head of lettuce some weeks before. He wrinkled his nose, and tossed the once-vegetable down into his garbage can. Back to the refrigerator, he rummaged through various salad items. His hand found a single carrot. He snorted to himself.
The carrot looked relatively unharmed, untouched by any sort of mold or fungus. It was just a carrot. He washed it in the sink, and set it aside. He grabbed a carton of Chinese food at random and stuffed it into the microwave, nuking it to an edible temperature. Carter waited for it to heat. He turned back to the carrot. Another memory struck him unexpectedly.
He remembered the early days of Lucy's first ER rotation. She had been pleasantly gullible and relatively naive. The patient had punctured his intestine with a carrot, a whole carrot. Lucy had been mesmerized.
"A whole carrot? How can somebody swallow a whole carrot?" Carol had been there too.
"He didn't swallow it," She said. Lucy raised her eyebrows and understood.
"Oh," she had said, a look of mild bewilderment on her face, undoubtedly wondering why on earth anyone would be so stupid.
"Yeah," Carter had replied, clearly laughing on the inside at her stupidity.
That joke had gone on for weeks. It was one of the only things that the ER staff had had to laugh about.
The microwave suddenly went off. Carter grabbed the container and a fork and began to eat the lo-mein without even sitting down. He stood like that, leaning on the kitchen counter, eating his makeshift breakfast, almost thoughtless.
He didn't know why he was suddenly thinking of Lucy all the time. It confused him, really. For the past, well, four and a half years, he had tried his best to forget about Lucy. Something deep within his mind had told him that that would be impossible, and he really didn't want to forget her. After he became addicted to painkillers, he tried to get over it. Just because he finally became aware that he was taking physical painkillers for a pain that could not be cured with a pill or an injection. The loneliness, the guilt, the psychological pain, was too much, but he decided, with help, of course, that he would cope with Lucy's death. He even began to correspond with Lucy's mother, Barbara, through letters. She helped him realize his pain, she helped him to cope with his sadness.
And he had gone on with his life as best he could. But, on some days, thoughts of Lucy, and a very little bit of pain, worked its way into Carter's mind. There was nothing that he could do about it. Lately, though, it was as if the clock had been turned back to the days following Valentine's Day 2000. He truly could not forget about her.
Carter threw his container of Chinese food into the garbage, having eaten barely a dozen bites of the food. The fork was washed and returned to the drawer that he had pulled it out of earlier. He paused at the carrot, then, with a nonchalant sweep of his hand, the carrot dropped into the wastebasket.
Declining a shower, Carter opted to go straight to sleep. He stripped to his boxers and situated himself underneath his bedcovers. Setting his alarm clock for 2:00 pm, he tried to drift off into sleep. Eventually he succeeded. He tried not to think of Lucy, but try as he may, he could not extinguish his memories of her from his mind.
Somehow, Carter got through six hours of a dreamless sleep. Awakened by the annoying buzzer on his alarm clock, Carter grumbled and rubbed his eyes. He then proceeded to pound the 'off' button on the clock. Still a bit groggy, he pushed back his sheets, and sat on the edge of his bed for a moment. He tried to gain full orientation (you know how people are when awoken from sleep) for a moment. Awkwardly, he rose and headed to his closet for fresh clothes to change into, but on the way, his foot caught onto a leg of his bureau, causing it to shake. As Carter recovered his balance, he bumped the bureau again, this time causing something to fall off. He winced as he heard glass crack.
He stood carefully, running his fingers nervously through his hair. Crossing the bare wood floor, he investigated the source of the noise. Sure enough, nearly behind the bureau was a picture frame, lying face down on the floor. Before he had even seen the photograph that it contained, he knew which it was. He gingerly turned over the frame.
"Dammit!" he groaned. It had been his best picture of Lucy. Her sparkling blue eyes were now looking up at him from behind a spider-web series of cracks in the glass of the frame. She looked radiant in the photograph, her hair tousled a bit from the fun she was having at the time, cheeks with a pink blush, white med coat on, stethoscope slung behind her neck, teeth white as they were revealed by her laughter. She wore no makeup, but she had natural beauty. Carter smiled to himself.
That day that the picture had been taken had been a fun one. There had been a bunch of the ER staff messing around in the lounge, waiting for the action of the hospital to pick up a little. Everyone from before had been there: Peter, Mark, Doug, Carol, Elizabeth, Chuni, Yosh, even Jerry had been there. Somebody, Carter couldn't remember who, had brought in a camera. They had all been laughing up a storm, making stupid poses at the camera. Carter remembered when he, Peter, Doug, Elizabeth and Carol and Lucy had tried to make a sort of human pyramid, and toppled over, laughing, after Doug had "sneezed" on purpose, causing everyone to topple to the floor before Jerry could capture the moment on film.
Carter almost laughed out loud when he remembered Elizabeth, Lucy and Chuni doing their little 'Charlie's Angels' pose, and when Carter himself had busted out the James Bond attitude, Elizabeth all the while criticizing Carter's phony British accent. Mark had made several bozo faces into the camera.
The shot of Lucy that Carter now held in his hand was an after-shot. Lucy and Carol had been fooling around in front of the camera lens. Lucy couldn't hold a straight face, neither could Carol, and Jerry had unintentionally snapped that photo of Lucy. He had given it to him later, saying that he could blackmail her with it (she had hated that photograph herself). Of course, he had done nothing of the sort. He had put it into the frame and kept it with him since the day he received it.
Carter made a mental note to buy another photo frame, and set the cracked one back onto his bureau. Collecting his clothes, he made his way to the bathroom and took a shower letting the warm water hit his bare back. He dried himself with a towel, dressed, combed his hair, and, after a quick cup of instant coffee, brushed his teeth.
Carter put on his watched and glanced at the rectangular face. 2:31. He had to hurry if he wanted to catch the train in to the hospital on time. He grabbed his keys off of the table by the door, and left the apartment. He locked the door behind him, the lock clicking into place as Carter left for another day in the ER.
Anyways, like I said, I am definitely gonna make the next chapter longer, and I should post tomorrow or the day after, so you shouldn't have to wait in suspense for so long (
Many thanks to my 2 reviewers, MeliGirlJO and tv-crazy for their support through their reviews. The rest of you should learn from their examples
Until next time,
Snapdragon