It was a crisp and beautiful morning in the city of Chicago...
Unfortunately Dr. Abby Lockhart couldn't enjoy it because she was running late for work and was freezing her butt off; her hair was still wet and she had forgotten her coat. She started to run, after looking at her watch, which told her she was already twenty minutes late. She slipped into the doors of County General Hospital and headed straight for the doctors' lounge. She put her things away and went back out into the big, bad hospital.
Abby looked at the board which seemed unusually clear. She raised an eyebrow and sat herself down in a chair, yawning.
"Oh look who decided to show up for work today," Susan, now head of the ER, said smiling.
Abby sheepishly looked over her shoulder at Susan, "Uh, yeah, about that…"
"Just don't make it a habit," Dr. Lewis said, handing her fellow staff member, and friend, five charts.
Abby mumbled, "Oh thanks." She added, "And don't worry it won't happen again."
Dr. Lockhart headed off to do her duty of helping people. She looked at her charts and decided to take her easiest one first: A teenage girl with a cold.
I'll just check her out then hand her to a med student, she thought to herself.
She opened the curtain that to find a pale young girl, about fourteen or so.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Lockhart."
No response.
"It says here that you have a pretty bad cold; I'm going to check you out, OK?"
There was still no answer, which started to irritate the doctor. As she was about to ask the girl something, she got interrupted.
"Hey Abby," Wendell said and nudged her head out, directing Abby she wanted to talk.
Abby nodded and told the girl she'd be right back.
She walked over to Wendell, "Yeah?"
"After you check your patient, I need to talk to her. OK?"
"Uhh, sure? Why?"
"She has no parents and is a runaway. I have to try to get to her then put her back in social services, whether she likes it or not.
"That's kinda harsh, isn't it? Putting her somewhere she doesn't want to be…."
"Would you rather see her on the streets inside some box as her home?" Wendell asked, walking away.
Abby shook her head and went back to the girl, "Sorry for that."
The girl just shrugged.
"So… I introduced myself, what's your name?" Abby asked, hoping to get an answer.
The girl sighed, "Hannah."
"Nice to meet you Hannah," she smiled.
Hannah nodded back, staring off into space.
There was a moment of silence between the doctor and the patient.
Hannah suddenly spoke, "Was that a social worker you were just talking to?"
"Umm, no; A psych doctor."
"Ah, a shrink," Hannah held her head, "Great… just great."
"A shrink?" Abby asked, questioning the comment. She had a smirk on her face while looking at her patient.
Hannah looked up," Uh, yeah. I don't get along to well with those types of doctors."
"Why?" Abby asked curiously.
"Oh, just because they always tell me I need to-", stopped mid sentence and made quote marks with her fingers, "'Express my feelings more openly.'" Hannah rolled her eyes," To me, they're a bunch of weirdoes who think they know everyone's feelings."
"Oh really? What would you do if I told you I was one of those weirdoes?"
Hannah looked at her doctor, "I'd tell you to step away slowly before my alarm goes off."
Abby smirked once again.