Late in to the very early morning, when the clinic is monitored by the night staff and unless there is a crisis he lies in bed with his memories, wide awake.
She sleeps soundly beside him never knowing that he is plagued with insomnia or that he now realizes what he gave up for her, even though she never asked him to.
'I wonder...'
He let's his mind drift aimlessly over the last 20 years.
Those years of school, the tumultous years if residency, his departure of that life, his return, and now his departure once more.
All of the clinic patients, too many to count, tumble through his mind namelessly.
What stands out from all these thoughts is the patients he cared for in that other life and those that he work alongside.
'What the hell am I doing?'
This question he has asked himself for years.
At the time he lefthe thought he was making the right decision for himself, but really it was a rash attempt to try and make their life work, when it hadn't really worked before.
Off of his nightstand come's a picture.
Five people who guided him and supported him and did their damnedest to get him through some of the most difficult times of his adult life...
Over the years they had all dispersed to other areas of the country, one had died, and one had come back.
Slipping out of bed, on a whim he went to his laptop and brought up the site he'd been going to for nights on end but could never make a decision, for fear of hurting her. What he now realized was that he was, once more, hurting himself.
Carefully, he selected the airline, the seating class, and used his personal information and credit card to fill in the blanks before printing out a confirmation slip and returning to bed.
The morning would bring much change...
I know it's short but it's what I was kind of aiming for. Please review with any and all comments or criticisms... :)
