Note-Ok, so Turk's chapter was slightly boring. But it's our favourite Perry Cox now!
"Hey, did you hear about that intern who completely flipped out a few days ago?"
"Yeah?"
I stood with my back to the two gossiping interns, even though I wanted to walk over and stab them individually until they sang my praises.
"It was brain cancer! He's in a coma a few corridors down!"
"Dude, you're kidding!"
"No way! What an idiot!"
"Totally!"
I had had enough. I turned to the interns, and clapped at them.
"Don't you ladies have anything better to do than stand and bitch about a doctor who is ten times better than either of you will ever be, because if not I have a stack of patients I can have transferred to you before either of you can say totally!"
"Sorry, Dr Cox…" the interns muttered. I could hear them as they scuttled up the hallway.
"What's eating him?"
"That intern with brain cancer was like, his favourite or something"
"Dude, that's so gay!"
I gritted my teeth, resisting the urge to tell the Janitor they had stuck paperclips in his precious doors. Then I turned, and went into a room.
The room where Newbie lay seemed smaller than it had before. It smelled of death, and the chemicals in the air burned into my skin. The heart monitor in the corner beeped quietly, muttering to itself.
I sat down on the chair next to his bed.
"Hey there, Millie-Molly-Mandy! I'm sure you're having a lovely dream about village fairs and unicorns and god knows what you girls dream about, but you need to wake up now before your boyfriend finds another pretty little tart to sleep with!" I mumbled. But my ranting was softer than usual.
He looked…sweet, in a girlish kinda way, lying there in ignorant bliss. I reached out, and ran my fingers through his hair. Traces of hair gel were left on my hands.
"How do you do it, Newbie? How do you manage to come in every day with a goofy grin on your chinless face? How do you manage to stay so chipper, even after telling people their loved ones are dead?"
If Laura was awake, he'd probably respond with something cheesy like "because I know I have good friends to help me through", before clearing off into his fantasy world for a few minutes, leaving me with a short, welcomed silence.
But now Newbie was silent. And I didn't like it.
"For God's sake, Betty, stop being so selfish and wake up. Did you actually register that by being here you're causing a lot of anxiety to people who actually care about you. I'm sure that by now Gandhi and Carla are playing heads or tails over who's going to call your brother"
Obviously, there was no reply. Now I was seriously pissed. Ranting obviously had no effect…same as every day. So I tried a different tactic.
"Newbie…ok, its really gonna pain me to say this, but you need to wake up. Because, oh boy…this hospital needs a doctor like you. And if you die during your internship, we're gonna have a lot on our hands trying to find someone who'll measure up. And…I need you, Newbie. I need someone who'll keep me going, if only for a few minutes longer"
I sighed. The urge to rip off his oxygen mask and kiss him awake was almost too much. But instead, I lent down, and kissed his cheek. It was like kissing a cloud.
"Ever wondered about the real reason I call you girl's names, Marilyn?"
I walked out of the room, and over to the nurses desk, grabbing the phone. What had just happened, I didn't know.
I needed to call Carla…