BHBS: Chapter 30
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Se-na's eyes flashed with a familiar, sharp malice. "Are you deaf as well as incompetent? Look at her lips! That is cyanosis! Look at the neck veins! You have a patient in acute congestive heart failure and you're standing there like an ornament for a hallway! Move your damn useless hands or get out of the way before you become a defendant in a malpractice suit!"
The nurse flinched as if she had been slapped. "I... I have to call the attending..."
"ATTENDING! ATTENDING! ATTENDING!!!!" she was chanting maniacally. "By the time your God damn attending finishes his tinted damn dishwater, she'll be dead!" then as of something happened to her, she got silent started to get closer, closer enough to be in the nurse's personal space. Se-na had forgotten that she was a man right now and what her closeness could mean to a woman.
For the nurse, the presence of a man double her size and height getting closer to her face was so overwhelming that she actually tripped backward. "Is this how they train you now? To stare while lungs fill with blood? Get the Lasix, get the O2, and get me a crash cart! If I see you hesitate one more time, I will make sure you never even work as a school nurse in this city! DO YOUR JOB!"
The nurses looked at her with stunned confusion, a boy in a school blazer screaming like a veteran doctor. She was shivering now but then a senior nurse came, she was heavy and sturdy. She pushed ra-ik (se-na) away, "Kid, step back! We have protocols."
"To hell with your protocols!" Se-na snapped back as she stabilized herself. "If you wait, she dies! Do you see the color of her lips? That's cyanosis! If you don't start the diuretic now, her heart will stop!"
"Security!" senior nurse yelled. Two large men grabbed Se-na by the shoulders, dragging her away as the gurney disappeared behind the double doors, snapping back se-na to her fickle reality that she really was just a kid right now. She fell on the bench outside. The silence that followed was deafening. She looked down at her hands, those long, teenage fingers that should have been holding a surgical tool, not trembling in a wrinkled school uniform, praying outside the closed doors.
Finally, a nurse stepped out, looking bored. Se-na rushed her. "The patient from the Do estate. Status? Did you start the medicine? Is the attending here?"
The nurse didn't even look up from her clipboard. "You're the grandson, right? Look, kid, it's not that serious. Just a minor flare-up. Old people get tired. She's fine. We're just going to monitor her."
The word fine hit Se-na like a physical blow. In the medical world, "fine" was a lie told to children to keep them from asking questions.
"Minor?" Se-na's voice dropped. "She was gasping for air. If you treat this as 'minor,' she will be dead by morning. You're missing the mechanical failure of the heart!"
The nurse finally looked up, her eyes full of pity. "I don't know where you're picking up those big words, maybe from a TV show, but you need to go sit down. This is not a drama and you" she looked the boy from bottom to top, "you are certainly not a doctor. You're just a boy who's scared. Go get some water and wait for your father. We've already called Mr. Do."
"My father?" The blood drained from Se-na's face. The man who had just vowed to destroy them was coming. The "responsible adult" who would have the power to stop her from saving the only person who cared about her.
"I'm not just a boy..." Se-na whispered, her voice breaking. She reached for the nurse's arm, a desperate plea in her eyes. "Please. Just check her heart again. Just look at the T-waves... please..."
But the nurse was gone. A security guard stepped into her path. "Back off, son," he said, talking to her like she was a confused toddler.
Se-na slumped into a chair. Her mind was screaming a hundred life-saving procedures, but her hands were empty. For the first time in her life, she had the knowledge of a god and the power of a ghost. She was trapped in the wrong skin, a brilliant mind locked inside a powerless child's frame.
I'm sorry, ahjumma, she thought, a single, hot tear tracking down Ra-ik's cheek. I know what's killing you, and nobody will listen to me because I'm wearing the wrong skin.
She sat there for hours, the hospital lights humming above her. The exhaustion of the day, the guilt of her "greed," and the terror of her father's arrival finally took their toll. She didn't even know these tears were hers or his. Maybe they were a mix the best of none or worst of both.
She didn't know when her eyes closed, but she fell into a heavy, dreamless sleep on the hard bench outside the ward. A tears falling from her eyes even in sleep, staining the fabric of Ra-ik's school jacket.
"WHERE AM I!"
Se-na suddenly woke up with a gasp, her heart hammering against her ribs. But she wasn't on the bench. She wasn't in the hospital hallway.
It was dark and airy around her. The air was cold, smelling of rain and distant city smog. She was standing on a high terrace, the wind whipping through her thin clothes. She felt a sharp, stinging pain in her feet. She looked down.
Do Ra-ik was standing on shattered glass, his bare feet bleeding into the shards.
I work hard to keep this story going for everyone. If you find it interesting, kindly consider supporting this work with a cup of coffee. Every contribution helps me improve and grow
patreon.com/accuscripter
The nurse flinched as if she had been slapped. "I... I have to call the attending..."
"ATTENDING! ATTENDING! ATTENDING!!!!" she was chanting maniacally. "By the time your God damn attending finishes his tinted damn dishwater, she'll be dead!" then as of something happened to her, she got silent started to get closer, closer enough to be in the nurse's personal space. Se-na had forgotten that she was a man right now and what her closeness could mean to a woman.
For the nurse, the presence of a man double her size and height getting closer to her face was so overwhelming that she actually tripped backward. "Is this how they train you now? To stare while lungs fill with blood? Get the Lasix, get the O2, and get me a crash cart! If I see you hesitate one more time, I will make sure you never even work as a school nurse in this city! DO YOUR JOB!"
The nurses looked at her with stunned confusion, a boy in a school blazer screaming like a veteran doctor. She was shivering now but then a senior nurse came, she was heavy and sturdy. She pushed ra-ik (se-na) away, "Kid, step back! We have protocols."
"To hell with your protocols!" Se-na snapped back as she stabilized herself. "If you wait, she dies! Do you see the color of her lips? That's cyanosis! If you don't start the diuretic now, her heart will stop!"
"Security!" senior nurse yelled. Two large men grabbed Se-na by the shoulders, dragging her away as the gurney disappeared behind the double doors, snapping back se-na to her fickle reality that she really was just a kid right now. She fell on the bench outside. The silence that followed was deafening. She looked down at her hands, those long, teenage fingers that should have been holding a surgical tool, not trembling in a wrinkled school uniform, praying outside the closed doors.
Finally, a nurse stepped out, looking bored. Se-na rushed her. "The patient from the Do estate. Status? Did you start the medicine? Is the attending here?"
The nurse didn't even look up from her clipboard. "You're the grandson, right? Look, kid, it's not that serious. Just a minor flare-up. Old people get tired. She's fine. We're just going to monitor her."
The word fine hit Se-na like a physical blow. In the medical world, "fine" was a lie told to children to keep them from asking questions.
"Minor?" Se-na's voice dropped. "She was gasping for air. If you treat this as 'minor,' she will be dead by morning. You're missing the mechanical failure of the heart!"
The nurse finally looked up, her eyes full of pity. "I don't know where you're picking up those big words, maybe from a TV show, but you need to go sit down. This is not a drama and you" she looked the boy from bottom to top, "you are certainly not a doctor. You're just a boy who's scared. Go get some water and wait for your father. We've already called Mr. Do."
"My father?" The blood drained from Se-na's face. The man who had just vowed to destroy them was coming. The "responsible adult" who would have the power to stop her from saving the only person who cared about her.
"I'm not just a boy..." Se-na whispered, her voice breaking. She reached for the nurse's arm, a desperate plea in her eyes. "Please. Just check her heart again. Just look at the T-waves... please..."
But the nurse was gone. A security guard stepped into her path. "Back off, son," he said, talking to her like she was a confused toddler.
Se-na slumped into a chair. Her mind was screaming a hundred life-saving procedures, but her hands were empty. For the first time in her life, she had the knowledge of a god and the power of a ghost. She was trapped in the wrong skin, a brilliant mind locked inside a powerless child's frame.
I'm sorry, ahjumma, she thought, a single, hot tear tracking down Ra-ik's cheek. I know what's killing you, and nobody will listen to me because I'm wearing the wrong skin.
She sat there for hours, the hospital lights humming above her. The exhaustion of the day, the guilt of her "greed," and the terror of her father's arrival finally took their toll. She didn't even know these tears were hers or his. Maybe they were a mix the best of none or worst of both.
She didn't know when her eyes closed, but she fell into a heavy, dreamless sleep on the hard bench outside the ward. A tears falling from her eyes even in sleep, staining the fabric of Ra-ik's school jacket.
"WHERE AM I!"
Se-na suddenly woke up with a gasp, her heart hammering against her ribs. But she wasn't on the bench. She wasn't in the hospital hallway.
It was dark and airy around her. The air was cold, smelling of rain and distant city smog. She was standing on a high terrace, the wind whipping through her thin clothes. She felt a sharp, stinging pain in her feet. She looked down.
Do Ra-ik was standing on shattered glass, his bare feet bleeding into the shards.
I work hard to keep this story going for everyone. If you find it interesting, kindly consider supporting this work with a cup of coffee. Every contribution helps me improve and grow
patreon.com/accuscripter