Lia arrived to the hospital and found a parking lot, before grabbing her purse and coat and rushing inside. The paramedics had most likely already rushed the man inside, and handed him over to the doctors and nurses.
Hurriedly walking around the hospital, Lia read the signs on the walls before she found the locker room. She headed in and changed into her scrubs and white coat. She took out her own lock and secured her belongings in one of the locker spaces.
Walking around she spotted a nurse. "Excuse me, could you please direct me to the operation directors office?"
The nurse, Alyssa, looked her up and down with a frown because she did not recognize her. "He's usually not in his office at this time."
"Oh, that's alright. I didn't ask if he was in or not. I was asking for directions to his office." Lia said with calmness.
Alyssa huffed in annoyance, she had been on her way to one of her patients. "Follow me, then."
Lia nodded and followed behind her. The walls of the hospital were a light beige and the fluorescent lights were bright. On anyone else, the lights would make them look unpleased, with every flaw highlighted. Lia still managed to look beautiful with her smooth, pale skin.
The hallways smelled like disinfectant and the air felt cold from the air conditioner blasting through the vents.
They got into an elevator and she saw Alyssa push the button for the fifth level of the building. They rode in silence. Alyssa was fuming and Lia was, as always, calm. She couldn't care less if she was liked or not.
The doors opened on the fourth level, since someone was waiting for the elevator and Lia heard frantic yells. "The blood bank doesn't have his type of blood! What are we supposed to fo now?!"
"We can't let him die. We'll die too!"
Right before the elevator doors closed completely, a pale hand reaches out and stopped them. Lia stepped out and Alyssa snapped out, "What are you doing? This level is private."
Lia glanced back at her and then flicked her gaze away without a word. She kept walking until she stood in front of the two doctors that were arguing in the corridor in front of a room.
"Excuse me, what type of blood does the patient need?" Lia asked.
"Who are you?" Said the man with grey strands in his hair.
"That's not really important right now."
"She's right," said the other doctor.
The doctor with grey hair sighed out, "The patient has RH-Null blood type. Only forty-three people in the world have had this blood type. We don't have any of this blood in the bank, and he needs a transfusion for his surgery or he's going to die."
Lia nodded and mulled it over. "I can help, but it must be kept a secret."
The younger doctor asked, "How can you help?"
"I have the same type of blood," explained Lia. "So, I can give blood for the patients transfusion, but no one can know the blood came from me."
Both doctors stood in shock, mouth gaping. "Oh! What a miracle. Alright, thank you, young lady. We won't tell anyone of how you've helped us."
Lia was taken to a room and a nurse placed a thin tube into the middle of her arm. Another nurse left an apple juice and a cookie beside her for when the transfusion was over. Lia looked away from the tube that was taking the blood out of her body and waited.
The nurse the had inserted the tube into her arm stood to the side, waiting for the blood to fill the plastic bags so she can install new ones. She was an older woman, in her fifties. "Does the sight of blood make you queasy, Miss?"
"Just mine," answered Lia with a strained smile. Once the nurse turned away, Lia's smile fell from her face. She felt that smiling was tiring, especially when it wasn't genuine.
Sensing that Lia didn't want to talk, the nurse said, "Alright, we're almost done, Miss."
After a few more minutes that nurse removed the tube and placed a bandaid on the small puncture of Lia's arm.
Lia drank the juice beside her and asked the nurse, "Will you be taking the blood to the surgery room now?"
"Yes," answered the nurse.
"Alright, is there a viewing room where I can watch the surgery take place?"
The nurse hesitated and looked down at Lia's scrubs and coat, and hurriedly said, "Are you a new doctor? You can follow me, there's a room with a glass wall where you can look into the surgery room."
Lia followed her all the way and the nurse stopped in from of a door and pointed at it. "You can go in there and watch Dr. Lou's surgery."
Lia thanked her and walked into the room. Excitement grew in her when she could see into the surgery room and the equipment. A man was already prepped and was already laying on the surgery table. Her heart raced with giddiness. This was it. This was were Lia belonged. Lia thought that her mom would be so happy to see her working as a doctor. A pang of sadness went through her at the thought of her mom and her eyes watered, but no, she held it back because sadness made time move slower.
She took a deep breath and walked closer to the glass wall. A doctor walked into the surgery room and she watched as the nurses put gloved on his hands and a mask on his face. He walked to the patient and asked for a surgical tool, and a nurse passed it to him. An anesthesiologist was standing by the side, making sure enough anesthesia was being administered to the patient.
However, Doctor Lou's actions suddenly became jerky and frantic, and Lia could see that while the doctor had taken out the second bullet, the bullet that was imbedded in the abdomen, blood had started to gush out from the wound in abnormal amounts.