HOW DID I GET HERE

The shrill blaze of her alarm woke her from her slumber. Even though she personally set the tone it annoyed her to wake to it every morning, and that is why she choose the tone. She lazily lifted herself up to turn off the alarm. She looked at the time then at the man drooling by her side, "Animal!" She mouthed at the sated man sprawled on more than his side of the bed then collapsed back into the bed.

Just five more minutes, was the last thought that died on her mind as she drifted back again to sleep.

She woke up with a start. The clock read 8:25 am. She was twenty-five minutes late for work.

#MyLife She woke up with a start. The clock read 8:25 am. She was twenty-five minutes late for work.

She immediately tapped him awake. He quickly sat up in the bed, taking a while to put his thoughts together. Then he suddenly jumped out of bed and gathered his clothes that were scattered on the floor. He put one long leg after another in a pair of khaki trousers and had barely put on his shirt when he murmured something intelligible and literally ran out of the room.

He must also be late for his morning shift She thought. She wondered for a minute if it could be that he was shy. For a guy who fucked like he had been starved for years... She quickly brushed it off.

He was one of the volunteer doctors from God knows where who volunteered at the hospital she worked at. She even heard that he would be gone by the end of the week.
How did I get here? She yelled to the roof to let out some steam before the weight of her desperation could drown her.

---

That morning she had barely managed to go through the motions of her toilette, leaving out the ones that were not extremely necessary. She slid gracelessly into her Pontiac and drove like an enraged maniac to the hospital. At the time, she needed to be at the theatre an hour ago.

“Miss Donaldy! Miss Donaldy! You are needed at theatre three. Miss Donaldy please report to theatre three immediately.” The blast of a panicky teen voice over the PA system hit her ears the exact moment her foot hit the OPD. She quickly scurried into the theatre. She quickly suited up for the procedure.

“It is a pleasure to have you join us, Nurse Victoria Donaldy.” Doctor Ofosu was a bitches’ bitch. Even though Victoria had specialized in anesthesiology Doctor Ofosu was one of the people who insisted on calling her a nurse. Doctor Ofosu was not generally liked in the hospital. She knew it and relished in it.

Was Victoria in the mood, there would have been a lovely cat fight there and then. But it had to be filed under next time because she was indeed late. So Victoria simply scoffed and stared at her.

“Are you ready?” The doctor was still baiting for that cat fight.

“Yes.” Victoria cooed in her most respectful tone. Next time, bitch

The doctor almost winced. She made to turn to the patient and paused midway. She sized Victoria up and asked, “Hand hygiene?”

“Fuck!”

Victoria did not mean to curse out loud. But this was a spot of gross incompetence she had never wanted to find herself in. Everyone looked pointedly at her and then looked at her long graceful, yet ungloved fingers. Her fingernails were bright red, a tell-tale sign of the blurry weekend she had had. Even the patient raised his eyebrow at the erring anaesthetist.

“Sorry.” She mumbled to no one in particular.

Before long, the paint on her nails were gone, and her hands were as clean as they could ever be. She took her place at the head of the patient. A tinker here and another there... before long, the patient was sinking into a peaceful sleep on his side.

---

“Time of death, 11:47 am”

Doctor Ofosu almost threw her gloves at Victoria as she spat out the time.

The thoracotomy had gone terribly wrong. During the procedure, the patient suddenly jerked. Doctor Ofosu accidentally severed some important pulmonary vessels. They immediately tried to salvage the situation but the bleeding was too profuse. Soon, the patient went into hypovolemic shock.

They tried to resuscitate him after his ECG flat lined. Doctor Ofosu tried to defibrillate him but to no avail. Nothing was working.

All the while, it seemed to Victoria that she was probably having some out of body experience. The impact of what had just happened had still not hit home. Not even after Doctor Ofosu’s show of righteous indignation.

The impact did not hit home even after she saw the bereaved wife visibly crack under the pressure of the news. And for the second time that day, Victoria found herself asking the same question, HOW DID I GET HERE?

That was when she decided. It is time to take a break.

“Are you going to take a break too?” Victoria almost fell down, trying to turn so suddenly on her heels.

Who could that be?

Wasn't mind reading a skill for witches only?

"Nurse Gyima!" Victoria's voice cracked. I should have known that this little crouching nurse was a witch.

Nurse Gyima must have realised that Victoria was scared out of her wit because she added, “You were staring at that, right?”

Nurse Gyima pointed.

Victoria had not even noticed that she was staring at a notice. The notice read that all those who wanted to take a study leave had to fill some forms in the administrator’s office.

Deadline was today.

Before long, she was driving home with one year’s leave which was to be effected by the next week. I better celebrate this news. She though of the perfect person to celebrate this news with.

She curled her toes in anticipation before she caught herself and asked herself for the third time, “God! How did I get here?”

I bet this is your reaction.