Jack In The Box [Sample]

Chapter One

Riley

"There's some good news for you Riley." Dr. Aaron Shaw beamed at me, seeming enthusiastic for a reason unknown to me. It was kind of unusual of him to summon me at six-thirty in the morning when all I needed was to curl up in bed, sip on my much-needed dose of caffeine, and have nothing to do with whatever bullshit he'd planned to say.

I was a bit hesitant to ask my question. "What's the good news Doctor?"

Aaron's good news was hardly considered good these days. The other day, Nurse Irene was getting some good news and the next thing, she was shipped off to the Children's Wing and now she hardly got any sleep. Last time I checked, Irene was a walking robot- nurse on auto-pilot, her hair in disarray.

I shuddered.

The corners of the young doctor's eyes crinkled and I already hated the next words spilling out of his mouth. "Dr. Liu, as you may be already aware is still in Malaysia for the seminar, but he and I skyped this morning and he asked me to pass on this news to you since he won't be here for another week."

"Please don't put me in the Children's wing."

He laughed and waved his hand like I'd cracked the best joke ever, "Of course not, Riley. You are one of the most hardworking nurses that we have, so we kept your best interest at heart. Dr. Liu is giving you a promotion. You will be transferred into the C wing for the Mental-Health unit."

Wow. Joy!

There was a catch and he hadn't gotten to the best part yet.

"And?" I pressed on.

"You will get an extra bonus every month, overtime and plus all your allowances will be covered." He said still working that plastic smile.

This was too good to be true. Miracles never happened in my case.

Aaron pushed a plate of chocolate chip cookies towards me. "Here. Have some. My grandma makes the best cookies."

So it was that bad. He had to practically resort to bribing me with delicious cookies. When I tried to pick a third, he reached for the plate and placed it under his table. That smile was disappearing by the second. Grandmama's cookies were too precious.

"You will be assigned to only one patient. You'll have to do the usual; serve him breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Take him for his routine checkups, make sure he takes his medicines on time and assist the doctor in charge."

"Him?" I asked. "How old is he?"

Aaron inspected a blue manila file, leafed through a few pages and said. "Jackson will be twenty-seven next month."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, you want me to change man-diapers every morning of a twenty-seven-year-old mentally challenged man who probably likes to throw tantrums. No wonder I'm getting this promotion."

"Not mentally challenged, just mentally insane."

Fan-fucking-tastic!

He continued. "You don't have to bathe him or wipe his ass. I assure you, he is capable of doing all that on his own."

"Great. That makes me feel so much better." I said sarcastically.

"You'll feel even better to know that you won't have any night shifts. Of course, you may be called to assist the doctors if needed but that would be occasionally. There's no workload here."

That did sound like less work and overall a good deal but things weren't sitting right with me.

"Wasn't Nurse Roxanne also transferred to the C wing? Did she also get promoted?"