Unknowing Him ✔️

18 - Somebody that I used to know.

Someone I had failed to see. Someone whose chilling gaze was locked in on me. That someone was Zach Thompson, standing at the entrance of the parking lot, right across the elevators. Our eyes locked and something dark passed through Zach's features before he pulled himself together and threw an inconspicuous wave my way.

Noah's eyes triangulated between us as he stepped out of the elevator, joining his brother and letting Dr. Brown in. Avoiding my attending's punishing gaze, I bowed my head down, muttered an apology, and put my mask back on. As I put one foot in front of the other, ready to follow Noah's retreating steps, Dr. Brown's lanky hand grabbed my elbow, dragging me backward.

I opened my mouth to protest, but the elevator door clamped shut, creating a physical barrier between Noah, Zach, and me.

Everything happened so fast—too fast for my gooey brain to cope with. One minute I was alone in an empty elevator with the Noah, five seconds away from confrontation, and the next minute we were bombarded by people, separated by a metal door and thick hospital floors.

"What the hell was that?" Dr. Brown's loud and condemnatory voice filled the grey elevator, not giving me a second to make sense of what just happened.

Oh my god, what the hell just happened?

"Why were you all up in a person's face with your damn mask off?" she continued, pacing in the minuscule elevator with her hands on her hips. The vertical lines between her eyebrows were so deep and sharp they could cut.

"Do I need to go over the hospital handbook with you? Do I need to email you the CDC guidelines? Do I need to report you to the chief?" she paused, standing in front of my face and letting the last statement linger in the air.

It wasn't like I was beatboxing and spitting all over Noah's face. I literally had my mask off for a second or two, and I was standing at least a foot away from him. She didn't need to be that dramatic. But it was back when Covid was a new virus that was still being studied by scientists. It was spreading super-fast, worldwide cases were rising, and the public was panicking. So, her reaction wasn't far-fetched.

Unmasking was strictly prohibited on the hospital premises. We had gone over that rule many times, received training, and went on countless conferences. I was in the wrong. Besides, she was my attending; she had every right to make my life miserable. It was simply a part of the hospital hierarchy: she was my superior, my teacher, and I was just an intern, a student. She had every reason to scold me with words and punish me with consequences.

I could get in so much trouble if she reported me to the chief. So, I just kept my gaze trained on the floor and took her scolding bravely.

"In the middle of a pandemic, Dr. Van de Kamp?" her voice went down to a whisper, "Inside a hospital with more than half of the country's covid cases? During an Anti-mask protest? What were you thinking?"

She was absolutely right. What the hell was I thinking? My colleague, Dr. Park, was fined for breaching Covid protocols because he took off his mask and didn't practice social distancing. My other colleague, Dr. Smith, was exposed to the virus while working at the hospital and was staying home nursing her symptoms. I was compromising my health and putting other people's health at risk. I knew better. I shouldn't have been so reckless.

"It was just for a second, Dr. Brown. I ran into an old friend and I just took my mask off long enough for him to recognize me." I tried to redeem myself.

"It doesn't matter!" she threw her hands up and yelled, causing me to flinch. "You graduated from medical school. You took Microbiology. I shouldn't tell you how fast viruses spread. You don't take off your mask in the middle of a crowded elevator for a second, let alone leave it down and stare wide mouthed at God knows what. You're putting yourself in danger. You're putting your patients in danger. The ones you vowed to help and protect. Come on. Don't make my job harder than it has to be."