River & Revenge

05 | a charmer on a limp

J A M I E

     Jamie tapped her fingers on the edge of the wooden desk in the act of boredom, eyeing the lady who was taking too long to fill out her form. It was peaceful around, and as usual, she took advantage of those moments to be lost in her thoughts. Her mind wandered, starting from having pizza for lunch to the possibility of facing River.

She had thought of countless circumstances where she'd meet him. It varied from him dropping by her work to a potential home invasion, but the moment another person in the reception hall started sniffling, she was forced to come out of her wonderland.

She focused on him, a middle-aged man whose sister had been rushed to the emergency room not so long ago. She had seen the troubled look on the face of the nurse when the latter had run out to catch some breath. 

If history was any indication, the woman fighting for her life inside was not going to make it and for this very reason, she hoped their eyes wouldn't meet through the enclosed glass window.

She hated this part of her job, the polite, sympathetic smiles she had to give away as if they were on sale. She had meant them when she'd first started, but constantly being at a hospital had somewhat killed that empathetic part of her or perhaps made her too ignorant, there wasn't quite a way to tell.

Despite the sadness that constantly loomed around her work hours, she no longer had the energy to console them or offer assistance beyond her duties. She considered it was one of the understated things about being in hospital administration. Sure she didn't have to deal with someone's death under her care, but she had to stay behind and witness the misery the dead left in their wake.

If she had any compassion left in her before, asking them to pay the bill, masquerading with fake sympathetic smiles, eventually destroyed it too. She was sure it was one of the reasons patients didn't like her or anyone in her place.

Be polite, and exchange a few sympathetic smiles. They pay the bill, and they won't be your problem anymore. It was what her father had said when he hired her. She had always despised the businessman side of him but after working there for what felt like an eternity, she wondered if he'd been numbed from the concept of death too.

The woman slid Jamie the form through the small opening and leaned back on her chair. She quickly went over the general physician's schedule, and her dark pecan eyes met the glaring blue ones on the other side of the window.

"Dr Moore will see you in around forty minutes. Please have a seat meanwhile." The woman grumbled at her response and walked away, cursing the healthcare system, and Jamie sighed. She tried to focus on the plastic flowers in the corner instead. They were mostly the only relevant coloured object in her life during these hours, and she didn't mind much. The artificial orchids were a distracting enough getaway from the overwhelming medicinal smell and the plain white walls.

As the two people in the outer waiting area settled in, one of them crying and one of them mad, she relaxed her head on the headrest of the rolling chair, twirling from side to side. It was a Monday night, and there were fewer patients during these hours.

Working for her father came with its perks. She got to choose her shifts and ended up working four nights and two days a week. It was inconvenient when it came to catching up with the rest of her life but on the bright side, she didn't have breakdowns over anxiety-loaded patients anymore.

It was peaceful after dark, with fewer people and lesser screams.

Her phone binged in her pocket, and she smiled when she noticed the recipient as Mom, 'Received. Thank you, honey."