Chapter 14 - "Can I stop taking those?"

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  • Dedicated to writteninthestars - For cussing out her ex ;) You go girl! Go Hero on his ass!
                                    

Chapter 14 "Can I stop taking those?"

Justin

Lunch rush seemed to be moving slower than normally today, everyone must have been taking their sweet time. Shifting my weight from one foot to the other, I listened vaguely to my surroundings. God, I hated working in the damn hospital. Jason Hopps, one of my colleagues, gave a heavy sigh. "Sucks, huh?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Every damn day..."

"No, not this. Brent Allen; he's getting shot down again by the head of funds. Every month he comes in here with prescription drugs, hoping to get them approved for healthcare... I say he could help a lot of people with those medicines."

"Who's Brent Allen?" I asked, looking around the room. Jason pointed to a nearby table; seated in the plastic cafeteria chairs was a woman with a brunette bob, skeptical eyes, and puffy shoulder pads - in the other was who was obviously Brent Allen; a tall, slender man, with yellowing teeth and thinning hair. He seemed to be pleading with the woman, holding an orange prescription bottle.

Listening closer, I caught a glimpse of what he was saying. "-You don't understand Carla; this drug can help your patients. I've been working on this for the past three years, believe me when I say it will work."

The woman put up her hands, having heard enough. "Brent, I don't think basing a drug off of heroin is a good idea, alright? I will not give it to the doctors and I will not give you anymore money for research." With that, she stood up and walked out of the cafeteria. Brent watched her walk out the doors, still holding the bottle in his hands. The line was moving up, and I would have soon been in the front of the line, but my curiosity got the best of me. Jason asked where I was going, but didn't bother me any more when I didn't answer.

"May I?" I asked, gesturing to the chair across from Brent. He looked up with disappointed eyes before nodding. I took a seat and sat for a moment until I finally opened my mouth. "I'm Justin, Justin Sean... I'm a volunteer nurse here."

He held out his hand to shake mine, we did. "Brent, Brent Allen. I've been a doctor here for ten years." He sounded disgusted with himself that he had been here so long.

"Wow, that's a long time."

"Too long if you ask me. I've been trying to get out of here, but seems like they won't let me leave." He rolled his eyes. He held up the bottle of medicine. "I make my own prescription drugs. No one will use them, though. They're perfectly safe, I assure you; I test them on myself as well as friends."

"Sounds dangerous."

"Not really, I make sure the chemicals are stable enough to use."

I gave a nod. From what I know, this man seemed to have a lot of potential to be a miracle maker; why weren't his drugs being used? Brent sighed before shoving the bottle into his breast pocket. "I need to get back to my shift. Was nice talking to you, Justin."

"You too," I nodded.

"Justin? ...Justin!"

"Hero, stop it." I grumbled, sitting up. She kept shaking my shoulders, trying to wake me up. Didn't I deserve to sleep in one day? Rubbing my eyes, I looked around the room. Suddenly, Rhylee was on the other side of the bed, looking at me with dark eyes. "What, what's wrong?" I asked.

"You called me Hero."

She didn't wait for an explanation; she jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. I realized she was wearing one of my t-shirts and her shorts. She looked beautiful - but she was angry. I smacked myself in the forehead; how could I be so stupid? "Rhylee, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Please come back." I groaned.

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