March 26, 2020
Barranquitas, Puerto Rico
Ever since he accepted the job offer the days seem to be passing by like shooting stars, every day seems shorter and shorter by the minute.
Time is running out and Kyle is soon to be leaving his hometown in Puerto Rico to embark on a new journey all on his own, so, he starts visiting his friends to say farewell. With only half a week left in Puerto Rico before he leaves for New York, and with everything going on, all he gets to do is nothing more than a faraway goodbye over face time, for everyone was under lockdown.
After chatting with everyone in his family, the night begins to set, he calls both of his friends, Sara and Gina to talk. They both answer and the three of them immediately start laughing "For the love of God, tell me you are not ruining this night by crying"
Gina swipes her cheek and swallows hard "You are leaving, of course, we're crying, we're going to miss you"
His other friend Sara points at him dramatically "You better call me or write to me every single day or I swear I will go to New York and beat the living shit out of you"
To which Gina follows "Yeah, you better not forget about us, and don't even go thinking about replacing us, you are ours, and we don't like sharing."
Kyle looks at them with a sarcastic face "BITCH, I belong to no one, no one"
Sara turns her head, bites her lips, and takes a deep breath "Mira cabron! Seriously, you take care and go and kick some ass like I know you will"
Kyle stares at them and smiles "I promise I will write you guys at least once a week, and once a month we will call each other over FaceTime and get caught up in the latest gossip."
As he says that, the memories of everything they've been through come flashing by, high school, college, graduations, outings, visitations, everything, life would never be the same for this trio of friends...
Three days later
His mom comes from behind him "You got everything right?"
He turns to look at her "Yes" She grabs a folder and starts going through it "You got your test results, and hand sanitizer your masks, flight schedule?"
He takes the folder from her "Mom, I told you I have everything with me"
To which she lets out-breath "Ok, ok, now, you have to go but promise me you will take care of yourself and you won't go falling into weird stuff"
"Mom, I'm leaving to go to work, not a party or make friends, so, why don't you stop worrying and give me one last look before I have to head inside"
His mom stares at him "I wish I could hug you"
He looks deeply into her eyes" I wish for nothing more, but I can't interact with anyone right now"
She curls her lips "I know, I love you"
tears started to run down her face
He smiles at her while tearing up as well "I love you more. Call me when I land there. Oh! Take care of yourself and my Lil Debby for me"
"You don't worry about me, and I will look after her while you're gone, now go, you don't want to be held back with many people near you" She replies
Kyle grabs his back, hands his negative test results, and walks through TSA.
After an hour of waiting he boards his plane and seats near the window as the plane takes off, as the plane begins to ascend, he stares at the land that saw him grow up, and now he had to leave...
Three weeks later
He stands in the decontamination line near the hospital's lobby, there is a wave of new people, although terrifying as it is, Kyle is not the only new guy, there are many like him, new, fresh and inexperienced.
He makes it through and arrives at the dressing area, he opens his bag, gets his gown on, new mask, gloves, face shield, head cap, gets his pen, notepad, and walks into the ER where a nurse wait to hand over her patients "You're here great, the patient in bed six is being transferred to Rochester General, make sure to let the ambulances know we are not receiving any non-covid patients tonight, there are a lot of newbies and the board closed the door of the ER" She looks at him "Are you keeping up?"
"I am" He replies while wiggling his pen
"Good, do you have any questions?" She says
"No, is there anything else"
She claps her hands after squeezing hand sanitizer "No, but you should ask the nurse you'll be rotating with tonight, maybe they assigned something else to him"
"Got it, you have a good night"
The Nurse looks at him "Thank you, and so do you, something tells me you'll need it"
After she leaves, Kyle looks around the ER and spots the other nurse "Sandoval right?"
"Yes, Kyle Sandoval" he responds eagerly
"Good to meet you, the name's Malcolm Holsen, you will cover patients on unit 4 through 10, if you need anything or have any questions don't doubt on asking"
Malcolm leaves Kyle alone as he heads into another area in the ER, Kyle takes a deep breath looks around the ER, and heads to care for his patients.
A crash takes place down in the middle of town and a couple of people were injured, two ambulances come in, and as the paramedics approach the door they find it looked "HEY WHAT THE HELL"
A Resident stands in front of the door "You were told the hospital is not attending non-covid patients tonight, you need to take them to Rochester General"
The paramedic looks at her partner "This is the closest trauma center, if you don't take them they'll die"
"You should've thought of that before coming here even when you were told not to, now, I'm sorry but I don't make the rules I just follow them" The resident replies as she turns around to leave
Kyle stares at what is going down and the resident spots him "I thought you told them not to come"
"I did," Kyle says while taking a deep swallow
The Resident points her index finger in his chest "Than it must not have been well said, if those patients die it's on you"
Kyle looks out the door as the ambulances pull away and other nurses stare at him.
Samantha stands next to him after fixing her mask "Don't listen to her, everyone is overworked, dispatch should've rerouted them, this is not on you"
Kyle takes a deep breath, nods at her, and turns around
Five years later
September 3, 2025
Rochester, New York
Kyle is going over some of his notes when a knock on his door distracts him, he puts a pencil in between the pages and goes to answer it
"Camille, what are you" A hard slap falls on his cheek keeping him from continuing, he looks at her as she stands there death in her eyes
"You have some nerves," She says to him before turning around, leaving him there with her fingers marked on his face
______________________________
Kyle's afterwords for this chapter
"Change is a constant variable in life and although we're taught not to embrace it, it sometimes is necessary, for without there is no growth"
______________________________
*Kyle has officially left his home in the past and jumps right into work. Is this what he thought being a nurse would be like? And have the friends his made cross boundaries?*
Continue reading chapter four of
🗽Abroad Liberty🗽
To find out