Chapter 3The Nurse Who Tried to Ruin Me

The nurse was young, probably just out of her teens, with a pale, innocent-looking face. Her tear-streaked performance was apparently very convincing, because it didn’t take long for someone to jump to her defense.

A burly guy from a few beds over yelled at me, “Hey, the nurse is just doing her job! What’s with the attitude?”

Seeing she had a supporter, the nurse’s sobs grew louder. “Thank you, sir. I’m just an intern… I’m so glad someone understands.”

“If she blamed me for this, I could lose my job,” she whimpered.

Her little act unleashed a wave of sympathy.

“Come on, lady, she’s just a kid. You remember what it was like starting your first job, right? Don’t make things hard for her,” an older woman chimed in.

“Yeah, I saw you when your coworker brought you in. You looked awful. You can’t blame the nurse for you being sick.”

“I’ve heard about girls who get super catty and competitive over nothing. I guess they’ll even pick a fight with a pretty nurse…”

The chorus of accusations completely chased away any hope of sleep. I sat up straight and fixed my gaze on the burly guy. “You saw me raise my voice at her, but you were blind when she was harassing me over and over?”

Then I turned to the old woman. “I may be older than her, but when I was starting out, I knew how to respect people. I told her I have an IV alarm. I specifically asked her not to wake me. But she wouldn't listen. She waited until I was asleep to bother me every single time. I have every reason to believe she’s doing it on purpose!”

I scanned the room. “And all of you, you know I’m not well, yet you’re ganging up on me to defend her. If my condition gets worse because of this, every single one of you will be hearing from my lawyer!”

It’s easy to be righteous when it’s not your problem. The moment I mentioned their own potential liability, they all shut up.

With her backup gone, the nurse’s performance ended. She wiped away her crocodile tears and stalked off.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and looked up at my IV bag. There was still a fair bit left, probably another half hour to go. I lay back down, thinking, Finally, I can get some real rest.

But just as I was drifting off, I heard a sharp smack.

A searing pain shot across my face.

I jerked my eyes open. The nurse was just pulling her hand back.

It hit me. She had just slapped me.