The Attorney ✓( A White House occupants prequel)

Chapter Nine

I'm not a big fan of hospitals. When one of us got sick or broke something, no matter the severity, they forced the entire family to go for "support". Our own doctors hated us because we would take up the entire waiting rooms, and we'd often get kicked out on busy days.

  I did my best to stay healthy just so I wouldn't contribute to the clusterfuck, which we had to deal with every few weeks. I didn't eat the best or workout, but I did eat vegetables more often than anybody else in the house.

  The one time I did get sick- I felt like I was dying because my immune system wasn't used to the virus. It was one of those with the really long names nobody every remembers, and I caught it in a lake after I was forced to go there too. I liked the outdoors, but water was a different story. So many deadly pathogens are waterborne..... and it just so happened that their were plenty swimming around in the lake that day.

  I got sick on a Thursday, and by Friday I was running a hundred and seven degree fever. Once the hospital finally figured out what I had, they released my family from quarantine and let them go home, but I was there for almost a month. My parents were the only ones allowed to visit, and they had to be in full PPE. Nobody was allowed to touch me without it, or even be in the same room as me, because even though it wasn't contagious- they were airing on the side of caution in case the tests or doctors were wrong, since the virus I got was so incredibly rare.

  And if it weren't for the whole deadly illness thing, I would've liked the time I spent there. Minimal human contact, free WiFi and food- I was only allowed to leave bed to use the bathroom.

  But I also had a consistent fever, rashes, could drink almost five liters of water in an hour if they didn't stop me (which they forgot to once, and I almost ended up with water intoxication), was irritable, and vomiting constantly. I didn't have the stomach to eat any of the free food from my government mandated hospital stay until the very end, when I miraculously started getting better.

  I remember that it didn't set in until I was leaving: I could have died. I was lucky that I didn't die like almost every other person who contracted it.

  After that experience, I really started avoiding hospitals. They contain too many memories, most of vomit and shitting myself countless times from running back and forth to the toilet.

  Still, after all of that, I can't help but feel I need to stay. I got Noelle into this mess, and we're so close to the hospital, and hopping out would be nearly impossible. I decide that I won't let my phobia control whether or not I support her.

  I am using her to pass the bar exam, after all. The least I could do is be a decent person. So when the ambulance comes to a stop and the doors open, I don't walk away. I follow the stretcher.

  Just outside the ER doors, Professor Albert is standing by. I'm just amazed that she beat an ambulance going eighty miles an hour here. Mothers who actually like their children are a different breed, that's for sure. She joins me, jogging beside me as the stretcher is moved down narrow hallways.

  "You can go now if you want." She states. "It's okay."

  But it's not okay, and I know that. She's technically not my professor anymore so she can't hold this over my head, but I can't get her scolding voice out of it.

  "No-" Noelle finally speaks after only grunting for the past few minutes. "Stay, please."

  "Of course I will." I take her free hand, and I have to do an even better job at keeping up with the stretcher so I don't slow it down. "Promise."

  She's just as terrified as I am, only it's for herself. Empathy is a bitch I wish I could get rid of, so I could go home and take a nap. Sleep deprivation's really come for me these past few days, gnawing at the part of my brain that has a conscience.

  I've told myself over and over again that what I'm doing is necessary, that it is for my future, but every time- that same voice says I'm being a little bitch, that I should just come clean and tell her because as much as I hate to admit it to myself- Im starting to like her.

The attraction is not sexual; it's too soon for that, but I've enjoyed what little time we've spent together.

So when they wheel get into what I think is a hybrid doctors office and operating room, I silently freak.

"Keep me updated?" I call to Professor Albert.

"Yeah, sure." She mumbles under her breath, more focused on her daughter than anything else. From the tone of her voice I can tell she won't keep me updated, not until they're done with whatever treatment is needed, because I know she won't leave Noelle's side.

I wouldn't either if I had a choice in the matter, but a doctor closes the doors right in front of my face before I have a chance to slip into the room with them. I sigh and plop down in a wooden chair. It digs into my ass, pressing against nerves after a few hours, but I can't bring myself to leave.

So instead, I just pace across the hallway a few times. On about the sixth, Professor Albert finally does reappear.

"Well?" I raise an eyebrow, curious.

"They're going to keep her a few more hours and...she'll be able to walk just fine in a few weeks. The fracture only hurt so much because of how high up it was."

If there is a god, I thank him.