They Don't Know About Us

Chapter 1

"'Sasha'. I like that name," Kai smiled while she put the paperwork on the bedside table. "Thanks," Sasha replied weakly. She tried to smile even though she was wearing a mask. Then the nurse's I.D. tag caught her eye. "'Arrellano,'" she read. "Filipino?" She glanced over towards the nurse who was taking her blood sample. "Yes, are you?" Kai asked. She tried to guess by looking at her patient's eyes. Then their eyes met. She could tell that the woman laying on the hospital bed was smiling behind her mask. Kai frowned. "Hold on," she turned around and started her on oxygen. "I am," Sasha replied out of breath while she watched her nurse scurry around to get her hooked back on the oxygen machine. "You're what?" Kai asked. Her trying not to panic made her forget all about their conversation. "I'm Filipino," Sasha said half awake. "Oh. Okay, but I don't think you should be talking right now, Ms. Sasha. You're slipping in and out of consciousness. You should rest," Kai advised. Her voice was gentle which Sasha liked. Sasha nodded. "I think your eyes are pretty," she said groggily. Kai couldn't help but chuckle. "Thank you. You're sweet. Rest. Okay?" She pulled the covers all the way to Sasha's neck. Sasha nodded. Kai looked at the fragile patient one last time and sighed before she finally left the room.

"Kaikai, how's 204C doing?" Unique, Kai's coworker, asked after Kai exited the room. "She has a name you know," Kai replied. "Eto naman. Alam mo namang I don't like naming them. I don't want to get attached," Unique explained. "O sige para you make the mistake of calling them their room number again in front of their families," Kai reminded her. "Sige ka, masanay ka," she warned. "Eh. Pero di nga. How is she doing? Grabe noh? Ngayong pandemic pa talaga nag-try mag-commit ng suicide eh alam namang punong-puno na tayo," Unique remarked. "Hey!" Kai snapped. "Pag ikaw," she shook her head. "Kapag ikaw narinig ng mga tao dito, ewan ko na lang sayo," she tried to warn her again. "Pero diba totoo naman? I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking. We're exhausted. They praise the doctors all the time, but the nurses work their asses off, too. WE work our butts off, not to mention na we're the ones who have to deal with people's bull crap from staff, pati pasyente at pamilya. I'm so tired. We don't need suicidal patients to occupy the rooms—the beds? I think it's selfish to be quite frank with you," Unique complained. Kai broke the social distancing rule by stepping into Unique's personal space. She had to. She didn't want anyone else to hear their conversation. "Unique, we might all be thinking the same thing you just said right now, but at a time like this, if you have nothing good to say, I think you should just keep to yourself. Ikaw na nagsabi, we deal with bullshit all the time, so you should know how that feels like. I suggest you keep quiet. Hindi natin alam anong pinagdadaanan ng mga taong nakahiga sa mga kwartong yan pati na rin mga pamilya nila. Sasha's just one of them. Yah, we're exhausted. We can't deny na tayo yung isa sa mga naapektohan ng todo dahil sa pandemic na toh, but that does not give you the right to degrade or disregard whatever these people are going through. Selfish man sila o hindi, it's our job to make sure they walk out of that door alive and well," Kai pointed towards Sasha's room. "And to be quite honest with you, I think it's selfish of you too to say the things that just came out of your mouth right now," she added before she stormed off the hallway. "There goes Kai," Unique called out. "She feels and she feels until she gets attached."

2020

Sasha Pascua scrolled through her phone wondering what social media application she should browse next. This has been her life for the past six months. Almost half of the year is over, the pandemic has swallowed most of her precious time. There was nothing new, she thought, except for the fact that people now wore masks wherever they go. She stared at the familiar faces on her Facebook app. Though most of the people had their masks on, she could tell who's who. Sasha stared long and hard. Most of her friends have settled down; some are married while some have children of their own. She sighed. This was the reason why she didn't like spending time online. Seeing her friends live their lives made her feel bad about her own life. She thought it was extremely pathetic that more than a decade after she graduated high school, she still hasn't figured out what she wanted to do with her life. Seeing her friends thriving in their careers, relationships, and starting their own family made her believe she was destined to grow old alone, so she sighed again. She placed her phone down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Another unproductive day has gone by. None of the things she planned to do was accomplished.