Chaos and painkillers

1. Faintly stepping away.

Icy air brushed against the shell of her half-covered ears, chills whacking through her while she gripped her fingers, her crocs faintly stepping away from the scene.

"My office. Now."

Breathe in. Breathe out. Or else, if she said or did something she might end up in jail. Or repeat the year, but anyway.

One leg after the other. Aligned steps. Tile after tile. Then she found herself in the rather suppressing office.

"Sit down."

He didn't need to say it twice. She was going to pass out any second if she didn't.

The bottle of water on the file-crowded table caught her attention. Her fingers brushed it first in hesitation. Then, it was determination. She chucked the water down her throat until the man in the coat raised his fingers to stop her.

In sync, her deglutition reflex kicked in.

To prevent the passage of water through her airway, her throat hitched and violent coughs accompanied it.

The room went silent for about 5 minutes after her little attack. Her eyes were cast on her palms that sandwiched her phone and Medicine-to-go hand journal while she shook her thighs agitatedly.

The doctor's eyes never left her.

She did her best in concealing her dread towards their conversation and it seemed luck wasn't on her side as she heard the sound of a large stack of papers hitting the table.

Two optics rose slowly to stare at the stack. Then they proceeded to look at the owner of those papers.

The man in a white coat top jutted for her to go ahead.

She did.

The top of the paper had her Matriculation number, name, digits, and the name of the course; Pediatrics. Her fluent writing on the paper. Most importantly, two large numbers in red ink at the top right of the paper; 47%

Her sour mood deepened, her index finger rising to push her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

The doctor nodded at that, gesturing his hand at her face. "Yes, please. Push your glasses up and look at your disappointment in a script clearer."

She took a deep breath.

In.

Out.

"Do you have any idea what an insult this is to me?" His tone was hardly leveled, suggesting he was trying hard not to lose his temper.

She kept mum.

"Do you think this is going to get you sitting on this chair?" He gestured at the seat he sat on.

Yet, another string of silence.

"Halima. Laila. Amin. Sunusi."

She sucked in a breath and exhaled.

With enough respect for the doctor, she zeroed in on him. "I was distracted and i-"

"Brief me on tachycardia."

The question took her off guard. She cast her eyes down to the paper again and narrowed her eyes. After a brief thought, she organized her thoughts and went for it.

"That's an increase in heart rate by above 100 beats per minute. It occurs both in physiological and pathological conditions. In physiological...um-i-it usually occurs in pregnancy, childhood, and uhh...or exercise. In pathological conditions, it occurs in cardio..." what was the condition ma? "Card..." her eyes closed, her vision going blind as she tried to picture the word from her notes. "...cardiomyopathy, hyper section of catecholamines..." her head snapped to the ceiling. She could swear she knew almost five pathological conditions for tachycardia.