11 | sleep

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C H A P T E R 1 1 | K A T I E


Tossing the used needle into the disposal bin as Claudia applied a small band-aid to the young girl's arm, my gloves were quick to follow before I hunched in front of the patient with a friendly smile.

"See, wasn't that quick?" I asked, watching her lips pull up slightly as she nodded, forgetting about the pinch of pain that the needle had caused. Reaching into the jar of small lollipops, I pulled one out and held it towards her. "And because you were so brave, you get a treat to enjoy on the ride home."

Her eyes shone happily as she quickly grabbed the candy. "Thank you!"

I chuckled at her reaction, offering her my hand as I nodded at the door. "Let's get you back out to your mom then, shall we?"

The waiting room was only two hallways away, and as soon as her mom was in sight, the little girl released her grip from my hand and ran towards her. Making sure to remind the mom to sign out at the front desk, I didn't linger long, returning diligently to where I'd left Claudia.

"So, how many more kids have appointments today?" I asked, leaning up against the side table as I watched her. I tried my hardest to make it appear as a casual action, but truthfully, I was exhausted. My alarm clock had woken me up this morning just after nine, and even though that was considered a lie-in for me, it didn't do much good after only managing to catch two hours of sleep.

"There's six written down in the books for appointments," Claudia replied, her eyes trailing the papers in front of her as she finished jotting down the notes for the last patient, "But we have to accommodate the people who just walk in to, so probably around ten."

I nodded, and after a quick calculation, figured that we'd be administrating the flu shots for the remainder of our shift. "Sounds good," I replied, turning my gaze to the list of appointments. "Did you want me to go and grab Samuel then?" I asked, reading off the next name, and while I attempted to conceal it, a yawn managed to escape me.

Claudia had seen it, there was no doubt about it, and while it wouldn't normally be a strange occurrence near the end of a full shift, she'd already caught me zoning out while filing paperwork and rubbing my temples in an attempt to curb an on-going headache.

"Katie," she spoke carefully, her eyes softening with worry as her gaze met mine, "Are you sure you're okay? Because if you're feeling overworked, or stressed, I can see if your hours can be cut back or – "

My lips pulled up tiredly as I jumped in. "I just didn't get much sleep last night that's all." The words were true but a guilty taste lingered on my tongue afterwards. "I'm fine, really. You don't need to worry."

I wasn't fine. I was disoriented, overworked, tired and experiencing regular headaches as a result of my lack of sleep, but I couldn't admit it. I'd worked hard for this job, and having made so much progress, I wasn't ready to stumble backwards. I could get a hold of my insomnia. I'd done it before and I could do it again.

Swallowing hard, hoping that she didn't catch the slight waver to my voice, I let out a silent breath of relief when she accepted my reply a few moments later. "Okay." There was still an ounce of skepticism to her voice, but for now, she was letting the issue drop. "But before you fetch Samuel, can you drop these files off at the front desk?"

Detouring to the staff room for a cup of coffee, I returned five minutes later with Samuel in tow, hoping that the caffeine would give me enough of a boost to get through the rest of my shift.

Two hours later I was considerably more awake and less drowsy. My headache had subsided and my thoughts were more fluid, which seemed to please Claudia. We were just finishing up with the last walk-in client before shift change, and though he looked to be a young teenager, I was still tasked with distracting him as Claudia administered his flu shot.

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