"I'm okay Derek, really," I insist.
"Lexie, you're not okay. You need to take a break. Rest your mind and your legs," Derek says.
A break sounds so appealing, but I don't want to fall behind because of the plane crash. I consider what Derek said for a moment and realize he's right. "Okay, fine, I'll take a break. At least give me some post-ops to do."
Derek hands me a huge pile of binders. "That should keep you busy for a while," Derek says, smiling.
"Thanks," I say and walk away. Before I get a chance to find a quiet place to work, I see Mark in the hallway. He sees me too and waves me over. He's standing by the nurses station, and he asks me to grab lunch with him.
"Sure," I say. "Can you please keep these here for me? I'll be back soon to get them," I say to a nurse.
She nods and I hand her the binders.
I guess it still looks like I was crying, because Mark asks, "What's wrong Lex?"
"Nothing," I reply looking down at the floor.
"Come on, I know you better than that," Mark presses.
"I lost a patient today. She was in a car crash, and I realized how close I was to dying from the plane crash," I say.
"But you survived. You're fine."
I sigh. "I knew you wouldn't understand."
We walk in silence for a few moments.
"You're right. I don't understand you, but I'm trying Lexie. I'm trying to understand you and be there for you, but it's hard if you don't talk to me about it," Mark says.
"You're right, I'm sorry. I'll try to communicate with you more," I say.
Mark grabs my hand and squeezes it. I squeeze back.
When we finish eating, I go back to the nurses station where I left the binders and retrieve them. I don't know where to go to do the post-ops quietly, so I end up in a stairwell. I sit on the bottom of the stairs working for about an hour without being interrupted when I hear the door open. I look up from the binder and am surprised to see Julian walking toward him. He reeks of alcohol. I put my binder on the stair and stand up.
"What are you doing here?" I ask Julian.
"I just saw Ava," he says. His words are slurred and his eyes are unfocused.
"Are you drunk?" I ask.
"My sister just died. I can do what I want," he says coldly.
I notice a large cut on his arm. It runs from underneath his t-shirt to just below his elbow, and it's bleeding profusely.
"Are you hurt?" I ask reaching for his arm to examine the cut.
He pushes me away from him. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not. That's a pretty bad cut," I say and reach for his arm again.
"I don't need your help!" he yells and shoves me, harder this time. I fall to the floor and hit my head on the stair. I reach my arm to the back of my head. When I look at it again, it's covered in blood.
"Please, let me help you," I say and try to stand, but Julian kicks me in the stomach, knocking the breath out of me.
He looks down at me. "I don't know what you id to my sister, but she's dead now. You deserve to die."
I open my mouth to speak when he kicks my stomach again, then he kicks my head and everything goes black.
