New Life in Chicago (English Version)

Chapter 1

Today after two weeks in Chicago, I start my first shift at the Chicago Medical Center.

I get out of my apartment, get in my car and head to the hospital. Once there, I park my car and head to the reception desk.

"Hello" I say to the young lady at the front desk.

"How can I help you?" she replies.

"I'm starting today as a nurse but I don't know which service I'm assigned to yet."

"Your name, please?"

"Malia Ryland, here's my card."

The young woman starts typing on her computer. "You're assigned to the emergency department. Here's your shift schedule for the first week. Once you're in the E.R., report to Maggie Lockwood. She's the nurse in charge of dispatching new patients".

"Thank you, have a nice day" I said, smiling and retrieving my papers. I follow the signs to go to the emergency room without imagining for a moment the shift I was about to live.

I introduce myself to Maggie who tells me that she will tell me which patients I have to take care of when they arrive. I went to change and put my things in my locker. The beginning of my shift goes rather smoothly. I've had to do a few stitches on a young man and take care of a woman who had sprained her arm after a fall, both of whom have already left the ER.

I am currently caring for a young girl, Sarah, who broke her tibia. I just finished putting her cast on. I'm about to come out of her room to see if we know where her mother is when there's an explosion at the entrance to the ER. The explosion's so loud, it's throwing me back. I fall back on my head and hear a lot of screaming just before I pass out.

I wake up with a terrible headache, I have to blink several times to get a clear vision. I sit down and there is chaos in front of me, there are people screaming in pain and caregivers running around trying to help as many people as possible.

One of the doctors, Halstead, stops in front of me, "Malia I'm going to need you to follow the light for me". I'm following the light from the penlight with my eyes. "Perfect! Do you feel like getting up?" Dr. Halstead asks me. "Yeah, no worries," I say as I get up. "All right, I want you to take your patient Sarah outside after you check on her. Triage's been set up, then you can help us get out and treat as many patients as possible." Will Halstead tells me before he goes to help someone else.

I look back at Sarah and the poor kid looks totally panicked but luckily the explosion didn't damage her room. I walk up to her and hug her and run my hand through her hair, "It's okay Sarah, I'm going to take you outside where your mother is probably waiting for you". "I have a headache, Malia," Sarah says to me. "It's okay, it's probably the sound of the explosion, just follow my finger with your eyes, that's perfect. Now I'm going to help you up". I help her up and once she is stable, I sit her down on the bed. I take her face in my hands and look her straight in the eyes. "Sarah, I know you're scared right now with all the noise we're hearing, but I assure you that you're going to be fine. Once we get out of this room you may hear more screaming but I want you to ignore it. I'm going to carry you on my back out of here and help you sit down. From the moment you are on my back until I sit you down I want you to close your eyes. Do you think you can do that for me, Sarah?". She nods her head and says a little "yes" to me. Then I help her onto my back. Once she seems to be settling in, I say "Sarah, remember, you close your eyes, beautiful, and with your arms you hold on tightly to my neck, just like that. I'll tell you when you can open them again".

Just then I come out of her room and I say to myself luckily we weren't near the entrance because it's chaos. The first two rooms on either side of the emergency reception area are in a very bad state. The waiting room is destroyed. I tighten my grip on Sarah's legs and start walking towards the entrance. I find myself having to step over pieces of concrete to get out. Once outside I drop Sarah on the floor far enough away from the triage so she doesn't see any horrors but close enough so that the nurses and paramedics can keep an eye on her.

I look at Sarah, "you can open your eyes again, sweetheart". She opens her eyes again and starts crying, asking for her mommy. I try to calm her down and I dry her tears, "It's going to be okay Sarah, tell me if in the people behind the ribbon you can recognize your mommy". "Yes it's her," Sarah says with a big smile and points to a lady who is watching the emergency room with tears running down her cheeks. "All right, I'm going to go get your mom and, in the meantime, you're going to stay here but I want you to keep looking in our direction" I tell her, positioning her in the direction of her mother. "No, no, I don't want to be alone," says Sarah. "I won't be long, Sarah, in less than a minute I'll be back with your mom, but right now I have to go get her". Sarah nods her head, I give her a kiss on the forehead, get up and run to get her mother. Once I get to the ribbon, I ask the woman that Sarah pointed out to me "Excuse me, are you Sarah's mother, 7 years old?". She answers "yes" with eyes that light up. I pass her under the ribbon and signal to one of the police officers there that she is with me. I take her back to Sarah and she immediately takes her daughter in her arms. "Sarah is fine, she is just a little shocked by the explosion. The cast for her tibia went very well. The explosion didn't cause any damage to her. You can stay here with her until everything is all right. If you can make sure she doesn't look towards the hospital it would be nice. I haven't let her look since we left the room and it would be good if it stayed that way. I've put a blanket next to her to keep her from getting cold". I get up and am about to leave when Sarah grabs my arm "thank you" she says. I give her a smile and run back to the emergency room.