Nightingale

thirteen

I push into Howards office and quickly sit down in the chair in front of his desk.

"You are late Ms.Owens." Howard looks up from his laptop and gives me an amused look.

"Yeah sorry traffic was bad." I give him the most bullshit excuse I can think of.

Howard closes his computer and folds his hands together, placing them on top of his oak wood desk. I pull out my story idea notebook and open it up to the page I've been jotting down ideas on.

"What do you have for me?" He asks.

"Well I was thinking about doing something I haven't done before. Possibly a poetry book since they are popular on the market." I look up at him and he shakes his head no. I sigh and continue to scan the page. That was like my only solid idea I could think of last night.

"Um I had an idea about a love story where the main character is trying to discover their gender identity."

"Ms.Owens I don't have time to be joking around. Give me something good or get out." Howard says sternly.

I try and think about something that people could connect to but also something Howard won't turn down.

"What about my journal?" I ask. I'm not sure how I would feel about people knowing those things about me but it would be something people might be able to connect to.

"What's in it?"

"Personal things. My perspective on things that happen in my everyday life. A bunch of shit it's a journal." Clearly that peaked his interest so I close my notebook and put it back in my bag.

"I'd like to-" Howard gets cut off by my phone ringing. I quickly pull it out of my bag and click the lock button to silence it and put it back in my bag.

"As I was saying I would like to-" He gets cut off again by my phone and I grab it and decline the call.

"Sorry please continue."

"I would like to- fucking hell answer it." Howard says when he is cut off for the third time.

"I'm sorry I'll be right back." I grab my phone and walk out of his office into the hallway. It's fucking Eric of all people.

"What the hell do you want!" I shout quietly into the phone.

"Hi Ms.Owens, this is a nurse from the emergency department at California Medical Center. I'm calling because you are the emergency contact for Mr.Carlton." The woman on the other end of the phone responds. Why is Eric at the hospital?

"Is there any way you could come to the Hospital? I think he could really use some support at the moment." The woman asks.

"Um yeah. I'll be there in 15 minutes. What happened?" I hear the women take a deep breath. It's probably not that bad.

"I think it's better if you just come down here." She then replies then hangs up the phone.

I run my hands through my hair then walk back into Howards office.

"Howard I hate to be that person but something came up. I'll email you some of my journal entries for you to read." I grab my things and walk out before he can reply.

Once the elevator doors open I quickly walk in and push the button for the ground floor. I really don't think it's anything bad. Eric is a big baby bitch who would get a splinter and think he's dying. I also need to ask him to take me off of his emergency contact list.

***

I pull into a parking space and roll down the window. I light the cigarette in my hand and take my time smoking it because I really don't think he needs me right this moment. I got a few texts while I was driving so I quickly checked them. One was from Callie asking for updates on Harry and I, another was from my mother asking me to call her when I get the chance. The last one really stuck out to me. It was from Gemma.