Blitz

Hello there. I’m @Ms_BeeA and I will be writing here with Femi in his words, “as often as I find the muse”. This is my first post here and I hope you like it.

Enjoy!
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She was running late again for her shift at the clinic. If she didn’t get out of the apartment now, she’ll definitely be late but she couldn’t find her lip gloss. She barely wore make-up to work but at least her lips didn’t have to be dry. She checked her make-up purse but she didn’t find the light pink lip gloss that would have been appropriate for work. Then she remembered that Tari came to borrow some make-up from her last night. Remembering this she angrily stomped to Tari’s room and flung open the door.

“Ta…” she stopped.

Tari was still asleep in bed and she had a guest. A mighty fine one. The duvet they had tried to use to cover themselves up wasn’t exactly serving its purpose. She smiled and allowed her mind wonder. Then she remembered she was running late and she tore her eyes from them and looked around for Tari’s bag. She found it and found her lip gloss in it and then she dashed out of their apartment and headed for the bus stop. On the bus ride she couldn’t help feeling jealous of Tari. She was so lucky. Being a model, she had never had to work for more than two days in a week except when she was booked for a fashion show and even that wasn’t very often. As a result she had lots of free time and it made meeting, hooking up or dating guys really easy.
As for her, that was far from the case. Being a nurse is very demanding and they were short-staffed at the clinic so her shifts were long and hectic and she used her little free time to run personal errands and rest. Her last relationship had ended more than two years ago and since then every guy that had shown interest in her had darted on finding out she was a nurse at a mental hospital. She was lonely and it sucked not just emotionally but on so many other levels. Remembering the sight in Tari’s room, she bit her lower lip.

She got to the hospital twenty minutes later than when her shift was to start then she quickly changed into scrubs and ran to the counter to meet the already grumpy-looking nurse she was supposed to take over from. She made the most apologetic face she could.

“Nurse Nene, I’m so sorry. My room-mate was having cramps this morning and I couldn’t just leave her.”

“Whatever. You’re late. Again. We can’t keep having this Nurse Sarah.”

“I know and I’m really, really sorry.”

“Fine. Two patients were brought in last night. One of them has a severe case of PTSD and the other is Schizophrenic. Dr Salis and I ran evaluation tests on them and we’ve come to those conclusions. We had to sedate the one with PTSD because he got into a fitful rage and we put the other one on Benzodiazepines to help him sleep. When you go on your ward rounds, start with them. They’re in rooms 105B and 112C.”

“Okay. I’ll do that.”

Nurse Nene handed her the patients’ files and left. She took the files and headed to room 112C. People with PTSD came to the clinic all the time but it had been so long since they last had a Schizophrenic. She was curious. Their PTSD friend could wait.

She opened the door to room 112C and saw the patient. He was awake and he was staring at the wall opposite his bed. She let herself in and shut the door. He looked like he was watching something but he seemed calm. She took an immediate liking to him. She didn’t know why. Maybe it was his cute dimples or his manly, stubble beard. Whatever it was, she didn’t exactly know.

She cleared her throat.

“Goodmorning…*she quickly opens his file*…Rotimi. My name is Nurse Sarah. I’m here for my ward round and I just want to see how you’re feeling this morning and to also check your vital signs .”

He smiled and looked at her. “You’re pretty.”

That caught her off guard and she blushed. “Thank you Rotimi but I’d like to know how you’re feeling this morning.”

“They said you’re pretty too.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Who are “they”?”

“You wouldn’t know them. They’ve gone. They don’t stay when I have visitors.”

“Ok. So I’m going to check your vital signs.”

She used the stethoscope around her neck to check his heart beat and pulse rate and then she wrote in his file.

“So would you please tell me how you feel this morning?” She asked.

“I’m fine. I don’t need to be here.” He replied.

“Rotimi you’re not fine. I mean you’re fine but that’s not what I mean. You have a condition.”

“Everybody thinks I’m crazy. Do you think I’m crazy?”

“No, Rotimi. I don’t think you’re crazy.”

He smiled. “Good ’cause I don’t think you’re crazy too.”

She smiled. “Thank you.” She dragged the chair by the wall and placed it beside his bed and sat down. “Maybe you should just talk to me. Tell me how you’re feeling, what you’re thinking, what you see and then I can help you prove to everyone that you’re not crazy.”

“I don’t just see things. I’m not a freak. I hear voices. Everybody in the world hears voices in their heads. Why aren’t they all in hospitals?”

“Yes, we all hear voices in our heads sometimes but that’s different from what’s going on with you.” She looked into his file. “You were brought here last night because you attempted to commit suicide. You almost jumped off the top of your apartment building but for the security guard that followed you and stopped you. Why did you want to do that?”

He sighed and stared at the wall. “I didn’t want to kill myself. I might not be having the best life but I’m not interested in dying yet. I couldn’t sleep. There was this loud noise. I left my apartment and it got louder so I tried to trace where it was coming from. When I got to the top of the building, there were people there. It was a party that was why it was so noisy. It reminded me of a pool party I had attended some years back. I saw a familiar face. A girl. She jumped into the pool and I stood at the edge of the pool and watched her swim. Then she asked me to join her for a swim. I was about to jump in the pool when the guard yelled at me to get back.”

His story made her so sad. Why did this have to be happening to him? She tried to explain things to him in the calmest way she could.

“Look Rotimi, what you thought you saw was actually a delusion. When you were brought in last night evaluation tests were carried out on you and we discovered that you are suffering from a mental disorder called Schizophrenia. Associated with schizophrenia is a thought problem described as psychosis. This makes you usually hear voices and see people that aren’t actually present and we refer to that as auditory hallucinations and delusions. It’s one of the five types of Schizophrenia called Paranoid schizophrenia. It’s treatable but currently incurable. Nonetheless I assure you that we will do our best to help you get better.”

He didn’t say anything. She continued.

“There are drugs that can suppress the hallucinations and delusions and there are also therapeutic treatments and programs that can help you with your reality detachment issues.”

He looked at her. “So, the bottom line is you also think I’m crazy.”

“No I don’t.” She quickly said. “I just think you’re a bit confused and you need a little help.”

He smiled. “I need help huh? We’re saying the same thing. You think I’m crazy. I know I’m not. I know what I saw.”

“Rotimi, I honestly don’t think you’re crazy. It’s just that…” Her pager beeped. “I have to go but I’ll be back, I promise.”

As she got up to leave he said, “No matter what you think of me, I’ll still think you’re pretty.”

She blushed. “Thanks again.”

She left his room and went to find out why she was beeped. She hadn’t completed her ward rounds. She quickly went to attend to other patients and went to sort out some paperwork. As she went about her duties, she couldn’t stop thinking about Rotimi and how much she wanted to know more about him. He wasn’t anything like the other patients. She rolled her eyes as she remembered one of the patients that had tried to grope her when she was checking his pulse rate. Rotimi would never do something like that. He was so calm and polite and so she kept her promise. She went back to his room during her lunch break and they talked. He said the voices left when she came.

They talked about him. About his family and how they had all died in a fire when he was a teenager while he was spending the weekend with a friend. About being a teacher. He had taught chemistry at a secondary school and she could tell he loved the kids he taught because he spoke about them with love and affection. Four teachers had seen him at different times talking to an empty lab and two students had at two different times passed by the window of his office and saw him yelling angrily at no one. He was served with a letter terminating his employment. They talked about how after he lost his job, he discovered his love for writing and drawing and how he started to write and draw for a comic book series he intended to publish. It was about a dying breed of super humans and how they discovered their powers and used it to fight bad guys. His eyes brightened up when he talked about it. He looked like an over-excited kid in a toy store. They even talked about how he was allergic to onions because they made his eyes go red and itch terribly.

After her shift ended, she came back to his room and they talked some more.

They talked about politics and the economy and cancer and natural disasters. Before she knew it, they were talking about her. The nurse was talking to the patient about the nurse. However, it didn’t feel like that. It felt like she was talking to an old friend.

She talked about how she missed her parents and two siblings who were all living in London. About how she decided to become a nurse after watching a movie about a nurse that touched the lives of all the patients at a hospital in amazing ways. About how her dad wasn’t so happy about it because he wanted her to be a lawyer. About how he has accepted it but never sounds excited on the phone when he asks about her job. About how hectic nursing school was and how she dealt with being undermined by people generally because she was only a nurse and they assumed it wasn’t as important as being a doctor. She talked about Tari and how she loved and hated her but loved her more than she hated her. They also talked about random stuff like how she hated ketchup because to her it tasted like tomato puree and how she still hated Brad Pitt for leaving Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie. About the hilarious things that happen on the bus on her way home between angry passengers.

They talked and laughed some more. Then she had to leave. It was 11pm and her shift had ended at 8pm. She was sad she had to leave but she knew she had to. It was a short bus ride home but she hated being out late.

She stood up to leave. “I have to go now, Rotimi. It’s getting late but I promise I’ll be back tomorrow.” She said with a smile.

“Alright.” He said. “And I promise I’ll be here when you come tomorrow.”

She laughed. “Where else would you be?”

He smiled. “Well, you made me a promise and I just wanted to make you one too.”

She blushed. He was so cute.

“Alrighty. In that case, I’ll hold you to your promise.”

“And I’ll hold you to yours.” He replied.

As she turned to leave, he said “And you’re still as pretty as you were when you first came in this morning.”

She blushed again.

“And you’re still as sweet as you were when I first saw you this morning. See you tomorrow.” She said and left.

As she left the hospital and walked to the bus stop, thoughts of Rotimi flooded her mind. As she got on the bus, she still couldn’t stop thinking about him. She didn’t even pay attention to the idle gossip between the two women that sat next to her. On another day she would’ve been interested but not today. She smiled to herself as she thought about his brown eyes, cute dimples, manly stubble beard and rich brown skin. A lethal combination. She thought about the way he talked and how he talked. She laughed when she remembered how he laughed. Then she remembered she was on a bus and composed herself before people started saying the nurse from the mental hospital was going crazy.

As she got off the bus and walked to her apartment she was still thinking about him. How alive he became when he talked about his comic book series. How calm, polite and genuinely sweet he was. No one had told her that she was pretty as many times as he did today. Not even her ex. She couldn’t remember when last she had really talked about herself even with Tari. There was something about him that made talking about herself so easy. She was still thinking about him when she unlocked her apartment and let herself in. She saw Tari’s note on the fridge about not coming home for the night because she was sleeping over somewhere else. She didn’t care. Tari was probably returning the favour to the guest she had seen in her room in the morning. For the first time, she wasn’t jealous.

She was still thinking about Rotimi while she ate dinner and while she showered and while she brushed her teeth. He was still on her mind when she locked up for the night and climbed into bed. She knew she felt something for him. Maybe not love because they had only just met and she didn’t believe in the crap about love at first sight but she knew there was something. It made her feel warm and fuzzy all over. As she closed her eyes to sleep she felt very eager to go to work the next day. More eager that she had felt in a long time and it was not just because she loved helping the mentally ill.

She couldn’t wait to see the patient in room 112C. Rotimi, the Schizophrenic.
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How can You relate with Sarah’s Story here today?

Have you met someone and just had that instant attraction and you just couldn’t think of anything else?

Share that wonderful experience with us would you. 😀

Anyway, For those that missed the announcement and as she has already said earlier, the author of today’s post @Ms_BeeA, is now a permanent writer on this blog. Do show her some love. And it gets better, this story is anything but done, she will continue this as soon as she ‘finds the muse’.

I am sure you don’t want to miss it. Till then.

Cheers.