One Day (Part 6)

One day you're here and the next you're gone.  Chad usually didn't let such thoughts enter into his mind, but for some reason, this incident had hit him hard.  He watched just long enough to make sure the team arrived to take the body away for the coroner, and then he turned and left, wiping the tear away from his eye before anyone saw.  He wouldn't say a word to his wife when he finally got home.  He didn't think he could.  He was just going to hold her and tell her he loved her.  That was the most important thing.

---

It was just one day, just one ordinary day, Sandeep thought.  He looked up at the officer.  "Could you repeat the question, please?" he asked.  Sandeep was pretty sure the officer had been asking him about the gun, yet again, but he could barely focus.  All these questions, and all this pain.  It wasn't his pain, but he had caused it, and now somehow it was leaking back to him.  Sandeep's lawyer had assured him there was nothing to be afraid of.  Sandeep had been acting in self-defense.  But still, Sandeep felt sick.  He feared what would happen to his family if he got what he deserved.  He felt guilt over what he had done, even though he felt at the time like he had to do it.  Too late he had seen the fear in the man's eyes.  Sandeep knew now that he didn't need to fire the gun.  He would follow his lawyer's advise and never tell the police that, but he knew it to be true.  Sandeep felt cold.  A chill ran through his body and he wiped the sweat from his brow.  If only he could turn back time... It might be okay for him, but for that other man... Sandeep felt sick.

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One more day done.  Jane climbed into bed and turned on the news.  She didn't usually watch the news at night, but her fear drove her tonight.  That man, that man she had seen at the store today, making the odd purchase, she was afraid of what might have happened to him.  She just wanted to see, just make sure that his face wasn't on the news.  The very first story, and Jane gasped.

---

One day is all it takes.  Just one day for a life to be changed, or to be removed entirely.  Jason sat on the curb outside the shelter.  He knew there was no room, but he didn't know where else to go.  He felt more alone than he had ever been.  The shot of the gun still echoed in his mind.  He didn't know what had happened, what had become of that other man, but he had heard the screams, the agonizing pain.  He had caused that.  It had been all his fault.  One day.  If he had been willing to wait just one more day...  Thunder cracked and Jason looked up.  The storm was rolling in.  He was about to get drenched, but he didn't care.  Maybe the sky would give up the tears he seemed unable to shed, the tears he should be crying.  And then, he sensed a light behind him and turned around.  The woman stood straight and tall, her hair in a neat but, her face stern, but somehow gentle.  "Well come on in," she said.  As if in a daze, Jason stood to comply.  And then the tears came.  One day.  If he had just tried again this one day... apparently there was room.  There was room for him this day.

---

One more day.  How she wished she could have one more day.  Sarah cried and cried and cried.  They all hugged her, each one, but there were no words to say.  He had been too young?  Sarah knew that already.  It wasn't fair?  Well of course it wasn't fair.  You shouldn't have sent him out to get supplies for the dinner you were supposed to be cooking for him?  Of course no one would even dream of saying that, but Sarah was thinking it all the same.  It was only one day since he was gone, but it felt like an eternity.  Gone were any thoughts of the annual report.  Gone were any thoughts of anything but how much she had loved him.  And what had her last words been to him?  Not that she loved.  Not angry words, but still not that she loved him.  She had said simply "2%, not skim."  2%, not skim.  With those words, she had sent him to his death.

She couldn't have known.  There was no way she could have known.  That was the only thought that consoled her.  Deep within, she knew it wasn't her fault at all.  But still, it felt an awful lot like her fault.  She tried to shift blame to the convenience store owner, but she knew it wasn't really his fault.  She tried to shift blame to the surgeon, but she knew it was even less his fault.  The closest she came was to shift blame to the robber, but somehow, she felt it wasn't even really his fault.  He had just needed money, maybe for his own family, for his own wife.  Though a part of her really hated him for running away like he had.

Sarah cried and cried and cried some more.  One day.  Maybe one day she would stop crying.  But not today.  Definitely not today.

One Day (Part 5)

Chad looked up at the clock.  8:50pm.  Just 10 more minutes until the next shift arrived, 25 minutes until he could get home to his wife.  Things had been a bit rocky at home.  With his wife getting up early and him working late, they barely had any time to spend together and their relationship had suffered.  He wished he could fix things, just patch them up the way he so often did with his patients, but this wasn't an issue that could be fixed in just one day:  it was a chronic, recurring issue that would require extended treatment to cure.  Still, even ongoing treatments had to be faced on day at a time.

That was how Chad tried to view his marriage:  one day at a time.  He and his wife loved each other.  He knew they did.  They just needed to work at it, build their relationship, rekindle the romance.  One day at a time.

Look at the clock.  8:52pm.  Just 8 more minutes until the next shift arrived, 23 minutes until he got to go home.

That was when his pager exploded.  With a frown he looked at it.  Gun shot wound, surgery needed immediately.

Chad did not waste any more time pondering his personal life.  As much as he loved his wife, he was willing to lose her if that was what it took to save lives.  That was his duty as an ER surgeon.  He rushed from his desk and darted down the hall to surgery room B to wash up.