“Is she okay? Can I see her?”
“She’s currently unresponsive and will be going to ICU for further evaluation and care. We’ll send someone for you before she goes.”
He walked away and Chaz slunk into an orange, cafeteria-style chair down the hall. It felt like his body was oozing into the seat, and the shakes got worse. He leaned over onto his knees and heard footsteps in front of him, but it sounded like they were somewhere in the distance. Electricity was surging through his body, making it quake. He rocked back and forth, trying to ditch the nausea, but it was still lodged in his throat. He looked up and down the hall and walked toward some doors at the other end. There were restrooms on either side of the hall, along with a storage closet and an employee lounge.
He ducked his head inside the lounge and saw that it was empty. His heart thumped in his ears but he opened one locker after another, looking for anything that would help. A noise outside the door sent him fleeing into the lounge’s bathroom. He locked the door and flipped on the fan, waiting as someone opened a locker and rummaged through it. Perspiration settled on his forehead and back, and the shakes worsened. A bottle of mouthwash sat on the bathroom sink, and he grabbed it and twisted it open. He poured it into his mouth and drank till it was gone. The bottle fell to the floor and he leaned over the sink, dry-heaving. Sweat seeped through his hair and clung to his face, but after a few moments the shakes stopped.
He looked in the mirror and the sight he saw repulsed him. A few moments earlier he had looked at people who had broken bones or were bleeding in the emergency room, and he was raiding lockers to get a fix.
A knock at the door exploded in his ears.
“You okay in there?”
His heart raced faster at the sound of someone’s voice, and he flushed the toilet. “Yeah. Sure,” Chaz said. He turned on the water and splashed his face, then ran wet fingertips through his hair. He pulled out several paper towels and dried his face and hands, then opened the door. A man wearing a white jacket stood in the lounge. “I’m sorry. I was sick, but the stalls were full in the men’s bathroom.”
“Not a problem,” the doctor said. “Do you need to see someone?”
Chaz threw the paper towels away and headed for the door. “No. I brought in a friend, and the whole thing just made me…”
“It happens.” Chaz’s back was to the doctor, but he felt him watching him. “Why don’t you sit for a second? Nobody’s in here but me.”
“No, no,” Chaz said, turning toward him. “I’m really sorry I burst in here. I’ll get back down the hall.”
The doctor touched his arm and looked at him. “Why don’t you sit down?” Chaz sat in a chair covered with pastel flowers. The doctor sat opposite him and took his pulse. “I’m Nathan Andrews. I work upstairs in Pediatrics, but I’m still qualified to take the pulse of an adult.” Nathan lifted one of Chaz’s eyelids and Chaz closed his mouth tight, holding his breath.
Nathan crossed his arms and looked him over. “What happened to your friend?”
Chaz rubbed his hands up and down his jeans; his palms were sweating. “They think somebody beat her up.”
Nathan made a grunting sound and shook his head. “You found her?” Chaz nodded. “She’s fortunate that you did. You’re a good friend.” The words struck Chaz and he looked up at him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been a good friend to anybody. “Are you going home for Christmas?” Nathan asked.
“No.”
Nathan sat back, folding his arms. “Where is home?”
“I don’t even know anymore.”
“Why is that?”
“Just alone, that’s all,” Chaz said. “My parents are deceased.”
“My mother died when I was little,” Nathan said. “No matter how old I get, I still miss her at Christmas. I look at the parents of friends of mine and think, ‘My mom would be their age now.’”
Chaz nodded, shifting in his chair. “I do the same thing.”
“What kind of work do you do?” Nathan asked.
“I, uh…nothing really,” Chaz said. “I’ve had a lot of jobs. Right now I work in security.”
“Great.”
“When I was a kid I wanted to be a doctor.”
Nathan crossed an ankle over his knee and leaned on it. “What happened?”
“I came down with a bad case of the stupids,” Chaz said.
Nathan laughed and stood, walking to the door. “You’re still young, though.”
Chaz shook his head. “Nah. Not cut out for it.”