The high-pitched wail of the heart monitor reverbrated throughout the emergency room. It was soon joined by the parents’ cries of despair as they clutched their pale child’s lifeless hand. The nurse's blank face automatically turned away to give the couple some privacy. It was like a routine endlessly followed. Innocent patients die, loved ones mourn. Many couldn’t take this kind of daily agony, hastily leaving their jobs. But some were a different case.
She closed the door and silently made her way through the painfully bright hospital, the doctor’s uniform whispering softly as she walked. Countless cries of distress and irrevocable pain filled the room, but to her they all were patients -none individuals nor different- evoking no emotions. Turning her head, her face unfathomable, she looked down to see a burnt victim standing in front ofher. The scarred face looked into hers. Large eyes emanated old pain, both physical and psych... She hastily looked away, no tears falling from her eyes. Only a subtle determined expression remaining.
She slowly pushed open the washroom door, accustomed to its cold touch. Splashing cold, refreshing tapwater onto her face, she looked into the mirror. An indifferent face stared back, the once caring eyes now seemingly cold. Suddenly her pager notified her of another emergeny patient and a lightingfast flash of panic sweeps across her face. I look back into my reflection, my invisible thick mask has a thin crack etched into it. Slowly, I smooth back my hair and the crack becomes no more than a faint scar, barely visible. A listless face stares back and when the pager beeps for a second time, the blank eyes do not blink. She retraces her steps back out the restroom, all evidence of emotion-and her old self- gone.
