Veins of Desire

CHAPTER 2

Johnsen Hospital was built nearly fifty years ago and yet has grown exponentially over the past couple of years. It was the largest hospital in Westcaost City and the only place Haliya wanted to work at – stay and become a resident nurse. And hopefully not become an old resident with an unwelcoming face like the nurse walking in front of her.

Sally, the resident nurse that worked at Johnsen Hospital ever since it was built, was the one assigned to orient the new faculty and cleaning technicians, specialists, and housekeepers in the hospital. About thirty minutes ago, she had already introduced herself to thirty new employees and deployed them to wherever they were assigned. But one girl was missing from her list. She was strict with time and never really wanted to make an excuse when it came to it, yet her higher-ups clearly told her not to withdraw anyone from the lists as they needed more staff. Lately, she noticed that the hospital kept taking a lot of staff and giving them any work that was possible. Yet, she shrugged off any thought of that and continued walking Haliya toward the back of the hospital.

“Johnsen Hospital, as you know it, is a very busy hospital. I, myself, do not want anyone that is not punctual and yet stupid. We work on the lives of people here and every second counts. This may be a prestigious hospital but we accommodate many people here, rich or poor,” she stated, repeating all the words she already said at the orientation a while ago which irritated her. “We should have been saving time here if you came at the exact time, but to sulk about it is another waste of time,” she added, opening the exit door.

Haliya watched the busy people around slowly disappear as they reached the exit door of the main building. The awe never left her as what was happening in the hospital was a sight that satisfied her – not in a bad way that she wanted someone sick so she could nurse them, she just loved the smell of the hospital badly, and to work in that environment.

It might be a bit weird, but Haliya also loved the smell of blood. One time when she was still a kid, she had a bruise from cutting herself while chopping some onions her mother told her not to cut. She didn’t cry that time, instead, she watched the blood flow from out her small fingers. She smelled the blood, tasted it, and was amused by its dark red color.

As she was thinking too much, Haliya did not notice that Sally stopped walking, and later on, she hit her bony chest. Her eyes widened in an instant. “Sorry. I’m really sorry. Sorry,” she said on repeat.

Sally shook her head and crossed her arms.

“Oh my gosh! I’m dead…” she whispered as she closed her eyes and readied herself to listen to a sermon. Because Sally gave her the creep of someone that was not really impressed with her punctuality and slow responses.

“How were you even hired here? Your attention span is very short and you came late. If it wasn’t for the order to me, I would have left you alone,” Sally said in a monotone voice. She looked like she had no feelings at all, like she wasn’t human.

“I am so sorry for being late and for not paying attention. I was just completely amazed by everything that I am seeing right now. Your work of service, the facility, and your beautiful and mesmerizing staff. Everything is just bewildering me. To be honest, I was late early this morning because I couldn’t sleep all night thinking about this job,” she said like a lost child in an amusement park. A lost child who doesn’t want to go home.

But Sally had no time for her long apology. She had just heard Haliya’s first sentence and then continued walking to the farthest and the smallest building among the hospital’s facilities. And when Haliya opened her eyes with her sincerest apology, the woman in front of her was already a meter away.

“Oh heavens!” She muttered under her breath and ran toward Sally.

…

“Now this is where you will work.”

Haliya and Sally walked downstairs – almost like the underground or ground floor of the most secluded building of the hospital – the building that Haliya didn't even notice, as it was not as towering and glorious as the other buildings. She knew it was there but she hadn't been there.

Sally didn’t say anything about the other rooms, and Haliya would have been lost if there were no names in front of the doors.

Sally opened the door with a huge sign ‘HOSPITAL PERSONNEL ONLY’. There was no other name for that room except the huge sign. Aside from it being on the farthest side of the building, it also looked creepy because of its location and even the inside of the room gave Haliya the chills. Literal chills because it was cold inside. “Where are we?” She quietly asked.

The room they entered was huge and the first thing that everyone would notice were the two people walking back and forth in their lab gowns, hair net, a pair of latex gloves, and a huge thick layer of plastic that acted as a curtain to divide the room into two. The corners of the room were full of ice boxes.

“What are those?” Haliya asked, wanting to hear confirmation of her suspicion from Sally.

“Blood,” Sally answered as a matter of fact.

Haliya had a habit of asking questions to confirm what she already knew. It was not because she wasn’t sure of herself about a certain thing but to satisfy herself by knowing she was right.

Haliya took a glance at the two people in lab gowns that were walking back and forth in the room and saw the blood being processed. There were many blood bags kept in walking blood bank refrigerators which are larger than the other blood bank refrigerators. They were separated by serial numbers and letters that identified the blood types, such as A+, O-, and AB.

There was a lot of blood and it excited Haliya very much! She even inhaled and exhaled deeply, making sure she would never forget what the place looked and smelled like. Sally found it odd though, she almost rolled her eyes at her, but then she remembered that she was just like her when she was just starting to work at the hospital. Now, she was drained, and it would only be a matter of time before someone like Haliya would become someone like her.

“That is Martin and Wendy, they are the ones that will take care of you,” Sally said, as she was about to leave. “Change into better clothes tomorrow. You looked awful,” she added, having the ick to tell Haliya that the first time they met. “Also, cut off your bangs. It’s a nuisance.”

…

Martin and Wendy were nice. That was Haliya’s observation of the two immunohematologists that were teaching her what to do on her first day. They were just too… too sweet to one another.

Right after Sally left, Martin and Wendy threw glances at one another and started chuckling. “She’s old, do not mind her,” Wendy said, walking her way to Martin and then kissing him on the lips.

“Oh. My. God,” That was the only thing that came out of Haliya's mouth that she instantly covered.

Wendy raised a brow, “What?” Yet, before Haliya could even answer, Wendy spoke again. “Oh, right! You’ll be putting those,” she said, pointing her fingers towards the ice boxes that had a huge blood type sign on top of it. “You’ll put those in the blood bank facility in the main building. Ella will help you there. As easy as that.”

Haliya didn’t really know what her job would be. It was not written in the letter but she accepted it wholeheartedly because it was her dream hospital. Weirded out, she asked, “That’s it? Why aren’t you storing everything in one blood bank facility, like there is in the main building?”

Martin and Wendy looked at each other, both with a smile on their faces, and then laughed out loud later on. “You ask many questions. That’s a simple job, so just get it done. You have to be here from eight in the morning until just three in the afternoon. Do not wander around and just go home afterward.” Martin stated, still chuckling in between his sentences.