The Darkness under the Light

'Why did I have to start school in the summer. God, I cannot believe it's this hot!' Ida thought to herself, walking down the seemingly endless route to class. Being unable to afford her own apartment, she had to live in the dorms at her university. Oh, but of course, her class was held on the complete opposite side of the large campus from her dorm building, nearly 2 miles. Truly, a car was needed just to make this commute without becoming already exhausted at six in the morning. Ida managed to recieve a merit-based scholarship in her high school years. Without wealthy parents who would be able to help her along financially or good enough credit for a loan, she knew studying away her teenage years was the only way to be able to attend a university. Orphaned as a baby, dumped at a hospital's doorstep, no less, she had gone through many foster families before finding one that could tolerate her enough for a stable childhood. Ida was a tough case, suffering from medical mystery after medical mystery, you could understand why a family would give her back. As she grew up with her current parents, the Nolans, her health did manage to stabilize a bit to where it is now. "Good morning Ida!" a shrill woman's voice cuts through the heat wave to meet Ida's ears. "Oh, good morning Lily." she waved and stopped to wait for the woman who is now trotting over. Lily is one of the more friendly people Ida has met in this place. Lily lives in the dorm building closest to the school which only the more affluent families can afford. "Can't believe you're walking to class today in this heat wave, it's almost a hundred degrees out! You know you can call me for a ride..." Lily says with a said pouty face. "Oh no, I couldn't ask for that. Plus I can see that you just woke up! By the time you'd get to my slums and back to the actual buildings, I'd be late." Ida replies with a soft smile, slightly touched by her sentiment. It's not the first time she has offered Ida a ride, and it won't be last for her to turn down the offer. She can't take any free hand outs, the thought preemptively strikes her pride. "What's with all the extra stuff today? You look like you're carrying a whole hospital with you." Lily asks with a slight snort laugh. "Oh, it's my first human clinical today. We're actually going to perform blood draws and place IV lines. I'm pretty nervous so I thought I'd bring some extra sets of supplies just in case." Ida replies. Excitement fills her heart, yet her stomach is full of butterflies. "Oh...have fun with that," Ida says with a scrunched up face, "I'm gonna head back inside before I melt to the sidewalk. Be safe!" They give each other a short side hug and part ways. Lily's major is computer engineering, but looking at her you wouldn't think she'd be a computer nerd. Long chocolatey hair with sun-bleached highlights, big glistening honey eyes, her perfectly fit body with curves in just the right places, but most of all her sense of fashion was very dollar sign heavy. You could tell she comes from money, accustomed to the nicer things in life. It was hard to fight being jealous when looking at Lily, but the most awe-inspiring thing about her was her personality. Kind to a fault and beyond intelligent, Ida has wondered why Lily always came out every day to greet her. Finally arriving to the nursing division of the school's major campus area, Ida stops by a restroom to change into her scrubs from her now sweat drenched clothes. Throwing her hair into a ponytail and splashing cold water onto her face, she felt ready to enter the class she has been the most nervous for. It's just another step in her dream to be a good doctor, unlike the dozens in her past who have mistreated her, calling her illnesses fake or blaming her teenage hormones. Ida wants to be the one who can help put patients at ease, to actually listen to them and their issues, and maybe along the way, she could figure out herself why she is always so unwell. Class began as it always does, but after the introduction the small class of 10 was brought into an adjoining room for the hands on portion. Ida was paired up with a typical male med student named Jack. Nothing note-worthy about him except for his ability to attend the least amount of classes necessary to pass. Nervousness filled Ida's heart as they set up for the IV placement. "Do ya wanna go first or be the patient?" Jack asked with a bored voice. "I can be the patient first, you know, get it over with." she says back with a forced, light chuckle. She lays back onto the table, right arm up on an arm rest. She knows the typical pinch of a needle going into the crook of her arm, even if it takes a few tries she could handle it. 'No big deal, who knows, maybe he'll actually be good at this?' Ida thinks to herself, calming her nerves. Surprisingly, Jack was good at finding a vein, or maybe it was just blind luck. Next was the blood draw on the left arm, but this time it took him four tries to find a successful spot, causing some bruising to already form. "Awesome work, you did pretty good!" Ida spouts with relief that it was over. "Thanks, just don't turn me into a pin cushion with your turn." Jack plays with a forced smile and letting out a big yawn. 'Must be nice to feel so relaxed about this big step..' Ida groans in her head with a mental eye roll. The over-seeing professor goes around the room examining the procedure sites and taking note of the quality. Pass and you're good to continue the clinicals, fail and you must take a remedial class. Time that Ida did not have with her scholarship paying for just the minimum amount of classes needed. They switch spots and Ida cleans up Jack's right arm for the IV. She starts to sweat a bit as her gloved hand brushed his skin, which wasn't weird to her, she's about to push needles into this guy. After a breath and a bit of feeling, his vein wasn't hard to spot and jab with the needle. Easy, her confidence soared a bit at a flawless placement. Then, onto the blood draw, Ida moves over to the left and cleans his arm. Grabbing her needle, she prods with her fingers to feel for a good vein again. "I'm glad I got a partner with pretty vascular arms!" Ida chuckles mostly to herself. "Oh yeah, I like to work out at least five days a week. I go to this awesome gym with my own personal trainer, and man he really works me like horse we're doin' 'bout five reps of twenty for the bench press and twenty-five of ten for the crunches......" Ida stops paying full attention to his words and goes back to the blood draw. She sticks the needle in and a successful splash of blood shoots into the collection vial. Ida, smiling with pride, suddenly felt very nauseous. Staring at the blood collect into the vial, her eyesight tunnels and her hearing drones out. She looks up at Jack who is still babbling about his workout routine, but can only see his lips moving now through her slowly darkening vision. Looking back down, her eyes lock onto the blood again for what felt like an eternity. The texture was tantalising, like looking at a chocolate fountain begging for treats to be dipped in. Entranced by the movement of the thicker liquid, her mouth watered as if a plate of fresh baked cookies we're placed in front of her after being starved for weeks. Then, the smell hit her like a freight train. Ida could overwhelmingly smell the iron from the blood, but also hints of deliciousness, almost a savory vanilla tone. As her vision finished tunneling to a black screen, she felt something hard hit the left side of her body. The floor.