The Stars Within

Chapter 2

3 hours later and I think I’m presentable enough. I walk across my bedroom, past my messy closet covered bed, and pick up the little black present box Lilly left in my locker. She said to wear it tonight with my dress. 

“It better match my dress or I won’t be wearing it” I say to myself with a slight chuckle. 

Then again, she always has a good taste in fashion. Rolling my eyes, I open the small black box. Inside the box, a necklace shines and shimmers on it’s golden metal pendant. It’s gorgeous! The gold had been molded and shaped into a gorgeous 8 point star; with 2 elongated points, 1 on the top and 1 on the bottom, and 3 small points on either side of the pendant. In the center of the golden star pendant layed a beautiful blue jewel that sparkled with every movement I made. 

I leave the small box on my dresser and turn to walk towards the mirror. I clasp the necklace around my neck and stand in front of the mirror admiring its beauty. It matches my dress completely. My satin form fitting dress hugs my curves in all the right places. The sweetheart neckline down to the pointed drop waist where a dark golden lace all accentuated the gorgeous pendant Lilly gave to me. 

Satisfied with my look, I set out to the hospital. 7:00 pm, only 1 hour left. As I start my bug I hear my phone vibrate in the passenger seat. Jeez, that better be Lilly. 

Lilly

Hey girl! You better be wearing that necklace! It’s gonna make you shine, girl!! See you soon at the party! 

Smiling, I send her a heart and smile emoji in response. That Lilly, she’s certainly a handful. Putting my bug in reverse, I start to drive out of my driveway and turn towards the hospital. The good thing about driving at night is you have no traffic. It normally takes me around 20 minutes to get to the hospital, tonight it took me 10. 

I pull into the parking garage and park on the ground level. There aren’t too many cars since it’s only 7:13 pm. I grab my little black clutch bag with my cell phone and head to the main entrance. The parking lot is basically a ghost town. Sarah had asked all staff to park in the parking garage to make room for all of the patrons and their guests. 

Looks like they decorated the entire northside parking lot. The gold and silver balloons shine and glimmer in the moonlight tonight. It’s entrancing. Watching the soft breeze gently sway the shimmering balloons is blindingly gorgeous. The gold and silver balloons followed the walkway to the inside of the hospital. 

Inside is absolutely stunning. With every turn I make, my eye is constantly captivated by the shimmering colors of gold and silver from the balloons and streamers. Whoever they hired to decorate did an amazing job! The walls are completely covered in a mixture between balloons, streamers, employee of the month posters and informational posters of tonight's event. 

The tables were small and rounded. Each table was given 6 chairs and place settings. They were farther back from the northside entrance, more towards the southern side of the hospital. The dance floor was located to the left of the table area. It was also decorated with gold and silver streamers and balloons on the walls and ceiling.

“HEY GIRL!!” Lilly yells to me from the northside doorway. Well at least she’s on time for this. I turn around to greet her and see the crowd of people that had showed up during my color trance. 

“Hey Lilly, I see you actually made it on time tonight. I’m shocked!” I say to her as she approaches me. My voice a clear mixture of humor and annoyance.  

“Ha ha ha, so funny I forgot to laugh.” Lilly laughs and says in a mocking tone. If it weren’t for the fact that she was like my only friend then I would have fired and forgotten her a long time ago. But she’s sweet to me and tries to care for me even though I’m very secretive. She’s the closest thing I have to a friend or family. 

“You look amazing, Cyl!” She says as she faces me after taking in the scenery. 

“I knew that necklace would work great with your dress tonight! You look so beautiful, girl!” She smiles brightly and hugs me gently. 

“Thank you. You do too, you know?” I say as she releases her hug. She really does look gorgeous. Her dress was form fitting with a purple sequin fabric, resting just above her knees revealing her long beautiful tan legs. Her shiny black stilettos accented her black jeweled necklace and matching earrings. Her hair gracefully fell down her back in waves of strawberry and light brown. 

“Really? I wanted to look my best for Devon tonight.” She says, bouncing in place with excitement. I roll my eyes and sigh.

“You’re still going on about that guy? You still haven’t even said hello.” 

“Y-yeah I know. Tonight’s the night! I can feel it! After all, I didn’t wear this skin tight dress for nothing!” She says laughing. I wish I could help her confidence. No… I can’t. It could cause too many issues later. 

“Okay, fair point. Well then, go and find him, tiger!” I say quickly before I gently shove her in the direction of the huge crowd of people entering the hospital. Turning around she smiles and waves at me.

“Thanks Cyl! See you later around the party!” Smiling, I wave back. Not bothering to yell a response. The music has already started and the buzz of conversations. Everyone looked to be enjoying themselves to the fullest so far. This is a great start to the evening.

With the tapping sound of a spoon to a champagne glass, the buzz and music quiet down and we turn towards the stage. We all stand silent as we wait for the evenings’ announcements to start. Sarah, my personal boss and the director of the entire emergency department, walks onto the stage with a microphone. Her pink dress flowing behind her as she walks across the stage.

“Good evening and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us this evening for this rare and wonderful moment! We thank you kindly for all of your support and donations to our hospital. We would like to take this time to introduce our newest addition to the Saint TeResa Hospital team. But first, a speech from our own hospital CEO!” She turns and waits for Dr. Wellington as we all applaud her speech. 

After a minute or 2, Dr. Wellington enters the stage. He’s wearing a tailored black tux with his hair combed back. He looks powerful and somewhat intimidating. Although, I’ve never really liked him that much. I always get a weird feeling from him. We watch as he thanks Sarah and takes the microphone from her while shaking her hand. 

“Thank you, thank you. It is so very nice to see you all this evening. Your support is an amazing part of this hospital's ability to care for our patients the way we do. Without all of you, staff and guests, we wouldn’t have what we have here today.” He gestures to the whole of the hospital as a way to emphasise his speech as he takes a breath, all the while everyone applauds. 

“As you all well know, tonight is a very special occasion. We now have a special doctor clinic for the poor and uninsured patients. Along with that amazing development, we have a new member of the Saint TeResa Hospital family. Please allow me to introduce to you, Dr. Floyd Paladyn!” He says as he stretches his arms towards off stage. All the guests burst into applause, excited to see the new patron Dr. Paladyn.

A tall man enters the stage. Wait… Is that the same guy from the elevator earlier today? Oh my gods! Erase out of my mind! Erase! Erase! Erase!

“Thank you CEO Dr. Wellington.” Silence. Absolute silence all over the crowd. Even crickets wouldn’t dare to crick right now. 

“Hello ladies and gentlemen. As you’ve all heard, I am Dr. Floyd Paladyn. I decided a long time ago I wanted to help the families and patients out there who don’t have the money or insurance for healthcare. With this doctor clinic I have built, there will be no more turning down patients in need.” Applause and cheers ripple throughout the party crowd. 

“As you well know, along with this new clinic, there will also be an addition to the staff here at Saint TeResa Hospital. I am confident that this new chapter for this hospital will be the best one yet. I appreciate the support from not only the hospital but from the community as well. Thank you for believing in my vision with me. Together we will conquer the sickness in this world. Thank you.” He hands the mic to Dr. Wellington and walks off the stage as the crowd applauds. The applause slowly settles down as Dr. Wellington raises his hands slightly.

“Thank you to Dr. Floyd Paladyn for your amazing speech, and thank you ladies and gentlemen for joining us on this momentous evening! Enjoy the amenities and again, thank you everyone for your generous donations to our wonderful hospital. Without you, we wouldn’t be here to serve the community. Please enjoy the evening!” Dr. Wellington applauds with the crowd as he leaves the stage with Sarah. Soon after the stage is occupied by the band members hired to perform. 

The rest of the evening went pretty smooth. I think it’s about time I go home. I’ve been here about 2 hours now and so far the only exciting thing that’s happened was Lilly got to dance with Devon. After that nothing else has really captured my attention. Standing from my seat I grab my clutch purse and fix my satin black dress. I wave towards Lilly to catch her attention. I walk towards her and meet her at the end of the dancing area.

“Hey girl!” she says, slightly out of breath from dancing.

“Hey. I’m gonna go home for the night.” I say smiling. 

“Already? We still have an hour until they name who is in charge of the new clinic. Your name might be up there!” She says while placing an arm over my shoulders. 

“Yeah, I know. I’m just tired. Besides, I’ve got work in the morning anyway.” I say as I slide out from under her arm. 

“And you’ve gotta go back to Devon. Don’t let me keep you from the ball, Cinderella.” I say as I slowly walk towards the door. 

“Ha ha ha!” she laughs sarcastically.

“Very funny Cyl. See you tomorrow!” She yells and waves at me. I wave back and turn towards the door once again. As I make my way through the crowd of people I hear my name being shouted over the music. I stop and turn to see my boss Sarah and my coworker Amber. 

“Cyleste! Hey, we need you before you go.” Sarah says to me quickly. Ugh. Why now? I’m so tired. 

“We need you to accept the position as head nurse for the new clinic!” Amber squealed excitedly. She’s always had so much enthusiasm for everything. You can’t help but smile with her.

“I’ll accept, but then I’m really going home. Deal?” I say to Sarah trying my hardest to ignore Ambers’ bouncing excitement. Sarah sighs and nods in agreement. 

We turn and walk back towards the stage where Dr. Wellington and our other head staff employees wait for us. Dr. Paladyn is nowhere to be seen. Shouldn’t he be here? It’s his doctor's clinic after all. As we enter backstage, Sarah hands me a microphone and takes a breath as if she’s been nervous the whole night. 

“Okay, when they call your name, just walk up the stage.” she informs me quickly. I nod in response and wait for my name. With the start of Dr. Wellingtons’ speech, the party crowd settles down to listen. He announces the positions that are being filled for the new clinic and begins naming who has which position. 

“Amber Silverton, one of our own amazing LPN’s will now be working as one of our head nurses in the clinic.” No wonder she was jumping around so excitedly. She’s been working so hard to become a registered nurse. I’m so proud of her. 

With the sound of applause behind her, Amber comes backstage with her eyes glowing with happiness. Her smile is contagious and her laughter infectious.

“Cyleste! Your turn.” Sarah says to me while handing me the microphone. I turn and walk up the stage to shake Dr. Wellingtons’ hand and thank him for this opportunity.

“Cyleste Astruna. Our head nurse of the emergency department. With her hard work and determination she has proven to not only myself personally, but to our beloved community as well, how much she deserves this position. Cyleste will now be the head nurse for our new clinic!” As the crowd applauses, I turn and thank Dr. Wellington again. 

With a wave of thanks to the party I leave the stage with my heart beating out of my chest. I need to leave this party. If I had known I was going to be on stage tonight, I wouldn’t have come. Dr. Wellington loves flashy announcements, which is seriously annoying at times and this is definitely one of those times.  

“I appreciate this, Sarah, thank you. But it’s time for me to go home now. I have a new clinic to run in the morning after all.” I say to Sarah as I walk past her towards the northside door. I just want to go home, I’m way too exhausted for anymore of this. 

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for participating. See you tomorrow.” She replies back, obviously annoyed and exhausted. 

Within a few minutes I finally reach the door and leave. The cold night air feels amazing against my face. A slight sting makes me feel alive and better than I did before. On the way to my beat up old bug car, I look up at the sky and stare into the vastness of space. 

My mind slowly starts to wonder… Will I have those nightmares again tonight? How can I stop them? As I let my wander I catch a glimpse of a gorgeous shooting star. Time to make a wish. I close my eyes as soon as I reach my car and make a wish. Hopefully it will help tomorrow. And with that last thought, I open my bug and drive off towards home. See you tomorrow, Saint T.