Posted by Lieutenant Commander Natasha Knight (Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim - Sick Bay- Near Miss for Medical Personal

Posted by 2nd Lieutenant Laju Eghimea (Security Officer) in Side Sim - Sick Bay- Near Miss for Medical Personal

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Natasha Knight (Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim - Sick Bay- Near Miss for Medical Personal
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Standing just before the wide twin doors of the Saracen’s Sick Bay, Eghimea drew in a deep breath as she stood. Her mind flooded with mixed emotions and lost in a state of confusion. The walk here had been easy enough. Though with each passing step, she felt her heart starting to race. The moment she turned to enter; she just couldn’t take her remaining steps.

Her blue and green medical data card held tightly in her hand. Such transfers of documents weren’t necessarily required, but among the StarGuard it had been considered tradition. It was a way for new Guardsmen to get familiar with their medical officers. This simple task had been such an easy thing in the past, however not this time. Today, she felt her heart race as a discomforting level of panic ran through her. Already she could sense the sweat slowly building on her brow. And for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been to a medical facility before.

After all, she had logged nearly thirty non-scheduled visits to her local medical facility even before going on to the Academy. In fact, her Academy Medical Officer had once joked that he didn’t need to see her file to know what region of Bajor she was from. That all he had to see was the repeated reconstructions of her bones and joints. He had claimed that for her and those honored few, it was a badge of honor. She had logged nearly as many visits during her standard five-year Academy cycle.

So why now did she suddenly feel panic and fear. Eghimea wondered if it was more that this was a Federation facility. That they simply wouldn’t understand who she was, or why she did things the way she did. Then again, it wasn’t the first time she had visited a Federation facility either.

There was a short non-scheduled visit to the medical facility on Deep Space Nine after her Cadet Squadron dusted up with a group of FedBoys stationed there. Of course, the big two-meter-tall ape got the better of her. After all, his fists were nearly as big as her face. Or at least that was how it looked during the fight. Still, she was proud to spit a large part of the FedBoy’s ear out while the doctor was rebuilding her eye socket. Then again, regardless of what the politicians want to claim, Deep Space Nine was Bajoran, not Federation. So, did it really count, she wondered.

Her mind slipped to a much darker point in her life. That darker place was the only other time she had been aboard a Federation warship, and worse inside a real Federation medical facility. A wave of cold washed over her as she continued to just stand there in the corridor. She couldn’t help it. The trimers started with her right hand and then up her arm. She felt as if she was frozen by fear. It was if the hand of death itself grabbed hold of her heart and started to squeeze it. A thick lump formed in her throat as she tried to breathe. Doing everything possible to shake off the feeling, she tried to force her foot forward. Yet the rebellious foot simply wouldn’t move.

Eghimea could feel the pounding in her chest, as if something was beating rapidly against her rib cage as it tried to escape. Echoes of her mind filled her ears as she heard the Chief Medical Officer of the Thunderchild yell out, “everyone on your toes, the first one has arrived!”

Eghimea blinked hard as she heard someone screaming in pain. Her heart ached with sorrow for the poor woman screaming in agony and anguish.

The broken voice shriek with suffering. Another voice spoke calmly, “where’s her arm.”

“I have it right here.”

Slowly turning her head to the side and downward, she gazed down at her right hand as she opened and closed it. ‘Such a strange thing’, she thought as her mind tried to make sense of the broken memories. Her vision blurred as cool wet trails worked their way down her face.

Eghimea’s eyes stung, and she reflexively reached up and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her wrist mounted pad started to beep. Lost in the moment, she gazed at the device and the heart shaped symbol flashing as it displayed some triple digit number in red.

That same strong and calm voice echoed again, “Doctor Surin, Bridge, how many more casualties should we expect?”

A distant voice replied, “sorry Doc, but it appears the one you have is the sole survivor.”

Just under the painful screaming, Eghimea could hear someone speaking in alarm, “didn’t they say to expect closer to a hundred or so?”

The Doctor’s voice broke into the conversation, “focus on the one we have, ladies and gentlemen. Not the ones we didn’t have a chance to save.”

There was a pause in the speaking. A shadow seemed to eclipse the memory. She could barely make out the man’s image, as she heard him speaking to her. “You’ve survived the worse. You’re in excellent hands,” his calming voice said. It continued but didn’t seem to be speaking to her, “lets get her sedated.”

2nd Lt Laju Eghimea

Eghimea stood there outside the Saracen’s medical facility, her eyes focused on something far beyond her sight. Her breathing was in short rapid breaths that seemed to trip over each other. Tears mixed with sweat lined her face. Her body caught in slight trimers. She hardly noticed the doors hissing open as a bright-eyed nurse was just walking out. Behind the nurse was a wave of blue medical personnel going about their normal duties. And there she stood for all to see, lost in her nightmare.

The blonde was looking over her shoulder and laughed as she completed her conversation with another nurse. The woman turned and saw Eghimea just in time to stop. “I’m sorry ma’am,” the NonCom nurse said with respect in her voice.

Not that Eghimea had noticed. It took a good five seconds and another statement from the nurse to rip her back to reality with a, “wha…..”

“Ma’am, can I help you,” there was clear alarm and concern in the blonde’s voice.

“What,” Eghimea said with a labored voice and struggling to recover. Finally she shook her head, “no….just dropping this off,” she added in haste. Then she planted the blue and green medical data card in the blonde’s hand. Without waiting for even a breath between them, Eghimea turned and walked away from the scene. She drew on her sheer force of will to stop herself from running in terror. Her hands threaten to shake themselves from their very wrists.

2nd Lt Laju Eghimea

Moving down the corridor, she quickly turned and entered a storage room. The door hissed behind her, and it took Eghimea more than one attempt to lock the door. “Lock you piece of junk,” she spat. The panic in her voice was only matched by her frustration in operating the new style control panel. A deep thud was felt then followed by the red indicator which signaled that the door was locked. With a sigh of relief, she turned and leaned against the door as she brought her hands up to her. She couldn’t keep the emotions at bay anymore, as she started to weep.

Her anger rose as she knew better, and this just added to her unexpected swing. “I am Laju,” she angrily declared struggling to keep her emotions from overwhelming her. “I am better than this,” she added. But helplessness was already taking hold, as she slid down the door. Her voice breaking as the emotions were still running havoc over her.

Her hand reached into her pocket and pulled the small white bottle. Through her tears she could barely make out the handwritten words on the label. She recalled something the bartender had said about the dosage. Though right now, all she cared about was the numbness those little yellow tablets brought.

Fumbling with the lid she struggled to steady her hands long enough to open the bottle. With cursed language suitable only in the heat of combat, she spat at the lid that would deny her relief in her hour of need. Finally with a pop, the bottle was opened. Her eyes filled with hope as she gazed down at the little yellow tablets.

Tears continued to slowly run down her face as she poured two of them into her waiting hand. With trembling hand, she rose the two tablets to her mouth and tossed them to the back of her throat. Leaning her head back, she felt them slide down her throat. With a hard gulp, they were within her. Slowly closing her eyes, she waited for the chaos of her emotions to slowly come to an end.

She rolled her left arm and looked down at the arm mounted datapad. She watched the rapid wavy lines start to spread out. The flashing red heart shaped icon turned yellow as the numbers next to it dropped as fast as they had jumped up. Her head turned back upward towards the ceiling as she closed her eyes once more.

She felt the wave of numbness wash over her, like waves washing over the beach. The sorrow, the guilt, the pain all was smothered by a thick gooey layer of blissfully numbness. The tears down her cheeks were all that remained of the five or so minutes of panic, helplessness and fear that gripped her heart.

Slowly she let out a long breath that she hadn’t realized that she had been holding since taking the tablets. Struggling with each movement, she climbed back up to her feet, while still using the wall and door to steady herself. Her knees felt weak, but she refused to allow them to crumple under her.

“Right,” she said with a hint of despair in her voice. “Now, no more…” she assured herself. Turning sightly she saw her reflection in a nearby metal container. Pulling a cloth from her pocket, she did her best to clean up. She couldn’t let anyone see her like this. She couldn’t let anyone know the truth. She couldn’t let down her family, Bajor, or the Prophets. Steeling herself she squared her shoulders.

Taking a step back to test her legs and mentally warning them of the consequences of further disobedience. As the gooey numbness continued to spread, her will overcame her knees enough to allow her to walk without drawing attention.

One last inspection of her uniform was her final check to ensure that she could maintain some measure of dignity among these Federation types.

Drawing in one last deep breath, “right. No more hiding….” She unlocked the door and stepped back into the world….

2nd Lt. Laju Eghimea

Natasha turned the corner juggling Oscar, coffee, and her PaDD. People said there would be days like this but at times Natasha felt like it should have been weeks like this. A small whining growl came out of Oscar as he bit down hard on the toy in his mouth and burst out crying. “Oh bubbie,” she kissed the top of his head. “We are almost there and I am gonna fix it. Cutting teeth just sucks. It sucks,” she pursed her lips and made a frowning face rubbing noses with Oscar.

An I doh getta bacon or the duh-etos Dad stuffs behind the pillow when you aren’t looking, Oscar looked up at his mom nodding as he listened to her words. I wuv wicking off all the cheese. Bucie likes to eat dah crisps which is why you never find dem, he went back to chewing his toy.

Turning the corner, Natasha saw a female officer standing in the hall looking lost. Letting out a small chuckle, she shifted Oscar on her hip as she approached her. “Security is down that hall to the turbo then two floors down. When you get out take to rights and a left,” she said.

Natasha Knight CMO

Eghimea stepped from the supply closet. With a sharp turned to the right, she took two steps towards the lift. Suddenly freezing in her tracks, she came to a stop.

‘You have a task,’ she reminded herself.

She had technically fulfilled her task. She did “march herself down to medical” and was truthful in delivering her own official medical reports. Those issued by both her own StarGuard Medical officers, and those issued by the civilian Ministry of Health Services. If there were issues, it should be up to the staff here to raise such concerns. Or at least that could be her argument, should someone question the situation.

She frowned as she considered more than just the words that were spoken.

‘You know what she meant,’ that nagging voice in her head criticized.

She glanced down at her trembling right arm and the fear that threatened to overwhelm her once again. Her father’s words echoed in her mind, ‘there are only failed objectives, I don’t want to hear your excuses or apologies. Get up and do it again, Laju!’

She squared her shoulders and placed her right foot behind her left and spun around. She could feel the fear welling up again with each passing step. She didn’t have a choice, she had to complete this task as meant, not only in the words. As an attempt to force her emotions back under control, she started to go over each page of her own medical records in her mind. Anything to distract herself from this unreasonable sense of fear.

As she took one step in front of another, a question started to form in her mind. She always accepted her own limitations. Not to do so would be sure to lead to failure. But something in her medical documents didn’t add up. She was on Medical Leave, this was true. It was issued to her by the Ministry of Health. But as her mind flashed over page after page, she couldn’t find a reason behind the Medical Leave. And she was starting to wonder why she was on Medical Leave in the first place. She considered the idea of raising the question with the person doing her evaluation.

She let out a long low groan at the thought of that bright eyed nurse she had seen in the hallway. She wondered if such a little girl ever really knew what it meant to suffer.

The thought brought back memories of her own childhood and such a question she asked her father. His answer finally made sense. ‘You want to know why we must learn to suffer. We learn this so that when they return, those who would dare to enslave us, shall not ever break us. No matter what hardships they employ.’

She glanced down at her right arm as she drew in a deep breath. It had finally stopped trembling. She blinked as her eyes returned to the area around her. She had walked into the sick bay and was standing just inside. A wave of blue shirted personnel was just standing there looking at her, apparently surprised at her very presence.

She felt panic raise up once more as she fought to keep it under control. The feeling of helplessness hit her like a massive wave and once more she couldn’t explain why.

Drawing in a deep breath and was a heartbeat from speaking. That was till her eyes fell upon that same bright-eyed nurse. Whose eyes were on Eghimea as she leaned over to whispered something to a male nurse. Eghimea couldn’t understand what she was whispering. The voice was too low for the Universal Translator, nor could Eghimea understand English very well. She watched with great interest the movement of this child’s mouth. Eghimea could see the judgement in that child’s eyes. Her angry rose as she clinched her fists.

Eghimea suddenly feared that they could all see the panic deep within her. That somehow, they could tell the terror she felt deep under the layers of her masks. It was if she was standing there naked before these judgmental Federation Types. Her heart was screaming to run, but her mind, her very will was demanding her to stand and sort this out. She mentally begged her heart to stop beating so loud, as she stood her ground as if waiting for one of them to draw a weapon and strike her down right there. Or worse, find her storming emotions some reason to mock her. Eghimea found herself praying to the Prophets for the former of the two possible endings to this nightmare.

2nd Lt Laju Eghimea

Natasha put her cup of coffee down and slowly made her way across the sickbay to the nurse talking to the person in the middle of the room. Putting a hand on her shoulder, Natasha smiled and spoke in a gentle tone. “Hey, can you go check on the patient in bed four and maybe see if Ruby is around?”

Eghimea’s eyes were still tracking the young nurse’s mouth movements trying hard to get an idea of what she was saying to the man next to her. She hadn’t even noticed the short brown-haired woman walking up. It took a second for her to blink her eyes and readjust to a wider angle. The UT allowed Eghimea to understand that the nurse was being sent away. She struggled to force herself to relax. It seemed like an eternity, but she finally forced her fists to unclench.

‘Calm down,’ she commanded.

Not waiting for the woman to reply she looked at the young woman standing in the middle of sickbay. Upon arriving to sickbay the exiting shift had mentioned someone stopped by and was acting odd and in distress. The woman in question had dropped off a file and then took off running down the hall. The files were being uploaded to the woman’s chart as they spoke. Natasha had been on her way to read them with her coffee before this woman showed up again.

‘Breath Laju, breath,’ she continued to try to calm herself. She would do this. As the woman approached, Eghimea tightened up her stance. After all, Federation or not, she was a superior officer. Bajor was officially a member of the Federation. Military courtesy was still required, and she would be damned to the fire caves if she made another mistake within the first day of being aboard.

It was reported by the duty doctor from his vantage point, that the woman might have been on something pharmaceutical at worst or suffering a possible panic attack at best as evidenced by her dissociative moment and possible emotional instability. Coming down the hall, Natasha witnessed what was most probably the same woman stumbling out of a closet. “Hello I am Dr. Knight,” she extended her hand to the woman. “I am guessing you are here for a physical?” Natasha kept the tone light and friendly.

‘That’s right Laju, breath, just keep breathing,’ she continued to try to calm herself. ‘I will do this,’ Eghimea assured herself.

Natasha Knight CMO

‘Knight,’ she thought as images of the ship’s information log, that she had been given by her Department Head, ran through her mind. ‘Captain Dante Knight was the commanding officer,’ she thought. ‘a sister,’ she questioned, ‘possibly a wife.’

She had heard the stories of Star Fleet bringing their families in to war with them. But she had assumed that they were there more as passengers, not combatants. It was a strange realization. Much like how the StarGuard is, these Federation Types also trained, served and fought side by side with their families as well.

The rank on the collar told her, that this woman, sister or wife was an officer. It was enough for Eghimea, “Yes, Ma’am.” Her nerves still on edge, but her professionalism holding fast. Her eyes danced around the bay, despite her best efforts, she could shake the feeling of eyes on her. “There is a problem with my documents. Lieutenant Commander Atoded Brenna had,” she mentally paused and corrected ordered with the more polite word, “suggested that I correct the issue.”

2nd Lt Laju Eghimea

“That’s perfectly fine,” Natasha waved it off as if it were no problem. The problem was this was a problem. This woman seemed to be zoning in and out. In fact, Natasha had no idea what this woman’s name was. She had introduced herself and the woman’s only reply was answering Natasha’s question with yes ma’am and that there was a problem with her documents. This might be the reason she had come in and fled sickbay the first time however, it did not explained the woman’s body language: Clenching and unclenching her fists, the way she seemed to be staring at the nurse, and seemed not able to focus on a conversation. Natasha had no idea if the woman was going to try and run off again or if there was anything more wrong with her than just nervous jitters. She would have to do a scan for that. To do a scan, she would need to get the woman to a bed.

“Let’s get you checked in and start that physical,” Natasha stated gesturing to a bed in the corner. “So what’s your name,” she asked trying to keep the tone light.

Natasha Knight CMO

‘Name,’ she thought in horror. “I am so sorry ma’am,” she said with genuine embarrassment in her voice. Though there were cracks just under the tone as she continued, “I am second lieutenant Laju Eghimea of the BSG Fateful,” a wave of darkness crossed over her eyes as they drifted downward. Her mind filled with images of fire and screams of suffering. “I mean,” she paused in almost a whisper. She swallowed hard, then added. “I was assigned to the Fateful,” she said with a mournful tone.

“Um,” she said softly with a glance around as if searching for something that couldn’t be seen. “Please forgive, Ma’am,” her eyes finally landing on the large doors at the entrance. Her heart pounded as she prepared once more to run. She hardly noticed that her breathing had increased as her body demanded more oxygen. Her heartrate started to increase once more, and she felt it pounding her chest. She closed her eyes tightly and pushed her will harder to bring the images of her mind back under control. She tried to command something, anything to fill her mind. But the images wouldn’t stop, the sounds of beeping and grinding. The horrible sound of grinding just wouldn’t stop.

Shaking her head, “I can’t be…” she started then paused shaking her head once more. Then her deep brown eyes turned back to the short woman before her.

“You can’t be what,” Natasha said with her brow furrowing with concern.

Eghimea blinked at the question and simply choose not to answer.

The woman was acting very strange fitting the description the other doctors cited earlier. It was clear that she didn’t want to be here the question was why. This was just a standard check-in. There were never any real surprises in a simple first check-in. Most people had to be checked out of their last command so the only things that ever seemed to pop up were a cold or possible flu caught in the transfer or while on leave between checking in. This lieutenant however was acting more like someone forced to come in. It also went way past the I am nervous around doctor’s skittishness. If Laju was not going to walk to a bed the scan could be done here. “Are you capable of walking to the bed or do you need a chair?”

Eghimea shook her head slowly, “no ma’am, a chair won’t be required.” Drawing in a deep breath she painted a slight smile as she said softly, “I can walk.” It was really all she could do. Her mind raced and her emotions were just barely manageable. What made it all so much worse was that she didn’t fully understand why. Slipping in step with the woman, she allowed the Doctor to lead the way.

“Bed five is able to have a darkening shield in place,” Natasha said gesturing to it. “If we can move in there I can create a more isolated space.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” she said with genuine gratitude in her voice. A wave of shame slammed into her, which triggered her to say, “I’m truly sorry. I’m not normally like this,” she said in a voice barely audible beyond the two women.

“It’s okay. We all have our moments…right?” Natasha kept the comment open, light, and breezy. She was relieved that the woman asked for an isolated biobed. Until Nat figured out what was going on, it was best to keep Laju away from people and if needed easily contained. She had no idea who this woman was or what she was capable of. What Natasha did know was that unpredictable people were dangerous to others and themselves. If Eghimea had been here longer and Natasha knew her demeanor, the doctor would not be erring on the side of caution.

Following the smaller woman to the bed, Eghimea had never really considered herself a large person. In fact next to her brother, she had been considered A bit of a runt. At the Academy, that hardly changed and her larger fellow cadets had used that advantage against her. Now with a solid four inches over this woman, Eghimea felt almost like a giant next to her.

As Eghimea moved to the biobed area, Natasha moved to a drawer and picked up a tricorder along with a hypo filled with a sedative. Slipping both into her pocket, she moved over to where the woman was. The hypo was just precautionary however a couple of black eyes and broken wrist had taught Nat expect the best but plan for the worst. The woman had about four or five inches on her but Nat was married to a once security officer. She was wirey and from a long career in starfleet had learned a hypo always leveled a playing field.

Maybe that is what gave her a sense of ease at this moment. Or if could be the soft calm tone she had. Hardly the voice of the medical officers of the StarGuard. They had tended to be more direct, more, blunt and everything this woman’s voice wasn’t. She seemed kind and Eghimea was grateful for it.

Her tone was calm and gentle as she tapped a few buttons on the PaDD. “Are you taking anything? Drugs? Alcohol,” she asked pulling out her tricorder and starting to scan the woman.

OOC: What does the tricorder detect? ~ Kate

“I don’t drink,” she said in a rebuff to the question. “Alcohol dulls the mind and slows the reflexes,” she said with an unusual sense of commitment for someone of her age. At the same time, she reached into her pocket. The Tricorder confirmed her statement regarding Alcohol. In fact, there are no signs of any long-term drug or alcohol abuse. She pulled the small bottle of yellow pills. “As far as medication, I was prescribed these,” she said handing the bottle over. She paused wondering if she should tell everything.

Nat took the bottle of pills in her hand but kept eye contact with Laju. She had little doubt the woman was lying about the contents. It would make no sense to lie when Natasha could verify the contents. What Nat was more interest in was how they were effecting her.

She frowned then remembered her poor choices with her Department Head. A soft nod, “its Vortioxetine. The original prescription had run out a few days ago. I bought these from a bar tender on Deep Space Nine. Though, he said the original dosage had been too dangerous. He refused to go higher than these ten milligram pills.”

“Wait wait,” Nat looked at her letting the tricorder process the readings. “You got this from a bartender,” she snapped her fingers calling over a nurse.

“Can you run this for me,” she asked and then in a whisper to, “get psyche down here for a consult,” before directing her attention back to Laju as the nurse took the bottle and walked away. A million red flags started to go off in Natasha’s mind as she looked at the tricorder.

Once more the Tricorder confirmed what the young lieutenant was saying.

The Tricorder also revealed multiple mended bones, joints and fractures. All have signs of aging of more than a year. Most recent injuries were the work on her right side. This work was in part reconstruction of her arm as well as her right leg. This most recent work was on par with the skill level of a Star Fleet Doctor.

OOC: Here is the raw Tricorder Data from above. All of these are recorded in her medical file with Dates and places.
1. On a basic pass, there are no current physical injuries.
2. The once life-threatening burns on her right side had been treated but the scares remained.
3. Within her lifetime, she has had multiple broken bones, mended tendons and muscles.
4. Within the past four years she has had her left eye socket rebuilt, a few bones mended.
5. Within a few weeks ago, her entire right side has had extensive work, to include her right arm.

OOC: Perfect ~ Kate

IC:

The tricorder showed a history of fractures and burns but at this time none of that concerned her. “Vortioxetine is a prescribed substance. Why are you not getting it from your doctor? While it is normal and typical to treat depression, there is the possibility of developing suicidal thoughts the same with any anti-depressant. You can absolutely be on this but what you can not do is screw with the dosage.” Natasha’s voice did show some concern but not enough to alarm the patient however it would be abundantly clear she was less than pleased to find out controlled substances were being passed around a bar. This was not a new thing and was as old as time yet professionally she was going to have to report it to the authorities on Deep Space Nine. What made no sense to her was why the woman was getting bar drugs if she was under the care of a medical doctor. This might however explain the woman’s erratic behavior.

‘Doctor,’ Eghimea thought. She could remember the many faces of the doctors that she had seen while she had served in the StarGuard. She could see them across her memory with perfect detail. Even the strange blue skinned doctor on DS9 and the kind Vulcan from the Thunderchild. All of them, as if their holograms were stored in her mind. All but one….

‘Who prescribed the Vortioxetine to me,’ she wondered. Her rational mind assumed that it had to be a doctor. She knew that she had been seen by doctors while she was in the capital. She remembered arriving there. It was a rainy day, and there was an accident down the street. She remembered the two men arguing over who caused it. There were two guards with her, their dull brown Parliamentary Uniforms never really looked good. Her hand moved up to her face as she rubbed it slowly. The memories played out in her mind like a holoshow. But who was her doctor, she wondered?

It’s not like she runs around buying narcotics off the black market. She mentally sighed as she accepted the fact that that was what she had done just before coming here. Still the question lingered, who was her doctor. She pressed herself searching for the memories for what had to be there.

Suddenly she heard a voice speaking through the darkness. It was completely in her mind, but she couldn’t shake the very real terror that it was giving life to, ‘you may begin Doctor….’ She had barely registered the small woman’s words as her heart started to pound once more in her chest. The beating was so powerful, so intense that she felt very real pain on her chest.

“I need to take some blood,” she replied reaching into a drawer and pulling out a hypo. “Are you feeling any nausea, headaches, or itchiness?” Moving forward, she reached her hand out to steady Laju’s arm to draw the sample she needed.

Natasha Knight.

It was the feeling of someone touching her arm that snapped her back to reality. There was that annoying beeping from the monitor on her left arm once more. Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed the woman’s arm, but just as quickly let it go. Eghimea’s gaze found the woman’s eyes. There was fear and panic in Eghimea’s eyes as she staired across at this small doctor.

She couldn’t think straight. Pulling her hand all the way back Eghimea shook off the voice. Her eyes returned to the woman with a desperate look of defeat across her face as she spoke, “there…” she whispered, almost in shame. The word dripped with fear as if she was speaking the single worst statement imaginable. “is something wrong with me….” She concluded as her vision remained locked on those light green eyes. She pleaded to find hope and salvation in those human eyes.

2nd Laju Eghimea