"Code red, code red. Security to the emergency room, stat! Code red, code red." The hospital overhead paging system blared the words as Dr. Ralph Peyton flew out of his office just down the hall from the ER triage area. Code red meant a security threat; an out-of-control patient, family member, employee, anyone or anything that threw the hospital into panic mode. He remembered that Dr. Nolan was still on duty from last night and hadn't changed her shift yet. That made him panic even more.
He arrived in time to see glass canisters filled with cotton swabs and plastic emesis trays thrown across the room, crashing against the recently replaced dry wall. A half-filled plastic bottle of saline had spilled on the newly waxed floor in the hallway.
"I want my pills, I want pills!" the patient screamed. His matted black hair did little to cover his bloodshot eyes, which gave away he was twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours into his withdrawals. The room spun around him and the fluorescent lights overhead made him nauseated. He pulled out his gun from under his grease-stained, hooded jacket, and just as suddenly the woman in front of him grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to her.
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Dr. Samantha Nolan cocked back the trigger of the patient's handgun and pushed it up under her chin. The patient tried to stare her down, only to find the dark brown irises of her eyes now fixed and steady on his every move. His hands grew colder and his white fingers barely maintained their grip on the gun.
"Go ahead! You really think I like this job after treating someone like you?"
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The patient, unable to keep beads of sweat from draining down his temples, took a deep swallow. This wasn't what he expected. She wasn't what he expected.
Dr. Mary Ballard is a Board Certified Internist with a special interest in Women's Health and Geriatrics. She has been writing fiction since age 5. "Revealed" is her first novel and is available at amazon.com and kindle. You can purchase a book at her office, 1624 Pioneer Street, Enumclaw, WA, 360-825-1389 where you can receive a personalized, autographed copy.