Beyond Skin by Diana Khalil

Author:Diana Khalil [Khalil, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62135-602-8
Publisher: Clean Reads
Published: 2017-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

“Hey, Aimee.”

It took Aimee a split second after a baffled look to respond. “Hi, Pansy. What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in psychiatry rotations?”

“I asked Dr. Richards to change it.” No, I begged Dr. Richards to change it. “I’m not exactly ready to be in the psychiatry clinical yet. Order is important. It should be the last class on my list.”

“O-kay.” Her flat grin did not express satisfaction. “If you say so.”

Anyway,” Pansy said ignoring Aimee’s suspicious look, “Dr. Gupta asked me to follow you. Where are we going?” Red Combs Hospital was the busiest hospital on White Sands Island. Nurses, doctors, patients, and family members were passing them left and right.

“I have two patients on my list,” she said before turning away toward the elevator, Pansy in tow. Aimee pushed the second-floor button. “The first is a seven-year-old boy by the name of Jacob Johns. He’s an abuse victim. Evidently, after his father died, his mother remarried. The stepfather took the marital problems out on the child. He’s the youngest of three children. Don’t be surprised when you see him. He’s got a broken nose, a black eye, and cigarette burn marks all over him. Worse, his large intestine was ruptured. He had to have a pouch. He’ll be having surgery in a couple of days to remove it.”

Pansy tried to look at the bright side. “At least he’ll have a chance to live.” She wondered if she had stayed in psychiatry rotations if it would have been better. The thought of his injuries sickened her.

“Well,” said Aimee in a whisper as she stood behind door 242, “that’s the problem. Dr. Gupta is worried about the boy’s mind frame. He doesn’t speak when asked questions, doesn’t eat, and doesn’t sleep. And then there are his meds. We have to place them in IV’s. It’s like he has no will to live. That’s what scares us. With his upcoming surgery, the negative attitude will only prolong the healing process or make matters worse. You’d think with him being so young, he’d be resilient. But no,” she said shaking her head, “he shows no improvement to his condition at all.”

“I don’t know what y’all expect Aimee, he’s a child.”

“I know but…You’ll see.” She tapped the door, and they both entered.

If Pansy thought she was strong enough to handle seeing the patient’s injuries, she was dead wrong. The frail boy, swallowed up in the white sheet, looked to be no more than five. But his injuries—cuts, bruises to the face, head, and small arm sticking out behind the sheet—could not be taken even by the strongest boxer. Pansy wanted to scream. For composure, she was forced to look right above his head, at a rusty colored stain on his pillow.

“Hi, Jacob. This is Pansy. She’s a fellow med-student. We’re just going to check if everything is okay with you.” The boy quivered at her gentle touch.

“Hi, Jacob.” Pansy had to cough a couple of times to make it sound normal.

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