Crash and Burn

[Morven]

Somewhere in the rational part of her brain, Morven knew driving was a stupid risk. The afternoon sun was high in the sky, glaring bright through her windshield and shooting arrows into her tired eyes. She'd been at work since midday yesterday, and with Sage before that; sleep just a distant memory at this point. The remnants of the coffee buzzed enough to keep her going, but she could still feel all her blunt and clumsy edges. Blood pounded pain in her temples as she shifted gears and cursed the traffic.

It took an age. She parked in a graceless slash across the lines and dug the keys savagely back into her pocket. The glass fronted building glinted, an elegant older sibling to the scabby state run facility Morven had chosen to serve her first term as a junior doctor. The doors swooshed at her entrance into the air-conditioned foyer. Ordered white; sterile and cool. A far cry from the impoverished Guardian's emergency department.

She was wearing her uniform, ID badge strung about her neck, but still had to argue at reception to prove who she was and convince the damn woman to dig out Sage Parker's file. She scanned the report quickly, eyes all blurred up -- though she was only really looking for the obvious. Alive. Relief blossomed in her chest, but guilt too, and a startling amount of loose anger sparking like wild lightning in her chest.

Then she caught Marcil in the corner of her eye, pure chance, as he strode along the corridor with a nurse at his heels. He gesticulated over a datapad; animated, pleased.

And the rage built before she could stop it, rushing towards an outlet. She slammed Sage's file back onto the chest-height desk.

"Marcil! Filthy fucking scunner. He was my patient."


The doctor looked up, alarmed, as her voice razored out -- followed by her blaze across the corridor. The nurse already stepped back, shooting a fraught look at the reception desk.

"You could have fucking killed him. I should have been there."


He frowned down at her. "But you weren't. The boy needed surgery. Excuse me."

Dismissed. Flatly unrepentant for the injustice. Her temper snapped. And she shoved him. Hard.

Yells filled her ears as he stumbled back. Everything blurred into a slow blink, and suddenly she was restrained from behind. Ahead, Marcil's face glared, red and angry. The datapad smashed and sparking on the floor. Fuck. Someone had her arm yanked so far back the pain shot hard in her shoulder; enough to make her grimace.

"Deranged girl. I'll have your licence."

She spat before she thought better of it. Security hauled her out.