The first day I arrived back at the hospital after being gone for two weeks was a bit crazy. Nothing new. I called Mom and Grandma to tell them that I arrived safely. I had promised to spend every other weekend off with them. They couldn’t keep me from them if they tried.

After I’d been on shift for a while, I ran into Gigi. She was one of the nurses I worked with on the ward. We never socialized outside of the hospital. It wasn’t that I disliked her, we were just indifferent.

“Alexis,” she acknowledged quietly.

“Oh hi, Gigi,” I replied.

Gigi looked around, hesitating, and then said, “When you finish up with your patient, come and meet me in the cafeteria for your break. You are due one in about five anyway. My shift just ended, so I’ll wait for you.”

I nodded.

We had worked side by side for about five years and not once had she ever asked me to coffee or vice-versa. It was weird, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I went to meet her. As I stood in the cafeteria like a lost sheep, she waved to me. She was seated with two cups of coffee. She had milk and sugar ready. I suppose I should have thanked her.

“You’re curious, right?’’

I nodded. Of course, I was, we had kept our conversations to simply talking about patient care or handing over notes as she started her shift and I ended mine for years. Now she was asking me to meet her for coffee. Of course, I was curious.

“Okay, I will cut to the chase. Noir is not happy with you. Have you seen her since you came back?”

I shook my head. “No, I haven’t seen Noir since I came on shift. I haven’t seen hardly anyone.”

My friends were usually my co-workers on the day shift, but they weren’t on my rotation today, so I thought it was odd. I suspected that Gigi knew the answer to my unspoken question when she had asked if I had seen Noir.

“I hate that bitch. We all do. Anyway she made some changes.”

“Sure, I figured she would have to, because of the accident, but—”

She waved her hand in the air, and her big brown eyes shone as she leaned over the table. I pulled my chair closer. “Look, I have two kids at home waiting for me. I can’t afford to make this a long conversation. I didn’t want to make it obvious, so I bought the coffee.”

Shit, I never even knew she had kids.

“I appreciate that.” I was going to keep my responses short. She had something to say, and it was for my benefit, so I needed to listen and thank her for being kind enough to share it with me. I’d looked at the schedule and noticed that my normal co-workers were all assigned to the night shift, which I found strange, but I’d been too busy to send them a message to find out if they’d switched or if Noir changed them. She was notorious for doing that. As Gigi rightly said, Noir was a bitch. However, what that had to do with me, I had to wonder.

“Noir went through your file. I caught her doing it. That could only mean one thing. She is looking for shit on you. I don’t know why you taking time off to recover pissed her off, but it did. So I’m warning you, because I know you’ve been in and out of court a few times for those malpractice suits—”

“But those were dismissed.” I frowned.

“I know, but it only takes a word. Now, you get what I am saying, right? So, you do what you need to, to protect yourself. She pulled the same crap on Hayley, remember?’’

I nodded, my thoughts flying to Hayley. She had asked for some compassionate leave once her dad died. Noir refused, stating that it affected the rounds and then she went through her file. A hearing was called and before we knew it, not only was Hayley sacked, but she couldn’t work as a nurse again. That was the one thing about my field. It was not like being an accountant where you could get a job at a different firm.

Once a hospital sacked you for negligence, no one wanted that shit on their hands. Working at a hospital was so political, and it was all about the money. If a nurse had that on their file and there was a family suing them, most likely the family would win, and the hospital would be left with a big dent in their pocket.

They don’t come out directly and state that you cannot work in another hospital, but Hayley had more experience than I did, yet she couldn’t find work. You always need a reference, and when there was one saying fired due to negligence—well that was like putting a nail in your coffin. You were out of a job, a career, and everything else that you had worked so hard for.

Why is Noir allowed to do this?

Oh, it was all about politics. The woman could get away with murder, just because she went to the right medical functions and all that. She may not have gotten the grades to be a doctor, but she used other means to get what she wanted, and being married to one of the senior physicians helped her a long way too.

Why did I not apply to another hospital a long time ago?

Why did I stay here so damn long? Now, look at my fate.

I could have pinched or even slapped myself for being so naive. I knew how the industry worked. The politics, the money and all that, yet I turned a blind eye and made sure I turned up at my shifts and thought that was enough to stay ahead in the game.

“Look, I’ve got to go, but if I don’t see you tomorrow”— she looked sad as if she knew the answer to her statement—“which I don’t think I will, then good luck. It ain’t over till the fat lady sings. Remember that.”

Again I nodded.

She got up to go. She didn’t have to tell me. But she did, and I appreciated it. We had worked together for years, and I hugged her.

I said, “Thanks, and good luck to you too.”

She smiled, and part of me wished that we’d had a conversation before and we didn’t have to have coffee like this. But that was in the past. It was obvious what was going to happen next. I could no longer work in this hospital or any for that matter. My time here was done. Noir would force me out like she did Hayley. All I knew about Hayley was she had to take up private practice afterwards as a physiotherapist, after extensive training.

As I returned to the ward, my name was called out.

“Where have you been?” Noir asked as I entered.

I glanced down at my watch. “I am just coming back from my scheduled break—”

“You should have been back early, didn’t you take enough time off?” Noir glared at me. “I had to see to one of your patients.”

“My patients—”

“Are in need of your attention, now get back to work and don’t make me tell you again,” Noir declared.

Gigi’s warning had prepared me to face the worst, and I knew she was right. Noir was looking for any little thing to hang me up on. She was going to be rid of me, one way or another, but I had already decided what I was going to do.