A Day, A Season, A Lifetime

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.

The sounds of the hospital rang in the nurse's ears as she hurried through the corridors, just making it to her station as the clock signalled the beginning of her shift. Straightening her skirt, she sat down on her chair and looked over at the long white passages that lead to the depths of her workplace.

 

"Maternity ward please, Nurse Davis, they've requested an extra nurse."

 

A quick smile was directed at the doctor who had delivered the message before the nurse stood, heading down toward her requested assignment. The maternity ward was one of the friendlier places in the hospital; Anna Davis generally enjoyed working there. She turned a right corner and briskly strode in, pausing for a few seconds before heading towards one of the beds near the far wall at a doctor's beckoning. Despite having no experience delivering babies herself, she never ceased to be amazed as she stood by with a wet towel and a glass of water, watching as the woman strained, the doctor urged, and the world was greeted by another little miracle. As the child's wails and the mother's harsh breathing pierced the air, a wide smile broke out across the nurse's face. She handed the glass of water to the exhausted woman and reached down to wipe her face, before looking over at her newborn son.

 

"He's beautiful."

 

And he really was, Nurse Davis couldn't help but lean down to pat the pale pink cheek, stroke the thin brown hair, and gaze into the light blue eyes which shone brighter than the sun on a clear spring morning.

 

The day wasn't particularly busy, a patient coded once over in east wing, but he was brought back without too much trouble and stabilised quickly. It was just approaching lunch time when a call was placed to deliver a set of pills to the paediatrics ward. Nurse Davis didn't mind paediatrics too much, it always pleased her to bring a smile to some of those young faces, but she still couldn't help but find the idea of sick children a bit too depressing. It was a colourful ward, with posters decorating the walls and toys littering the floor, she walked in with a smile and a wave to all the kids and made her way over to bed three. On it lay a young girl, in her early teens by the looks of it, identified by her chart as a pneumonia patient.

 

"It's all clearing up nicely. Just take one of these twice a day and you'll be better in no time," she said, placing the pills on the small metal table beside the narrow bed.

 

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but was taken over by a fit of coughing. After several seconds of heaving, she cleared her throat and looked up at the kind nurse, giving a weak thanks and a summery smile.

 

Lunch was a quiet affair, a nice plate of curry and a large cappuccino in the cafeteria. The nurse ate quickly, then deposited her empty plate on the washing stack and walked back out to her station, pausing a few times to greet her passing colleagues. Back at work, she was called into the room of one of their most regular patients. After an accident several years ago, mother of three Selena Grae had been constantly in and out of hospital for various issues relating to her donated organs and replaced joints. Every time the doctors fixed her up she would be back again a few weeks later as yet another of her foreign or artificial body parts played up. Nurse Davis quite liked Selena, the nice but unfortunate lady was always equipped with tales and jibes about her three daughters, and she entered the room with a warm greeting. She picked up the woman's chart, jotting down a few things and recording a couple of readings while listening to the patient talk about her youngest daughter's most recent escapade.

 

"I managed to finally get her cleaned up, but she insisted on keeping the leaves caught in her hair, funny girl. Pressed them in a book, she did, in fact I've got them here now."

 

The nurse chuckled as she filled in the last line and replaced the charts, walking out of the room with a short comment about pesky kids and an appreciative glance at the orange-red daintily pressed autumn leaves.

 

The day was coming to a close, she was just beginning to revel in having avoided her one hated place when she received the call she always dreaded. Despite having worked in the hospital for over ten years, she just couldn't get used to the fact that none of the patients that entered the terminal ward would ever come out alive. The harsh white walls, the bare bright room, the stark sterile smell, all the things that she had associated over the years with death greeted her as she reluctantly stepped onto the premises. Her gaze wandered briefly before settling on the centre bed and the man who lay there. His skin was wrinkled and his hair pure white, but what drew her attention most was the equally aged woman that sat by his side. A veil of sadness clouded Nurse Davis's heart at the sight; she knew the man had fought long and hard, but as always the cancer won out in the end. There was such a tenderness in his companion's gaze, such an understanding that spanned from decades of love and devotion, but even as they lay and sat and stood, the machines began to slow and the monitors began to drop. Nurse Davis could only look on, helpless as the old man's eyes slipped closed and his heart fell still forever.

 

"No. No! Please, you have to do something!"

 

The nurse shook her head as the old woman cried over the bleak tone of the flatline.

 

"I'm sorry."

 

And at that moment, despite the cloying hospital warmth, she could have sworn that she felt the cold touch of death in the room, and the kiss of an icy winter breeze.

 

At the four o'clock signal, Nurse Davis packed up her station, changed out of her uniform, and signed herself out. She smoothed over her outfit and picked up her bag before walking out of the tall glass sliding doors and heading home. Her shift was ended, her work was finished, her day was done.

 

 

 

A day, a season, a lifetime.

Author's Note

I'm notoriously bad with proofreading, so please point out any typos or grammatical mistakes you notice. General tips for improvement are also very much appreciated.

Reviews

[Editor-in-Chief]

This is one of my fav's good job!

[TheElfPrincess]

A good story with nice descriptions and a good use of words. I enjoyed it. Well done.

[Tate Morgan]

I am notoriously unworthy of stories I have the worst attention span on earth However that said I did read the story and I do think it has merit

[Calypso]

One of the problems of being a nurse is that you have to see death. On time a class mate said she wanted to work in oncology for children and every gasped. Not many people can deal with such pain.
Wonderfully written.

[Jazique]

Very creative and unique piece but, if you're worried about grammatical mistakes you could probably do something like put it Microsoft word and it will show you any mistakes its aware of. anyways it was very nice story and I like the as your title of 'A day, a season, a lifetime" so nice and well done.

[WriterMe]

Again this piece seemed to scream unique. This was extraordinary. You really amaze me. How can a story be so simple, and yet manage to convey so much?
I think most of the mistakes have been pointed out. But if you could break them up into smaller paragraphs, it would help the reader a great deal. Great work overall =]

[Sarusai Hiryu]

Pretty good job.

[Linzey]

I am beginning to love reading your writing with every one that happens to cross my path =) your imagery is amazing and the details that you can put into them are fantastic. keep writing and requesting me please.

[Irish_Ranger]

“It’s all clearing up nicely," - Change comma to a period.
"The girl opened her mouth to speak" - I'd put a comma after this.
"The day was coming to a close, and just as she was revelling in having avoiding her least favourite place, Nurse Davis was reluctantly called to the one ward she hated." - I'd re-word this, something like "As the day was coming to a close, she'd just begun to revel in avoiding her least favourite place in the hospital when she was suddenly called"
"Reluctantly called" - Nobody is reluctantly called. Maybe from the viewpoint of the person making the call, but not to the person being called.
"never come out alive. The bleak white walls, the stark sterile room, the smell that over the years had been completely associated with death, she dragged her feet" - I'd put a long dash (or two "--") between "alive" and "The", and between "death" and "she". This helps show that you're illustrating something beyond the current point of view, like it's in your character's mind.

"Her gaze wandered briefly before settling on the centre bed. A man lay there, his skin wrinkled and his hair pure white," - I'd make this the start of a new paragraph, instead of having it joined to "premises".

"at the sight, she knew" - Put a semicolon instead of a comma here.

"but even as lay and sat and stood," - Not quite sure what you're trying to say here...

"Nurse Davis could only look on, helpless, as the old man’s..." - Take out the comma after 'helpless'. It's artistic, but isn't really needed there.

The story lacks an effective ending. Let's follow the nurse to the end of her shift and leaving for the day. Complete the picture.

As for your tale itself, I must say that it is very creative. Like so many of your other pieces, you have woven a very intricate picture of a day in the life of a nurse, which can be related to be both nurses and regular folks alike. Very well-crafted, once again.

[Tyler and Lozza]

That was outstanding! Really Detailed and Emotional, Your Brilliant keep it up, Your grammer was good and spelling Your GReat like just WOW 100%