Chained - Cannibalistic love

Chapter 1

I awake to the annoying sound of my alarm. A loud grumble of annoyance escapes my lips as my pale hand turns off my alarm clock. I remain lying quietly in my bed, arm sluggishly hanging over the edge of my bed as I force my eyes to stay open and wake up. My eyes tiredly trail over to my alarm clock, the red lights shining the numbers back at me. Five in the morning. A heavy sigh escapes my lips as there is nothing, I would rather do than go back to sleep. But I have to get up and get to the hospital. I started my nursing bachelor's degree this year. Right now, I'm in my second semester and currently on my second placement of the year. Two weeks at the hospital. Today is the last day of my placement, the last morning shift and thank God the last time I need to wake up this early for a while. Until next year's placement that is.

With a heavy sigh, I force my body up into a sitting position, yawning as I go. I remain sitting there for a few minutes, composing myself, forcing myself to wake up. Once I feel awake enough, I lazily get up and make my way to the bathroom, ensuring that I remain quiet, so I don't disturb my, still-sleeping, family. My family consists of my two older siblings, Liam and Isla, and my loving parents. With a tired sigh, I turn on the shower, to wake up and wash my hair. Once finished with my shower I brave the cold after-shower air, quickly drying myself and shrug on my scrub top which is soon followed by my black pants. Finally, I pin on my name tag and pin-on-watch and put the hospital swipe card that's on a lanyard around my neck. I gently brush my hair back and twist my still slightly wet hair up into a neat bun. Once I get back to my room, I place my notebook in my pocket, along with a table printout – a shift planner – so I can plan the day for each of the patients and (hopefully) nothing will be forgotten during the day, it makes handover at the end of the shift easy since everything is documented along with the time. I quickly make my bed, open the curtains, and grab my bag before exiting my room and walking into the living room and kitchen for breakfast.

Glancing outside I'm not surprised to see it's still dark. The sun is slowly rising over the ocean, the dark sky becoming slightly lighter by the minute. Still feeling tired, I force myself to make breakfast which consists of a fried egg on toast before starting to make my lunch, two pieces of bread with chocolate spread, and a small packet of crackers for morning tea, as well as filling up my drink bottle with water. It'll be a long day at the hospital. There are still several things I want to complete as an objective but also things that I enjoyed and would love the opportunity to do it again. So, with this final day, I have to make the most of it. Take every chance I can get.

This year we had two placements. The first placement was during the first semester, and we had one week in aged care. However, one week went by quickly and by the time I finally got the hang of how everything works the placement was finished. This second placement was also the final placement of the year. This was two weeks in the hospital. I got placed in the cardiology ward, in other terms, the heart unit. It was educational. I enjoyed the hospital placement much more considering the workload, but it also gave me many more learning opportunities. On this placement I was also allowed to do more, we were now also allowed to give oral medications under the supervision of a registered nurse. We were also given an official roster which means shift work. This meant the mornings were from seven till three and afternoons from three till eleven in the evening. Thankfully I haven't had any night shifts yet, I have never pulled an all-nighter and honestly, I like my sleep too much to try it.

Glancing at the clock, I realise it's already six o'clock, time for me to leave for the hospital. Seeing as my car broke down over the weekend, I now need to take the bus, which is roughly a forty-minute ride. I'll get there with good timing, enough to not need to rush and still be on time for the handover at seven. However, I'd prefer to be early rather than late, so I'm not complaining about having to leave so early. Even if my car was working, I'd still be there around the same time as the bus got there. I'd just get to leave a little later.