The Nurse Read Online Free Page A

to the house. Suddenly I realize that I forgot to ask about the light, which means I have no idea whether the light-bulb here in my bedroom has been left on or off. Not that it matters, of course, but I'd still like to know. It's probably on. She used to leave it on before.
    “Okay,” I mutter finally, leaning forward and fumbling until I find my laptop. “Time to find out what happened in this house, and who lived here before us.”

Chapter Eight
     
    Alice - Twenty years ago
     
    “What did you give him?” Doctor Ames shouts, as he frantically checks the bottles on the trolley. “Alice! What the hell did you give the boy in room five?”
    “His medicine,” I stammer, trying not to panic as I listen to the sound of the resuscitation efforts. “I only gave him -”
    “His medicine is right here!” he yells, pointing at a set of pills. “That's what you were supposed to give him!”
    “Then...”
    Pausing, I try to work out what I did wrong. I gave all the patients their medicine, and I was so careful to make sure that I didn't make a mistake. I counted everything out and double-checked, triple-checked even, but clearly somehow I made a mistake. My mind is racing, but I'm sure I followed all the usual steps.
    “There are some blood-thinners missing!” he says after a moment, turning to me with shock in his eyes. “Please, tell me you didn't give him those blood-thinners! Not after the operation he had last night.”
    Pushing past me, he runs out of the office and through to the patient's room.
    “It's the amilocyclin!” he shouts to the others. “Blood-thinners! They must have reacted with the morphine, and I think they've set off his allergies too! He's going to bleed out if we don't do something fast!”
    With tears in my eyes, I hurry after him, although I stop as soon as I see the other nurses desperately trying to get a tube down the boy's throat. His whole body is shuddering violently and there's blood not only all over his chin but soaking through his bed-sheets too. With each passing second, his body seems to buck and jolt harder than ever, and two nurses are having to hold him down as another tries to get a needle into his arm.
    “Why the hell was he given amilocyclin?” another doctor shouts.
    “It was a mistake!” Doctor Ames yells as he grabs a needle from the trolley. “One of the nurses screwed up!”
    “What did you do?” asks Angela Ajo, one of the other nurses, as she steps up behind me.
    “I... I think I...”
    “Did you give him the wrong medicine?” she continues. “Alice, please tell me you didn't do that...”
    “She did,” another voice whispers, “and now I'm dead.”
    Turning, I find Anthony staring at me. His eyes are so calm, but his flesh is pale yellow and there's blood all over his chin.
    “You killed me,” he says calmly, taking a step closer. “You're so stupid, you made a mistake and now I'm dead. You're a nurse, you were supposed to look after me, but instead you did this.”
    “No,” I stammer, stepping back as tears stream down my face, “I didn't, I... I mean, I...”
    “Do you know how much it hurt as blood leaked out through my stomach and my liver failed?” he asks. “Do you even know what real pain feels like? Even when they were trying to save me, when they were shoving that tube down my throat and all the blood was flowing out through the stitches in my belly, I could hear them yelling at each other. And then when they tried to open the stitches so they could take another look at the wound, the pain was like nothing I could ever have imagined. None of that would have happened if you'd just paid attention and given me the right medicine.”
    I shake my head.
    “He's coding!” a voice shouts in the distance. “Get a team in here!”
    “And then my heart stopped,” he adds, still watching me with an expression of pure hatred. “I felt that too.”
    Turning, I watch in horror as a team works on the boy, but I already know that they won't