The Love of a Staler

There was a chill in the air as the approaching storm drew near. It was late March with already plenty of snow on the ground from previous storms. The trees doing a naked dance as the wind blew stronger. A branch from a nearby tree snapped and flew against the side of Destiny’s new house in Connecticut.

She jumped with a start at the sound, waking her from her deep sleep. She groaned when she saw that she missed her alarm and was already a half-hour late for work. It being already 8:30 am. Destiny just started the job at Norfolk General about 3 weeks ago and already she was becoming late.

Destiny just moved from Norfolk, Virginia to Connecticut to pursue a new job career. Her parents had long since past, leaving her at a young age from a car accident. She had lived with an Aunt who she didn’t care for much back in Virginia. Destiny wished she hadn’t made such a drastic move without knowing anyone or anything in Connecticut. But she was here and determined to make the best of it.

Making quick time as she put her nurses uniform on and quickly brushed her long blonde hair. She quickly called the hospital and left a message with Jennifer at the nurse’s station to let her know she was running late and that she would arrive shortly. “Hey Jennifer” she said breathing heavily “ I just woke up and wanted to let you know that I will be there in about an half of an hour I am so sorry, thanks bye.” Destiny hung up the phone and grabbed her ID badge, car keys, night bag and jacket, as she was jamming her feet into her white nurse’s shoes. She went briskly to the garage and started her 98 Volkswagen Jetta and threw it into gear as she hit the button for the garage door opener.

Driving down past the little shopping center she took a right to head straight to the hospital. “Man I’m in some deep trouble this time” she said to her reflection in the rearview mirror. She wasn’t sure if it would be Rich or Tom supervising this morning. Destiny was hoping for Rich, he was much nicer than Tom was in the morning and more understanding considering he’s been late a few times himself for the love of sleep. He red Jetta pulled into the hospital’s nursing staff parking lot and squealed to a halt in front of her assigned parking spot.

Giving herself a once over in her rearview mirror, she jumped out of the car grabbing her night bag as she locked the doors. She walked fast to the front doors and ran to the elevator, as the doors were about to close.

Looking at herself in the polished elevator doors, as it was it was so shiny that it served as a full-length mirror. She stared back at herself at a 5’4 height, long wavy blond down to her elbows hair, her bright steel blue eyes, her high cheek bones and full mouth. She had long legs and wide hips. Not that bad for being 24.

Destiny never could see what everyone else claimed in herself. All of her ex’s (all 5 of them) said that she was beautiful. The low self-esteem was derived from her Aunt’s constant complaints about how she looked so much like her father, saying that he was a no good nothing and that she was going to be just like him.

Shaking her head out of her past, as the elevator dinged the 4th floor. The elevator faced the nurse’s station, and there sat Tom looking up, as she approached, from the charts he was going over and gave her a stern look. She groaned in her head, knowing that today was going to be a long day. Destiny threw what she hoped was a winning smile at Tom and said “I am so sorry Tom, I will do my best not to be late again.” Tom just looked at her with his dark brown eyes and said “ Get to work, you know I have to report you now.” Giving him a contrite look Destiny said “ Oh please Tom don’t report me, I just started here and if I loose this job I will loose the house I just bought.” Knowing that he had been late a couple to times himself he let her go this time. “Alright Miss. Klancy, I won’t report you this time, but be sure that if this happens again I will be reporting you to my superior.” “Thank you so much Tom!” Destiny exclaimed, “ I promise I will do my best not to be late again” “Now get to work before I change my mind” Tom said with a growl. “Jennifer has already started your rounds.”

Grabbing up her set of charts for the rest of her rounds she made her way down the corridor to find Jennifer. Relieved that she didn’t get into as much trouble as she thought she would. She found Jennifer in room 419 giving meds to a nice elderly man both Jennifer and her had grown fond of. “Hello there Mr. Detellio, how are you feeling today?” Destiny asked.

Going over to the sink to wash her hands, she passed Jennifer and whispered “Thank you.”

Mr. Detellio said to Destiny “ Oh you know how it is Miss. Klancy, these old bones ache with all this cold weather brewing.”

Jennifer gives Destiny a reassuring smile as she left her to finish with her own rounds. “How about that cough you have there Mr. Detellio?” She asked “Well it still hurts, but it’s only really bad when I sleep” He said. “Well we can give you something to help you while you sleep.” Destiny said. Feeling mournful for the elderly man in about his early 70’s his thin body constantly racked with pneumonia, she tried to make him more comfortable. Finishing up with his meds and giving his pillows a good fluff left his room to continue with her rounds.

She headed down the hall to get her medical tray and bumped into Jennifer again. “Jen I am so thankful that you helped me get my rounds started, I owe you one.” Destiny said. “You bet you do” laughed Jennifer. Jennifer was taller than Destiny. She had long brown hair and hazel eyes. She had long legs and a tiny waist. Her breasts were bigger than Destiny’s about 36C in size. Destiny was glad that she had a nice friend like Jennifer to help her out. Jennifer started a month before Destiny arrived there, they both coming from other states became fast friends.

The day did pass relatively quickly for Destiny as she looked at her watch and took her lunch break. Going to the elevator, pressing the B button to go to the basement where the café was to grab a bite to eat.

Destiny strode over to a table with her tray in hand after paying for her meal and sat down by the windows. After a few minutes of munching on her salad and sandwich she became aware of someone watching her. She glanced up and saw a dark haired man with the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen staring at her from a couple of tables away from her. She thought she might have seen him before. Feeling awkward, she glanced back out the window. Wondering why this weird man was staring at her she decided to glance back at him, but he was already gone. Thinking nothing of it she finished her meal, and walked over to the trash and dumped her remaining food into the trash and placed her tray on top.

Heading back to the 4th floor she saw the dark haired man again as the doors closed on the elevator. She felt her face grow red from him staring at her as the doors finally shut with mans face on the other side.

Thinking no more of the man she finished her day and headed home. Wearily taking her shoes off and dropping her keys on the hallway table and putting her purse on the floor. She picked up her mail from the floor that the mailman slipped through her drop hole in the door. Bills and more bills. She sighed thinking about how she was going to manage, knowing that she was going to have to work a little harder. Maybe pull in some overtime at the hospital to get some extra money.

She went to the couch and turned on the TV to relax. Hearing the wind she heard something scratching at the side of her house. Getting up to investigate what it was, she slides her sliding glass door that opened onto her deck. Peering around the side of the house from the deck she saw the branch that had earlier fell waking her. Walking to the side of the house she removed the branch and pulled it to the middle of the yard reminding herself to take care of it later.

She headed back inside the house and looked at the clock on her living room wall, rolled her eyes at the time and went to start dinner, it being already 5:30. She made a fast meal, and went upstairs to take a long hot shower. When she was done, walked down in her bathrobe and a towel wrapped around her head. Destiny unwrapped her hair from her towel and sat down with her cup of tea she just made and turned back on the t.v. Looking through the t.v. lost in her thoughts she began to think of her past and what was her life like back in Virginia.

She never really did have a lot of friends. But the ones she did have had said she was a friendly and a warm hearted person. Which was sometimes her downfall, she had too big of a heart; always giving people 2nd chances to stomp in her heart some more. Out of her 5 boyfriends she only had one serious relationship, and that was James. Their relationship last a long 2 and a half years with her breaking off their engagement and realizing how nieve she was in men. She had broken up with him once, finding out that she wasn’t the only one he was “seriously” seeing. And after all the begging that she was the only one he wanted in his life she took him back. Then it got worse, he had started hitting her after that, and he became a constant drinker with them always arguing about something. That’s what made her make the final decision to move away to Connecticut She just couldn’t stand her Aunt anymore and she was so sick of how people were to her there. So she decided to pack her things and start a fresh new beginning.

Shaking her head from all the memories flooding her brain. She drained the last of her now cold tea, and went up to bed.

Things went uneventful for the next couple of weeks. Jennifer and her hung out a lot on the weekends, going to dance clubs and the occasional bar. Although Destiny was a friendly person she was really shy most of the time so she didn’t have anyone else she knew besides Jennifer. She kept to herself in her neighborhood having just the HI’s and bye’s of the people that worked at her local shopping store.

Jennifer had just met a great guy named John who just swept her off of her feet. They had been dating about a good six months when one day at work Jennifer approached Destiny and looked like she was going to burst with excitement.

Jennifer whispered “ John asked me to marry him!” “Can you believe it?” “Wow! Really?” I replied. As she showed me the ring he gave her.

Astonished at such an early engagement in their relationship. “I’m really happy for you Jen!” Destiny replied. “Oh so am I!” “ I couldn’t be happier” she beamed. “We are supposed to be going away for a little while the weekend after next weekend for about 2 weeks to celebrate, plus I’m going with him to Rhode Island to visit his family out there.” Jen told me.

“That is so awesome Jen” Destiny said as she wrapped her arms around her friend for a hug. “ I hope you have a good time.” “

“Oh I know I will!” Jennifer replied.

Destiny watched as her friend walked away humming to herself. Feeling suddenly alone without a boyfriend herself she focused her mind in her work. Destiny was thinking about taking a little vacation herself considering she had been working there already about 3 months all of her benefits kicked in and she had some vacation time. She mental reminded herself to talk to Rich to let him know that she was going to be taking some vacation time in the next two weeks. So she would be gone while Jennifer had her “romantic get-away”.

Destiny knew of a great place to go camping up in Maine that her parents used to take her to before they passed away, her aunt keeping the cabin they had after they passed. It had been a while since the last time she was up there and was hoping that it wasn’t run down and kept up by her cousins, considering her aunt knew that Destiny didn’t have the money to be able to fix it herself.

The day came and went and at the end of her shift she stopped in the supervisors office to tell Rich about her plans. But instead found Tom sitting where Destiny thought Rich would have been. Tom smirked at Destiny as he realized she thought him to be someone else.

“Where’s Rich?” Destiny inquired

“He went home early today, what can I do for you Miss Klancy?” asked Tom

“Well considering my benefits kicked in I was thinking about using some of my vacation time.”

“Oh planning a little get-away are we?” he sneered

Tom didn’t like Destiny because she had turned him down on previous occasions of asking her out when she first started working on that floor.

“Something like that.” She replied

“Alright when are you planning this time-off?” Tom asked

“ In about two weeks, I’ll be gone for that whole week”

“Alright well I hope you enjoy it.” Tom said sarcastically

Destiny thank him and went on her way, before she left she decided to say bye to Jen. Jen held her up for a second letting her know that she wasn’t going to be able to keep the plans they had made for that weekend because she was supposed to go out with John. Destiny said that was fine with her and told her of her plans as week in two weeks. Jennifer hugged her and said that she would see her later.

Destiny headed to the employees parking lot and while fishing in her night bag for her keys heard footsteps she turned suddenly as she heard them get closer to her when she was at her car door. She only saw a figure it being too dark outside to see who it was. She could tell that it was a male just by the build of the person. The man grabbed her and pulled her by the arm to turn her around to cover her mouth before she stared to scream.

Destiny thinking quickly, stomped on is foot and threw her head back and smashed the man in the face with the force. The man let go of her and was momentarily stunned, falling to the ground. It was just enough time to get into her car and starting the engine. Thanking herself that she forgot to lock the doors that morning, threw the car in gear a speed away. She looked into her rearview mirror to see if the man still lay on the ground. She gasped when she saw him standing there looking at her retreating car lights.

Physically shaking she speed to her house, pulled into the driveway, and ran into her white house; not even putting it in the garage. She flew to the phone and called the hospital security and informed them of what took place in the parking lot. They told her to then call the police and file a report to them.

The policeman was kind enough to come down to her house, her being to shaken to drive anyway. She gave the tall, blonde haired man the report about what happened. “Now ma’am you can’t give me any description of this man that attached you other than he was taller than yourself?” the policeman asked.

“No officer, I really wish that I could.” “It was too dark to see his face.”

“I understand Miss., well we will file this report, and if you should happen to remember seeing anything at all please give me a call.” He told her “Here’s my card.” Destiny walked him to the door.

“Thank you so much officer, I really appreciate you coming all this way.”

“Not a problem Miss Klancy.” “Have a good night.” He said

Destiny closed the door after the officer left and hugged herself. Then turned and locked the door. Making sure her slider was locked she went upstairs to take a bath. Maybe that would calm her down she thought. Pulling out a flannel night gown from her dresser and a pair of blue lacy thongs went to the bathroom and started the bath water, adding a few of her scented oils to the water. She took her long bath, got out and dried off her body wrapping herself in a terry clothed bathroom and walked down to the kitchen to make herself a cup of her tea to relax her. She walked to the living room to lay down and watch some t.v. As it grew late when she finally calmed down, she decided to head on to bed.

She woke up to her alarm going off to start another day. She got her usual crisp white uniform from the chair across the room, slipping into her shoes; she brushed her hair and teeth and headed downstairs.

Glancing at the clock in the kitchen she noticed that she had enough time for a quick cup of coffee. She thought about eating something quick but decided against it, her not being the morning person she is. She waited for the coffee to finish brewing and grabbed a cup and spoon for the sugar. After it was done she downed the coffee and headed to the garage for her car.

Remembering that she left it in the driveway, cursing herself for forgetting, she walked outside to her car. She found a note attached to her windshield, she grabbed the paper and read “ "Destiny, my love, I’ve been watching you my darling, I shall be with you soon." Signed JR. Shaking she threw the note into her purse and got into her cold car. Starting the engine she headed towards the hospital.

Instead of parking in the employee parking lot, she decided to park in the regular parking lot, although she had to walk farther, she felt safer there. So she walked around the hospital until she reached the door she had to go into. After the elevator and her usual 4th floor stop she decided to ignore the note that was left for her and just get to work. Destiny saw Jennifer in the linen closet before she hit here next room and stopped to say hi. “Oh hey Destiny!” said Jen. “How are you doing this morning?”

Destiny was about to reply when a code blue rang loudly across the loudspeaker. Both girls ran to the room that was called. It was Mr. Detellio’s room. Some of the staff was already there. Another girl she knew as only Kim was hitting the poor man with heart panels to get his heart going to no avail. After about 15 min. of trying to bring the man back then relented and covered his frail body with the sheet over his face. As everyone shuffled out of the room to do the proper reporting and paper work Jen and Destiny stayed behind. Both so fond of the elderly man, hugging each other as they mourned his loose.

They both slowly went back to work. After the loose, the day for Destiny passed quickly. Jennifer stopped Destiny as she was about to take her lunch break to tell her that John was supposed to be taking her out on some romantic dinner that evening. “I’m so excited!” exclaimed Jen.

“ That’s awesome!” Destiny replied “Have a great time.”

After her friend walked away, humming to herself, Destiny waited for the elevator to take her down to the café. When the doors slid open, she let out a gasp of surprise to see the dark haired man staring right at her, looking at her with his dark, piercing eyes. Destiny wanting to get away from this strange man, quickly turned on her heel and walked back and away from the receding doors and the man in the elevator.

Catching her breath in the back room where the linens were stored, she started laughing at herself for being so foolish. “What harm is he going to do in the elevator of a hospital?” she thought, “He was only in the elevator, not like he was on my floor hunting me down.” Shaking her head, she decided to just get back to work and end her day just that much shorter, considering she really wasn’t that hungry anyway.

As Destiny walked back around the corner to where the nurse’s station is, Rich stopped Destiny saying:

“Miss Klancy, I wanted to let you know that your vacation time next week is approved.” “I hope you have a good time.” Rich said with a smile.

“Awesome, thanks Rich.” Destiny said returning the smile.

Rich was a middle aged man, tall, but a little portly, not so much to make him look fat, just filled in, almost muscular. He has startling blue eyes that always seemed to dance with laughter. He had sandy brown/blonde hair, with a little bit of gray at the temples.

The days flew by fast, as her vacation approached fast. Jennifer all excited over her vacation as well. They hugged each other and said their farewells and told each other to have a great time.