Scenario #14

Volunteer hours were supposed to be easy. Trying to save a man with multiple third-degree burns, however, was not. Mei was supposed to be learning how to set things on fire, not treating the product of fire.

The first hour was the worst. Layers of skin were cracked open and blackened. The patient's face looked like bloody charcoal, almost unrecognizable as belonging to a human. Her skill in white magic was nowhere near enough to directly assist the head nurse of the ward. Instead, she was relegated to more menial tasks: handing instruments to the nurse, running for supplies, changing bandages, etc. It was a long afternoon of what could only be described as surgery, an act that was seldom performed at the Academy. 

The sun was just now beginning to sink behind the Ceteris skyline when Mei had returned to the patient's room. She promised the head nurse she'd come back and change out his bandages before dinner. The nurse had to take off early, completely drained from the surgery.

Entering the hospital ward, the same antiseptic smell greeted her as it did every other Tuesday afternoon this semester. The feelings of both pain and white magic were almost palpable here, something that made her cringe when she first started here. Tonight, she merely walked towards the closed curtains around one of the beds, all business, and pulled back the curtain. 

The patient hadn't seemed to have moved since he was placed in recovery. Good. Closing her eyes and concentrating, she was able to get a superficial glimpse of his vitals. Breathing: slowed. Eyes: closed. Any idiot could tell this guy was sleeping. Even better, it'd make her job quicker. She walked past the curtains, turning her back to the bed, looking for a roll of gauze.