6
T
NATRAJA MEDIA
APPARITION
ina was thrilled that she would no longer have to wake at 5:30 to make the hour and half long trip to work every day. Although her new job demanded shift work, living and working onsite would be much more convenient. She had gotten residency at a Nurses home would be working as a medical technologist at a local hospital, adjacent to the Nurses home. It was a quaint room on the fourth floor. The lift was a bit squeaky but in working order. She was informed that the rooms would be inspected from time to time and house - keeping would come in any time after 8am, weekdays only. The room was furnished with a shelf at the entrance, a single bed on the left, study desk, wooden chair, and clothes draw on the opposite side. The kitchen, laundry and bath facilities were communal. It was her first experience of living away from home and she would have to adjust to communal facilities but nonetheless she was excited at the thought of freedom and the independence that came with it. The hospital was accessible through interleading corridors. In the days that followed, she had only explored a few hallways. From her room she had a peepview of the ocean along with a view of the frog pond, the unkept and sadly neglected staff pool. It was not the kindest of sights and she opted not to gaze out the window. At first, she was able to go home on a monthly basis but as time progressed, so did her work and study commitments. Her family would visit her on the weekends, take her out and restock her supplies. In the passing months Tina had adjusted well. She had met the ladies who shared her floor, nurses, two of them student nurses. Her new friends were happy to help her run her errands.
HALLOWEEN 2023 By Ravika Naicker
Spring was ending and the seasons’ end had brought with it bitter cold nights. Tina worked split shifts. This week she was working 14:00 to 22:00. She had just got off her shift and was heading to her room. The sky looked heavy and gray through the glass shielding the corridors. And unexpected roar of thunder made her jump. She couldn’t help but laugh to herself when she realize her silly fright. She passed the creepy janitor as she headed for the lift. As luck would have it, the lift was out of order. She was exhausted, it had been a busy and tiring day at the lab. With festive season a few days away, it was about to get a lot busier. She had been looking forward to a hot shower and light snack in front of the telly. She remembered she still had some course work to complete. She hurried up the stairs, undressed, grabbed her towel and toiletry bag and headed for the showers. She opened the faucet and waited for the sight of steam. As soon as the hot water hit her skin, she could feel herself relaxing. Eyes closed, she started to drift off. Calming darkness. Interrupted by the sound off voices in the hallway, Tina shut off the water, toweled off quickly and headed back to her room. The hallway was empty, maybe one of the ladies had just got back from their shift. Awakened by the unbearable cold, Tina squinted at her clock; 2:46. The weather had gotten a lot nastier since she had left work the previous night. As usual, she had meant to grab a coffee and something to eat but had been so tired that she had not even closed her door shut. Deciding that she should put in some work on her assignment, she armed herself with a large mug of coffee and grabbed a bag of mini crackers, spring onion – her favorite and got settled. The lights began fluttering. She gazed at the ceiling, and rolled her eyes …. the last thing she needed was a power outage. Prolonged power outages were not uncommon during storms. Tina was extremely passionate about her field of work and would speak about it to anyone who would listen. Aside from her hematology, and anatomy and physiology text books, her bookshelf held a few novels by her favorite author, Robin Cook. She soon found herself absorbed by the fascinating World of Microbiology. Tina was scribbling notes when she was abruptly disturbed by the bang, bang, bang, ear-splitting knocks on the door. Tina gave a quick glance at her clock, …. 3:13 and replied, “Just a minute”
