#oaken

On autopilot and paying more attention to her thoughts than where she was going, Anna clipped her shoulder on a passing member of staff.

“Sorry! I’m so sorry!” she stopped and apologised, then quickly realised by the uniform they were wearing that she’d bumped into another orderly. “Oh hi, uh, actually—excuse me, I’m looking for another orderly. Do you know him? Blonde hair, soft spoken, big hands and,”—she lifted herself up on tip toes and reached one hand as high as she could—“about thiiiiis tall?”

The other orderly chuckled goodheartedly, amused at her description,

“You must mean Kristoff. Yeah, sorry—he’s off sick today.”

Another orderly at the other end of the hall beckoned to them for assistance and with a shrug of their shoulders they left her standing confused in the middle of the hallway. As Anna continued her journey back to her probably sandwichless desk, her thoughts distracted her even more than before.

Kristoff, that’s an unusual name. Norwegian? One of those Nordic countries for sure. Poor guy being sick. Or… did I make him uncomfortable and now he’s avoiding me?

She rubbed her face with her hands and groaned to steady herself then reached to open the door. Before she’d even taken her fingers off the handle, Honeymaren was in her space bombarding her with excited questions.

“How’d it go? What’s his name? What’s he like?”

Anna felt her whole body slump.

”It didn’t. Kristoff. Still an enigma.”

Yelana’s fingers stilled over the keyboard. She glared fiercely at the computer screen then shook her head and returned to typing.

“Men.”

Honeymaren put her hand on Anna’s shoulder, her enthusiasm also deflated.

“I’m sorry Anna. That just doesn’t make sense.”

With a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders, Anna took her seat again and picked up the next lot of admissions to enter into the system. The shiny foil of the fancy chocolate sitting on her desk caught her eye. She remembered his crooked smile, soft voice and the survival snacks he’d left for her out of the kindness of his heart. No, he definitely cared. He probably was just sick, maybe that flu going around had got to him too. She nodded to herself resolutely, and set to work. She knew his name now at least, there would be time for that coffee again. Things had a way of coming back around.

Late that afternoon, Anna had finished entering one of the last patient files on her pile then picked up the next. She paused and blinked, blinked again, trying to make sense of what was in front of her. ‘Full Name: Kristoff Bjorgman’. Kristoff wasn’t a very common name—could it be him? She flipped the pages until she came to ‘Occupation: Health Care Assistant’. The now familiar fluttering in her stomach started again at the thought it had to be him. However, the sensation disappeared as quickly as it started, when the obvious struck her that he really was sick—sick enough for her to be processing his emergency admissions paperwork. She felt queasy and her fingertips pressed against her lips. Poor Kristoff! She entered the data as quickly as she could, bundled up the files and turned to Yelana and Honeymaren.

“Kristoff is sick. And he’s a patient! I’m going to take these files up and check on him.”

There was no hesitation from her coworkers nodding in agreement and she was out the door in a flash, stopping only briefly by the cafeteria to pick up a hopeful takeaway cup of coffee.

——-

“Hoo hoo! Can I help you?” asked the ward clerk. His huge frame took up most of the semi circle desk and he seemed friendly but Anna didn’t have time for pleasantries.

“Kristoff. Kristoff Bjorgman.” she sputtered. “Can I see him?”

“Ya, but he won’t see you,” the ward clerk frowned. “Unfortunately at this time he is not in a conscious state, so for conversation you have a big problem.”

The blood drained from Anna’s face. She stood her ground.

“I want to see him anyway. Which bed is he in?”

“That’ll be 40.” The clerk ran his fingers down the spreadsheet on his desk to check. “No, 10. He must have been moved closer to the doctor's station for observation.” By the time he looked up again, Anna was already making a bee-line for bed number 10.

The metal rings skimmed along the rail as Anna pulled the curtain aside and she was shocked at what she saw. There was her guardian angel—fallen. Now a mere mortal laying unconscious in a hospital gurney with the side rails up, drenched in sweat, with seemingly endless tubes going into him and cables coming out. Anna gasped as she took it all in, then again when the curtain rapidly closed behind her. A man in a doctor's uniform with a stethoscope around his neck entered the little room, head down and focused on the file in his hands.

“Wife? Girlfriend?” he barked abruptly, still studying the pages.

“Who? Me?” Anna pointed to herself, disorientated but realising there was nobody else but Kristoff in the room. “Oh no, it’s not like that. More of a friend, I guess.”

The doctor flipped through the paperwork, looking for Kristoff’s next of kin.

“Marital status: single,” he observed with a shrug. “That figures. This guy always puts everyone else’s needs before his own, maybe a little too much.” Finally he looked up at Anna with a gentle smile and offered his hand in a firm handshake. “Doctor Mattias. I’ll be watching over your friend here. My friend, too you could say. Worked with him plenty of times. Probably one of the hardest working orderlies on staff. Always goes above and beyond for his patients.” Anna’s nerves settled, and she smiled back, believing every word. “He collapsed last night,” Doctor Mattias continued, “trying to pull another double shift to cover a colleague.” He shook his head and sighed. “Another one down with the flu. Got it bad too. I don’t know what we’ll do without him to be honest. Anyway I’ll check back on him soon, see if he’s improved. Take care.”

The doctor took his leave and Anna was left with just the slow and steady beeping of the monitors to keep her company. She took a seat next to Kristoff’s bedside. Unsure of what to do next, she set the coffee down on the tray table and tried to talk to him, maybe he could still hear her, even if he couldn’t talk back.

“Hey Kristoff, you don’t look so good. I was kind of mad at you for standing me up, but geez, I forgive you! You didn’t have to bring me those care packages every day, you know? You said it yourself—you have to look after yourself too. Time to wake up! I’ve bought you that coffee I promised.” Uneasy at his lack of response, Anna lifted her hand to brush the sweaty fringe from his face but hesitated, instead opting to rest her fingertips on his forearm. “I’m here, what do you need?” Kristoff stirred but his eyes stayed closed still deep in a fevered dream. He mumbled something and Anna leaned in closer to hear him.

“Sandwiches…” His voice was barely a hoarse whisper.

“Oh! Sandwiches! I forgot the sandwiches! I was kind of in a rush to see you, but I’ll bring them next time I visit, okay?” Kristoff was still again, though the monitor he was connected to continued with its steady beep. Pulling back her fingers, Anna wrung them together with her other hand, worried. After a few quiet minutes, she slipped away to finish her shift.

When she got back to the office, Anna’s coworkers waited for her to take her seat before asking her how he was.