Page 3 of Forget Me Not

I look away from the window and down to where my sister cries uncontrollably in my lap. A flash of red catches my eye and I look farther down to where my shoes sit against the floor of the car. I can’t help the hollow laugh that escapes my lips. My whole world is falling apart around me, and all I can focus on is my stupid shoes. My stupid shoes that are splattered with red. Except they weren’t splattered in red thirty minutes ago. Only thirty minutes ago, my shoes were pure, clean white.

CHAPTER

ONE

Logan - Eight Years Later

Blood. The substance flowing through our veins, vital to our survival in this fucked-up world. I’ve always had a complicated relationship with blood. In actuality, it keeps me alive so I guess you could say I’m grateful for it. Well, I am, on most days that is. But in my nightmares, it haunts me, which somehow led to me pursuing it.

The smell of hospital antiseptic drags me out of my thoughts as I grab my bag from the locker it’s currently occupying. It’s nearly eight thirty p.m. on a Monday and after a twelve-hour shift in the ER, it’s safe to say I’m exhausted.

I think I always knew that I wanted to be a doctor. There was something about the human body, even as a child, that I found fascinating. I wanted to learn everything I could about it and then no matter how much I did learn, it never seemed like enough.

I didn’t fully grasp the concept that there were multiple types of doctors and that I had a choice of what I wanted to treat until I was around eight. From that point on, I explored every avenue. I wanted to know the ins and outs of every specialty to try and figure out what was the coolest to my younger self.

It wasn’t until after the shooting that I decided emergency medicine was the route I wanted to take. Two years into my residency, I know I made the right decision. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard and incredibly draining. But it’s also extremely fulfilling in a way that I crave in my life.

“You want to go grab drinks at Carl’s?” Theo, my coworker and friend, asks. I met Theo my first year working at Horizon Hospital Seattle.

Theo grew up in the Upper East Side of New York City with rich-as-shit parents. He spent his younger years living lavishly and essentially getting everything he ever wanted. When he told his parents that he was gay, they brought him straight to his therapist. Not because they weren’t supportive, but because they’d known since he was two and the fact that he didn’t realize they knew was concerning and he needed to discuss it with someone. It was with that therapist that he discovered his love for the medical field and with his tendency to get bored, on top of not ever being able to sit still, she advised him to look into emergency medicine.

Fast-forward to our first day of residency, Theo took one look at me, walked over and pulled me into a hug. I’m not a touchy person in general, so to have this random six-foot-something man hugging me was uncomfortable to say the least. He then let me go and claimed that because I looked like Tinker Bell and he looked like Peter Pan, we were destined to be best friends.

I didn’t realize at the time how much I needed his crazy influence in my life, but now I don’t know what I’d do without him.

“We just worked a twelve-hour shift, are you not tired?” I yawn. He looks at me like I have two heads.

“Are you new here? I don’t get tired,” he says, dumbfounded.

I shake my head.

“Come on, Tink. It’s not even nine p.m. and we have night shift tomorrow. Come drink with me, please?” he whines like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

“I just want to go home, Theo. I’m exhausted and the thought of being social right now is making my skin crawl.”

“Okay. We can go to your house first. We will grab you a hot outfit since I know you didn’t bring anything with you here, and then we will hit the bar.” He smiles as if his plan makes total sense. Before I can interject, Gabby walks into the locker room, looking just as exhausted as me.

“Yay, perfect timing. Gibs, grab your shit, we’re going drinking.” Theo lifts her off the ground and spins her like a rag doll. If looks could kill, he’d be dead right about now.

A few days after Theo claimed he and I were best friends for life, we met Gabby. She was sitting alone in the locker room while other people talked around her. In normal Theo fashion, he barged up to her and told her she was too hot to be sitting alone. She blushed profusely, completely embarrassed by the interaction. But we managed to win her over, and we’ve all been friends ever since.

Gabby is the shyer and more reserved of the three of us, also definitely the smartest. The girl is a genius, I swear. It took her a long time to open up to us, but underneath the shy exterior, the girl is a firecracker. You definitely don’t want to be on her bad side.

“You convinced Lo to go?” Gabby asks Theo, who responds yes at the same time that I say no. She looks between the two of us, confused.

“Okay, enough,” Theo says. “I’ve had a long day and I want a drink, also possibly a man, and not only is drinking alone just sad, but I need my two best wingwomen with me. So, suck it up, and do this for me.”

Gabby and I share a look, exhausted and knowing Theo won’t rest until he gets his way. The thing about growing up without ever being told no is that you’re not likely to accept the word in your adult life either.

“Fine,” I say. “But we’re stopping at my place so I can change. I’m not wearing scrubs to the bar.”

Theo nods, satisfied with himself.

“Can we stop at mine, too?” Gabby asks, her voice small and polite as always.

“No, Gibs. You live too far. You can borrow from Doomsday, she’s about your size. We can drag her out with us too,” Theo says, referring to my roommate and other best friend Demi.

Demi and I met a few days after I moved to Seattle five years ago. I was walking into a coffee shop at the same time she was walking out. She tripped over her own foot and spilled coffee all over me. She immediately broke down in sobs as she tried to wipe the coffee off my boobs with hundreds of napkins. She went on to explain to me through her tears and groping that she had just walked in on her boyfriend fucking her best friend, and instead of stopping, he yelled at her that they were over and to get out.

---