(🎶 Dedicated to the one I love - The 5 Royales)

Monday, July 22nd

I couldn't believe it, the day was here. It was Monday and my first day at St: Nicolai.

My nerves were slowly torturing me and my hands were shaking and already dripping with sweat.

As my hair and makeup were ready, I took a deep breath in front of my mirror. My curled blonde hair was perfectly brushed with every straw and my cheeks were blushing pink, contrasting my natural pale white skin.

I had to be settled for this, as my profession was not like others, it was important to be both physically and mentally stable to treat the patients at the hospital.

I left my house and got to my car to begin the drive to the hospital. I listened to the radio on the way to keep myself calm and sang along with the playing song, 'Dedicated to the one I love' by The 5 Royales. I thought that I probably would meet with Donald or Margret when I arrived at the institution, which made me feel a little bit more comfortable since I met the two of them the last time I was there, knowing they were both friendly and welcoming.

As I reached the institutional area, I parked my tiny black Renault 4cv on the lot for the personnel before I stepped out. The fresh wind of summer immediately hit my face when I stepped out of the vehicle.

I placed a cigarette between my lips and lit it up to breathe in the toxic smoke as one last attempt to calm my mad nerves before I began to walk towards the entrance. I reached the big locked gates, threw the cigarette on the ground and stubbed it out before I stepped inside the booth on the left side of the gate to use the telephone for someone to let me in.

I recognized the voice on the other side of the telephone line, Margret. Her sweet voice made me feel welcome. After only a couple of seconds, the gate was unlocked and I immediately met with another familiar person, Donald.

A big smile covered my face. He was handsome in his blue, guardsman uniform. It made him look bad and masculine with the truncheon hanging by his hip in the broad black belt.

"Hello, Donald, nice to see you again," I said with a friendly voice the second we made eye contact.

"Ms. Frazier, very nice to see you too. Welcome to St: Nicolai," He replied politely.

"Thank you," My voice was filled with exaltation as I answered his welcoming words.
He made a gesture with his hand which told me to step inside the gate and I followed after his statement. As we reached the big castle-like building he opened the door for me and I smiled at him once again.

"Good luck on your first day, guess I'll see you around," Donald's voice was flirty, and after Friday night's comment, it was obvious that his eyes were open for me already. I blushed for myself as I thought about the drunk man telling my friend that he looked forward to seeing me pass by every day.

"Thanks again, Donald. See you,"

I walked away from him and met with Margret in the reception instead. Her kind eyes covered by the big round glasses met with my own and I smiled instantly at her sweet face.

"Welcome, dear," She said before she started writing on a piece of paper lying in front of her.

"Thank you, miss?" I realized I only had heard Ms. Schwartz call her Margret right after the interview.

"Oh please, just call me Margret," She insisted while she handed me the paper she just wrote on.
I nodded my head at her and began to read the paper. It was a contract regarding the security and safety of the hospital.

There were instructions for the keys the employees got, informing me that every key was personal with a certain code. I already knew there were very strict rules in the institutions about things like safety and secrecy, yet I read the whole paper carefully before signing it with my fribble signature.

Margret gave me the chain of keys and the folder for my professional ID, always to bring with me from now on. She also put a grey and white pile of clothes on the desk, which I understood was my uniform, and the only thing I could feel as I looked at it was excitement. I wasn't nervous anymore, just filled with happiness and gratification.

"Take the door to the right, and you will find the changing rooms. The tiny key on the chain is the one to your personal locker. Make sure it always stays locked. When you are changed and ready, you come out here again and wait for Ms. Campbell, she will take care of you from here," Margret explained while pointing in the direction of the door she just mentioned. I nodded again at her instructions and I began to walk towards the door with the sign 'staff only'. For the first time, I used my key to unlock the door and I stepped inside a small hallway.

It was dark because there were no windows, only a weak blaze of a white, cold strip-light in the ceiling. To the left, there was a door with a sign for the females and to the right, there was the one for the males. At the end of the hallway, there was a third door with the sign of laundry, otherwise the space was nothing more particular than the bad amount of lightning.

I stepped inside the females' changing room and searched for my locker. The area was bigger than I thought, compared to the small hallway, and it had a lot more of a light.

As I finally found the number of my locker, I started to change into my new nursing clothes. I looked in the big mirror hanging on the wall and I smiled to myself as I placed the hat on my head. It was much harder to get into place than I had thought, but with a bit of struggle I managed to get it right after a couple of tries.

The grey uniform dress was perfectly fitted over my chest and ended just above my knees. The white apron allowed my skinny waist to come forward and exposed my figure a lot more than with only the dress on.

Even the shoes fit perfectly. They were comfortable, although there was a heel, and they made my legs appear even longer than they already were.

I was absolutely ready now.

I walked out of the doors again and the second Margret laid her eyes on me, she shined up in a smile. I looked at Donald who was standing in his broad-up position by the entrance and for my notice, he was already looking at me.

My smile immediately got shy as I met his delighted gaze. His white teeth shined through his smile and carefully he nodded his head as a way of telling me how good of a fit the uniform had on me.

"Ms. Beverly Frazier?" Suddenly I heard someone behind me and I turned around and met with a beautiful, short-haired woman. Her eyes were big and wore the color of honey and her eyebrows were thick and dark in shade, matching her hair. She looked like snow white. Her skin was pale as winter and her cheeks blushed sherry pink. She was gorgeous. Her features had the most perfect contrasts.

I took the woman's hand and shook it carefully while responding to her.

"Yes that's me, I'm Beverly. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too, my name is Harriet Campbell. Welcome to St: Nicolai," The woman's voice was friendly and calm.

If she was the one responsible for my introduction, I figured I didn't have to worry at all from now on.

"Thank you, Ms. Campbell," I greeted, and realized I had already been welcomed two other times in the past twenty minutes.

"Come with me and I'll show you around. I will start by giving you a tour around the hospital and your ward area, then I'll begin to go through your schedule and how we shift. I will also go through the patient lists, the medical schedules and the routines. We have this whole week for introduction, so we have plenty of time to go through everything slowly. So if you have something to ask, just feel free to,"
I listened to Harriet's words as she started to walk away from the entrance, and I followed after her with proud steps.

She opened one of the many doors surrounding us, and we reached a small white-painted space. Harriet pressed a button on the wall and a few seconds later an elevator rolled down and tracked apart the doors in front of us. We stepped inside the spatial lift and she pressed one of the buttons on the keypad to make it move again. I understood right away that this was the way up to the actual hospital area.

"We have stairs as well of course, but this is the way we usually go when we start our shifts. The stairs are in the pharmacy area which will lead you to the opposite side of the dressing rooms,"

The hospital building was enormous, and I realized that there were a lot of rooms and areas I would have to learn to find my way around. But firstly, I had to focus on the patients and their scheduling so that I could manage to do my job in the best, proper way.