Chapter 296: The School Doctor
Nina
Even though most of the students went home to their families, I decided to stay on campus with my friends for winter break. I still wanted to work on the antidote every chance I had, just in case it would be needed to finish taking down the Crescents. At least, that was what I told myself and everyone else; but I secretly just wanted a reason to be in the infirmary even though there were no sick students on campus to take care of.
Being in the infirmary made me feel close to Tiffany. With each passing day, I missed her more and more, and I wished that her body could have been found to at least give her a proper burial. I hated what the Crescents did to her, and no matter what, I would never forgive the people who killed such a sweet and kind woman.
It wasn’t long before I eventually
became the new school doctor, just like Tiffany. The dean still hadn’t found a viable replacement for her, and so one afternoon, I finally marched into the dean’s office to give her my speech.
“I want to be the official school doctor,” I said firmly, to which the dean raised her eyebrows and looked at me over her glasses.
“You have school to worry about,” the dean said. “It’ll interfere with your studies, won’t it? Besides, you don’t have a medical license yet.”
Even though the dean’s skepticism made my heart sink, I had come here with the intention of standing my ground on the matter, and I did just that. “I’ve been working in Tiffany’s place for weeks now,” I said. “I trained closely with her all semester, up until she…” My voice faltered. I quickly blinked back my imminent tears and cleared my throat. “Anyway, I think I’m more than qualified. You know that I’ll stay here when I graduate, and you won’t need to worry about finding anyone else.”
The dean set down her paperwork and took her reading glasses off. She looked at me for a few moments, studying my face, before she finally nodded.
“Alright,” she said. “But only part- time while you’re still in school. If your grades start to slip, I won’t let you do it. Deal?”
“Deal,” I said with a grin.
The next day, I woke up early to get to the infirmary. Enzo and I were sharing his dorm by now, and we started waking up earlier every morning to head out together. While Enzo would be practicing in the hockey rink, I would be studying in the infirmarv. Every so often, we would convene in one place or the other for a quick few minutes of passion before we parted ways again and went back to our respective talents. While I was studying to get ahead of my work for the upcoming semester, Enzo was training harder than ever because he wanted to become the official
hockey coach; not just the captain until he graduated, but the official coach for the foreseeable future. I could see him making the perfect coach, too. He was firm and didn’t go easy on anyone, but the time spent training the recruits had taught him a valuable lesson in guiding with a gentler hand, and it seemed to follow him in his practice.
That day, I was sitting at Tiffany’s desk and going through a Chapter in one of the textbooks that I had purchased early for one of my classes for the next semester. I had a cup of coffee beside me, and although my eyelids felt heavy, it was a good sort of sleepiness. Before.
I had felt exhausted from too many
things going on and from a lack of sleep from nightmares or anxiety. But now, I was just exhausted from staying up late and studying, and it was the sort of exhaustion that filled me with happiness.
Suddenly, however, I heard a crash behind me. I jumped up, knocking my coffee cup over, then swore as I sent coffee spilling all over my desk. Cursing repeatedly under my breath, I quickly grabbed a handful of paper towels and began to sop up the brown liquid before it got everywhere.
When I finally looked for the source of the crash, I found it.
It was Tiffany’s picture. It had fallen off of the wall and the glass had shattered all over the floor.
As I bent down to pick it up, I had to blink away tears. Thankfully, the photo wasn’t damaged and I could replace the
frame, but the principle of the photo falling down made my heart ache. It was as if the glass shattering also shattered my heart just a little bit more.
But as I picked up the broken pieces of glass, I noticed something poking out from behind the backing on the frame. Furrowing my brow, I gently picked up the piece of paper that was sticking out.
It was a folded up piece of lined paper. My eyes widened as I saw what was written on it.
“To Nina.”
Forgetting entirely about the broken glass, I slowly unfolded the paper and began to read what was written inside.
“Nina… I’m writing this on September 28th, just a couple of weeks after you joined me here in the infirmary. When – or if you ever find this, it might be for a multitude of reasons. Maybe I’m gone, for some reason. Maybe I left Mountainview to finally travel to Paris. Or maybe I got impatient and gave this letter to you, and I’m watching you right now as you read it. Either way, it
doesn’t matter. I know that you’re special, Nina. There’s so much that you don’t know yet about the world, but I know that by the time you read this, you will have learned it all. I may not be magical or very special in any particular way, but I can see potential when it’s right in front of me, and you’re full of it. Whatever happens over the coming months or years, I just hope that it all works out for you. I hope that you find happiness and peace within yourself. I hope that you gain confidence and pride in yourself. Most of all, I hope you know that I love you, and I think you’re amazing. And whether I’m nowhere to be found, or whether I’m in Paris, or whether I’m sitting right in front of you while you read this. I hope you know that to me you’re the daughter that I always wished I had. You remind me so much of your mother, and I’m so glad that she sent you to me. Love, Tiffany.”
By the time I finished reading, tears were streaming down my cheeks. A sob leaked out of my mouth and filled the silence as I sat on the floor and leaned back against the metal cabinet behind me.
“I love you too, Tiffany,” I whispered through my tears.
In a way, I felt as though she was there, as though she heard me just then. Maybe the picture falling to reveal the letter was pure coincidence, or maybe it was a message from her in the afterlife.
Either way, as I clutched the letter to my chest and sobbed openly on the floor of the infirmary, I felt Tiffany’s presence more than ever. And I was glad that I had met her, too.
