Her mind wandered as she drove. Jenika thought back to everything that happened this last year and how she had ended up on this road trip.

She had been living a fairly normal life: work, family time, occasional nights out with her best friend or TJ. Her life was pretty close to perfect until that one horrible day at work.

~~~~~~

As an ER nurse Jenika was used to dealing with everything from simple cuts and runny noses to heart attacks, strokes and trauma patients. She wasn't assigned to trauma that fateful day but her assignment was right next to it. She heard the call that two patients from a car accident were headed in and they weren't in good condition. Her patients were all settled in so she headed over to help her fellow nurses.

Just as she was about to head into the trauma bay her charge nurse, Teri, grabbed her and drug her back to the nurses station. Just as she was about to ask what the problem was the other nurse forced her into a chair and told her not to move. She sat there dumbfounded for what seemed like forever, but was only a minute or two, waiting for someone to come back and talk to her.

She knew something was wrong the second her charge nurse, manager, and director all gathered in front of her with serious expressions.

"Jenika, there is no easy way to say this so I'm just going to be straightforward with you. Those two trauma patients that just came in are people you know. I didn't want you to walk into that" her charge nurse said.

"Oh my God. Who? I need to help then." Jenika gasped as she got up and tried to get past the wall of women blocking her.

"Jenika, please sit. Both patients are already on their way to surgery. There is nothing you can do now except head to the surgery waiting room. Is there anyone you can call to come be with you?" her director said quietly.

"I can call Ericha. She is off today. Oh my God. It isn't her is it?" Jenika said in a panic.

"No Jenika, it's not Ericha. I'm going to go give her a call and ask her to come up here." Teri said as she headed for her desk.

Jenikas manager was the next to speak. "Jen, I'm going to take you down to the waiting room and sit with you until Ericha gets here but first Dr. Smith wants to talk to you."

The next few hours were a blur. She knows Dr. Smith explained the injuries that each patient had and how serious they were and that surgery could take a long time. She knows she sat silently in the surgery waiting room just staring at the wall hoping Ericha would show up soon. She knows that she practically crushed Ericha in a hug when she walked in the door and finally let her tears flow. She has no idea when her manager left or what the surgeons actually said to her other than "I'm sorry. We did everything we could but their injuries were too severe. We couldn't save them."

~~~~~~

Jenika realized silent tears were flowing down her cheeks as all those memories came rushing back. Had it really been six months since she lost her parents? It seemed like yesterday but also a lifetime ago.

Jenika wiped away the tears and tried to focus on right now. Thanks to the money her parents had left in their will she was able to live her dream, travel the country, and see her favorite vocal band over and over again. She would rather have her parents back and still be forced to work everyday but that wasn't her choice to make. This was her life now and, knowing that it can snatched from you at any moment, she was going to live it to the fullest.

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