Everest's heart raced and her hands trembled. She took a deep breath, the scalpel hovering over the little girl's chest. Her fingers tightened around the blade. She was frozen. Unable to cut. The girl was dying.
     "Dr. Sawyer?" The lights were too bright.
     "Dr. Sawyer," The oximeter was too loud.
     She could hear this girl's heart failing.
     "Everest," she looked at her resident. The room started to spin. "Are you ok?" "Uhm," she put the blade back onto the tray. "Call Dr. Taylor. Have him make the first incision." "Dr. Sawyer-" "now." Everest rushed out of the operating room, ripping her mask off and throwing it on the floor.
"Dr. Sawyer!" someone spun her around. The hallway slowly stopped spinning once she realized it was Dr. Taylor. He gently shook her shoulders. "Everest. Talk to me." She looked distraught. "What's- who's with Mia?" Dr. Taylor huffed, "She's with Dr. Miller. I told her to take over." Everest seemed to finally breathe. "Is she-" "Stable? Yes. Will you please tell me what happened back there?" She shook her head. Usually, she was blunt. Straightforward. But the words got caught in her throat. Dr. Taylor sighed. "C'mon. You need some fresh air."
He led her out to the front of the hospital and set her down on a nearby bench. He looked up and pointed to a group of stars. "Orion's belt," Everest looked at him then at the sky. "Ancient Egyptians believed it was the resting place of the soul of the god, Osiris. The Egyptian god of the underworld."
     "Never took you for an astronomy buff." Everest laughed.
     "Nobody does." he looked at her and his gaze softened as if she was a constellation herself.
     "What made you walk out tonight?" Everest sighed, keeping her eyes fixed on the stars. "I don't know, I just . . . " She laughed to remove tension. Although it didn't work. It never did. "Andrew, I can't hurt another kid. I could practically feel her heart dying, just like-" "He's not dead." "He was." In all honesty, it was a simple mistake. One small incision led a boy's heart to stop for 3 minutes. That mistake was then followed by years of regret.
     "You provided that boy with a significantly better opportunity than he had ever dreamed."
"I know that."
"You saved that boy's life-"
"I know that!"
The world seemed to fall silent.
"I'm sorry." Andrew looked at the ground.
     "Don't be." Everest looked at him. Andrew took that as an apology. He understood that she never outright said it. "Your apologies suck." Andrew smiled. "...Thanks, An." Everest looked back up at the sky.
Andrew's eyes were locked on her. "Yup."