Nina Hart . D6 . ( fin ) ( re-write )

N  I  N  A     H  A  R  T 
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FEMALE
SEVENTEEN
DISTRICT SIX
NURSE
ASPIRING DOCTOR
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Parents aren't supposed to pick favourites. Everyone knows that, and yet I knew for a fact that I was my fathers favourite. I mean he has never openly come out to my brother and said, "hey look son, Nina is my most cherished child and you, young man, take the back seat." But I didn't need to hear him say it because I knew. It was the little things that would give it away, like how he would spend that little extra time with me every night when I was younger. He would tell me stories about his childhood, about his wild adventures with his brother. He would turn them into real bedtime stories, replaying the events in such a theatrical way that I always felt like I was there with him, a shadow watching from a distance. Occasionally when I asked he would tell me more about mother, how they meet, how they fell in love, and how he lost her and my older sister to an illness, that was out of his control. 

It was from that moment that I had decided that I wanted to join the healthcare industry, like my father. I had wanted to be able to help mother and Bella, but I hadn't known what to do. So instead I had watched, totally helpless, as they both faded away until there was nothing left but their decaying corpses.We had looked similar, the same honey coloured hair and green eyes. There skin had been paler than mine, almost translucent, whereas mine was speckled with freckles. Father told me quietly the night we lost them, that they had gone to a better place. But I didn't believe him, I couldn't believe him,  because what better place could there be but right here, with me and the rest of the family.

"Nina? Nina are you listening to me?" The sound of my name pulls me from my thoughts and it takes me a moment to remember where I am. "He's going to be alright Nina, they got the bleeding to stop. You did a good job. He's going to be okay." The doctor gently squeezes my arm as he walks past me towards the door. A few steps from it when he stops, turning back to face me, his eyes shining with pride, "You're going to make a fine doctor one day. I know your old man will be proud." His words fill me with a sense of pride and a smile spread across my face as I thank him and turn back to the child laying still in the bed. I knew that I still had a long way to go before I could take the doctors exam, before I could even think about taking the exam, but I knew that everyday I was here, I was learning and I was taking that one step closer to reaching my goals. Father often says to me that one of things about me that reminded him of my sister the most is my determination. He would say to me, "your sister always knew exactly what she wanted, and would never let anyone get in her way to achieving it." I wish I had gotten to know her more.

A disturbance in the bed drags me from my thoughts and I see that the boy, Tilly, had finally woken up. I walk over to him, smiling down at him as I take a seat on the edge of his bed. He looked so small in the large bed, his body only talking up one third of it. "Hows the brave boy feeling?" I ask, reaching for a clipboard above his head, my long fingers closing around the cool plastic. "Does it  hurt anywhere?" Tilly shakes his head. "Looks like this one might leave a scar," the boys face starts to fall and I quickly back track, "but thats okay, you know, all bad boys have scars. Between you and me, I can tell you that the girls will be all over it." I wink at him and watch as his face flushed with admiration as he looks down at the bandage leg. He starts to smile as his eager little eyes turn back to me. "you really think so? I hope Luna likes it..." he trails off realising that he had said too much. Panic flashes in his eyes, "I mean- I don't like her or anything!" A small chuckle escaped my lips as I watch him flail over his words, worried that his secret love will escape this room. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," I reassure him, quickly scribbling a couple notes down on the clipboard before placing it back in his rack above his head.

My brother, Angus, says that I've always had a way with people. That I've always had this endless patience. But that wasn't true. My patience ran thin when it came to him. He grated on my patience- usually on purpose- and often brought out my worst. With him I was always going to be that little girl. We constantly were bickering like little children. It didn't matter that he and I were two fully grown adults. put us in the same room and it was like time had rewound itself and we were nothing but two adolescent teenagers fighting for our father attention. Angus says thats the real reason I have followed in his footsteps. He says that I would do anything to please father, and maybe he had a point. Maybe a big part of the reason why I did choose to come down the path that I have is because of him, and because of my aspiration to please him. But I liked to believe that it only played a small part in it.

I think Angus was jealous of that. Jealous of the bond that father and I shared. I knew that he had wanted to also follow us down that path, that he too had wanted to be apart of that. But no matter how hard he tried, he just didn't have the same passion for it, or maybe it was more that his reasons for joining the healthcare system just weren't strong enough. He never really did have the desire to be a medic, he had wanted to follow mum and become an artist. And what an amazing artist he was. When he was creating, he became his work, he would become so absorbed in it that he would often forget about the world around him. When he was at his best, there was days, even weeks, where we wouldn't see him, and then one day he would just emerge and you would know that he had just created a masterpiece. Losing mum and our sister had hit him the hardest. Their deaths turned his world upside down and he hadn't been able to find his feet. He still hadn't.

"Thank you," Tilly says quietly, pulling at the loose threads at the edge of his blanket. "Can I see my mum now?" he asked, staring at the closed door for a moment before is eyes meet mine. I smile kindly down at him, "Okay, but first I need you to promise me something," I tell him flicking his nose gently. He nods earnestly "Be more careful in the future," I gesture towards his leg. "Don't worry your parents like that, alright. You have to take care of them just like they take care of you. Give them a big hug when you are out of here, alright." Once again he nods his heads, vowing to me that he will be more careful in the future. "Good! I'll go get your parents." I quickly climb from Tilly's bed and head towards the door.

After quickly talking to his parents I head into the changing rooms and run my hands under cool water. Running my wet hands over my face I look into the mirror. People often remind me that my eyes are from my mother, but the rest is all my father. I have his slightly turned up nose, the same lips, same smile. But I have her eye. Looking into my green orbs I smile to myself. Even though father said she has gone to a better place now, I know that he is wrong. I know that her, and Bella, are both here with me now. Cheering me on and encouraging me to do my best.

And they always will be. 

Always.