Echoes of “Happy Birthday” swirled through the tendrils of a subconscious, weaving a cacophony of laughter and clinking glasses.

A blur of colors—a little girl in a powder blue dress, her hair ribbon fluttering as she dashed with unrestrained glee. The abruptness of collision: the child and an unknown man, a figure obscured by the haze of memory. What followed after-

Chaos

“Hana! Hana, where are you?” The voice, distant and desperate, sliced across the festivities, silencing the merriment like a cold wind snuffing out candles.

The scene shifted, shadows creeping into the corners of a troubled mind. A vision of the same child now shrunken, curled into herself, hunched in a corner where the walls met at harsh angles, her small frame trembling, eyes wide with terror.

Dream fragments swirled- a little girl sobbing alone, violins screeching anguish, the shock of being torn away from everything familiar and thrown into a light-less place no one could reach. No matter how desperately Hana stretched to pull that small hand back from the abyss, it was fruitless.

A single tear escaped from beneath her closed eyelids, tracing a warm path down her cheek as she jolted awake.

Eyelids fluttered open with heart hammering, cheek damp from tears she hastily wiped while grounding to the safety of her bedroom. Just that nightmare again played her inner mantra. She sighed aloud, “...it’s been too long...”

Squinting at the glaring red digits of her alarm clock, Hana groaned. No point dwelling on thoughts of the past when the first day of the rest of her life now demanded focus - and anxiety.

As if perfectly choreographed, Hana’s phone lit up with Mira’s personalized ringtone of Shadow by Seventeen blasting a reminder no one could sleep through.

Hana managed a faint smile tapping her cell screen to life, silencing just before Mingyu’s verse.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead!” Mira’s voice crackled through the phone line, each syllable dressed in optimism.

“First-day nerves? You’re going to be amazing, Hana. Just remember to breathe,” Mira encouraged, without waiting for a response.

Hana’s fingers fumbled with the phone, her movements still clumsy with sleep. Twirling the pendant of her necklace, “Thanks, Mira. I—I just had that dream again.”

“Ugh, shake it off, babe. Those old memories can’t touch you—not today.” Mira’s voice was a vibrant contrast to the lingering shadows of Hana’s nightmare. “You’re about to start healing people, Hana. Real-life magic. Hold on to that.”

“Okay, yeah. You’re right,” Hana murmured, the familiar weight of worry settling between her brows. She glanced at the silver necklace charm resting against her collarbone.

“Go get ’em, tiger,” Mira quipped, her laugh a melodic chime that seemed to dance around Hana’s room.

“Thank you, Mira. Seriously, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Today was her first shift as a newly graduated nurse beginning clinical rotations at one of the most prestigious hospitals. A terrifying prospect for anyone fresh out of university and hurled onto the front lines of health crises great and small.

In signature dramatic style, Mira had risen to the occasion of cheering her on before dawn, no doubt after pulling another late night finalizing new artists’ case profiles.

Now only if she had just a sliver of that enthusiasm, Hana thought as she fumbled to make eggs without dropping shells.

“Easy—you’d conquer the world in slightly less fabulous shoes,” Mira teased, her confidence unwavering. “On the topic of shoes, I left you a little surprise on your side of the shoe shelf”

Setting the stove on low heat, Hana briskly makes her way to their shared shoe closet. A brand new pair of white crocs lay perfectly inside its box.

“Mira...“, Her hands traced the border of the box, her phone supported by her shoulders to her ear.

“Hana my dear, Good shoes take you to good places,” Mira declared. “Now go make us all proud.”

“Alright, here goes nothing.” Hana’s voice was barely more than a whisper, her resolve fragile as she ended the call and prepared to face the day.

The sterile scent of antiseptic hung heavily in the air within the hospital walls. Hana’s slender fingers, normally so steady, betrayed her as they trembled slightly, hovering above the latex surface of the dummy hand. It was a simple procedure—inserting a catheter—but under the weight of her expectations, the task turned into an impossible task.

“Easy,” she whispered to herself, trying to steady her hands. “You’ve done this a hundred times in class.”

But the classroom had never felt this real, this urgent. She glanced around at the other nurses, each absorbed in their tasks, their confidence seemingly unshakable. Hana brushed a lock of dark hair behind her ear and focused intently on the dummy before her when an announcement crackled through the intercom.

“Attention all nursing staff, please report to the main conference room immediately.”

Her heart skipped a beat. She dropped the catheter onto the tray with a clatter that seemed too loud in the quiet of the practice room.

“Did you hear about Nurse Crystal?” a voice murmured from somewhere within the crowd.

“Dragon Heart. Sorry, Draginhert,” another corrected with a hushed giggle. “I heard she’s as tough as nails.”

Hana’s mouth felt dry. The whispers only served to tangle her nerves further. She stayed near the edges, hoping invisibility might be granted to those who wished it most.

When the groups were finally announced, Hana felt the color drain from her face as her name was paired with the one person she had hoped to avoid—Head Nurse Crystal. She could sense the sympathetic glances cast her way, but she kept her gaze fixed on the floor, willing herself to become part of the shadow.

“Let’s begin our rounds,” Crystal’s clear, authoritative voice cut through the nervous murmurings of the recruits.

Hana trailed behind the head nurse, trying to remember all the procedures and protocols she had crammed into her mind over the past months. They stopped by a patient’s bedside, an elderly man whose breaths came in ragged gasps despite the oxygen mask.

“Keep up, Shizumi,” Crystal said sternly, her eyes scanning the chart.

Just then, the man’s hand reached out, brushing Hana’s arm. His touch was like an electric shock, triggering a cascade of visions that weren’t her own—a birthday party, a little girl, a mother’s scream. Panic seized Hana, suffocating her as the room spun. The man began to hyperventilate, his distress mirroring her internal turmoil.

“Out of the way!” someone shouted, pushing Hana aside as more experienced hands swooped in to assist the struggling patient.

She stumbled back, pressing herself against the cool wall, trying to regain her composure as the medical personnel worked to stabilize the man. Her heart hammered against her ribs, clear in her ears.

In her mind, the echo of her friend’s encouraging words clashed with the stark reality she faced. “Breathe, Hana. Breathe”

“Real-life magic,” she thought bitterly, her wide amber-brown eyes reflecting a tumult of emotions. “If only I could believe that now.”

“Miss Shizumi,” Nurse Crystal’s voice snapped, dragging Hana from her momentary refuge against the sterile hospital wall. She turned to face the head nurse, her delicate frame tensing as she took in the rigid posture and the icy blue gaze that never seemed to waver.

“Y-Yes, Nurse Crystal?” Hana stammered, picking on the skin on her fingertips, an anxious habit that surfaced whenever she faced confrontation.

“Your performance today was unacceptable,” Crystal said, her words clipped, each one landing with the precision of a scalpel’s cut. “This is a hospital, not a playground for indecision or faint-hearted whimsy. If you cannot come to the aid of someone in need, then perhaps you should reconsider your position here.”

Hana’s honeyed tea eyes shimmered with unshed tears, reflecting the harsh fluorescent lights above. “I’m so sorry, I—I just...” Her throat tightened, choking off her words as she struggled to articulate the chaos that had gripped her mind at that moment.

“Excuses won’t save lives,” Crystal interrupted, her tone softening only marginally. “You need to decide if you’re cut out for this. We can’t have nurses freezing up when it matters most.”

“Understood,” Hana murmured, her apology barely audible, as she fought the urge to let her emotions spill over.

From the side-lines, a tall doctor, clad in blue scrubs with a white coat on top, observed the exchange. His keen eyes, hidden behind clear glasses, now scrutinized the scene with concern as he stood beside the nurse’s station, absentmindedly holding a patient’s chart.

“Dr. Jenkins!” a voice called out urgently, snapping him from his thoughts. “We need you in OR, stat!”

“Right there!” the doctor responded, sparing one last glance at Hana before sprinting toward the operating room.

Hana maintained her gaze on the floor, heads bowed downwards in remorse. She shivered as the air around her felt suddenly colder, the whispers of the other nurse clear in her ears.

“Get yourself together, Miss Shizumi,” Crystal said, her voice receding as she walked away. “I’ll be watching.”

With that, Hana was left alone in the bustling corridor, surrounded by the beep of monitors and the distant murmur of medical staff.

Trembling, Hana slipped into the small storage closet, the scent of antiseptic and linen barely registering as she fumbled for her phone. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, a dull symphony to her disquiet. Her heart pounded in her ears, muting the chaos of the hospital beyond the thin door.

“Hello?” Mira’s voice crackled through the speaker, vibrant even through the digital distortion.

Hana’s voice broke as she spoke, “Mira... I-I don’t think I can do this. The visions... they flooded my head... I couldn’t breathe. Maybe they were right, maybe I’m not cut out for—”

“Stop,” Mira interjected firmly, her tone softened with empathy. “You’ve come too far to let one rough day shatter you.”

“I’m serious, Mira. It was awful,” Hana whispered, the silver charm necklace quivering against her collarbone as she fought back sobs. “I froze, and Nurse Crystal practically told me to quit.”

“Listen to me, Hana,” Mira said, the jingle of her bangles audible as she must have been gesturing with her hands, a habit when she grew passionate. “You have the gentlest hands, the kindest heart. You’re made for this, more than anyone I know.”

“But what if I’m not strong enough?” Hana’s fingers twisted at the ends of her sleek hair, seeking solace in the familiar action.

“Strength isn’t about not having moments of panic or doubt,” Mira’s voice rose like a melody of conviction. “It’s about pushing through them. Remember why you started—remember that little girl who just wanted to heal others?”

Hana closed her eyes, letting Mira’s words wash over her like a balm. She envisioned herself, not as the woman cornered by fear and expectation, but as the healer she yearned to become.

“Every hero has their trials, Hana,” Mira continued. “This is yours. So, what are you going to do? Are you going to let what people say decide your fate, or are you going to show them—and yourself—just how remarkable you truly are?”

The silence that followed was thick with the decision. Hana took a deep breath, her wide-set amber-brown eyes glistening with determination rather than tears.

“You’re right,” she conceded, her voice steadier now. “I can’t give up. Not now.”

“That’s the spirit!” Mira exclaimed, pride evident in her tone. “Now, go back out there. Learn everything you can from the dragon lady. And next time? You’ll be ready.”

“Thanks, Mira. I needed that,” Hana said, a small smile curving her lips.

“Anytime. Now go save some lives, Nurse Shizumi,” Mira teased lightly, the sound of her laughter offering a final note of encouragement before they ended the call.

With a renewed sense of purpose, Hana emerged from the closet, she had sacrificed too much to back down now.

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Hey guys,

I got inspired to write something more adult-like and I am very sceptical about it.

Please leave comments on your thoughts and views. I would love to read all your comments.

Stay healthy and hydrated.

Bye...