Page 6 of Rules of the Heart

Poppy was screaming. She writhed on the bed, screaming and screaming, and she wouldn’t stop.

“Please! Doctor, it hurts! Fuck, it hurts so bad! Doctor Bush help me, PLEASE!”

Valerie couldn’t stand it. This wasn’t why she had gotten into medicine. She had wanted to heal people, not watch them in unendurable pain.

She gripped Poppy’s hand. “Poppy, I swear, the pain will get less. You just need to wait it out. Your infection is severe, but the antibiotics haven’t had a chance to work yet—”

Her words of attempted comfort were drowned out by another scream. Poppy’s entire body was shaking and covered in sweat, but it was her face that drove Valerie crazy. The raw suffering laid bare there… it ripped at Valerie’s heart.

Valerie pulled her hand from Poppy’s and stumbled out of the room. “Doctor Hodson! Please, Poppy needs more painkillers.”

Dr. Hodson put a sympathetic hand on Valerie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, but she’s maxed out on morphine, Valerie. There’s nothing more we can do until she’s due for her next dose.”

“But that’s only in half an hour, and she’s in so much pain right now…”

“I’m sorry, Valerie, but those are the rules. We can’t do anything more for her.”

Another gut-wrenching scream tore through Valerie’s very soul.

She couldn’t bear this. It was ripping her apart. Poppy was suffering in agony, all because of a stupid rule.

Valerie wasn’t going to stand for it. She may just be an intern but even she could tell that what Poppy was going through was inhumane.

So, she put her code into the cart and pulled out a vial of morphine.

“I’m here, I’m here,” she mumbled, rushing into Poppy’s room. “You’ll feel better soon, I promise.”

Poppy didn’t even seem to hear her, she was so wrapped up in her own pain. Valerie injected the morphine into the IV.

Almost at once, Poppy’s knotted limbs started going lax. Valerie let out what felt like her first full breath since she had entered the ward this morning. This was what Poppy needed—not some stupid rule that left her in excruciating pain.

That’s when it all went wrong.

Poppy’s heartrate monitor started slowing and flashing red. Valerie watched in horror as Poppy’s heart got slower and slower.

No, no, no, this wasn’t supposed to be happening. She’d only given her the pain meds half an hour early! Surely, that couldn’t affect her heart? It had to be something else…

Dr. Hodson rushed in, no doubt in response to the distressed sound of Poppy’s heart monitor. Poppy’s eyes rolled back in her head as Dr. Hodson checked her vitals. He grabbed her IV and spun around to face Valerie.

“What did you do!”

“I… I…”

“How much morphine did you give her?”

“I gave her the usual dose, I swear!”

“You imbecile! The usual dose given too early is enough to stop her heart! Get out of my way!”

Poppy’s heartbeat flatlined, and the sound of the monitor’s single long beep sent a shard of terror through Valerie’s heart.

Valerie was pushed aside as Dr. Hodson grabbed the paddles and tried to restart Poppy’s heart.

He tried for nearly twenty minutes, but no matter what he did, Poppy’s heart wouldn’t start.

Finally, Dr. Hodson put down the paddles. “Time of death, eleven-twenty-two. Congratulations, Valerie. You’ve just killedyour patient. Hopefully in the future, you will realize that the rules are there for a reason.

Valerie had come very close to either being banned from medicine or quitting medicine after that big mistake many years ago when she was an intern. The guilt had eaten her alive, but in the end, she had decided to push through. She had changed departments, switching to surgery, and resolved to start anew and never break a rule again. She wasn’t going to be needlessly responsible for any more deaths.

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