I breathed out into the cold dark night letting my breath spiral up into the air. The only source of light was the moon shining down upon the ground which dimly let me find my door handle. I pulled on it roughly, as it was an old beat down dusty blue van that usually refused to function without a ton of morning time spent into it. I fell down into the seat as the thin layer of cushion did nothing to protect my head from bashing against the metal in the seat. The small clock lit up as I started the engine and read 2:34 A.M. I was slightly early but that meant more preparation time that I usually need. I threw across the steering wheel and backed down the driveway into the street in just moments and across seven blocks in just a mere two minutes.

I strolled into the hospital doors as I have done every day for the past six years. With just a fast scan of my ID and the rush of nurses falling to my aid my day as a doctor had officially begun. A small and rather unhealthily skinny nurse came up to me in just a second and began reading off her long clipboard as she scanned the words fast.

“We have your first patient, Dr. Clark.” The words fumbled out of her mouth in a long synchronized rhythm “68, female, with COPD. Came in around 10 minutes ago, we stabilized her immediately which worked for only a few minutes. There’s signs of a heart attack which doesn’t make any sense and uh, well I’ll let you go see yourself” She said as we stopped in front of the thin curtain, noises blared from inside there which grew when I tossed it aside to see three nurses struggling to help this poor lady. I groaned and slapped on a pair of gloves and rushed to the woman’s side. Her hands were gripped to the side of the bed loosely but as tight as she could.

“Do you take medications of any sort?” The very young male nurse asked as he took her breathing mask off her face. I snapped and rolled my eyes at him.

“She’s unable to speak,” I told him “She’s suffering from a frickin breathing condition, and you’re asking about her meds? Get out.” I ordered as I wrapped the IV around the bed and positioned it into her arm stabilizing her almost immediately. Baffled the man left the room and the other nurses jaw-dropped left as well. I sighed but continued with my work as I pulled out a thin flask to the rim with alcohol. I carefully lifted her limp head up and poured the liquid down her throat. She squirmed but couldn’t manage against my grip hold. I sighed and placed it back underneath my coat leaving the room immediately.

I returned back to the old lady 20 minutes later. By now she was in a room and was whispering softly to herself. I smiled at her and she stared at me wide-eyed.

“What did you do?” She asked trembling as her long shaky finger pointed towards me.

“Just doing my job ma’am.” I told her as I pulled a bottle out of my coat and walked sternly over to her. She gasped with a puzzled look. Just as the old lady went to ask another question I gripped her jaw and poured the new and thick liquid down her throat. She tried her best to scream but didn’t manage well with the pink substance oozing down her throat. Once the entire bottle was empty I let her go and left the room eagerly as I knew the next few days would be enjoyable.

I left the hospital early, my shift ended at 3pm but I left just slight past 12pm with no warning. When I got home I scrambled downstairs towards my basement, which reeked of dead animals. I traced my key across the lock and quickly undid every single one of them and shoved against the door with all my force making it swing open. A cloud of dust blew over my face as I walked towards the corner. An entire wall was covered for Polaroid photos of people I once knew, people like the old lady from today. All of which ages were ranging from 4 years old to 97 years old. Their pale, dead faces glanced back at me as I smiled in my good work. There were exactly 108 photos, they were scattered against the wall and a few began overlapping one another. I do not use my job as a doctor to an advantage, I feel as though I’m more helping the patients. When one is sick I just relieve the pain, and with each person comes a new way. I sat on the cold bare floor and stared at these photos for hours not pausing for anything until night fell.

By then I was laying on the floor holding the photo of #42, a young 13 year old boy. He had leukemia and couldn’t stop coughing for the love of God. I helped him in the most basic way possible, I simply denied him of his medicine for three days. I sat by his bedside though watching him struggle for every moment and once the deed was done I snapped a quick photo and kissed him on his forehead before calling nurses in to “help.” My eyes fell flat and before I knew it I had passed out with the thoughts of the following days dancing around in my head.

Morning broke, I didn’t know what time it was since I was still in my basement and my phone had died. I stifled a long yawn before taping the photo I still held tightly onto the wall. I walked up the stairs, shutting and locking the door behind me. I pulled on a fresh new outfit and carried on with my everyday normal routine.
“Dr. Clark,” another front desk nurse called to me as I stepped inside the hospital building. I cocked my head towards her direction and narrowed my eyebrows waiting for a reply. “We have horrible news to tell you,” she began as a grin grew across my face, I knew what she meant. “Your patient, Mrs. Mendez, the old lady from yesterday died last night. She died from immediate liver damage.” She thinned her lips into a straight line and waited for my reply.

“I’m sorry to hear.” I coughed. “She was a fine lady and deserved the best” I continued.

“But Dr. Clark,” the young nurse added with a long sigh “We checked back and she died from a medicine overdose and high levels of alcohol?” She looked at me with a frown. Waiting for some sign of further knowledge.

“What do you mean?” I asked “How did she get alcohol and medicine is normal at hospitals” I replied pushing her patience to the edge.

“We believe this wasn’t any sort of accident. The medicine Tylenol was deliberately placed into Mrs. Mendez’s system, there was no way it was an accident and the alcohol, well, we believe was snuck in.” She pursed her lips and sat down in her desk rubbing her temples softly. Just as she did so two police men with thick bushy eyebrows and similar face structures came bulging in. “We also believe we know who could have done such sort after looking back at past patients odd death records…” She gulped loudly as the two men came towards me.

“What?” I questioned as a pair of cuffs were wrapped around my wrists tightly.

“Mr. Clark you’re under arrest for the murder of Mrs. Mendez and the known deaths of around 100 people.” I sighed and hung my head down low. I wasn’t to show fake mercy but I was to own up and be proud of my actions and that’s exactly what I did. Even when I was dragged out the hospital and thrown into the back of the police van. I was a proud man and lived my life complete with no gaps whatsoever and although I would spend the rest of it behind bars I was happy with how it had gone, 105 patients later.