Nada Awar: Short Story

Nada Awar
Assignment : Short Story A young man walked into the hospital with a fearless flame in his eyes as if he had nothing to lose. Gazed around the room and came up to a group of nurses chatting and giggling on their lunch break. The man stood in the circle of nurses not saying a word until they stopped talking and stared at the man. “I need a check up” he said bluntly, “is nurse Hmadeh here?” The nurse that had been talking and making jokes was surprised he knew her family name at first, but she quickly got over it and told him to wait for her in the room. The man waited in the room gracefully not moving an inch until she approached him. “How can I help you?” she asked, “I have a headache and I can’t seem

She remembered the problems she faced as a college student “Maybe your lacking motivation”. “No motivation you got that right,” he said as he stormed out of the room. The nurse seemed shocked by his strange behavior but did not seem to think much of it as she rejoined her coworkers. The next day the man came in and asked for the same nurse. He asked her for painkillers, and then randomly started telling her stories of past experiences. As soon as he finished his story he left abruptly. This continued for a couple of weeks, he would arrive exactly at 3 O’clock and the nurse engaged in his conversations in sympathy at first. But as he told her about himself, she started to relate to his experiences. Moreover, she found that they had many common interests. They even turned out to be from the same village, but he had lived abroad. He reminded the nurse of her childhood abroad, she felt relieved when she was in his company. Every time he told a story she felt as if a portal opened in front of her that took her away from her routine lifestyle and everyday stress. She found herself missing out on her lunch breaks to listen to him

But Instead he leans towards her right ear and whispers: “lets do something tonight; meet me on Richardson Blvd. at 8 O’clock”. At that moment she noticed she was in too deep. She knew she was obliged by her profession to care, but not get involved with her patients. She resisted temptation and did not meet up with him. The man attempted to go back to the hospital several times, but security would not allow him entrance. He concluded that she had a hand in this, as his many attempt deemed unsuccessful he decided to never go back. Several months later, while the nurse attended her cousin’s wedding, she spotted the man sitting alone at a table in between the crowd. She asked her mother “do you know who that guy is?” The mother replied “He moved into his grandparents’ house here in the village recently, after his family had a fatal car crash in the