1 The new intern was a walking disaster, but my boyfriend, the department head, insisted on assigning her to me. He even wanted me to let her observe in the operating room. I warned her a thousand times: do not, under any circumstances, hand me the wrong instrument. She still swapped the hemostat for a scalpel. The patient bled out on the table. My license was revoked, my career destroyed. And the intern? She hid behind my boyfriend, her voice trembling. “Dr. Snook, I was just trying to help you finish faster… I didn’t know this would happen…” My boyfriend shoved me aside, his eyes filled with disgust. “Luna was just trying to help! You’re the lead surgeon, and you can’t handle one little complication? You have the nerve to blame her?” Heartbroken, I went home to pack my things, only to be drugged and knocked unconscious by him. When I woke up, I was strapped to a surgical table. I watched, horrified, as the intern plunged a scalpel into my femoral artery. My boyfriend just comforted her, “It’s okay. Just get some practice in. You’ll hit the right spot eventually.” I died from the excruciating pain, but not before they had carved 108 separate wounds into my body. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the intern’s first day. This time, I’ll make sure that damned pair becomes a permanent contribution to medical science. … “Dr. Snook, this is our new intern, Luna Vance. Have her observe your surgery today.” The familiar words sent a shiver down my spine. I stared at Luna, who my boyfriend, Mark Jennings, had just pushed toward me. In that instant, I knew. I had been reborn. Luna beamed, her face a mask of pure innocence. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Snook. I’ll do my best to learn from you!” But the surgery was already underway. The patient was prepped on the table. There was no time to think. I quickly pulled on a pair of sterile gloves. “Stay back. Don’t touch anything. And don’t make a sound.” The scalpel sliced through skin. My focus narrowed. “Surgical lamp, closer.” I fell into the rhythm of the procedure, my movements sure and swift. Without looking up, I held out my hand. “Hemostat.” In my peripheral vision, I saw Luna pick up a scalpel and start to pass it to me. This was exactly how it happened last time. I hadn’t noticed, and I’d reached directly into the patient’s abdominal cavity, severing the aorta in a single, fatal motion. The patient died. I lost my license. Mark blamed it all on me, his voice dripping with contempt as he berated me for not handling the “complication.” Then he drugged me, tied me down, and turned me into a living textbook for Luna to practice on. She carved into me, again and again, while Mark stood by, encouraging her. One hundred and eight stab wounds. I died in unimaginable agony. The memory made my hand tremble with rage. I snapped my hand back, away from Luna’s. “Luna, who told you to touch the instruments?” She froze, her eyes instantly welling with tears. “Dr. Snook, I… I was just trying to help…” “Help?” I shot back. “Help me what? Murder the patient?” From the observation room, Mark’s voice crackled through the intercom. “Ava! Why are you yelling at a trainee?” “Luna was just trying to help! Besides, no harm was done!” I ignored him, took a fresh hemostat from the scrub nurse, and expertly clamped the bleeder. “Get her out of here. The OR is not a place for her to play house.” Last time, because Mark defended her, my resolve softened and I let her stay. The result? As I was closing, she “accidentally” bumped my arm. The suture needle went astray, causing another massive hemorrhage. The patient couldn’t be saved. Afterward, she’d hidden behind Mark, sobbing, “I was just trying to cheer Dr. Snook on, I didn’t know her hands were so unsteady…” The memory of my own brutal death hardened my heart. I pushed all thoughts aside and focused on the surgery, right down to the final suture. “Surgery successful. Patient’s vitals are stable.” Just as I let out a breath of relief, I heard a loud bang. Luna, who was supposed to have been escorted out, had snuck back in. She had stumbled and crashed right into the suspended surgical lamp. The heavy fixture swung violently, hurtling straight toward the patient’s head. Without thinking, I dove forward, shielding the patient’s surgical wound with my own back. The lamp crashed into me. I gritted my teeth, holding my ground. My colleagues rushed to lift the heavy lamp off of me. I spun around before Luna could even begin her tearful performance. And I kicked her. Hard. Right out of the operating room. She tumbled onto the floor outside in a pathetic heap. Mark saw it and roared at me. “Ava! Are you insane? She was just observing! What gives you the right to assault her?” I pulled off my mask, my eyes cold as I looked at the woman he was cradling in his arms. “Dr. Jennings, your intern can’t tell the difference between a hemostat and a scalpel.” “She created chaos in a sterile environment, endangering the patient and nearly causing the surgery to fail.” “You ask me what gives me the right?” I advanced on them, step by step. “Let me ask you two something. Are you here to save lives, or are you here to commit murder?” Mark was speechless, his face turning a dark shade of red. In his arms, Luna’s sobs grew louder, her shoulders shaking pitifully. “Dr. Snook, I really didn’t mean it… It was my first time in the OR, I was so nervous…” “I just wanted to help you work faster, I never thought I’d cause trouble…” Mark patted her back, his voice full of concern. “Ava, she’s just a student. Do you have to blow this out of proportion?” “As her mentor, you should be teaching her patiently, not physically attacking her. Have you lost all sense of medical ethics?” Other colleagues began to gather, whispering amongst themselves. “Yeah, Dr. Snook is being way too harsh.” “She’s just an intern. They’re bound to make mistakes.” I let out a cold laugh, my gaze sweeping over the crowd. “On that table, the patient’s life is absolute. Any action that threatens that life is not a small mistake.” “Nervous? You’re so nervous you mistake a scalpel for a hemostat? So nervous you knock over sterile equipment?” “If I hadn’t reacted in time today, who would be responsible for the body on that table? You, Dr. Jennings?” Mark’s expression was one of pure, unadulterated arrogance. “Luna already told me everything! She said you pushed her because you thought she was in your way!” “I wasn’t going to say anything, to save you some face, but it’s clear now. If there was a real medical accident, you’d just try to pin it on her, wouldn’t you?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Did these two have no shame? “The OR has cameras. Why don’t we just take a look?” Mark snorted. “Look at what? Luna is a sweet, innocent girl straight out of med school. Do you really think she would lie?” “You, on the other hand, Ava, have become increasingly petty and small-minded! You can’t even tolerate an intern!” I looked at his face, contorted with disgust for me, and the last bit of warmth in my heart died. “Mark, we’re done.” He stared at me for a moment, then shrugged, a look of indifference on his face. “Fine by me. A doctor with no ethics like you is going to be fired sooner or later anyway.” “Don’t come crawling back to me when that happens, Ava.” He helped the sniveling Luna to her feet and walked away without a backward glance. I watched them go, a wave of nausea washing over me. Regret? My only regret was being blind enough to fall in love with a piece of human garbage like Mark Jennings in my last life. The wound on my back was a searing fire. I went straight to my office. A colleague saw the massive bruise blooming across my back and gasped. “My God, that must hurt like hell! Where’s Mark? Why isn’t he with you?” I managed a tight smile and said nothing. Thankfully, it was just a deep contusion. No broken bones. The next day, I had barely arrived at my department when I was summoned to the Dean’s office. “Ava, I heard about what happened yesterday. I know you were wronged.” “I’ve already given Dr. Jennings and that intern a stern warning.” I kept my eyes downcast, silent. The Dean sighed. “However, Mark is still the Head of Surgery. He says Luna is very talented and wants to give her another chance.” I refused immediately. “Dean, I can’t mentor her.” The Dean looked troubled. “Ava, I know this is difficult, but the Mayor’s son is scheduled for surgery next week. They’ve specifically requested you as the lead surgeon.” “Mark’s proposal is for Luna to continue observing under you for this one procedure. Consider it her final test.” The Mayor’s son. That surgery was under a huge microscope. He was handing me this time bomb again, hoping I’d crash and burn on the most important surgery of my career. Perfect. Just perfect. I was wondering how I was going to get them both at once. If they were going to offer up their own necks, who was I to refuse? “Fine. I agree.” For the next few days, I prepared for the surgery as usual. Luna shadowed me, acting uncharacteristically obedient. She brought me coffee, organized files—she was so diligent, it was like she was a different person. On the day of the surgery, the Mayor and a host of hospital executives were seated in the observation room. My procedure was flawless. Every step was a textbook example of perfection. Until the patient’s blood pressure dropped. We needed an emergency transfusion. Just as the scrub nurse was about to hand me a blood bag, Luna lunged forward, “tripping” and knocking it from her hand. It burst, spilling all over the floor. While my attention was on the patient, she immediately grabbed a new bag from the backup cart. “I’m so sorry… Here’s a new one, use this!” I connected the transfusion line and opened the valve. Almost instantly, the ECG monitor shrieked with a piercing alarm. The next second, the patient’s vitals flatlined. From the observation room, Mark’s voice boomed over the intercom. “Ava! What are you doing? The patient is in cardiac arrest!” “You must have nicked an artery! I told you your emotions have been unstable, you’re not fit to lead this surgery!” “This is criminal negligence!” Then came the Mayor’s voice, thick with anger and fear. “Dr. Snook, if anything happens to my son, your career won’t be the only thing that’s over!” “I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life in prison for medical malpractice!” The Mayor’s threat echoed in my ears. But I wasn’t panicking. The surgery had been perfect. It couldn't have been my error. So what was it? I had been so careful to keep Luna away from everything. How could this still happen? My eyes shot to the transfusion line. A stream of distinctly darker blood was flowing from the connection point into the patient’s body. An acute hemolytic reaction. I ripped out the IV line. “Switch to saline, and prepare a diuretic, stat!” My command was clear and unwavering. The assisting physician and nurses moved instantly. I stared at the ECG monitor. The flat line began to flicker, slowly returning to a regular rhythm. Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief. But I felt no relief at all. I looked at the backup cart. The patient was Type A. The bag hanging on the cart was AB. “Who brought this blood?” The scrub nurse’s face was white with terror. “It… it was Luna. After the first bag was spilled, she’s the one who handed you that one.” Luna started crying, waving her hands frantically. “I just took it from the backup cart! It has nothing to do with me!” There was no time to argue. I had to finish the procedure. When the surgery was finally over, I walked out of the OR doors. Mark strode up and slapped me across the face. “Ava! The blood bags are delivered directly from the blood bank. Luna just helped pass one to you. How is this her fault?” “It’s obvious you didn’t cross-check the blood type before the transfusion, and now you’re trying to blame an intern!” The Mayor’s eyes, sharp as daggers, fixed on me. “Dr. Snook, I need an explanation.” Mark couldn’t wait to jump in. “Mr. Mayor, a mismatched transfusion is a major medical incident. As the lead surgeon, she bears full responsibility!” “Our hospital will handle this with the utmost seriousness and give you a satisfactory answer!” Luna chimed in, sobbing her apologies. “Mr. Mayor, I was just anxious about the surgery, so I handed her the bag… I had no idea Dr. Snook wouldn’t perform the pre-transfusion checks…” Her words were expertly crafted. She was completely innocent, and I was the one who had grabbed the wrong blood? I ignored them. I instructed a nurse to retrieve both the spilled blood bag from the floor and the remaining bags from the backup cart. The Mayor was losing his patience, demanding an immediate explanation. Otherwise, he would have me arrested for gross negligence. I spoke calmly. “Mr. Mayor, I have proof that this incident was not my mistake.” “It was a deliberate act of sabotage. Someone was trying to murder your son.”
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