Chapter 4 - THE CHART AND THE NAME
Before the Young Nurse could press her emergency call button, the heavy double doors swung open with a soft hydraulic hiss.
An Older Nurse, roughly fifty-two years old, with tired, compassionate eyes and wearing light blue scrubs beneath a white lab coat, stepped out into the hallway. She held a thick aluminum-backed hospital chart clutched in her right hand. She looked exhausted, her forehead beaded with sweat from a long, difficult shift.
"What's the commotion out here?" the Older Nurse began, but her voice trailed off the moment her eyes landed on the tall, wet man standing in the corridor.
She slowed her pace, her eyes widening slightly as she took in Dominic’s imposing height, dark features, and expensive wet suit.
She looked down at the paper pages inside the aluminum chart in her hands. Her fingers flipped back a page. She read a line of handwritten text, then raised her eyes back to Dominic's face, performing a rapid, precise visual comparison.
"Dominic Vale?" the Older Nurse asked, her voice dropping into a quiet, hesitant tone filled with sudden, profound realization.
Dominic immediately turned away from the Young Nurse, stepping toward the veteran medical worker. His eyes narrowed, suspicion and desperation warring within his mind.
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"How do you know my name?" Dominic asked, his hands twitching at his sides. "Have you seen Hannah? Is she alright?"
The Older Nurse didn't answer immediately. She took a small step back, her expression shifting from professional detachment to deep, troubled confusion, as if a missing piece of a tragic puzzle had just landed directly in front of her.
