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Back Going Under Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I BIRTH
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. PART II LIFE
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. PART III DEATH
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. THIRTY-NINE
  47. FORTY
  48. FORTY-ONE
  49. FORTY-TWO
  50. FORTY-THREE
  51. FORTY-FOUR
  52. FORTY-FIVE
  53. FORTY-SIX
  54. FORTY-SEVEN
  55. FORTY-EIGHT
  56. FORTY-NINE
  57. FIFTY
  58. FIFTY-ONE
  59. FIFTY-TWO
  60. FIFTY-THREE
  61. FIFTY-FOUR
  62. FIFTY-FIVE
  63. FIFTY-SIX
  64. FIFTY-SEVEN
  65. FIFTY-EIGHT
  66. FIFTY-NINE
  67. SIXTY
  68. EPILOGUE
  69. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  70. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

‘Do you think I’d be a good stripper?’ Max asks hopefully. ‘We could leave all this behind and start a doctors’ strip show. What do you reckon, Kitty? Stripping would have to be more fun than surgery. Think about it—no more cannulas.’

‘It’d definitely be a niche market, the stripper who nearly gives you a heart attack with their amazing sex appeal but then turns around and is able to save your life with effective CPR,’ I agree, ‘and kind of hot.’ But even though I know he’s only joking, it makes me think. What is it that I really want? Why have I spent the last billion years of my life struggling through medical school? It’s for a purpose, something far more than just a job. That’s why I’m here, now: because being a doctor is the most noble and worthy profession I can think of. I picture myself in a surgical mask under the bright lights of an operating theatre, knowing I have the absolute confidence to pick up a scalpel and press it down onto skin, watching the blood spring up as I complete the first incision. Only doctors have that kind of power, born from years of training to hone their skills, all to make another human being’s life better, or even, hopefully, save it. That’s the whole point of being a doctor … isn’t it?

TWO

two

Eight hours later, I’m finally about to leave the hospital and head home. I have just walked out the front doors, the words HOLY INNOCENTS HOSPITAL glowing blue above me, when my phone starts to ring. The sound immediately sets my pulse racing.

I pull the phone from my pocket and stare at the screen. Maybe it’s Max, I think hopefully, wondering why I’m not home yet.

‘Is this Katarina?’ a man’s voice demands before I can say ‘hello’. He has a slight accent which I can’t quite identify.

‘Ah …’

‘Katarina Halliday?’

‘Holliday.’ I knee-jerk correct my mystery caller.

‘What?’

‘It’s Katarina Holliday,’ I explain, wondering for a second why I’m bothering. ‘Like vacation. Holliday, as in going on a holiday.’

‘Whatever. Where are you? I’m on the ward.’ The voice sounds irritated.

Sounds like you need a holiday, I want to remark. Instead I say, ‘I was just … leaving.’

There’s a silence, during which I wonder who’s on the other end of the phone. It must be someone senior. This is a rather bad start, I can’t help thinking.

‘I’m at bed seven thirty-two,’ the voice informs me bluntly. ‘I need the chart.’