Fictional short story — Dear Annabelle, I’m leaving. I can’t handle this anymore. Have a good rest of your life. -Alex “No, no, no…what did I do… how did I let this happen?” I moaned. A sharp pain exploded in my head like a clap of thunder. I ran to the bathroom scale again…

Fictional short story — I was finishing my charting after seeing my last patient of the day when I heard the ding-swoosh of an email arriving in my inbox. When I saw who it was from, I quickly opened it, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. Dear Annabelle, Congratulations! You have passed the Canadian Psychiatric/Mental…

Fictional short story — A siren-like noise tore through the apartment, and my breath caught in my throat. “Eeep!” I exclaimed, my arms jerking so suddenly I dropped my half-read book on the floor. When I realized where the noise was coming from, I scoffed. “Chill out, Annabelle, it’s just the doorbell!” I muttered…

Fictional short story — I opened my eyes and squinted at the bright light pouring through the bedroom window, lost in the thick invisible fog of unmoving time. I didn’t know what day it was or how long I’d been asleep. But despite the stagnant energy hanging in the air around me, my mind…

Fictional short story — My final 12-hour shift in the ER was on the last Saturday of January. The day flew by and before I realized it, my 150 practicum hours for my psychiatric nursing certification were officially complete. All that was standing in the way of me becoming a registered psychiatric nurse was…

Fictional short story — I squirmed in my seat and desperately willed my body to hold still, though my legs refused to stop their unruly bouncing. I’d managed to keep them still all day while seeing patients of my own, but they’d had enough of my controlling mind and were lashing out. My eyes…

Fictional short story — “My life has turned into a giant shit show… I don’t know how much more of it I can take,” I said to Alex as soon as I returned home from my first 12-hour Saturday shift in the ER. I had just completed my first 6-day work stretch of alternating…

Fiction (based on a true story) — I walked into the ER for my first 12-hour shift with sharp pangs of anxiety beating onto my chest and limbs tingling with excitement. For the month of January, I’d reduced my clinic workload so I could fit in the practicum hours required for my psych nursing certification. Though I…

Fictional short story — It was the perfect day to hit the slopes — the sunshine was plentiful, the temperature was hovering around zero, and the winds were quiet. It was New Year’s Eve and there was a thick, pillow-like layer of snow covering the ground. Alex and I pulled up to Gigi’s apartment…