I sat beneath one of the many waiting areas outside as I quietly ate my microwaved bowl of ramen. The tens of people that sat cramped near me were all waiting to get into the hospital or for someone to come out. I tried my best to turn away from the crowd as a young, pregnant teen coughed openly next to me.

The styrofoam bowl I had was empty after a few pulls with my fork and I sighed as I was far from full. There was no way that I would enter the hospital after only spending ten minutes of my half hour lunch break and I looked at my phone to see it was half past four.

Throwing my head back, I closed my eyes as I plugged up my ears, drowning the noise around me with the loudness of Joyner Lucas. Although music soothed the angry voices in my head, I felt anxious and confused as I replayed the events of this afternoon.

Firstly, I'm pretty sure Nickoli came into the hospital with the other Mexican guys. Not only that but I was sure that the two injured guys would always be spotted on my walks to and from work. They hung around a warehouse that saw a lot of foot traffic and many white vans occupied the premises.

If that wasn't enough to convince me, the dude that shoved me against the wall had gang written all over him since his first instinct after I innocently touched Nickoli was to attack. Plus, when he spoke to Nickoli he said that some guy was waiting outside for them.

My mind played detective by putting 5 and 5 together yet I couldn't come up with the answer. Nickoli was obviously a respected guy and known in the gang. That leaves the question of who exactly he was and what he meant the other night at my place when he mentioned his job.

Was this confirmation of it? Did I truly want to know?

I had no friends of my own here. It had been 3 months of me searching for legal, paying work, filling my apartment with things to survive off of and learning where essential places such as the bank, supermarket, laundromat and police station were. My friends from back home were high school mates but in all honesty, no one stays in contact with kids they grew up with.

The one guy I met that seemed halfway decent and didn't belong to any gang was my 60 year old landlord who spoke to me three times since I moved in here. Each time he would invite me in, fix me a cup of tea and talk about the activities of the area since all he did was sit at his window and observed the movements of passer-by's. This meeting of ours were reserved for the once a month rent pay day and I could hardly call him a friend.

Even though I met Nickoli in the weirdest way possible, I had grown to enjoy the few meetings we had, given the fact that he looked in his twenties and harmless. That imagery shattered at the sight of his blood drenched clothes and hands.

He couldn't even deny his involvement with the cartel when I asked him early but distracted me with his flirtatious tactics. Sighing deeply, I made up my mind to avoid him at any cost. Better to be safe than dead was my motto.

"Hey, new guy."

I looked up to see a girl in scrubs coming to stand before me.

"Hey, yes. Do they need me?"

I quickly scanned the time on my phone and noted that it's only been 15 minutes since I sat down and that I had another 15 before I was once more needed.

"Nah. I'm Mickala, one of the interns here. I've seen you around, thought I'd come say hi."

"Oh. Hi."

"Wanna come chill with me in my car? There's AC."

"Um- sure?"

I stood awkwardly as I wasn't sure why I was walking towards a stranger's car but it seemed like I liked making reckless decisions and it wouldn't change anytime soon.

"I'm Zachary by the way but my friends call me Zach." I say as I sat in her RAV4.

"Nice to meet you Zach. Did you already finish eating?"

"Yeah."

"What did you have?"

"Ramen."

"Ramen?"

"Ramen."

She looks at me with utter disbelief as she stops herself from taking her lunch from her lunch kit.

"How do you survive an entire day without solid food? All offence but that's why you look like you're dying."

I unexpectedly laughed out loud before hurrying to cover my mouth and she shrugs.

"Good thing you're working at a hospital, huh? Here. We can share mine. My fat ass eats all day long."

"You're not fat!" I defend as I collect the cheese sandwiches she handed me in a big ziplock bag.

"That's why I said my fat ass and not my fat ass."

She winks and again I laugh out loud at her witty behaviour.

"How are you so upbeat? You're an intern, aren't you?"

"Yup. I'm a genius and I actually love my job."

"You do?"

"Don't look so surprised. Some people love helping others."

"Yeah but here?"

"Here? Dude here is the best place to perfect my skills. It's a hospital that's crawling with cartel victims and members."

"Yeah but if someone dies won't they be mad or like vengeful?"

"I mean, I guess so. Wait, speaking of which, why were you talking to them? Are you like, in debt or working with them or something?"

"Um no. A guy I met the other day knows them or, well, I don't really know what's the relationship he has with them."

"Mmm. I've been here for almost a year. When I tell you they come rolling in here every so often, hmm, it's a miracle they still have so many members."

"Mmm."

"You should probably stay away from them though. They're quite scary when pissed off."

"Yeah."

"So where do you live? Got a place in the city? I'm down East Avenue. Got an apartment there. It's quite nice."

"Oh. Um, Im at Plaza."

"Plaza? I've never heard of that."

"It's on the other side."

"The other side? Do you mean criminal central?"

"Yeahhhh."

"Oh."

Even though I expected her to be judgemental about it, she shrugged it off and we fell into a comfortable chat just getting to know each other. I told her my life story and she did hers and by the time we finished eating, I'd known she was an only child to a rich South African Neurosurgeon father and an equally rich Italian dentist mother.

When I realized the time, it was almost 6 and we both looked at each other with an exhausted look as neither of us wanted to go in. I was already told that my shift would end at 8 and Mickala would be leaving a few hours after.

Sighing deeply, we both laughed before exiting the vehicle and heading back inside to the chaos of the afternoon.