Lee woke up to the sound of his alarm ringing around the room like an air raid siren at 5 am. Despite the unbearable Beep Beep Beep, he couldn't bring himself to leave his bed. It wasn't that it was too comfortable; it was just a dreadful thought to get up. He stared up at his ceiling for what he hoped was an eternity while the screeching soundtrack continued.

Eventually though he realised that the best (and quickest) way to get the day over, was to get out of bed and let it pass. He rose like a vampire from a crypt and shuffled over to the window, drawing back the curtains and letting the morning sun shine onto his unshaven face. He almost wished he was a vampire and the sun would turn him to ash like the myths often claimed. He decided though, that he wasn't going to burst into flames and so headed to the bathroom to wash himself.

His fifteen minute shower only slightly woke him up but he wasn't entirely fussed. His day wasn't set to be too stressful, although you never did know what you were going to have to do when working in a hospital.

He stepped out the shower and wiped the steam from the mirror, deciding that he still didn't need a shave. His mother would definitely disagree, but she wasn't here was she? He looked himself straight in his reflected brown eyes. They looked as lost as he felt and his masculine jaw-line was practically invisible under the forest of stubble running down his face. Women always used to find him attractive and he never had trouble attracting attention. Unsurprisingly, that wasn't really the case these days. Lee didn't care though. He wasn't looking for women anymore. He wasn't looking for anything.

He dried himself off and returned to his room to get dressed for work. He threw on a pair of plain black pants and plain black socks. He opened up his wardrobe to decide which of his dark blue shirts to wear to work today. He decided to choose the fifth one on the right, ignoring its identical counterparts. He topped the outfit off with a simple black tie and a splash of hair gel to tidy up his newly dried light brown mane. Now ready for work, he had a large bowl of cereal and brushed his teeth.

Once again, it occurred to him that whenever he woke up every morning he always went into every room of his apartment except the living room. When he'd bought the place he had it all planned out. The bedroom was to be for sleeping (obviously), and for entertaining females only. The kitchen was for cooking, eating and for entertaining females only. The bathroom probably doesn't need an explanation. He did entertain women in there too though. The living room was a different story . . . most of the time. He entertained guests there too but it was mainly going to be his own world. His 42 inch television hung above the electric fireplace and the room was surrounded by vintage leather sofas. It had started off as his favourite room in the house but these days he rarely set foot in it. Before the thought depressed him further, he stepped into the dark hallway that joined all the rooms and left the apartment.

Despite the sun shining down on them, the entire population of Pittsburgh were feeling the windy chill of this October morning. It was around six degrees centigrade and the breeze howled at the people on the streets. This encouraged Lee to quicken his pace as he headed to the bus stop, feeling lucky that there was one just approaching the stop as he arrived from the opposite direction. He paid for his ticket and sat at the first available seat, immediately forcing himself to look out the window and ignoring his fellow commuters.

He hated using public transport but he didn't see the point in buying a car. It was a nightmare to get parked nearby his apartment building and the prices of petrol had completely skyrocketed in the last few years. There was also the fact that apart from work and to visit his mother, he didn't actually go anywhere. There was a bar just two blocks from home that he often visited to watch the football or just to escape his prison like apartment. There was also a small supermarket just across the street where he picked up what little groceries he needed. These days he spent most of his time covering extra shifts at the hospital anyway, meaning he had to be content with the hospital food. It wasn't that he enjoyed work; he just enjoyed being at home less.

Lee didn't know how to describe the thoughts in his head. In an ideal world, he'd be surrounded by people all the time, but none of them would talk to him. The more he thought about it, work was quickly becoming that exact world. This made him half smile before he realised that the bus was approaching his stop.

The journey had taken quicker than usual today. Not that it took long normally, but Lee knew he wasn't the only one who started work early in the morning. He walked for five more minutes before arriving at Allegheny General Hospital. It was a huge white building that had one large tower block in the centre, flanked by two smaller towers and a small fourth block in front. It was an impressive sight to some but for Lee it was an average everyday sight that he no longer even considered.

The customer car park was practically empty, which Lee couldn't decide if it was good or not. Good because he had less work in front of him, but it was also bad because of the same reason. He showed the guard his ID badge and entered the back entrance. Whilst the other early starters headed for the lockers to store their various possessions and valuables, Lee passed them without a second glance. He didn't know why they took anything with them that they wouldn't need throughout the day. He certainly didn't do it. He only carried his cell phone, wallet and keys to his apartment. His pants pockets were the only storage he needed. He took out his phone and turned it off as he did every day for the duration of his shift.

He walked down the brightly lit hospital corridors, peering into each room to see what types of issues today's patients were suffering from.

In the first room, a nurse was holding a bloody towel to the head of a clearly disoriented man. He was sat on the edge of a bed, rocking back and forth and mumbling some primitive noise. Lee immediately assumed that this man had gotten so drunk that he fell over and cracked his head on something, most likely his bathroom floor. He also probably passed out and woke up hours later in a pool of blood, hence the reason he was in this condition so early in the morning. Either that or he literally did get out the wrong side of the bed.

The second room was a woman sitting alone, shivering and crying. A closer look showed that she had a black eye and a cut lip. Automatically the words "Domestic Abuse" came to mind. Lee had seen it several times here at the hospital and each case seemed identical to the last. Her nurse was probably away calling the police, but Lee knew there was no point. The woman would most likely not press charges on her husband or boyfriend. They never did. There was always some sort of excuse, none which were particularly brilliant though.

A few more rooms down and Lee noticed a woman giving birth. He sped up immediately, not wanting to see any of that. He liked children being born, because who didn't? He just didn't like hearing the women screaming for so long. And then there were the babies' cries to be considered, and it was definitely not a comfortable place to be when, god forbid, anything went wrong. It also didn't exactly make the women look at their best either, but he was used to that. He worked in a hospital for crying out loud. Usually appearances were the least of people's worries in a place like this.

The remaining rooms didn't provide anything even close to exciting to Lee. He saw a man arguing with his nurse about his current dose of morphine, which told a whole story in itself. There were a couple standing, holding each other crying. They'd clearly received some bad news from a doctor, and Lee counted himself lucky that they weren't his official concern right now.

"Good morning, Doctor Dawson" Smiled a plump looking doctor as he walked down the hall, past Lee.

"Morning" Lee muttered, only breaking from his session of people watching when he heard the voice.

"Good morning Doctor Dawson" Huffed the on duty janitor.

"Morning" Lee nodded again, hiding his irritation at being spoken to by these people.

Despite the constant depressing sights in the hospital rooms, the illnesses, the accidents, the deaths and the annoying co-worker situation, Lee loved being at the hospital. Here he was in charge at all times. No one argues with a doctor, knowing that they know what they are talking about. Doctors answer the questions that you can't answer yourself. Lee hated being told what to do, and that's possibly why he was such a good doctor. Add to that the fact that when you gave a cancer patient the all clear, or told a bed ridden youngster that a donor had been found and they were going to be alright made him feel like a million bucks. They'd always remember the good Doctor Dawson that got them through.

Unfortunately for Lee though, those days were becoming more and more rare.

He arrived at the front desk and picked up his chart for the day. Apparently there was a patient waiting for him in his office already. That's unusual, he thought to himself.

"Susan, do you know who the patient waiting in my office is?" He asked the girl sitting behind the desk.

Susan looked up, her large grey eyes showing her nerves. "I'm afraid not Doctor Dawson. I just started my shift" She whispered apologetically. Lee sighed, scaring her into dropping her head immediately back down to what she'd been reading when he spoke to her. Her dark haired ponytail seemed to bounce when she looked down.

Lee looked around reception through the masses of patients and family members, looking to find another member of staff. Someone who could be of more use then that jumpy child, Susan. He spotted Doctor Davis standing by the filing cabinet in the corner.

Doctor Davis was probably Lee's least favourite doctor at the hospital. He wasn't bad at his job, and he wasn't a serial killer. He was too nice. He made the biggest effort to be everybody's best friend and Lee hated that. He believed that if you didn't get along with someone then you should stay out of their way. Not kiss their ass while you're secretly wishing to kick it. He would always remain professional around Doctor Davis but whenever he got invited to his annual spring barbecues; Lee would "Mysteriously" have other plans. Today however, he didn't appear to have a choice. There was no one else in sight.

"No wonder I'm covering extra shifts, we have no staff!" Lee sighed before conceding he'd have to ask Doctor Davis if he wanted a briefing of his first patient.

"Doctor Davis, do you know who is in my office waiting for me?" It almost hurt to be the one to start the conversation.

"Please, call me Phil" Beamed the doctor.

"Phil" Lee made no attempt to hide his irritation, "Who is in there waiting for me. I don't usually have a patient this early".

"You'd better go see for yourself" Chuckled Phil.

"Why can't you just tell me?" Lee asked.

"Because, you're going to love seeing this guy. I can't spoil the surprise!" Phil laughed again.

"You're right. Why would I want to know what I'm actually doing?" Lee said sarcastically as he turned on his heels and headed for his office.

God how that world with silent people sounded good right now, he thought to himself.

Lee arrived in his office and closed the door behind him quietly. He sat at his desk and was confronted by the one person that he did not want to see.