Victimization - The Longest Wait
Nine Hours Too Long Vado clutched her stomach as she sat in the comfortable chair of the emergency room at the Dominica China Friendship Hospital, watching the minutes crawl by on her phone. Eight hours had passed since she'd first walked through the doors at 8 AM, her face contorted with pain that had only grown worse with each passing hour. The bright fluorescent lights of the emergency department waiting room cast harsh shadows across her increasingly pale face. She knew the reason for the endless wait. Recent political tensions had created invisible barriers in what should have been a neutral space for healing, and her known political affiliation seemed to have marked her for neglect. Through bleary eyes, she watched as others who had arrived hours after her were called in to see the doctors. Each time the door opened, hope would rise in her chest, only to be crushed as another name was called. When Vado approached the desk for the third time, around the fifth hour ...
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