"Thank you for your time, Ms. Frazier. I will recall to you in the afternoon to give you an answer"

The mid-aged woman with short dark hair and a severe face said while she shook my hand. Her eyes were stiff brown looking into mine, and with her straight, all-black uniform, she terrified me a bit. But I just hid my emotions and smiled kindly at her to show her my greatness.

"Thank you so much, Ms. Schwartz, can't wait to hear from you!"

"Margret in the reception will help you out of the gates," The woman said while looking down at a paper on her desk, showing me no more interest.

I nodded my head even and smiled at the woman once again even if she couldn't see it, then I opened the creaky door up to leave her office.

I was filled with hope and happiness while I walked through the cold, mysterious hallways. I didn't want to be too excited, I hadn't got the job yet. But I couldn't help to feel proud of myself.

I smiled to myself all the way down the long corridor of the first floor of the hospital. I looked around out of curiosity and didn't witness much more than the dusty lamps on the walls. Some of them warmly lit up the otherwise dark corridor, and some of them flashed with the bulb screaming to be changed into a new one.

I passed by a pair of young nurses dressed in their uniforms, gray knee-long dresses with a white apron highlighting their waist, and white tied shoes with the smallest heel, which made a tapping sound as they walked over the stone floor. Their nurse's caps were perfectly placed on their heads, making their hair stay in place probably for the whole day.

The two younger women smiled at me when we passed by each other. They both looked very friendly, which made my hope grow even stronger inside me.

I continued to walk towards the entrance and the woman in the reception, to get to my car and drive home again. I was so nervous about Ms. Schwartz's phone call. I couldn't believe I was going to get an answer just as soon as this afternoon already.

When I reached the big, a lot brighter entrance of the hospital, I kindly smiled at the older woman in the reception and walked over to the desk she was sitting behind.

"Hello, are you Margret? Ms. Schwartz told me you could help me to get out of the gates?" I said as I looked at the small, tubby woman with curled blonde hair ending just beneath her ear. She inspected me with her enlarged eyes behind the round glasses before she smiled back at me.

"Of course, dear"

"Oh, Donald, would you help this young lady out the gates?" Margret shouted over the room while she was waving her hand at one of the guards standing by the big entrance doors.

The dark-skinned, handsome man walked over to me and he looked at Margret with a friendly face before he placed his gaze on me and I met his face with a bright smile.

"Anything for you, Margret," He said as he winked at her. The older woman's cheeks got rosier than before and the man, as I understood was by the name of Donald, giggled.

The tall man began his way towards the doors and I followed after him.

In front of the high, black gate, Donald picked up a keychain from a pocket of his blue uniform trousers and used one of the many rattling keys to get the gate opened.

I looked at him once again before I walked out of the area.

"Thank you, Donald," I said with a flirty voice.

"My pleasure, miss?" The man asked while looking at me with questioning eyes.

"Frazier, Beverly Frazier" I responded with embarrassment as I realized I didn't introduce myself.

"Ms. Frazier then. Nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too"

Without any further words, I winked my right eye before I turned my back against the handsome guard and I began to walk over to the parking lot on the left side of the hospital to get to my car.

Before I got in, I lit up a cigarette to calm my nervousity. I turned around to look at the big, old, beautifully scary tile building while I enjoyed breathing in the toxic smoke.

The surrounding high, thick wall with barbed wires upon it, covered a big part of the beautiful architecture, which was a pity. But as well as any other person, I knew the obvious reason why the wall was very much needed there.

For as long as I could remember, I had been a smoker. It was in fact a socially accepted deed that almost every person did day by day. But "every person" was normally grown-up people, adults who made their own health decisions and were legally permitted to consume the toxic, addictive paper sticks.

I was first introduced to cigarettes when my father started smoking after the chaotic occurrence with my mother. And like the stupid, grieving, pubertal twelve-year-old I was, I felt the urge to try it myself since it was a way for my father to self-medicate.

Of course, the first times were disgusting and filled with choking coughs since my innocent and healthy lungs were still unharmed. But like every other obsessed person, I also got used to it after too short of a while, and then I couldn't stop.

Since then, I had never cared enough even to try to quit it. So I just let it be, maybe even accepted it as one of my flaws...

I inhaled the last smoke of tobacco heavily before I once again smiled for myself. In just a couple of hours, I would know for sure if this doleful castle was now my place of work.

As soon as I arrived at my apartment again, I threw myself on the couch to calm down a bit more from my torturing nerves. It was exhausting to be this thrilled and filled with excitement.

I thought about Ms. Schwartz, the well-uniformed woman with the strict, rugous face. I wondered if she was always that nice, I mean I could hear in her voice that she was a determined woman. But if she wasn't capable of worse than that, then her facial features didn't fit very well with her personality.

I grinned a little bit for myself at the not-so-friendly thoughts of Ms. Schwartz. She was kind to me, and if I would get the job, she would be my boss after all.

In a too comfortable position on the couch, and a full package of cigarettes later, I finally closed my eyes to relax my mind. The silence in my small apartment was so peaceful, the only thing you could slightly hear was the summer birds tweeting around outside. And after about ten minutes in my successful relaxed state of mind, I slowly fell into rest.

I woke up about an hour later from the feeling of a heart attack and I jumped out of the couch and ran over to the telephone in the hall which was shouting for me. With a pounding heart, I coughed to get my voice settled, and then I picked up the telephone to answer.

"Hello, this is Beverly Frazier"

"Hello again, Ms. Frazier, this is Dorothy Schwartz calling from St: Nicolai"

My heart began to pound even crazier. There was now only a matter of seconds until I would get to know whether I got the job or not.

I placed my thumb in my hand for extra luck and I took a deep breath. Even if I had just woken up, I couldn't feel tired at this moment.

"Oh, good afternoon, Ms. Schwartz" I responded to her sentence.

"I've now got some time to view my alternatives' of applicants and you Ms. Frazier, was by far the one I liked the most. If you will? I would like for you to come and work for me at St: Nicolai"

Ms. Schwartz's words ran around in my head and I felt speechless. I really got the job?

My heart was still beating a lot faster than normal and I bit my lip not to scream out of happiness. Of course, I wanted to work at one of the biggest mental institutions in England. St: Nicolai was after all one of my favorites on my list of alternatives.

"Really? I'd love to come work for you. Thank you so much, Ms. Schwartz!"

My voice appeared excited and friendly with gratitude.

I still couldn't believe it. Even if Ms. Schwartz frightened me a bit, I was so happy about her putting her trust in me after just an hour of interviewing me.

Now I could really call myself an educated and also even working psychiatric nurse.