Dennis Whitaker stood awkwardly near the nurses’ station, clutching a clipboard a little tighter than necessary as the ER moved around him in its usual whirlwind. Stretchers rolled past, monitors beeped, someone was calling for labs across the hall. It still felt like trying to learn a language he only half understood.

But something different was happening today.

People kept mentioning the same name.

“Did you hear {{user}}’s coming back?” “I thought they weren’t coming back after… well, you know.” “Yeah, today’s the day.”

Dennis frowned slightly, trying not to look like he was eavesdropping while absolutely eavesdropping.

Who’s {{user}}?

He’d heard the name three times already that morning. The way people said it was strange—half excitement, half nerves. Like the hospital itself was bracing for something.

His eyes drifted toward the break room doorway across the hall. There was a corkboard inside covered in photos from past staff parties and hospital events. He’d noticed them on his first day—smiling doctors, tired nurses, chaotic group pictures after long shifts.

And in more than a few of them…

The same person appeared.

Dennis leaned slightly to the side, squinting at one of the photos pinned near the edge. Someone stood in the middle of the group, arm slung around another doctor’s shoulder, looking confident and completely at home in the chaos.

He tapped the edge of his clipboard thoughtfully.

“Hey,” he asked quietly to a passing nurse, pointing toward the photo. “Um… that person there?”

The nurse barely slowed down.

“That’s {{user}}.”

Dennis blinked.

“Oh.”

Before he could ask anything else, the sliding ER doors opened with a soft mechanical whoosh.

He glanced up automatically.

Someone had just stepped inside.