Immediately, I realize the balloon belongs to my best friend Maya. She should be meeting our landlord for the key handover right now before moving in with her great love, Josh. Yet she has come to say goodbye to me. Warmth fills me from within.
As quickly as I can, I march toward Maya, dragging the suitcases behind me. I weave past students, young women in work attire, and mothers with strollers.
After what feels like an eternity, Maya comes intomy field of view. She’s leaning against a lamppost, wearing an oversized bright yellow T-shirt and gray-white striped leggings. Her black hair is adorned with glittery clips, and there's a plastic bag next to her. I release the suitcases, slide the travel bags off my shoulders, and rush toward her.
"Hey," I say breathlessly, sinking into her outstretched arms. She pulls me close, and a sense of bliss washes over me. "What are you doing here?"
She shakes her head, her extra-long earrings tickling my neck. "Do you think I'd let you leave without saying goodbye?"
"You're right. Last night's farewell party was clearly not enough." For a moment, I don't know whether to grin or cry. I can still feel the echoes of our laughter in my abdominal muscles. And I can see the faces of all my friends who celebrated the end of an era with Maya and me.
"Far too little." Her sentimental tone, coupled with the fact that she's now stroking my back soothingly, stirs up melancholy within me.
I clear my throat. "Thank you for being here." Maya must have noticed that my parents didn't come. So it's even more beautiful that she's helping me bid farewell to the city I love so much, a city I don't know how to survive without.
"Anytime." She rocks me back and forth, then pushes herself away from me and sizes me up. "Don't you think your outfit is a bit over the top?"
Certainly not. The pleated trousers with pinstripes and the rose-colored suede pumps are just right. "I'll be picked up at the station. I have to make a good impression right away. You know I can't afford tomake any mistakes. Not another one, especially not as big as my last one."
"As if Miss Super Smart would need that," she replies even though she knows that Miss Super Smart is only smart regarding her passion as a prospective doctor. Or rather was smart. "You'll blow them away anyway."
Theoretically, that's true. After all, I was trained at one of Vienna's most prestigious clinics. Just a few months ago, I was on the fast track to start my neurology specialty training. But then everything changed. My God, how could I have been so foolish to risk my future?
"Hey, stop that. You can't change what happened anymore. All you can do is learn from it," Maya says, studying me. "And you have."
That's true, but I still refuse to accept it. "I could have been the best neurologist Vienna has ever seen," I argue. "I could have saved lives, you know?" Instead, in a few minutes, I'll be boarding a train that will take me to the remotest village in the Tyrolean mountains to work at a general practitioner's office.
Ageneral practitioner's office!
"Tyrol is not your final destination, just a small detour." Maya grabs my arms and gives me a serious look. "You will continue to hunt for a specialist position, and once you find another clinic to join, you'll be back on track."
I want nothing more. But the truth is, nobody wants me. Not after what happened. Throughout the winter, I sent out hundreds of job applications. Unsuccessful. Now it's mid-April. I should be grateful to have found any place where I can at least finish my internship.
"I'm going to die of boredom in that village," I mutter sadly. The mere thought of the supposedly idyllic country life sends a shiver down my spine. It’s not my cup of tea.
A mischievous grin appears on Maya's face. "You won't," she says, raising her eyebrows. "Because you’ll have this." She pulls out a stylish dark brown doctor's bag from the plastic bag beside her and hands it to me while giving me a radiant smile.
A gift? For me?
Touched, I accept the bag. The golden trims shine brightly in the sunlight, the leather gives off a pleasant scent, and the seams are perfectly crafted. I run my palm over the buttery-soft front. "This is too much," I say with a choked voice.
"Open it." She claps her hands in excitement, causing her hair to bounce in rhythm.
I reach for the closure. With a metallic click, it pops open, revealing the bag's contents.
"You’re crazy," I whisper with a smile, inspecting the interior lining.
It’s adorned with medical-themed comics. In one, a doctor stands by a patient’s bedside, reading a medical file. The Grim Reaper enters through the door.You can go home now. I’ll take over,the speech bubble next to him reads. The next one depicts a doctor trying to discuss a patient's Alzheimer’s disease, who reacts as if he is hearing about it for the first time.
Even though the cartoons have a touch of dark humor, I can’t help but smile. I pull my best friend into a hug. "It’s perfect. Thank you!" I say, and for a second, I don’t know how I’ll ever manage to let her go.
The loudspeakers on the platform crackle,announcing the arrival of my train. I hear it rumbling closer moments later. This makes me hold Maya even tighter.
"You’ve got this," she says, stroking my back one last time in encouragement. "Don’t forget your mantra."
Men are off-limits. She doesn’t really need to remind me because that’s more than clear to me. "Definitely not," I reply.
I feel Maya nodding in agreement. "We’ll talk on the phone."
"Every day," I confirm, savoring the warmth of our embrace for as long as I can. Only when the train screeches to a halt next to us and we are engulfed by a flurry of commotion do I let go of my best friend.