Hospital canteen chai at 2am hits like no five-star coffee ever could. Me and the other night nurses have a whole ritual — one cutting chai, five minutes of gossip, back to the ward. Small joys are what keep us human.

People thank the doctors and forget the nurse who sat with them at 4am when they were scared. I'm not bitter, just tired of being invisible. A simple 'thank you sister' can carry me through a whole double shift.

Engaged to a lovely man who still can't understand why I'm too tired to talk after a 12-hour shift. It's not distance, it's pure exhaustion. Learning to say 'I love you but I need to sleep' without the guilt.

the 3am corridor

Night shift means I watch the whole city sleep while I stay awake keeping strangers safe. There's a strange peace in the 3am corridor quiet. I've learned to find God in the small mercies — a stable heartbeat, a scared patient who finally smiles.

We lost a patient on my shift last night, an old gentleman who used to call me 'beta' every morning. I clocked out, sat in my car in the hospital parking, and just breathed for ten minutes. Nobody trains you for the empty bed.