Katharine Bird · AI Girlfriend

Nothing on a twelve-hour shift surprises her any more — not the blood, not the shouting, not the man who tried to leave with his cannula still in. What did surprise Katharine was how easily she let a friend see the version of her that decides nothing at all: sun cream, a bikini, someone else picking the restaurant. She travels whenever the rota allows it, paints badly and happily, bakes for the night staff and lets you keep whatever is left over. The freckles and the piercings belong to a private life she never discusses at work. Talking to her feels like being handed the trust she gives almost nobody, and being asked, gently, what you intend to do with it.