The patient
by Lynn WL
The following took place a number of years ago when I was 8 years old. It was in early or mid October, and it was a 3 day weekend, so my family decided to go visit our relatives who lived in a small town. We (my parents, my 12 year old brother Dave, my 10 year old sister Tania, and myself) left home Friday afternoon and drove a few hours through the countryside to get to our destination. It was a nice drive. The weather was cool and the leaves already started to turn colors.
It was starting to get dark when we got to the town where they lived. It was a small town, and there weren't very many people out and about. There was only one hospital in the town. My uncle is a doctor and he worked at the hospital, and his house was just a couple of blocks away. So when the weather was nice, he could just walk to and from work.
If you have read some of my other stories you know that I never like hospitals. Back in Asia where I was born, many of the hospitals were old and spooky looking. It always gave me the creeps when I had to walk into one whether as a patient or even as a visitor. So when we passed by the hospital that evening I had goosebumps. The building was old, and wasn't very well lit. Just like the hospitals back home.
"Is this where uncle Dan works?" I asked.
"Yes," replied my mom.
"Looks creepy," I said.
Mom just chuckled and said, "Oh, you and hospitals!"
We soon arrived at their house. Everyone was so happy to see us. My aunt and uncle have 2 children, Roy who was 13, and Jen who was 11 at the time. My cousins were so excited to see us cos they said there were no other kids who lived nearby. We had a great time that evening and the following day.
On Sunday my uncle was on call, so he had to go in to the hospital. The rest of the family were just chilling at home. The kids played video games and watched TV, but by the afternoon we all got bored. Suddenly Roy said, "Hey, you guys wanna play doctor*?"
That sounded interesting, so everyone was like, "yeah, sure!"
(*Author's note: the term playing doctor often has a sexual connotation, but not in our case. We were just pretending to be doctors examining a patient, but not their private parts. Just wanted to clarify that.)
"It's gonna be exciting cos we're gonna have a real patient. Not a doll, a stuffed animal or anything like that," said Roy.
"Who's gonna be the patient?" I asked curiously.
"You, Lynn! You're the youngest among us, so you'll get to be the patient, and we'll get to poke you with needles!" replied Roy gleefully.
My heart skipped a beat. I was scared of needles. I always cried whenever I had to have an injection. "But I don't wanna be the patient..." I said while tears started to run down my cheeks.
Seeing that, Roy laughed and said, "Hahaha, I was just teasing you, Lynn! Don't worry, you won't be the patient. We'll find a real patient in the hospital."
I breathed a sigh of relief. But wait... did he say we were gonna find a real patient in the hospital? That meant we would have to go into that creepy hospital!
"How are we gonna find a real patient who will want to play with us?" asked my sister Tania.
"Just wait and see," said Roy smiling as he walked into his room. He walked back out with a stethoscope and a syringe in his hand.
"Hey, did you steal those from dad's bag?" asked his sister Jen.
"Shhh... just be quiet, will you? We're gonna have some serious fun!" replied Roy.
Roy and Jen told their mom we were gonna play outside for a little while and walk around the neighborhood. They lived in a sleepy and safe little town, so she was ok with it. My parents also agreed, but they all told us not to go too far and we should be back home before it got dark.
The sun was still brightly shining when we walked out the house. But it was early autumn, so it wouldn't be too long before it got dark. It felt good to breathe the crispy and cool autumn air outside, but I had butterflies in my stomach. The idea of walking into the old hospital made me a little uneasy. But there were 5 of us. We would be ok, I told to myself.
Soon we were on the hospital grounds. However, instead of walking towards the main entrance, Roy lead us to the side of the hospital. We then walked towards the back where there was a small entrance to the building. We didn't see anyone walking through it. Roy opened the door and we all walked in.
The hallways were dimly lit, and we didn't see a single person. No doctors, nurses, patients or visitors. My uneasy feeling grew stronger. Roy was our guide, and we all followed behind him. We passed through a doorway with a sign at the top that said Department of Pathology. At the time I didn't know what it meant. The corridor there was even darker than the other parts of the hospital as only a few of the lights were on.
We finally reached the end of the hallway where there was a door with a small glass window. Inside the room was completely dark as all the lights were off. "This is where our patient would be," said Roy. "Let's hope there is one."
He then slowly turned the door knob, and the door creaked open. My heart was beating really fast and I was gripped by fear. I didn't wanna go in there. I really didn't. So I mustered all my courage and said, "I... I don't think I wanna go in there."
Roy glared at me. "It's too late to chicken out on us now! You either go in with us or you can walk back outside by yourself!" he whispered but his voice was very stern.
The second option was too scary. Walking by myself through the dark corridors with no one around was inconceivable. Here at least I had 4 older kids with me. So I swallowed my tears and stayed. Roy found the light switch and flipped it. But only 2 of the lights in the room turned on. So it was still quite dark, but at least we could see what's inside. Roy signaled us to all go in. There was a strong smell of medicine or some sort of chemical in the room which made me feel nauseated.
In the middle of the room there was a gurney, and an old lady with gray hair in a hospital gown was lying in it. Roy handed the stethoscope to Jen and said, "You get to go first. Go ahead and examine the patient while I try to find something to fill this syringe with. We want it to be as real as possible, so I won't use water. There's gotta be some sort of medicine in those cabinets."
Jen hesitated and didn't move. The patient also didn't move the entire time we were there. Maybe she was sleeping, I thought. Roy was inspecting the bottles in the cabinets, looking for something liquid that he could put into the syringe. Seeing his sister was standing still, he screamed at her. "What the fuck are you waiting for!? We don't have all evening, and the others need to have their turns too! Now get moving!"
By that time I was shaking. I was overcome by fear. Fear of everything. The dark room with a strange smell, the "real" patient lying there whom we were supposed to examine, and Roy's authoritarian behavior. I didn't think I could get myself to touch the patient. What would I do when my turn came? Would Roy force me to do it?
Jen slowly walked towards the patient. I could see her hands shaking as she placed the stethoscope in her ears. The rest of us just watched, and I could sense everyone was tense.
Finally Jen got to the patient's side and softly said, "Excuse me, mam... can I..."
Before she could finish her sentence suddenly the door flung open, and someone yelled with a loud voice, "Hey, what the hell are you kids doing in here!?"
We all jumped and looked toward the door. It was a security guard. He was a burly man, maybe in his 40's or 50's. Then he pointed at Roy and Jen and said, "Hey, I know you two! I'm gonna have to tell your dad about this!"
"No, no... Mr. Biel, please don't tell dad. We meant no harm. We were just going to play doctor..." said Roy nervously.
Mr. Biel the security guard furrowed his brow. "Play doctor? In here!?"
"Well, we just wanted it to be as real as possible, sir!" replied Roy.
"Allright, you kids, let's all get outta here. We'll talk some more outside," said Mr. Biel with a much softer voice, and signalling all of us to leave the room. We (except Roy) were all too happy to comply. As I was standing outside the room, I decided to get one last look at the patient right before Mr. Biel turned off the lights. But... she wasn't there! I swear, the gurney was empty! Were my eyes playing tricks on me?
I had no time to analyze it as we had to move in a hurry. Mr. Biel led us out of the building through a much shorter way than the one we came in. Within a minute or so we were outside the building. Mr. Biel had us all sit on a bench while he stood in front of us. "Ok, so y'all were gonna play doctor in there, huh? How did you get that crazy idea?"
We all looked at each other confused for none of us knew except for Roy our "leader." It was his idea to play doctor with a real patient in the hospital. So we looked at him. Realizing he had no choice, he finally spoke up.
"Well, you see, after visiting my dad in his office I would often wander around the hospital. It's a fascinating place. So one day I came upon the room we were in. I peeked through the glass window and saw a patient lying still on the gurney. They never moved. Not one bit. I came back there another day and saw the same thing, only the patient was different. There were other people walking around the room but the patient never moved. So I thought they must have been heavily drugged or unconscious for whatever reason. After seeing it for the third time, I figured if I could just get in there, I could play doctor with those patients. It would be great since they were real people and I could do whatever cos they were unconscious. This weekend we have our cousins with us, and I thought they would be thrilled to play doctor with a real patient."
Mr. Biel shook his head and asked, "Do you kids know what kind of place you were just in?" We all, including Roy, said no.
"Well, it's the autopsy room," said Mr. Biel.
"What's autopsy?" I asked innocently, feeling much relieved now.
Mr. Biel looked at me solemnly and replied, "Well, young lady, an autopsy is when they cut open a dead body and take out all the organs so the doctors can examine them."
I gasped, and clutched Tania's arm. I glanced at her face, and saw that she too was horrified.
Then Mr. Biel looked at Roy again and said, "So those patients weren't unconscious; they were dead!" He swallowed and said further, "Oh, and they don't do autopsies on weekends; the bodies would be kept in the refrigerated compartments, and not brought out until they're about ready to do the autopsy. So, you would have no luck finding a patient to play doctor with today."
We all looked at each other puzzled. "But... but who was that old lady in the room?" asked Jen who almost touched her.
Mr. Biel once again furrowed his brow. "Old lady? What are you talking about?"
"Well, there was an old lady on the gurney in the room. I was about to examine her when you came in. Everyone else saw her too, right? Right, guys?" asked Jen looking at all the other kids for support. We all nodded and were like, "Uh-huh, yeah!"
Mr. Biel took a deep breath and said, "I saw nothing on the gurney when I came in. It was empty." He paused for a few seconds as if in deep thought then went on, "Listen kids, and listen good! I was going to let you off the hook this time, which means I won't file an incident report which would certainly involve your dad," as he pointed at Roy and Jen. "But that also means y'all can't talk to nobody about no old woman in there. Do you understand?"
We all just nodded. "Now y'all get your asses on home before it really gets dark!" said Mr. Biel sternly. So we all got up and left.
It was dusk, and the air had turned cold. We were all shivering as we were walking home. We were all shocked, confused and... scared! Even Roy who was acting tough earlier seemed a little shaken. But none of us said a word to each other or to anyone else about what we just went through.
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