The Woman in the Next Bed

by Lynn WL

If you've read some of my stories you probably know how much I've disliked hospitals ever since I was a kid growing up in Asia where most of the hospitals were old and creepy looking. Moving to the US where most of the hospitals are modern and bright didn't really change things much. In fact, "dislike" is an understatement. I actually fear hospitals or have an intense aversion for them. First of all it's because I associate them with pain and suffering, and death. Then there's the paranormal aspect. I believe in ghost and I know that most, if not all, hospitals are haunted. Yes, even the modern ones.

Unfortunately, hospitals are part of our lives, and it's unavoidable that we have to visit them or even stay in them during our lifetime. I had that unfortunate occurrence like a couple of months ago when I had to have surgery. Without going into details, it was actually quite a simple surgery. Yet, it wasn't an outpatient surgery. I had to stay in the hospital for one night for observation. They said I'd be home by morning if everything went smoothly. This was little comfort to me although the nurses told me I was lucky as most patients usually stay longer. This also kinda sounds familiar if you've read my previous story (Room 17B)*.

Needless to say I was a bit rattled but had little choice. I had a private room which was quiet except for the constant soft hum of machines and the occasional distant squeak of carts rolling down the hallway. There was one thing I didn't like about the room, though. The window faced a brick wall, so it got dark quite early. Well, it was only going to be one night, I tried to comfort myself.

I had a hard time sleeping. Around 1:30 am I heard footsteps. Slow, bare, slapping softly against the tile. Who could it be, I wondered. A nurse wasn't very likely as they would wear shoes so the steps would sound louder. Maybe it was a patient roaming around. Someone who couldn't sleep just like me. But the steps entered my room and stopped beside my bed!

My heart skipped a beat and then went faster as the air grew cold, sharp enough to prickle my skin. I kept my eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, listening to the shallow breathing that wasn't mine. Then I heard a woman whisper, "They put you here too?"

I was startled and opened my eyes. A woman stood between the beds. She was pale and thin, wearing an outdated hospital gown tied wrong in the back. Her hair hung in damp clumps around her face, and her feet were blackened, like they had been burned. Her eyes were wide with panic.

"I can’t find my chart," she muttered. "They won’t help me without it."

My throat froze. "You're… in the wrong room," I finally managed to utter hoarsely.

She looked at me strangely. "This is my room."

Before I could respond, she drifted toward the empty bed beside mine - the one the nurses had told me was kept open because patients never stayed in it long. She sat, and the mattress sank beneath her weight.

"Don't fall asleep," she warned softly. "That's when they forget you're here."

The heart monitor beside me began to beep really fast. A nurse rushed in, flipping on the lights. The woman vanished instantly, leaving the second bed perfectly smooth and untouched.

I tried to explain what just took place, but the nurse just smiled tightly. "You’re still under anesthesia," she said. "Hallucinations are common."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever..." I thought to myself, but I didn't say anything and pretended to believe the nurse. Feeling exhausted, I finally dozed off. Luckily, nothing else happened that night.

In the morning the doctor came in and told me all my lab results were good, and I was in stable condition, so I was ready to be discharged. I was so relieved and grateful. My mom came to pick me up like within an hour. I didn't tell her what happened though, because most likely she would dismiss it just like the nurse telling me it was the effect of anesthesia. My mom also doesn't believe in the paranormal.

So they wheeled me out to the nurses' station to get the discharge papers and everything. As my mom was taking care of all that, I looked around. A bulletin board across the hallway caught my eye. Staff notices, schedules, as well as old photographs were on display. One photo made me stand up.

It was an old photo showing a hospital room from like decades ago. There were two beds; one was occupied by a frightened-looking woman in a backwards-tied gown. I recognized her as the one who came into my room earlier in the night. And scribbled in red pen, almost as an afterthought, were the year 1962 and Rm 306 which was my room number.

*Reference: Room 17B

Another bone-chilling haunted hospital story:

The patient (a bunch of kids were bored on a long weekend afternoon, so they decided to "play doctor" at the hospital with a real patient).