Young Writers Society

“Hello?” I called, my boots making a heavy thud with each footstep. I was in a foreign city, on vacation, but I had suddenly gotten violently ill after eating at a restaurant. The hospital I was in was the closest one to the restaurant, but I was unsure now whether it was reputable. The dark hallways and lack of people seemed to make it obvious that it wasn’t. But I had no idea where to find another hospital, and surely there were people here? The parking lot outside was full.

I abruptly grabbed my stomach, trying to find my way to a trash can so I wouldn’t vomit all over the admittedly dusty floor. I managed to make it a few feet away from one before my stomach exploded and a sour green puke erupted all over the floor. I moaned. Usually vomiting helped you feel better, at least temporarily, but now it just made me feel worse. I vomited again and again, too weak to move to the trash can, and unable to find a way around the puke in this state.

Quiet footsteps suddenly approached me. “Are you lost?” spoke a quiet voice. I looked up at the speaker and screamed. She was a young woman, with faint pink hair and green eyes. She was covered in blood, however, and she seemed only half there - I could see the hospital right through her body.

“Let me help you, Ma'am,” she offered, reaching down a hand to me. I tried to resist, but some force compelled me to place my hand in her palm, and she pulled me to my feet. I looked around frantically for a way to escape. “This way,” the woman offered kindly, smiling at me. I shook my head and took a step in the opposite direction.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice shaking. “What - What is this place?”

“I am Lindia,” she said, still smiling. “This is Akubara General Hospital, one of the finest in the nation.”

What? Finest in the nation? I could not believe that was true. “I - I am Ina,” I stammered, hoping to placate her as I backed away. Lindia smiled at me.

“I know.”

She gestured for me to follow her. I shook my head, scurrying backward toward the entrance, but she caught my hand easily. “I don’t want any more puke stains on the floor,” she said cheerfully. I looked longingly toward the exit, trying to find a way to break free as I was pulled along. But I saw other people gathered there, seeming to chatter casually, but they were definitely blocking my only escape route.

“Come on,” Lindia said kindly to me. I tried to pull free again, but she firmly held my wrist. “Why did you come to a hospital if you don’t want to be treated?”

I whimpered but finally went along with her. I saw no way to escape.

As we walked, I began to hear the sounds of a normal hospital. Patients being wheeled around, doctors talking, patients laughing and chattering amongst themselves. But the lights were all dim, and I saw nobody. At last, we came to our destination.

“The doctor will see you now,” Lindia said cheerfully. She pushed the door open and she gently ushered me in.

The room was brightly lit, and it was filled with people who looked just like Lindia: smiling, kind-eyed, transparent, many covered with blood stains. Machines lined the walls, and photos of men and women being hanged, drawn-and-quartered, stretched by the rack, or chopped into pieces lined the walls. A man with only a few specks of blood on his clothing smiled and walked up to us.

“You must be Ina,” he said to me. I tried to smile and nodded.

“This way,” he gestured, pulling me over to a strange machine. “Just lie down in here, and it will discover all that is wrong with you,” he promised.

I was terrified, but all the people in the room were smiling at me encouragingly, perhaps even hungrily. I knew I had no choice. I climbed into the chamber, which was padded with some soft dark material, and I laid down with my head against one edge. The material seemed to shift and stretch itself until I was nested inside and every part of me was covered. Somehow I could still breathe, but I could not move any other part of my body.

“Sleep well,” the doctor said sweetly to me, and I could feel that he was smiling down at me. I heard some sort of pressure release and felt a breeze blowing past me. Then I began to choke, and in the midst of choking fell to sleep.

I do not know how long it was before I woke. I slowly sat up and stretched, then drew back, startled, as I saw the smiling faces surrounding me.

“You’re well again,” congratulated the doctor, and he reached down to shake my hand. I smiled confusedly, but took his hand.

“Um... Thank you,” I murmured. “If... If I’m better, I guess I’ll get going. Thank you very much.” I smiled and stepped past the doctor, but more smiling faces stopped me. Two very young-looking ones grinned wickedly and pointed at my shirt. Confused, I glanced down at it, and my heart skipped a beat. My shirt was covered in blood right over the heart.

“He helped you,” laughed one of the boys that had stopped me. The other nodded and kept his wicked grin.

I then looked down at my hands. They were see-through; glancing again at my chest, I saw that it also had become transparent. I rushed to a mirror, the only one in the room, and saw the room reflected before me, a faint outline of myself visible as well.

“What did you do to me?” I shouted. “What is this place?”

Lindia stepped forward to greet me with a smile. “We healed you,” she beamed. “At Akubara Ghost Hospital.”