Entry # C9

The final Resting Place

By

Pamela Griffiths

Dr. Mark Matthews was working late that evening, he was the surgeon on call, so far he had performed two operations. It was Halloween and there would be people dressing up, going out drinking and having fun.

Dr. Matthews decided to get some rest now in case there was a rush later. He picked up his cardboard cup of coffee and made his way back to his consultation room. He shut his eyes and let himself drift away, he had one ear open listening for his bleeper.

The hospital was fairly quiet now, the day staff were finishing off and the night staff were drifting in. They would have a quick handover meeting then the day staff would leave. There were three mens surgical wards on the floor where Dr. Matthews worked. One of the three wards had been closed for deep cleaning.

Marion Sharpe was the night sister in charge, she was looking after the two mens surgical wards. Sister Lucy Bracken was also on duty that evening. A few junior nurses were manning the wards making sure all the patients were comfortable and stable.

Dr. Matthews stirred uneasily in his sleep, as he awoke he heard a noise which came from the general direction of the deserted ward. He sat up and checked his bleeper, no calls, he set off in the direction of the deserted ward. He would check it out in case something was wrong in there.

'Hi Marion, any problems with the closed ward'?

'No Mark, not to my knowledge, why do you ask'?

'I thought I heard a noise coming from in there'

They went to investigate the ward together, Dr. Matthews punched in the numbers on the keypad and the door lock released. They listened carefully before turning on the lights, they checked out the side rooms and toilets.

'It appears to be ok, I haven't seen or heard anything unusual, are you sure the noise you heard came from in here'?

'I was certain that it had, oh well'.

***

In the empty ward, the spirits of the dead were wandering around, the wayward souls were trying to find peace but not knowing where to look for it. They were lost souls, they didn't want to hurt anyone, they just wanted to find a way to pass over to a better world. In their quest to find the light, the spirits had gathered together, they had been lingering around for many years. They were waiting for something or someone to help them.

During their long quest to find peace, the spirits had called upon a higher power, hoping that the

powerful entity could help them to find their way. This wasn't the case, the entity was an evil demonic spirit that had been brought through the gateway into this world.

The evil spirit left the empty ward and made its way to the operating theatre it lurked in a corner waiting for the chance to steel a few souls. The good spirits were afraid, unwittingly they had let the evil one through. Unless the spirits could put things right by getting the entity back to its own realm, they had no hope of moving on.

An angel appeared before the good spirits. He was surrounded by a bright white light, spreading out his giant wings, he spoke.

'You have brought forth an evil spirit through the forbidden gateway, you must stop this evil spirit by sending it back, follow my instructions, when it is done, I will show you the light to cross over'.

The angel instructed the spirits on how they could reverse the process and remove the evil entity.

***

Dr. Mark Matthews had been bleeped, called in to operate on a young man who had been involved in a motorcycle accident. The motorcyclist was prepped then taken to the operating theatre while Dr. Matthews scrubbed and gowned up.

The evil entity was floating around, waiting in the shadows with the intent of collecting the soul of this man to add him to his collection. The evil spirit was quiet and waiting in case the motorcyclist died.

'Scalpel'

The theatre nurse passed Dr. Matthews a scalpel. He made an incision into the young man's abdomen.

'Clamp'

'Is it me or is it cold in here?' They all agreed it was colder that it should be in the theatre.

As Dr. Matthews worked on young man repairing the damage, the evil spirit was hovering, the young man was strong and his soul was hanging on to his earthly body.

'Stitch him up' Dr. Matthews said as he walked out of the operating theatre pealing off his surgical gloves.

Dr. Matthews heard the noise again, this time he was sure it was coming from the empty ward.

'Marion, I've just heard that noise again it was definitely coming from the ward'

'Ok Mark let's go and take another look'

***

The evil entity was being mischievous, causing mayhem in the operating theatre, it was scattering surgical instruments and terrorising the nurses that were cleaning up after the operation. The nurses fled in fear......

Dr. Matthews and Marion went onto the ward and knew instantly that things were not right. The ward was extremely cold and they could feel something strange and abnormal in there.

'I'm going to get Lucy Bracken in here, she's a bit psychic, if theres anything paranormal happening she'll pick up on it' Marion said as she went to fetch her.

Dr. Matthews knew that there was something happening on this ward, he didn't know what, but he remembered something that he had been told years ago when he had first started working at the hospital.

He recalled the tale of the human remains that had been discovered when the hospital had been built. Apparently a few skeletons had been re-buried in the hospital grounds after they had been unearthed while the foundations for the hospital had been dug out.

***

'I can sense a lot of unrest here' Sister Lucy Bracken said as she went onto the ward.

'This is not anger, it's … I feel that could be some lost souls trying to find their way into the light'. She went on.

Dr. Matthews told them about the story he had been told when he had first started working at the hospital.

Dr. Matthews called a good friend of his, Father Graham, he agreed to come and try to put the lost souls to rest.

Meanwhile, in the operating theatre there was mayhem, the evil one was doing its own thing in there. Total chaos ensued, the terrified nurses informed security, but the security officers didn't know how they could possibly throw out intruders that they could not see.

'What the hell is going on here'? Greg said to his mate Imran

'I don't know but we really need to get out of here' Imran replied as the scalpels and the kidney dishes flew across in front of him, circling the operating theatre.

Father Graham Carter arrived soon after the phone call, armed with holy water and his trusty bible. He was summoned into the operating theatre first, to stop the agitated demonic entity.

'This is so unreal, I've never ever seen anything like this before. I must admit I'm very afraid, I'll have to push my faith in God to the absolute limit, I hope my faith is strong enough'.

Father Graham recited verses from his bible and sprinkled holy water at the floating surgical instruments. The evil entity let out an almighty shriek and shrank back.

***

The good spirits had been told what they had to do by the angel, they all worked together to reverse the process that had brought this demon here. It was hard work and it drained all the strength from them but they did as they were instructed.

Father Graham thought that his holy water and holy words were working, but it was the good spirits who had helped him.

Once the evil spirit had been dispelled, Father Graham went to the unknown grave in the grounds of the hospital and recited a few words of blessing for the lost souls.

Dr. Matthews, Marion and all the other night staff had been extremely traumatised by what had happened.

'What a night' Marion had said as the staff all gathered in the empty ward.

'It's Halloween, I'll never feel the same way about Halloween ever again as long as I live'.

The lost souls were still there in the empty ward, they were all gathered together when the intense, bright white light shone down on them. One by one the spirits went towards it, they disappeared into the light. Peace at last.

Father Graham had reassured the hospital staff that the evil spirit had gone. The souls of the corpses that were buried in the hospital grounds were at peace now, they had crossed over and were now in their final resting place.