|
Post by WHISKEY on Jul 22, 2012 21:27:57 GMT -5
Scriptor Bay Memorial Hospital - July 6th, 2012 at 8:23 p.m.
Judith Orwell had seen many things in her day but nothing prepared her for what she saw that night.
Found by her granddaughter unconscious at the foot of the stairs in her home, Judith was rushed to the hospital to make sure no serious injuries came to her and from what they could tell all she had was a sprained wrist and a few bruises. I missed a step, nothing to worry about, she told the doctors and nursing staff several times but she was already admitted and would be kept overnight. Those old bones weren’t as strong as they had been forty years ago but it was her will that kept her going. Judith was eighty-seven years old and the old bat just wasn’t ready to die. Not today or any day. She’d already outlived two husbands and moved in with her divorced daughter three years back. Judith wasn’t a freeloader though. She took care of her beautiful grandbaby while her daughter worked days at the school. She truly was blessed to have those beautiful young things in her life. Visiting hours were over far too early in Judith’s opinion but she had bid the pair goodnight and was sitting in the hospital bed eating jell-o while reruns of Friends played on the television hanging in the corner of the room.
Judith always found Friends to be a hoot and a half and when Joey failed to open the fridge after Rachel baby proofed the apartment she found herself chuckling. Joey reminded her of her first husband, Saul. But before she could go back in time to reminisce about all the times they’d meet for a cold pop on a summer day at the beach the most shrill scream she’d ever heard in her life came from down the hall. She dropped the jell-o cup and the little plastic spoon, hearing them clatter to the floor as she swung her legs off the side of the mattress and slid out of bed. The distinctive sound of screams continued to ring down the halls. Old Betty in the bed next to her in the room was so heavily sedated a marching band could play on her chest and she wouldn’t wake up. Crazy old bat, Judith shook her head with disdain in her eyes before she headed out into the hallway.
The hallway just outside her room was mainly scarce. There was a nurse bustling into one of the rooms and the noise piqued the interest of a few other patients who were hovering at the doors. Just when Judith was ready to write it off as someone in pain when the nurse emerged from the room she’d just gone into, crying out and a look of terror on her face. The nurse ran straight for the wall as if she feared she was going to fall to the floor otherwise. Her head turned to the room before she booked it straight towards the exit in a fit. Judith wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. The hall went silent for a long moment and just when everyone was getting ready to forget about the odd occurrence a strange little bulldog came trotting out of the room. That wouldn’t have stood out too much except that three other dogs came out and trailed after the first.
Then another wave of screams were heard and before she knew it the halls were being filled with people. You would have thought the hospital was actually a zoo as animals were running down the halls alongside the people. One woman dropped to the ground in front of Judith and looked like she was going to go into a seizure but her body mutated! She became deformed and patches of hair began to grow all over her skin. Before long the woman did a complete shift and it was a chimpanzee seated on the floor. Judith clearly hadn’t seen it all. Not until today.
Panic erupted as patients and the hospital staff soon flooded the hallway. People were running, screaming and crying in fright as animals chased after them. At least that was what it looked like, but Judith had a feeling the animals were more terrified than the people were and they were trying to find an escape of their own. Then again what did this old codger know?
Judith emerged from her room into the crowd trying to find someone with an explanation for what sort of foolish incident this was. Turning down one of the halls she was nearly trampled as a man in a lab coat went running by with an ostrich close at his heels. What a sight! The hospital had turned into a zoo! The zoo! Did someone break into the zoo and let the animals out of their cages? Why would they all be at the hospital? Then again she never saw a zoo where a woman could turn into an animal right at her feet before. It was just too much for her to comprehend.
Forty-five minutes later the hospital had been evacuated of all the animals. Animal Control had arrived but they were a day late and a dollar short missing all of the action. When the medical staff were able to stop shaking they began escorting patients back to their beds. Judith was brought back to her room by a sweet young nurse who kept telling her the dumbest jokes to keep the pair of them at ease. But no matter how many silly jokes the nurse told her there was no way she was going to get any sleep that night. She’d seen a human turn into an animal. The stories were true.
|
|