Translator: Reina Editor: Killian
The next day, I couldn’t bear the begging of the nurses, so I went to see the child. When he saw me coming, he became very arrogant, rolling all over the bed, clutching his stomach and complaining that he had stomach pains, then pointing at me and yelling ‘quack doctor’! Tsk, although his personality was terrible, his education level seemed decent, but even if he knew the words ‘quack doctor’, did he really understand what it meant? On the other hand, his mother was anxious and panicked. She rubbed his belly, then asked him what he wanted to eat.
This child must have been spoiled rotten by her.
With a swipe of my pen, I added two days of IVs for him. The child started crying immediately, but unfortunately he lacked acting skills and couldn’t squeeze out tears. With her heart aching for her child, his mother hurried downstairs to buy him bananas.
Before leaving, I glanced at his shoes, and they looked a bit like the little footprints on the windowsill.
Trying to prank me? I took the child’s hand and said to him earnestly, “Let Doctor Yan tell you a story. Do you want to listen to the story about the bunkmates lying back-to-back or the one about a little girl visiting this ward at night to find friends?”
Gao Letian shrunk back, staring at me wordlessly.
I dusted my hands off proudly and left the ward.
As soon as I reached the ground floor of the main building, I heard a splat. That kid tossed the bananas his mother bought for him down. I stared at the smashed banana in the small garden, and felt a mix of frustration and anger. Nothing went well for the rest of the day either. When I got back, the nurse informed me that Dr. Liu was on leave and I would be on duty that night too.
This was my first night shift. I was actually a little excited. I went to the store opposite and bought a few baskets of soup dumplings, several bags of potato chips, and a carton of milk. Not only was this a feast for myself, I could also use the chance to improve my relationship with the nurses.
After working hours ended in the evening, the people in the hospital gradually dispersed. The lights went out floor by floor. Although the inpatient wards opposite remained brightly lit, in this building, the lights were only left on for the emergency room and the nurse’s station on the first floor. From here, all we could see was the dark stairwell and all we could hear was the sound of rain falling on the awning.
It’s so quiet.
I was sitting all alone in the emergency room, bored to tears while munching on potato chips. The only sign of life I could register were the occasional giggles coming from the nurse’s station,
The ticking of the clock on the wall of the emergency room made it seem even more lifeless. The outside of the window was pitch-black. The cool wind and rain drifting in through the half-open window sounded like whispers. This was the perfect time to tell ghost stories, no, this was the perfect time for ghosts to appear!
I suddenly thought of the draft of wind which always seemed to run through the long, gloomy corridors of old and dark Tonghua Hospital. It was said that the doctors on the night shift who were sitting alone in the office and reading a book, would suddenly hear a series of running footsteps echoing along the empty corridor before suddenly disappearing. The nurses said those were the ghosts of those who had just passed away in the hospital and they were all chasing after something.
Other times, you would also find that a closed door was somehow silently opened. You don’t know what ‘things’ from the darkness outside had entered, and where they were. Perhaps, they had been quietly standing right beside you all this time, and you just hadn’t noticed ‘them’ yet…
Thinking about this made a chill run down my body. I turned to glance at the door and took a gulp of milk to calm myself. At most I’d just stare at this darn door all night!
Just then, a call from the nurse’s station made me let out a sign of relief.
The phone rang several times but no one picked it up. Strange. Could it be that they are not there? I wondered.
The call was cut off.
Could it be an emergency call?! Don’t tell someone dialled 120 with their last strength, but the hospital thought it was a prank call and ignored it for three rings, and when they finally decided to pick it up, the person had already… What were these nurses doing?!
At this moment, the phone started ringing again.
Ring, ring.
Ring, ring.
Alright, it’s already three rings, quickly pick it up! I started feeling annoyed when the phone continued to ring.
The door to the emergency room sprung open with a bang and the bag of chips in my hand fell, spilling all over the ground.
That Nurse Liu stood at the door, her face still pale. “Xiao Yan…it’s, it’s a call from your department, from Room 3…”
“Wh-What do you mean from Room 3?” I followed Nurse Liu to the nurse’s station in a daze.
The nurses all stared at me with pale faces. They were standing around the phone, none of them daring to move.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Elcu, glcu.
Ktf qtbcf kjr ralii glculcu.
P kjixfv bnfg jcv ibbxfv ja atf qtbcf rerqlmlberis, ws tfjga mifcmtlcu.
Ktf mjiifg PG bc atf qtbcf… kjr lcvffv atf lcafgcji cewyfg obg ws vfqjgawfca’r Ebbw 3.
Pc batfg kbgvr, la kjr j mjii ogbw atf Gfqjgawfca bo Xfcfgji Vegufgs Ebbw 3? Dea atfgf rtbeiv yf cb bcf atfgf ja atlr alwf!
I looked left and right at the nurses. They were all huddled in shock, on the verge screaming.
Fine. To display my masculine courage, I picked up the phone and put the receiver to my ear.
“Hello?”
There was no reply.
“Don’t tell me this is ‘The Ring’?” I tried to crack a joke to ease the atmosphere.
A few years ago, the movie “The Ring” was very popular, and I was still watching it with a few buddies in college.
Hiss……
Hiss……
Static noises sounded from the other end of the phone, raising goosebumps all over my body. But I couldn’t possibly appear scared before these nurses.
“Who is this?” I asked again.
Hiss……
Hiss…….
It was… It was like the static sound in a tape.
The sound made me feel very uneasy. I hung up.
I turned to the nurses with a smile. “Who’s the one playing this kind of old-fashioned prank? I’ll go up and take a look!”
Even though I said that, I really didn’t have the guts to go up and look around.
“By the way, did the night watchmen find anything?” Nurse Liu asked.
The other nurses shook their heads.
“Where’s the head nurse?” I asked them again.
“I’m the head nurse.” Nurse Liu stood up, “I’ll go up with you to take a look.”
I grinned. Fuck, now I really had to go up. I shot a look at the dark staircase nearby and grumbled inwardly.
“Let’s get going then!” She said with a tone which left no room for compromises. She left some instructions for the nurses remaining behind, then walked over to the stairs.
When I joined her there, the oppressive darkness made me feel suffocated. This was way worse than waking up to use the washroom in the middle of the night in university. I had no choice but to switch the torch on. To calm my nerves down, I started chatting with Nurse Liu.
“Um… Sorry, I’m new here so I didn’t know… you’re the head nurse… What’s your name?” The stairwell was empty and our footsteps were echoing loudly around the space.
“My name? My name is Liu Qunfang. Xiaoyan, you’ve just graduated from university, right? I’m actually only a few years older than you, so you don’t have to be so polite. Just call me Qunfang.” She laughed and the atmosphere suddenly softened a lot.
“You became the head nurse at such a young age? That’s impressive. Looks like I’d better call you Qunfang-jie like everyone else.” I glanced around the stairwell while chatting with her.
“Xiao Yan, do you think this hospital is strange?”
“Ah?” I was still in the midst of adapting to the darkness, and her question stunned me. “Wh-what’s strange?” ”
“Aren’t the footprints you saw today strange?” She seemed to have expected my reaction. She turned to look at me, her eyes gleaming in the darkness.
I didn’t reply.
“Do you believe in ghosts?” she asked again.
Me?
“Well… As a doctor, I don’t believe it,” I answered honestly, but for the first time I felt guilty.
I didn’t believe in ghosts, but I still felt a chill as I walked up this gloomy staircase.
She lowered her head, muttering under her breath.
I vaguely heard, “It would be good, if they existed…”
How could such a horrifying statement come from this female nurse beside me? I wrote it off quickly, thinking I misheard her, and mustered up the courage to continue climbing the stairs.
However, as soon as I reached the third floor, I felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort. I remembered the gossip about the sound of running footsteps echoing through the corridor as well as the draft of wind running through the hospital…
Qunfang-jie didn’t seem to be bothered, and headed straight towards Room 3.
We stood at the door of Room 3. There was a chill slowly creeping up my spine. Except for the small circle of light from my torch, the rest of our surroundings was pitch-black and I felt as if there were eyes in the darkness watching us two quietly, standing all around, just out of sight, watching the two of us quietly.
Suddenly, a loud noise broke the oppressive silence.
Bang!
There was such a loud bang coming from the room!
Was it that mischievous kid making trouble inside? How bold! Was he really not scared of meeting ghosts while running around in the middle of the night? !
Qunfang-jie quickly twisted the doorknob, only to find that the room had already been unlocked, and she opened the door without any effort.
There was nothing inside.
We scanned the small room with our torches.
Bookcases, chairs, tables, everything was as per normal.
The unease in my heart grew. What was it, what could it be, I came to a sudden realisation and moved my torch to the ground—
Footprints.
A row of footprints.
We shared a look and Qunfang-jie’s face turned even paler. Mine was probably not much better.
I walked in while wiping my cold sweat.
Sure enough, the window was open. Cold wind blew in, making the glass on the window rattle. There are two new water stains on the window sill, resembling footprints, with the toes pointing inward, as if something came in from outside.
It was still the footprints of a child, about 7 or 8 years old.
I moved the torch along the footprints, tracing the path all the way down from the window sill, towards the door, and finally stopped at the doorway.
I hurried out into the corridor and surveyed the area outside the door.
Our feet were dry, so we did not leave any footprints.
And these wet footprints disappeared upon reaching the door.
Could that ‘bang’ earlier be something opening the window? After that they went to the door, opened the door, and then what?
“Qunfang-jie, hurry, go ask the night watchman if they saw anyone in the hospital. I’ll look around here!” I said to Qunfang-jie but my feet were getting weak.
Qunfang-jie responded with an affirmative and went upstairs. I stayed behind and did what was necessary.
The next day, I felt like I woke up in a nightmare.
As soon as I arrived at the hospital and reported to Dr. Liu, I immediately hurried to the inpatient department.
I wanted to ask Gao Letian, was he playing pranks?
Gao Letian was watching cartoons, pounding the bed and laughing loudly, surrounded by a lot of snacks. His mother seemed to have just gone down to buy something for him.
As soon as he saw me coming in, he laughed loudly: “How shameful, how shameful!”
I glared at him, what shame!
The kid raised his head triumphantly, and said, “You don’t have to hide it in front of me, I know everything, hahaha!”
“It was really you?!” I stomped over to him and lifted him up into the air.
He waved his limbs in the air. “No! No! I heard it! Haha, I threw a bug into the little nurse’s clothes, and she told me all about it!”
I tossed him back down onto the bed: “What do you know!”
He blinked. “Do you know why the footprints disappeared when it reached the door?”
I gave him a disdainful look. “Why?”
He stared straight at me. “Because you opened the door!”
Because… I felt my brain go blank at that moment. Gao Letian was looking at me, but he didn’t seem to be looking at me either. The eyes of this 8 year old child didn’t look like they belonged to an 8 year old.
He clapped his hands and laughed loudly. “Because of that, it attached itself to your back!”
My first story went like this. Although I said it’s a story
But it’s a true story.
The ghost stories I tell are always true.
Who was the one that night? A person who could get into my office; a person who knew my working hours; a person who wanted to get close to me…
As I wrote this, I reached behind to scratch my back.
Don’t talk about my back, there wasn’t even a ghost behind me!
Rather than wasting time on these ghost stories, it’s better to listen to New Concept English!
April 20, 2001
Qunfang-jie!! PLEASE why do you keep involving yourself in these situations!! You want ghosts to be real?? 😭