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The Ghost
or How I Became A Female Paraplegic

It was a dark and stormy night. Isn’t that how all the badly written stories are supposed to start? Unfortunately for me, it was true.

I had been a drifter since I was 16. Moving from place to place on foot or hitch-hiking, doing odd jobs to earn enough money to get me to the next town my travels took me to. When the night in question happened I was 23 years old. I had been traveling in the central United States and was in a rural area with a moderate sized town in the distance as my destination. It was nearing night fall and I could tell a major storm was gathering over head. I was sure that it was going to let loose before I found decent shelter, and I was right. I got drenched once it started coming down, but having been hiking for the past 7 years I had my other clothing packed inside waterproof bags so I wasn’t too concerned about that. The bad thing was the rain was ice cold so I wanted out of this weather as soon as I could find some place. The sun was going below the horizon to my right as I was passing a small rise to my left and the light from the sun along with a big flash of lightning lit up a building just beyond the rise in the land. Immediately I headed for it hoping to at least find a corner out of the rain if I could not gain entry into the place.

I hurried over to the building to find it was a hospital that appeared to be abandoned. Walking around it I found the emergency entrance which had a large cover over it that got me out of the direct rain pouring down, but not away from the heavy winds that were whipping around. I went all the way up to the entrance doors hoping to get better shelter from the weather and to my amazement the automatic doors slid open. Not wasting a chance like this I went right inside and got out of the rain and wind howling around outside. It was dark inside for the most part, just a couple widely spaced and rather small dim emergency lights were glowing down a couple directions I could initially see. I dropped my backpack on a chair in the waiting area and pulled out my flashlight from an external pocket to take a look around. After the first few minutes I realized that while abandoned this hospital was in great condition, which left me wondering why nobody was here. None of the lights I tried worked, and the computers I came across would not turn on, so I assumed there was no power and the emergency lights were probably running on batteries. There were a few wheelchairs and gurneys in the hallways, and curtains were still hanging in the exam rooms I looked into. Any of the doors I tried opened right up, and behind one of them I found what appeared to be a supply closet that was mostly empty, but in one corner what must have been the linen supply shelves still had towels, blankets, and even patient exam gowns and slippers. I grabbed a couple towels a long gown and slippers, and immediately stripped off all my wet clothing right down to my birthday suit, not really caring I was nude since I was alone. Then I dried my self and put on the patient gown and slippers to cover up a bit. My wet clothing was laid out to dry on a gurney just outside the supply closet and I continued to look around.

Now that I was at least dry, I searched for vendor machines in the hopes that something would still be in them, but every one I found were all empty and without power. I continued to pad around in my slippers and I found different procedure rooms and a couple surgery rooms, all devoid of any actual medical supplies but still having exam or procedure tables in them. I eventually got bored of poking around the ER and headed back towards the waiting area to get my bag. Along the way I passed by the same supply closet and gurney where I had gotten the towels to dry off with, and where I had left my clothes to dry, not realizing my wet clothes and the wet towels were missing from where I had left them. I arrived at the waiting area and my backpack was not there. Seeing that the seating went on around a corner I went and looked thinking I had mistaken where I thought my bag was at but when I shined my light around all the seats were empty.

“What in the ...?” I exclaimed. “I know I left my pack around here somewhere. Now where in the hell is it?”

I went back to where my clothes should be at only to realize they were missing. Looking at the gurney I saw there were several wet spots on it so I knew I had the right one, but no clothes. I headed back to the seat I thought I had left my pack on, and sure enough when I check it was wet. Someone was here and had taken my belongings!

“Alright,” I said loudly, “Whoever is in here had better show them self and return my things. This isn’t funny.”

I waited a minute for someone to come out or respond, but there was nothing. No sounds that were out of place or anything. I looked down at the floor to see if there was a trail of water from my backpack that would point me in the direction it had been taken, and there was nothing. The floor was perfectly dry.

“Dammit.”

Now what was I going to do? All I had was my flashlight, and the exam gown and slippers I was currently wearing. Everything else was gone. I began a systematic search of the entire floor instead of randomly wandering around this time. As I went I would close any doors I found to indicate I had already been there since so far most doors I found were open, and where there were curtains hanging I would pull them out even with the end of the beds. It took me an hour, and I found nothing new as far as my belongings were concerned. It still appeared I was here alone and my stuff was gone. I found a lounge, a gift shop, and several offices, but there was nothing of any real value in any of them. The only thing to be found in any of them were large furniture such as desks chairs couches or display shelves, all shelves and drawers were other wise empty. The elevators I came across all had no power and were not functioning, and I simply made note of where the stairs were that I found, determined to check this floor first before going up. Plus, the doors to the stairs were extremely noisy when opened and I figured I’d hear it echo around if someone went through one.

I headed back to the ER section once I finished my search, feeling more than a bit dejected with my failure to find anyone or anything at all. My flashlight batteries were also dying and it was not much better than the dim emergency lights at this point which did not help my mood either. As I was passing by one of the halls I had checked earlier I caught something moving out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and down at the end of the hall was what appeared to be a figure in the inky darkness down there.

“Hey you! What did you do with my stuff!” I yelled as I started down the hall towards them.

“I’m sorry! It wasn’t me!” replied a girl’s voice. “It’s not my fault! Please, stay back!”

She was definitely in a panic, and appeared to be trying to get through a door I had closed but not locked but she could not get it to open. I slowed down my approach and spoke softly to her realizing she was younger than me and probably scared I was going to hurt her.

“It’s ok, I won’t hurt you. Calm down. Just show me where my things are and it’ll be ok. My name is Jeff by the way.”

My flashlight decided to give up at this point leaving me with only the emergency light in the hallway behind me to see by. The girl gave up on the door as I continued to get closer and shrank back into the darkest corner at the end of the hall. She spoke again, still sounding nervous and scared.

“Don’t come any closer, please. You should leave, now. If you stay bad things will happen. Stop, please.”

I stopped moving and responded telling her “I can’t exactly leave dressed like this with a storm outside, now can I? Look, I’m not going to hurt you. Won’t you come out of the dark where I can see you better? Here, I’ll even put down my flashlight.” And I matched my words with actions, placing the flashlight on a gurney beside me and stepping away from it.

“You won’t like what you see if I come out,” she said.

“Oh come on, what do you mean I won’t like how you look. You sound cute to me, and it’s nicer talking to someone you can see than an indistinct shape in the dark. Now come on, show me what you look like.”

She still hesitated, then said “I’m not a living person. I’m a ghost.”

That shocked me a bit, “What did you say?”

“I’m dead. I died in this hospital, and the person who caused it won’t let any of us leave.”

“You’re kidding me,” I said, disbelief evident in my voice. “You’re telling me that you’re a ghost? I don’t believe it, show me.”

She sighed and said “Fine, but please don’t go running away screaming.”

Then she slowly began to move towards me to where I could see her better. She wasn’t kidding. As she got closer I saw that she was floating above the floor. She was very pale looking and as she got closer I could vaguely see through her. I did not see any legs at all, she just kind of fade out at about her waist or hips. Even so, she was shorter than me and when she looked up she had the saddest expression I have ever seen. It was so sad that despite my fear of seeing a real ghost for the first time in my entire life, I still wanted to reach out and give her a warm hug to comfort her. I actually raised my arms part way before stopping and wondering if I could even touch her.

“Oh my god, you ARE a ghost! What happened to you?” I asked her.

“My name is Elizabeth and I was a patient here, along with several others under the care of a particular doctor. Nobody knew it at the time, but he was a cruel and evil man. He would proscribe more extensive treatments than necessary for some patients so he could have them stay in the hospital for ‘special’ procedures. I was one of his special patients. Once he had us in his care here, he would do cruel things and completely unnecessary procedures on us up to and including surgeries that were not needed. And late at night, or during one of these surgeries, he would perform rituals over us, telling us that he was binding our souls to him and we would never leave here alive. The death rate of his patients was high, but he covered it up with medical reports showing there were complications and other underlying factors or health problems of his patients causing it. He honestly was a brilliant doctor, and was very gifted at what he did so he was able to hide his sadistic side for a time. But it was still too much, and someone got suspicious. They contacted the police and the hospital administrators and had them self admitted as a patient, faking an injury that would get them assigned to the doctor to see what would happen. It worked, and they got admitted to the hospital as one of his special patients, all the time managing to take notes and having other hospital staff keeping track of what was happening. Unfortunately for that person, the doctor was quick to do a couple procedures and even a surgery in the first couple days that exposed them as a fake and the doctor was quick to arrange an ‘unfortunate complication’ during surgery that killed them. The doctor was caught in the act and accused of murder right there in the surgery room. He pronounced a curse on the hospital, saying that none of his patients would ever leave him and he would keep them here forever. Then he managed to kill himself in the struggle to arrest him instead of being taken to jail.”

“That’s horrible!” I said. “So he’s still here, and has you and others trapped in this hospital?”

“Yes,” she replied. “He had been at this for a while, so he already had a bunch of souls trapped here. After he died, the other doctors checked out his living patients here in the hospital, not knowing about or even believing there could be people trapped here after death. There were only 3 of us alive at the time and they found that all of us had suffered cruel and unnecessary operations by his hands, but we all showed to be stable and should recover in time. What they did not know was the curse was real, and the doctor had bound his own soul to remain here at the hospital. It took him about a week to regain his strength from dying before he could actually do anything. Once he could, his remaining 3 patients all suffered an unexplainable random complication that resulted in their deaths one after the other over a month’s time. I was the last one of the three to die. After that unexplainable, sometimes horrible, things would happen to random patients occasionally resulting in their death. The hospital quickly got the reputation of being cursed and haunted. Of course it was the doctor continuing his evil games, both with the living and those whom he had bound to him. The living had a better chance of escaping him since there were other doctors taking care of them, but those of us who were bound here have no way of getting free and must suffer what ever he wants to do to us. We did find that we could hide from him somewhat by going inside of living people. It was only temporary though, since if we chose a healthy person they would feel it and wind up leaving the hospital soon after. We can’t ever leave so we’d be dragged out of their body when they went outside. If we chose someone who was a patient that couldn’t just leave, then our own injuries would start to show up on them after about a week of us hiding in their bodies which would further weaken them and leave them more susceptible to the doctor. It was a no win situation for us.”

By this time we had sat down against the wall. I found that I could not touch her if I tried, but she could lean up against me if it was her choice and I did not stop her, wanting to give her what little comfort I could.

“Since being abandoned, the hospital has been almost completely under his power and control and he can do practically anything he wants here. And now you’re under his power too,” she said. She pointed up at the gurney, “See, you’re flashlight is gone now too. Everything you brought with you is gone. I doubt you could leave if you tried now. It was probably too late the first time I told you to run.”

Suddenly she sat up alarmed. “He’s coming! I’ve got to run and hide somewhere before he finds me!”

I tried to hold her out of instinct, but my arms just went through her body reminding me she was a ghost. This also reminded me of something she had just said.

“You said you could hide from him in someone who was living. Hide in me.”

“Are you sure? It will be unpleasant,” she said, but her eyes were hopeful for the first time since I’d met her.

“I’m certain, do it now before he finds you.”

She immediately turned around and sat down in my lap, sinking right into my body. The sensation was uncomfortable but did not hurt, and I could actually feel her moving around inside me as she got settled in.

“No wonder people left as soon as they could when you did that,” I thought. “That was disturbing.”

“I know. It’s a little strange for us too,” she thought back.

“You heard my thoughts? And I heard yours!” I said aloud.

“Yep. My soul is over lapping yours now so we can communicate directly. Don’t speak to me out loud anymore, he’s almost here.”

I stood up and began walking down the hall back towards the ER waiting area, hoping to avoid this evil apparition that was in control of the building. My fortune was not to be so good it seemed. Before I got to the end of the hall a man in a long doctors coat stepped around the corner and blocked my way. He was a little bit taller than me, and like Elizabeth was partially transparent, but he was full figured with legs and feet standing on the floor instead of floating above it. He was intentionally blocking the passage so I stopped ten feet way from him and waited to see what he would do.

He looked up and down at the way I was dressed and said “Well now, it would seem that there is a new patient in the hospital tonight who is wandering around. I don’t suppose you’ve seen any other patients have you? It seems that one of my patients has gone off on her own. She needs to be found and taken back to her bed; she is very fragile and could come to great harm if she does not get her next treatment in time.”

“Oh no. He’s lying. His next treatment is what is going to harm me, and it’s probably going to be worse now” thought Elizabeth.

I decided that I was not going to play this game with the doctor. I looked him right in the eye and said “Yes, I’ve seen your missing patient. I even had an interesting conversation with poor Elizabeth about you and the horrible things you have done.”

“What are you doing?!?” Elizabeth screamed in my head.

“Is that so? Well since you know something about me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Doctor Albert Einstein Brown. I am a Doctor of Orthopedic Surgery at this hospital. And while I do not know the content of what you have been told, let me just say that it is probably all true,” he said with a nasty smirk on his face. Then his face got serious. “I want Lizzy, and I want her now. I can’t seem to detect her anywhere. Tell me where she is. If you don’t then you shall suffer more than I intended you to initially suffer. And make no mistake, you ARE a patient in this hospital now and I intend to treat you as one.”

Elizabeth just moaned at this and I could feel her quivering in fear which just strengthened my resolve to try and protect her.

“Why should I give her up to you? You’ll just torture her or worse. I have her safely hidden away where you cannot reach her, and I’ll stop you from hurting her if I can.”

Dr. Brown chuckled at this. “So, hiding inside the boy are you Lizzy? Come out here right now if you know what’s good for you.” He stepped forward and reached out as if to grab my, or Elizabeth’s, arm.

“No!” I exclaimed and held up my hand as if to stop him. Amazingly, he was unable to grasp either Elizabeth or myself. His hand stopped cold just before making contact.

“You ... you stopped him. How?” said Elizabeth.

The doctor was shocked at first, then visibly angered. “So, you wish to challenge me then. Is that so, BOY?”

Without hesitating I answered, “Yes, I challenge you. I will keep Elizabeth safe from harm, AND I will escape you!”

Dr. Brown calmed down at this and grinned. “Very well then. It will be a contest. You must find Elizabeth’s bed, somewhere in this hospital, and then make your way out. Elizabeth is to stay with you and can only leave your body for a few minutes at a time. She can do this as often as she likes, but when she returns to you she cannot leave again for at least 15 minutes. While she is outside your body she is safe from me, I give you my word. She is also forbidden from telling you where her bed is in any way. This is a contest after all. Also, as you are a patient here, if you are caught by any hospital staff where you don’t belong, then a penalty will be imposed. You will be brought back down here to the ER for the penalty and have to start your search all over again. Now I will demonstrate one more restriction to the both of you. Please sit down in that wheelchair over there if you would.”

I looked around and saw the indicated chair. Looking back at the doctor uncertainly I walked over and sat in it.

“Please, wheel yourself around,” He said.

I put my hands on the wheel rims and pushed myself around the hall with no problem.

“Now, Elizabeth, come out of there if you please. This is an intentional demonstration of another rule of the contest, you will not be harmed.”

Elizabeth floated up out of my body, again giving me that uncomfortable sensation which caused me a moment’s pause to adjust to. While she had remained still inside me I had gotten used to her presence and was not as bothered with her there, but as soon as she moved it was very disturbing. Once she was out Dr. Brown gestured as if to have me wheel around some more. I shrugged my shoulders and proceeded to do so. Or, I tried to. The wheelchair would not budge. It was as if I was sitting on a solid steel carving of a wheelchair. I stood up and tried to pick up or move the chair in any way. Again it would not move, I could not even get the flexible leather seat or back to bend in the slightest.

I looked back at the doctor. “What’s this?” I said.

“You will not be able to affect anything in this hospital without Elizabeth. If she is not within you, then you have no power here. You may now go back where you belong for the duration of this contest Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth quickly floated over and re-entered my body. I was ready and tried to brace myself for it this time, but the sensation was just as uncomfortable as the first time and it took us a moment to get situated again.

“That’s not going to be getting any easier, is it?” I asked.

“No, I’m afraid it’s not,” she replied.

“There is one final rule to be aware of. There will be a time limit,” said the doctor. “You have until dawn. It is currently just before 10 PM, and sunrise is not until shortly after 6 in the morning, so you should have plenty of time to play my game.”

“So, let me get this straight,’ I said. “I have about 8 hours to search the entire building and find Elizabeth’s bed. I assume as proof I’ll have to actually lay down in it or something?” Dr. Brown nodded at this. “Then, once having found said bed I will then have to make my way out of the building. I will be able to exit won’t I?” He smiled and nodded again. “During this time Elizabeth is my link to this hospital. While she is with me I can open doors, use elevators, etcetera and when she is not nothing will move for me. Elizabeth is allowed to leave me briefly, say as a scout, and then cannot leave me again for 15 minutes. There will be other hospital staff around while this is going on, and if I get caught where a patient should not be then I will be brought back down to the ER for a penalty and have to start my search again. If I am successful then I get to leave and Elizabeth does not get harmed.”

The doctor nodded and said “I do believe you have got it. Do you accept the terms?”

Elizabeth spoke up in my mind “Don’t do this. He is evil and will find ways to twist it to his advantage.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already found a way to get you out of this. I can do it.” I replied.

“I agree, and I’ll win. You just wait and see,” I told Dr, Brown.

“Excellent,” he said. “Now, since this is a contest, and contests are supposed to be challenging you know, and you happen to be one of my patients here, I believe it is time for a small demonstration of my power over you.” He gestured and the wheelchair rolled up behind me forcefully knocking me down into the seat and continued to roll forward with the leg rests raised up holding my legs elevated. It quickly rolled down the hall and into a room. It was one of the seemingly empty procedure rooms with a padded table in the middle of the room which the wheelchair stopped next to. The doctor appeared just inside the room, blocking the doorway.

“This is one of my cast rooms, used for simple cast applications that don’t need special harnesses or frames to apply.” He pointed at me and I was lifted out of the wheelchair and laid down on the table. My legs were lifted up off the table and bent at the knees and out of nowhere cloth tubes were pulled over my feet and up to just above my knees. Next rolls of padding appeared and began to quickly wrap my feet from my toes to just below my knees, tightly binding them in a couple layers with extra at the heel and ankle bones. Finally wet rolls of plaster bandages appeared and wrapped themselves around my legs, building up several layers quickly and smoothing out the plaster as they went. In just a minute I had two complete casts on my legs from just below the knees all the way down to very solid plates under my toes with extra thick and very flat ‘soles’ on the bottom of my feet.

As my legs were gently laid back down on the table I sat up and looked at Dr. Brown, “What the hell is this?” I reached down and felt the casts from the outside, finding them to be completely dry and hard. I then tried and found the casts were tight enough that I could not bend my ankles in any direction at all in the slightest; even my toes would only lift up a little bit due to the edge of the cast on the top of my foot going directly over but not covering the first joints of my toes.

“I do believe we agreed you are a patient in this hospital. One of my patients. And I am a Doctor of Orthopedics. As such, you have been fitted with your very first casts as my patient. These happen to be rather beautifully formed plaster short leg walking casts, so that your search will be a bit more challenging. You will find that you are fully able to walk around in them, although not so easily I suspect. If you don’t think that’s enough of a challenge I can certainly make it harder by making them long leg walking casts, say right up to your crotch and hips?”

Elizabeth started crying and said “I told you he would twist the rules! He’s not going to ever let us go!”

I frowned at him, but said “No, I do believe you have made your point here. These are more than sufficient to be a challenge.”

He pointed again and a pair of blue canvas cast shoes appeared on my casts. “To help keep your plaster casts from slipping around on the smooth tile floors. You might want to consider keeping that wheelchair with you too.”

I swung my legs over the edge of the table, reached down and moved the wheelchair out of the way, and carefully lowered myself to stand on the floor. I found my balance to be a little off with the casts, so I took a couple of gentle test steps while keeping one hand firmly on the table beside me in case I fell. As he had said, I could walk ok, as long as I took it slow and easy. There was no way I was going to be able to run in these things, or even do a fast walk. I frowned at the doctor again and carefully made my way out the door. Once I got out of the room, I realized that I could see up and down the hallways almost normally. It was as if the hospital had fully functional electricity and lights, but not quite real and over laid on the real building I had been in. There were even one or two people moving around like there would be in an active functioning hospital.

“Am I seeing your ‘world’ over top of my own Elizabeth?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she said. “This is what I usually see around here, and these are all the nurses and orderlies that he has running around to do his bidding here. They are the ones who we need to avoid so we don’t get caught where we don’t belong.”

“Great,” I said aloud. Unfortunately this attracted the attention of a nurse walking by right then.

“Oh, you poor dear,” she said. “What are you doing out on your own?”

Oh crap, now what? Was I already caught before I even got out of the ER? I thought fast and pointed back at the cast room I had just come out of, “Doc Brown just put brand new casts on my legs. He then let me go on my own to make my way back to the ward and bed.”

“Ok,” she said. “If Doctor Brown said it was alright then go ahead. You should be using a wheelchair though don’t you think?”

“No, he said these are walking casts. I’ll be ok as long as I take it easy,” I told her.

“Very well. You just be careful and get to bed as soon as you can. We don’t want you stressing yourself too much or slipping and causing further injury.” And she gave me one more concerned look before heading off and leaving me to my own.

“That was some fast talking. I was sure we were had,” Elizabeth told me.

“So was I,” I replied. “But I didn’t lie to her. Doc Brown really did just put these casts on me and then let me go to start my search. Now, which way do we go from here?” I could tell she was trying to say something, but no words came to my mind from her. “Oh, yea. Right. You can’t give me any directions.”

“Sorry,” she said.

“It’s ok. Now we know just how strict that rule is,” I said. I shrugged and turned towards the nearest bank of elevators I had found in my earlier searches. Along the way I looked for any kind of floor directory that might indicate where the orthopedic ward was in this building. I found a simple one that listed an orthopedics ward as being on the 6th floor, but not what direction.

I pushed the button to call the elevator and asked, “Is there just one ortho ward? Or is there more than one, split up between male female and pediatric?”

Elizabeth paused for a moment then said, “I can answer that one. Yes, there is more than one ward.”

“But you can’t tell me where. Ok. How old are you?” I asked.

“I was 15 when I died. I’m not sure exactly how long I’ve been like this though,” she answered.

The elevator arrived and I thought about it for a moment while I got on and pushed the button to the 6th floor. “That means you could possibly be in the pediatric or female ward. That’ll make this interesting.”

We rode on up and got off when the doors opened at the 6th floor. I looked around and did not see any obvious signs pointing in any direction so I headed left down the hallway. As I slowly walked down the hall I stayed next to the wall so I could grab the hand rail there in case I stumbled with these casts on. A minute later we both saw a nurse come out of a doorway and turn in our direction.

“Crap,” said Elizabeth. “We don’t know if you’re on the right floor or not. If you’re in the wrong place, then we’re caught. Quick, lay down on this gurney here and get under the sheet.” I climbed up on the gurney and quickly pulled the sheet up over me so it covered from my feet up to just below my neck. “Now just lay still and close your eyes as if you’re a patient waiting to be moved.”

I did as she suggested and the nurse passed us by without a second glance. I carefully breathed a sigh of relief and looked behind me to make sure she kept on going. Elizabeth piped up and said, “Stay here for a minute or two. I can’t tell you where to go, but I can look around and see if there are any more nurses or orderlies in the area. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I kept still while she left my body, again having a problem while she moved out of me, and she continued on down the direction we were going. She failed to notice the patient chart that appeared hanging at the foot of the gurney I was on while she went by. About 30 seconds later a male orderly walked up to the gurney from behind me, giving me a start. He lifted the chart at the end and looked at it briefly before putting it back down then looking at me with a smile while he began to move the gurney back the way I had come.

“Looks like it’s time to take you to the cast room sweetheart,” he said as he pushed me along. I tried to sit up and get off the gurney only to find I was pinned down under the sheet covering me! The rules said that without Elizabeth I have no power to move anything here, and apparently that means EVERYTHING. Including the sheet that I was now trapped under. I was helpless to stop him as he pressed the button for the elevator, got me on and off, and rolled me right back to the same cast room I had been in previously.

Doctor Brown was there, waiting for me, grinning like a cheshire cat. “Oops, looks like you got caught.”

“Yea, ok, fine. I got caught,” I said. “Now I’ve been penalized and brought back down to ER again. Let me up from under this sheet please so I can get back to my search.”

“Oh no,” he said with a smirk. “You’ve not received your punishment yet. I said you’d be brought back here FOR your penalty, not AS your penalty. And we can’t have Elizabeth running around loose for too long. Lizzy, come here now and get back where you belong.” Instantly Elizabeth was in the room with us, and she immediately floated over and sunk back down into me.

While we were recovering from our disorientation the doctor walked over and picked up the chart hanging at the end of the gurney I was laying on. “What have we here? A patient chart, for a patient other than yourself. Trying to disguise yourself as someone else were we?” He looked over the chart for a moment, “Hm, yes. I think this will do nicely. Nicely indeed. Lizzy, guess who’s chart this is. None other than Jennifer’s. Now isn’t that interesting.”

Elizabeth began to panic inside me while the doctor continued to talk. “Now, while Elizabeth knows just who Jennifer is, you probably have no idea. Jennifer was an abused child. Her father beat her quite often, and she was a regular patient of mine. It seems that this chart is for the time that he broke both of Jennifer’s arms, rather severely at that. It seems he used a hammer this time around. I believe this will work quite well as your penalty. You will now get to have the same casts applied to you that Jennifer did for this particular visit.”