Tales From the Beyond

Adri Adityo Wisnu
Chapter #6

The Creeper


The shift nurses of the maternity ward hated being in the hospital hallway in the middle of the night. The feeling of being tailed was unmistakable. Each time a nurse entered a room, whether the nurse station or the nursery, they always did it in a fit of a hurry, closing the door without even bothering to turn their body around, hands and legs were trembling, mouth slightly agape gasping for air. They talked about the phenomenon to each other all the time, each with a slightly different experience from the other. The overall accounts remained the same, they were being tailed by an unknown being, although one nurse had said that she heard a sob of a woman and the other said she heard soft whimpers of a baby or simply faint footsteps. Whatever the case, each nurse was being instructed to never ever look back when they start hearing things. The only thing they should do is to walk faster and get into a room where there are other people as soon as possible.

Once there was a new nurse at the hospital. She's the kind of person who didn't believe in ghosts or any other supernatural beings and no matter how much the other nurses told her about the thing that had been creeping in the hallway, she always dismissed it as a mere superstition spread by a bunch of tired and delusional nurses.

She just got out from one of the patient rooms, carrying a newborn baby to be brought to the nursery. The last time she checked, it was five minutes past midnight. She remembered what the others had warned her, but she shrugged it off. After taking several steps, she looked back and there was nothing there but an empty, brightly lit hallway. It was white and squeaky clean. She could even still hear chattering at the end of it. There are always people buzzing about at a hospital, so she was sure that was all the fuss is about. No ghosts or any kinds of spectral beings, it was not more than the sounds that reverberated along the relatively empty hallways.

The young nurse, still with a baby tucked in her arms, knocked on the nursery door. A middle-aged nurse opened it from the inside while being careful as to not to look outside the room, she kept her head down and stood behind the door, as if using the door as a shield to protect her from something. It has always been like that, the nurse who opened the door for the other nurse wasn't brave enough to look up because they were afraid they would accidentally set their eyes on "The Creeper".

That's what they called it, The Creeper. The unknown being lurks along the hallway at midnight.

"Where should I put him?" Asked the young nurse.

"Just check the names, I think it's the one by the wall." The other nurse said as she closed the door and finally raise her head.

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