Hospital For Souls (Short story) (Completed)

Hospital For Souls

There was a huge crash and everything went black. Outside people were crying and screaming and soon high-pitched sirens added into it, creating a total voice of chaos. I was breathing heavily and adrenaline was rushing through my veins. I tried to move but I couldn't. I felt immense pain all over my body, at least I knew I wasn't paralyzed or worse - dead.

I heard shouting near me, but I still couldn't see anything.

"Are there any survivors?" a male voice shouted but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get a word from my mouth. I heard a shrill sound of metal tearing right next to me and a poor flashlight appeared to illuminate the darkness after my rescuer had gotten the car door open.

The light from the flashlight surrounded me and my breathing hitched when I saw all the blood. It was my blood. I felt myself becoming weaker and weaker and soon the darkness swallowed me whole.

***

I can only remember hazy flashes from the events after the accident before they blur into a complete darkness. I remember the white-clothed doctors hurrying me on the hospital bed along the white hospital aisles, and the operating room. I also remember the same doctors with surgical masks on, demanding the requisite tools from the nurses. After that I can only remember the never-ending darkness and the faint beeping noise that after a while turned completely flat...

***

I had been sitting on the cold hospital floor in a bloody hospital gown for a while. Well, the floor wasn't actually cold. I could just imagine it feeling cold if I wasn't dead. Yes, you heard right. I was dead. It took a while to accept the thought but I was already almost over it. The first thing I learned from being dead is that the time passes differently when you're dead.

I quietly watched the figure lying on the bed. It was me, or the shell that was left of me, laying totally still on the hospital bed. It was almost completely covered with a white sheet, only the head was left uncovered. A part of me was almost expecting for it to open it's eyes and stand up, before I would woke up from this nightmare on the slim mattress in my bachelor pad but I knew that it wouldn't happen. This was it, I thought and stood up from the floor. Reluctantly I turned my back to the corpse and stepped to the door on the other side of the room. I grabbed the door handle but hesitated. Why? What did I got to lose? I turned the handle and the door opened with a creak. I took a peek first to the left and then to the right. A long hospital aisle opened to both ways. I encouraged myself to take a step out of the room.

I stood still and tried to peek around to see if I happened to see any movement. My feet felt like they were molded into the floor and only after taking in a deep breath, I started walking towards the other end of the corridor.

***

Just as I was arriving to the other end where the waiting room with all the chairs and tables unfolded in front of me, I heard a female voice yell from behind me: "Who's there?!" I sharply gasped for breath and spun around so quickly that I lost my balance and landed on my butt on the floor. I stared in front of me as a petite woman sped towards me and I wasn't sure if I should run away or stay to ask questions. There seemed to be no one else in the hospital and my curiosity got the best of me so I decided to stay. Once again I stood up from the floor and now the woman was already in front of me, clearly out of breath from the sports performance she had just done. She was leaning on her knees with her hands, breathing heavily. She lifted her index finger up, silently asking for me to wait a second. I am not in a hurry, for I am dead, I thought but didn't say anything yet. I took the time to inspect the woman closer. She had black, straight hair that just reached her shoulders. She seemed to be in her mid-twenties, so about the same age as me. She was also wearing the similar hospital gown as I was.