Hauntings

-Awake-

Siyeon looked around the room with a confused expression. She didn’t understand how she got here or why everyone was surrounding her with such worried expressions.

More importantly, what was that shadow? Was it all in her mind? No, it wasn't. It was back as it lingered in the back of the room like it was watching her. It was like it was waiting for something.

It slowly walked behind Handong, causing Siyeon to tense in terror when it gently blew the doctor's hair, making it flutter over her shoulder.

Whatever this thing was, it was real. But Handong and the others were too focused on Siyeon to notice the strange things happening in their surroundings, so the movement went unnoticed.

“she will probably be confused for a bit. She did hit her head pretty hard. Let's try not to overwhelm her…” Handong said as everyone leaned back slightly to give Siyeon some space.

Siyeon’s mind was finally becoming clearer as she watched the shadow leave the room once again. As Siyeon looked around, she quickly noticed the iv in her arm and the wires that ran out of her gown to the monitor as it beeped calmly, showing her heart rate returning to normal after the shadow disappeared. Siyeon noticed that for once, she was the patient, not the caregiver.

“what happened? Why am I here?” Siyeon asked as she looked at everyone. They didn’t know what to say as they looked over to Handong for an answer.

“Siyeon? What was the last thing that you remember?” Handong asked as Siyeon thought to herself quietly.

 “um… I remember that I needed to run downstairs for something I went into the stairwell and then…OH MY GOD! MINJI! IS SHE ALRIGHT!?!” Siyeon shouted as she tried to climb out of bed as the monitor alarmed as her heartrate climbed in a panic. But her friends stopped her as they tried to push her back into the bed.

“Siyeon. Siyeon! I'm alright!” Minji shouted from the bed to her left.

Siyeon struggled to sit up and see where the voice came from, but she didn’t have her glasses on. After her accident, someone must have removed her contacts, but luckily Gahyeon knew of her spare glasses in her locker.

Gahyeon quickly handed Siyeon her glasses. As soon as Siyeon had her glasses in her hands, she quickly put them on and looked in the direction of Minji’s voice.

Siyeon gasped in surprise as she noticed Minji lying in a hospital bed to her left. She had a bright smile as she struggled to hold back her tears. It was so good to see Siyeon awake and talking.

Minji had been so worried, and being trapped in a hospital bed for a month, Minji had watched several dramas and started to fear Siyeon would wake up and not remember her at all. She had watched three separate dramas where the main lead suffered amnesia, and it worried her greatly.

But what Minji didn’t know is that her fears were for nothing. There was no way Siyeon would ever forget Minji. She would never be able to tell Minji that due to her shyness, though.

“what happened? I just remember suddenly falling and seeing your face as I fell…” Siyeon said as Minji smiled sadly.

“no, Siyeon… you didn’t fall. You were pushed. I couldn’t see what did it, but I could see you shoved forward forcefully causing the accident…” Minji said as Siyeon thought back. Minji was right.

“I think I remember that…” Siyeon said as Minji and the others nodded with worried expressions.

“as far as everyone else knows, you slipped and fell. No one believed the truth. I'm sorry, Siyeon…” Bora said as Siyeon shook her head carefully. She didn’t want to make her head hurt again. When she struggled to get up earlier, she regretted it right away.

“I wouldn’t believe it either. Don’t worry, Bora.” Siyeon said as she sighed and carefully rested her head against the pillow. She was starting to feel sleepy.

“let's continue this another time. Siyeon looks exhausted, and she needs to rest.” Handong said as everyone stepped back as Siyeon smiled weakly. Sleep was coming soon, and that sounded like a good idea to Siyeon.

“but she has been asleep for a month…” Yoohyeon said as Siyeon’s eyes snapped open.

“a what?” Siyeon shouted as everyone groaned and looked at Yoohyeon and quickly pushed her out of the room.

“we will explain everything later. For now, just rest. Ok?” Handong asked as Siyeon nodded. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

The girls explained everything later, as promised. Siyeon seemed to take it rather well too. She only threatened to bomb the haunted room with holy water several times for hurting Minji. So, for Siyeon, that was pretty good. They only had to mildly restrain her while she raged. So very good for all things considered.

After Siyeon calmed down, everyone caught her up on everything that she missed while she was asleep. The deaths on their unit have slowly started to climb, and patients with altered mental status seemed to shout about demons and ghosts being everywhere.

It made Siyeon nervous about her floor. What if they closed it? Would Siyeon still have a job? Most of the girls’ positions had been filled on their old floors, so this was it. It meant Siyeon needed to find a way to get rid of this thing. Especially if she is the only one that can see it.

When Handong explained Siyeon’s injuries and surgery, it made Siyeon look at her in surprise. It was more severe than she had expected. It was no wonder that everyone looked shocked.

But what worried Siyeon more was Minji’s injuries. She had broken her left leg in several places. When she caught Siyeon, she tried to shield her from the fall with her own body. All of their weight slammed against her leg repeatedly as it broke in multiple places on the way down.

Minji had to have temporary pins placed in her leg, and in a week or two would go back into surgery to finish repairing her leg. The doctors were very positive about her recovery and going back to normal after, but Siyeon worried about her being unable to walk for so long.

Once Siyeon was told it was ok to get out of bed, she started taking care of Minji. She would fix her pillow and tuck her in when she slept as she watched over her protectively. She didn’t know what that shadow was, but she didn’t want it getting close to Minji.

It took several weeks before Siyeon was discharged and told she could come back to work, but Bora told her that there was a catch. Siyeon was waiting nervously outside of Bora’s office. Whatever news Bora had, Siyeon was about to find out, and she worried that it was bad.

Bora opened her door and beckoned Siyeon inside. She sat carefully in the small chair in front of Bora’s desk as the smaller girl flopped into her chair with a sigh.

“I'm sorry, Siyeon… I tried to argue with them, but they want you to be on light duty for the next month or two just to make sure that you don’t have any memory issues that could put patients in danger…” Bora said as Siyeon frowned.

She had worried about this. But what would she have to do? She didn’t want to just stand around and have everyone else do her work for her.

“so, what will I do?” Siyeon asked as Bora frowned. She worried Siyeon wouldn’t like this idea at all.

“you will train with Gahyeon and be a second unit secretary until they clear you to go back to your position. Gahyeon has already been informed and seems to be excited, but what about you? Siyeon, are you alright with this?” Bora asked worriedly. She was one of Siyeon’s closest friends at work and hoped that this wouldn’t make Siyeon think of her differently. She really tried to fight for Siyeon.

“it's alright. I knew something like this was a possibility. At least it's with everyone still on nightshift, and I will be working with Gahyeon.” Siyeon said as she smiled. It also gave her an opportunity to watch for this shadow thing better.

The position at that desk gave her a view of almost all of the rooms but for a few. And they had cameras inside the rooms so that the secretary could watch for any issues. It would be perfect for her.

“oh, and I have some news… Minji will have her surgery in a little over two weeks, and she will be recovering on this unit. Siyeon, I'm worried that whatever did that to you can hurt her too. What do we do?” Bora asked as Siyeon paled.

That settled it. She HAD to do something about this creature. Maybe she should talk to Yoohyeon. She seemed to be looking into the strange things that were happening on this floor. When she went back to work, she planned on asking her what she has learned so far.

After Siyeon got out of Bora’s office, she sighed. It could have gone better, but it could have gone worse too. Siyeon decided to think positively as she walked over to the elevator to go back to Minji’s room and check on her.

Siyeon went to press the button to call the elevator, but it opened as she approached. It confused her a bit, but she dismissed it as she walked inside.

‘ah, that’s why. Someone was in here…’ Siyeon thought to herself as she smiled politely at the man who looked at her with a questioning expression. He was waiting for her to tell him what floor to press.

“ah! Sorry. Six, please.” Siyeon said with a smile as he smiled back excitedly and pressed the button for her. It was after that when Siyeon noticed that something was strange about the man. He was wearing a uniform of some sort and stood calmly by the buttons as if it was his job.

She thought it was slightly weird but dismissed it as the elevator door opened on her floor. She smiled at the man and thanked him as she walked out of the elevator and over to Minji’s room.

Siyeon hesitated before she knocked shyly on the door, causing Minji to smile. She recognized that shy knock anywhere and told Siyeon to come in.

Sadly, Siyeon’s shyness and self-doubt were still there as she shyly asked if Minji needed anything. But adjusting her sheets and pillow was like second nature to her because she was a nurse after all, and Minji loved watching Siyeon focusing on her task as she adjusted everything perfectly for her.

Minji wouldn’t ever admit it, but when she would hear Siyeon knock, she would quickly mess up her bed a bit so that she could see Siyeon in work mode. Minji found it very attractive.

Siyeon just finished tucking Minji in comfortably as she looked into her crushes face. Minji was smiling happily, and Siyeon couldn’t help but blush as she looked away. She loved that smile. It did things to her heart.

Siyeon asked if Minji was hungry, but the girl had just eaten food that Yoohyeon and Handong brought her. Siyeon smiled happily. She worried that Minji wouldn’t be eating well, but it was good to know her friends were taking care of her. Though Siyeon had a suspicion that the two girls liked Minji causing Siyeon to worry.

Minji asked Siyeon how her talk with Bora went and tried to comfort Siyeon as she rested her hand on Siyeon’s arm, but it only flustered the nurse as her face turned a cute shade of red.

It wasn’t what Minji was going for, but she didn’t regret it at all and made a mental note to do that again to see if it had the same effect a second time.

Siyeon left Minji’s room a while later and ran into Dami as they headed back to their floor. Siyeon was going to say goodbye to everyone while Dami was going in to start her shift. She had just stopped by the sixth floor to talk to some friends before her shift started.

The two walked over to the same elevator Siyeon took before, and just like last time, the door opened as they approached.

Dami hesitated. They had talked to maintenance, and they told the girls that the elevator doors were not automatic, so why did they always open for them? But it didn’t bother Siyeon as she stepped inside and nodded to the man at the buttons as Dami looked at her with a confused expression.

‘did Siyeon just nod to someone who isn’t there?’ Dami wondered to herself as she walked into the elevator and stood beside her. She was so worried for Siyeon that she forgot to press the button, but when she went to do it, she froze as she heard Siyeon speak.

“four, please!” Siyeon said happily as Dami looked at Siyeon with a worried look, but soon she heard the ding of a button being pressed, and her eyes went wide as she looked at Siyeon in surprise.

“what?” Siyeon asked as she looked at her friend. Dami just shook her head, mumbling a ‘nothing,’ and proceeded to stare at the buttons with great intensity.

Once they arrived on their floor. The elevator doors opened, and this time the man spoke to Siyeon.

‘have a great day!’ the man said with a smile as Siyeon nodded and smiled back at him.

“you too!” Siyeon said as she stepped out of the elevator as Dami looked from Siyeon to the empty space by the buttons several times before she noticed the doors starting to close and bolted out of the elevator with a soft ‘thank you.’ It’s better to be nice after all, right?

Siyeon was walking towards the front desk when she realized that Dami wasn’t walking beside her. As Siyeon glanced behind her, she noticed Dami jogging down the hallway to catch up.

“did you talk to the elevator guy? And when did we hire elevator operators? I know we used to have them years ago. This hospital is old after all, but it just seems weird.” Siyeon said as Dami's eyes opened widely at the realization of what was going on with the elevator.

There was an elevator ghost that was still working the job that he had when he was living. This meant that Siyeon could just see a ghost, and Dami didn’t know what to think about that.

“um… I will be right back. I need to find Yoohyeon.” Dami said as Siyeon nodded and watched Dami run down the hall.

“why is she running everywhere today? She hates to run if she doesn’t have to…” Siyeon asked herself as she shrugged and spotted Handong and went to speak with her.

“Yoohyeon!” Dami shouted as she slammed the door to the locker room open, scaring the shit out of the taller girl who was changing. Yoohyeon jumped and got her head stuck in the sleeve of her shirt as she shouted for Dami to help free her.

After Yoohyeon was freed from her scrub top, Dami grabbed Yoohyeon’s arm with a worried expression. Yoohyeon could tell something was wrong and froze as Gahyeon walked in.

Gahyeon didn’t like what she was seeing. Yoohyeon had her shirt half on half off, showing amazing abs as Dami held her arm with such an intense expression.

 Gahyeon would never admit she was jealous because she didn’t think of Dami like that, but she WAS jealous and did like Dami like that, though she was still in denial.

“what’s going on?” Gahyeon asked, hoping that the question would make Dami let go of Yoohyeon’s arm but was sad to see it didn’t work.

“We have an issue with Siyeon…” Dami said as both girls perked up at Siyeon’s name.

“what’s wrong with Siyeon?” Gahyeon asked as she walked over to Dami and reached for her arm automatically.

“she sees ghosts… she just saw one in the elevator. But I don’t think she realizes that is what he was yet…” Dami said as the two looked at her in confusion.

“well, how do you know it’s a he and everything if you didn’t see them?” Gahyeon asked as Dami explained the situation.

“wait… let me get this straight. Siyeon walked into the elevator and talked to someone you didn’t see and asked them to press a button, and whatever it was, it was able to press the button? You didn’t touch the buttons at all?” Yoohyeon asked as Dami told her she was correct.

“I didn’t touch them at all. I was too startled that Siyeon talked to someone that wasn’t there that I forgot to press the button.” Dami said as Yoohyeon smiled.

“well, obviously, there WAS someone there if they could press the button for you. Well, that explains the weird elevator now. We need to remember to be nice to that ghost. Remember when Bora trash-talked the elevator and missed catching the elevator for a week? Now we know why.” Yoohyeon said as the two smirked.

“don’t piss off the elevator ghost,” Dami said as the three chuckled and soon got serious again.

“but what do we do about this? What if Siyeon sees another one and speaks to it when someone is around? We don’t want her looking crazy…” Gahyeon said as the three thought to themselves.

“oh! We can just act like she is on a Bluetooth headset or act like she is talking to us if we notice it. We now know it's not that she is crazy. She is actually seeing things that exist even though we can't see them too. THIS IS SO COOL!” Yoohyeon shouted as the two shook their heads at her and quickly got ready for their shifts and ran outside.

Siyeon said goodbye to them as they started their shift and went home. She was supposed to start work again tomorrow and wanted to make sure that she got some rest before she had to come back in.

The next day, Siyeon came in two hours early to check on Minji and make sure that she had what she needed to take notes while Gahyeon taught her everything she needed to know.

After straightening an extremely messy bed for Minji, she shyly wished her a good night and rushed to her floor while blushing.

Siyeon used the same elevator and thanked the elevator ghost as he got her to her floor safely, and soon, she was ready to start her shift.

So far, her shift has been very uneventful. It turned out Gahyeon was a great teacher, and they were sitting at the desk when Siyeon looked over at one of the monitors for the rooms around the corner and froze.

“Gahyeon, do you see that?” Siyeon asked as Gahyeon looked over at the monitor.

“do I see what?” she asked as Siyeon pointed at what just looked like a shadow, but it was hovering over the patient.

This patient was healthy when they arrived, but oddly enough, they started deteriorating once they arrived on their floor.

Gahyeon thought maybe Siyeon was seeing another ghost when she looked over and froze. She could see it too. There was a shadow lingering over the bed. As the girls watched, they noticed the patient's heart rate slowly getting lower.

“I'm going to go see if I'm able to see anything. Be right back!” Gahyeon said as she grabbed a phone and ran down to the room and quickly called the desk as she talked to Siyeon.

“do you see it?” Siyeon asked as Gahyeon stared at the room. Everything looked normal, but she knew that wasn’t really the case from Siyeon’s monitor.

“no. is it still there?” Gahyeon asked on the phone as Siyeon looked and could see the shadow clearly.

“yes, it's still there. It's right over the patient…” Siyeon said as Gahyeon walked over. She was careful not to wake the patient as she waved her arms over them.

Gahyeon felt a cold chill on her arms as her arms went through the invisible shadow. She couldn’t see it, but she felt it was there as the hair on the back of her neck stood up, and goosebumps ran down her arms.

“I see nothing, but I feel it. It's cold. very cold…” Gahyeon said as Siyeon called her back. There was nothing they could do but get the patient moved off of their floor.

Luckily though, they had actually received a new room before Siyeon and Gahyeon had to do anything. The two sighed in relief as Dami transported them safely up to their new floor, where they improved drastically.

Siyeon was talking with Gahyeon and Yoohyeon about what happened when Dami came back to the floor.

“maybe we need a priest?” Yoohyeon said as Dami looked up at them.

“you need a priest? I'm technically one. I got my license for Irene and Seulgi’s wedding. They even gave me a bible as a thank you gift. Why? Is someone getting married?” Dami asked as the three looked at her with an evil grin.

“Dami? Do you still have that priest outfit you wore for Halloween last year?” Gahyeon asked as she remembered what she called ‘sexy priest Dami.’ But she still doesn’t think of her like that though.

The girl nodded as the three swooped in, and soon she was in the priest costume as Gahyeon shoved the bible into her arms.

“I'm not that kind of priest!” Dami shouted as the three brought her to the haunted room. Her panic started to increase as she struggled.

“This isn’t even a real bib-“ she was cut off when the three quickly yanked the door open and shoved her inside before closing the door shut behind her.

“I'm not that kind of priest! Let me out of here!” Dami shouted as she tried to open the door, but Yoohyeon was stronger than she looks.

“not until that thing is gone!” Yoohyeon said as she struggled to keep the door closed.

“i- shit…” Dami said as she went to say something only to hear a low growl from somewhere behind her. The girl slowly turned around to hear the growling coming from the back-right corner by two large empty metal bowls that emitted a foul odor.

It was silent for a while, and soon, Dami was banging on the door.

“let me out. Let me out. LET ME OUT!” Dami chanted as she banged on the door.

“is that thing gone?” Yoohyeon asked as she waited for a response.

“yes! Now let me out!” Dami said as Yoohyeon opened the door, and the girl bolted out of the room.

“so, it's gone?” Gahyeon asked as Dami ran behind Gahyeon.

“NOPE! I lied!” Dami said as she hovered behind the shorter girl while shaking.

“where is your bible?” Gahyeon asked as Dami pointed at the open door with a worried expression.

“it took it…” Dami said as Yoohyeon looked at her in shock.

“no way…” Yoohyeon said as Dami nodded.

“way. Big fucking way!” Dami said as Yoohyeon looked into the room to see for herself.

“Woah… cool!” Yoohyeon shouted as she watched the book hovering in midair before it was launched at her face and struck her forehead with such force she was knocked backward.

“ouch! Fuck!” Yoohyeon said as she groaned on the ground as the three that remained standing shouted in surprise as they heard the creature laughing before the door slammed loudly, leaving the four there in an eerie silence.

It was several minutes later, and Yoohyeon was surrounded by everyone as they looked at the very pink band-aid on her forehead.

“you know if Minji catches you raiding her band-aid supply again, she will kill you, right?” Handong teased as Yoohyeon pouted. Her forehead hurt, but it was a lot less painful than she thought for such a large book, and when she said it aloud, Dami sighed in frustration.

“that’s what I was TRYING to tell you! This isn’t a real bible! It was a gag gift given to me by Seulgi and Irene!” Dami said as she opened it, showing a hidden compartment holding a sealed and very expensive alcohol bottle. How it survived the throw, everyone had no idea.

“We are drinking that once our shift is over…” Bora said as everyone agreed. This was not the uneventful first day back that Siyeon was hoping for. But one thing was certain. She needed to do something before Minji arrived at their floor, and she had only two weeks to do it.