I woke up around midnight with the urge to pee. Once I'd finished my business, I'd decided it was time to put my plan into action. Taking a deep breath I inched my way toward the door to my room. Gathering up my courage, I reached out and took hold of the door handle and pushed upon it. The wooden door crept open and before I knew it I was standing out in the hallway.

The hallway seemed almost deserted. Releasing my breath I inched out into the hallway, and slowly I started to make my way down the long corridor. I figured the morgue would be located at the bottom of the hospital and the best way to get to the bottom was to use the elevator. Seems simple enough, but to get to the elevator, I'll have to slip past the nurses station.

As I approached the nurses station, I noticed only two of the four nurses that worked the ward seemed to be stationed at the desk, the other two seemed to be roaming around the ward, doing check-ins. If that was the case then I had to act quickly, no doubt one of them would peek into my room and see nothing more than an empty bed and that would send all the alarm bells ringing. A manhunt would no doubt follow and the whole hospital would go on lock down, or they would just shrug their shoulders and say in a cynical tone of voice. 'Not my problem' and move onto the next room.

Anyway, I've come this far, it was time to cross the Rubicon. And so I approached the nurses station with my heart beating like a jackhammer, my palms sweating and my tongue sticking to the top of my throat. Then I noticed that both of the nurses seemed busy, one nurse I knew as Dawn seemed to hunched over the desk and seemed to be scribbling something into an open notebook in front of her. And the other nurse who was sitting beside her seemed to be flipping through the glossy pages of a fashion magazine.

Rolling the dice I then passed in front of them. And none of them seemed to blink. I could not believe my luck, I thought a sickly pale girl wearing a paper thin hospital gown passing in front of them would raise some questions, but Dawn never looked up from her scribbling, and the other nurse seemed engrossed in some Hollywood drama. Or maybe she was just soaking in some eye candy since the cover showed a bare chested man with rock hard abs and jet black hair that was cut in a crew cut. Not my type but then again who am I to judge.

Anyway I was not about to go back and try my luck again, so I quickened my pace and soon I was standing before the silver elevator door. With the palms of my hands starting to sweat, I pushed down the down button a moment later the button lit up and the silver door opened. And without wasting a second I stepped right on in. Now at this point, I'm sure I could have gone to the first floor, walked into the canteen or up to the twenty four hour coffee shop and ordered me a extra large milkshake, yes it seems the small coffee kiosk located on the first floor next to the gift shop offered ice cream and would fix you extra large milkshake if you had the money.

It also seemed the canteen located right across from the coffee kiosk remained open twenty four hours a day too, just like the coffee kiosk and for the right amount of money they would fix you either a grilled cheese sandwich hot of the griddle with warm tomato soup or that other stable of classic southern cuisine, chicken and dumpling. But neither of those things were on my mind right now. All I wanted to do was to go down and check out the morgue. I then stopped in my tracks.

'BAKA' I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs. It had just dawned on me, I had no way to record or prove I'd been there. My phone was still on charging on the nightstand beside my hospital bed. In my frustration I reached up and gave one of my pigtails a hard tug. I felt so foolish.

For a moment I debated if I should go back and get my phone. But that would mean passing the nurse's station again. I doubted if I could slip pass them unnoticed again, even if I did, I doubted I could sneak back to my room, get my phone and then slip back out. No, that would take too much time..Plus I doubted my luck would hold that long. In fact I already felt like I had pushed my luck too far.

And so gathering up my courage I reached over and pressed the 'B' button. A moment later I felt a jolt as the elevator roared to life and slowly started to descend down the shaft. One by one the floors light up as the elevator moved swiftly down the shaft till at last it touched down at the bottom and the doors open and the total darkness of the hallway surrounded me.

I took a deep breath and for a moment I played with the idea of pushing the button that read '5' and beat a hasty retreat. I mean what the worst thing they could do to a sick girl? All they could do was just tell me off for being out of bed. I thought about doing just that for a few long minutes before I vanished that thought from my head. That was pure nonsense, I was on a mission after all! And so with trembling feet and sweaty palms I moved into the darkened hallway.

It seemed the basement was mostly used for storage. The long, narrow hallway was lined with all types of old, outdated medical machines, incubators, old gurneys, some to my horror still had what appeared to be splashes of blood on them. Old wheelchairs, IV Stands.. walking past all this stuff made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. And the noises, the whole ambient of the hallway, made me shutter. And the sounds, the sounds seemed almost inhuman. It sounded like air being passed through a tube, and inhuman groans. I started to picture eldritch horrors around every corner.

But I pushed on and after twenty or so minutes of inching my way down the hallway. I finally came to a set of double metal doors. The letters, bold and blanket and written in Time New Roman script simply read 'Morgue'. I blinked and blinked again. So this is what it came too. Just beyond those doors were bodies, bodies of people who had been loved, cherish. Bodies of people who were brothers, sisters, son's, daughters, mothers, husbands, grandmothers, and grandfathers. Maybe even nameless babies. And here I was about to just casually push open that door and walk right in and see them.. Jesus I need to stop spending time around Cerridwen, I'm going from perky cheerleader to Hot Topic Gothic.

I took a deep breath and was about to push open the door when a loud scolding voice boomed in ears.

“You've gone far enough Ms. Jamie Sarah Potter.” The scolding voice seemed to boom.

I froze. And slowly turned around there standing a few feet from me was a nurse, a nurse with golden blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. The nurse wore an old fashioned nurses dress, you know one of those starch white dresses with white stocking and white low heel shoes. The name badge that was pinned just above her left breast read. “Fairchild” It was followed by “R.N”

I felt my mouth go dry.

“You're in big trouble young lady.” She said, sighing. “When I went to check in on you, I found your bed was empty, your bathroom light was on and your television on too.” She sighed again. “The whole hospital has been looking for you. I'd expected to find you in the reading room or the play room. But instead I've found you down here.. a place where young ladies should not be.” She said in a scolding tone of voice.

I blushed.

“Well young lady lady?” She said, raising a finger. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” She said, folding her arms across her chest as she peered directly at me.

“I'm sorry?” I said, I peered into her eyes, her eyes were the deepest shade of blue I've ever seen and she seemed to glow a little. I mean there was a faint aurora of shimmering light that seemed to surround her.

The nurse sighed and shook her head. After a moment of shaking her head from one side to the other she finally spoke again.

“I guess that would just have to do.” She said. “Kids these days, always getting into trouble, always sneaking out of their rooms. First it was that Susan girl over at River Regional Hospital, then it was that Madeline girl.” She paused, “Teenagers always causing trouble in the ward. None of them can stay in their beds at night.” She said in a low, muttering tone of voice.

“Pardon?” I said tilting my head to the side. I'm sure if this was a popular anime, a huge question mark would have appeared floating above my head.

“Never mind that!” She snapped. “Anyway, what in the world possessed you to leave your room, and venture down here. I mean I'm going to put two and two together and say you were trying to sneak into the morgue. And beside being very disrespectful to the dead, that area is off limits, you could get into some major trouble if you went in. Right now you're just in hot water.” The strange nurse sighed. “So, go ahead and explain yourself young lady. But choose your words carefully, right now I'm debating calling your parents and letting them deal with you.” She said, sighing.

I took a deep breath . And then I started to ramble. Okay it was more like I decided to come clean and spill the beans.

“So, yesterday a bunch of my friends came to visit me. And we had like this pizza party thing in my room. And it was fun, maybe too much fun because we started talking about ghosts. And then somebody mentioned this hospital was haunted. “

At the mention of the hospital being haunted the strange nurse arched her eyebrows and leaned in a little. A sign of fleeting annoyance I wandered. Soon those she motioned for me to keep telling my tale. And I kept right on rambling off the top of my head. I mean I had been caught red handed after all, there was no reason to hold anything back right? I mean I might as well go ahead and spill the beans right now and get it over with.

“Anyway! My friends mentioned that there was this old rumor of a supposed 'Phantom Nurse' that suppose to roam the halls of the hospital. And I kind of wanted to see if I could encounter her.” I said blushing. I looked down and braced for the scolding to come. Instead of scolding me the nurse just sighed again and shook her head from left to right.

“Okay.” She said with a sigh. “Let me get this straight. I want to make sure I understand everything. Your friends told you a silly urban legend about a ghost nurse who is supposed to roam the halls of this hospital. And instead of brushing it off you decided to sneak out of your bedroom and roam the halls?”

“Yes ma'am.” I said as I felt my cheeks starting to darken a little.

“Do you have any idea of the trouble you caused us?” The strange nurse said. “Nurse's who should be tending  to sick children are now looking for you! This is a hospital Ms. Jamie Sarah Potter! Not a haunted Halloween fun house! This is not one of those pop-up haunted attractions you see on the roadside each October. This is not a prop hospital, but a real hospital.” She added.

“Yes ma'am.” I said blushing again.

“Furthermore, you're still sick! You're not over your pneumonia! So instead of being in bed, resting and getting better, you can get out of here, and go play with your friends again, attend school dances, go on dates, and do all the normal teenage stuff. You decided to roam around. Pretty much, you are throwing out the window all the hard work we've done to get you well!” She added.

I blinked and felt myself starting to shift my weight from one foot to the other.

“We'll Miss. Jamie Sarah Potter, it seems you and I are going to have a little talk. But first I'm going to return you to your room.” She said, “And then I'm going to have a talk with Miss. Dawn about keeping a closer eye on the ward.” She said as she reached down and held out her hand.

I blinked and slipped my hand into her hand, and I noticed her hand felt very cold, very cold to the touch. Once my hand was in her hand, she nodded her head. And without saying another word she started to guide me back down the hallway, back to the lift and back to the fifth floor and back to my tiny hospital room.

“Now.” The strange nurse said as she closed the door behind her. “Its time for you're punishment.” With that being said, the nurse eased her bottom down upon the bed. Once she was seated she patted her lap, almost inviting me to lay across it.

I blinked and blinked again. I was a little taken back by the invitation. But there seemed to be some kind of unearthly power behind the pale blue eyes of the nurse. A power that made me shutter, and made me fear what would happen if I disobeyed her.

With trembling legs, and shaking knees, I climbed up and laid over the lap. I then noticed how cold she was, she was ice cold, it was like laying on a cube of ice. Then before I could catch myself, I felt the hem of my hospital gown being raised up. I felt the coldness of the air conditioned air and then I felt the sting of her palm!

“You!” She said smacking my bottom again with her open palm sending waves of sting into my bottom. “Put your health and life in danger!” More smacking, I counted on smack for each word. It was a funny feeling her hands were ice cold and I could swear I felt her fingers going right through me, but I could feel the stinging of her open hand and the heat that followed each strike.

“And broke more rules than I can count!” She added. I could feel it, she was in her rhythm now. Each word was followed by a fiery swat to my bottom with her phantom hand. Soon I felt tears forming at the edge of my eyes, the seconds seemed to slow to a crawl, with each passing second bringing another wave of sting and burn that seemed to roll into my bottom.

“All because you wanted to see if some silly urban legend was real or not?” She added after she delivered twelve more seats to my bottom. I'm sure at this point my bottom was glowing, and from the way it ached it felt like it was glowing hotter than coal in hell

“Yes ma'am!”

“That was a very foolish thing to do!” She said as she kept swatting my bottom. Again, I did not so much feel the palm crashing into my bottom as much as I felt the after effects. I mean I felt the first few, but after that it seemed the palm sailed right through my bottom! Anyway my head was spinning at this point. And the flood gates were about to open and soon they did. A wave of salty tears started to roll down my face, the tears spilled onto my pillow, a pillow I was now clutching for dear life. I mean clinging to that pillow like a sailor who'd just been shipped wreck would cling to a piece of driftwood.

“I trust!” She said as she kept the tempo going, “That this would be the last time you and I have this conversation Miss. Jamie Sarah Potter?” She paused. It seemed she was waiting on my answer.

“Yes ma'am!” I answered in a weak tone of voice. It was more like I meowed it. Yes, meowed like a kitten. I meowed it like the sick, weak, scared, and tired kitten I was and felt like.

The strange nurse nodded her head and then she returned to the spanking. After another dozen or so swats with her open palm she said, in a very bone chilling tone of voice.

“Good. Because I hate repeat offenders. Next time I might use the hairbrush or a paddle instead of my hand, do you understand me?” She said, striking my bottom hard! I yelped!

“Yes ma'am!” I said quickly, a small stream of salty tears were flowing down my red cheek bones. My bottom felt like a swarm of angry hornets or wasps had been released upon it.

“Good,” The strange nurse said with another  sigh. And with that she reached down, pulled me into a tight hug, she held me for a good long time, minutes? Hours? I'm not quite sure, everything just seemed to run together. But after what appeared to be a long time, the nurse gently eased me down and lifted the thin, woolen blanket over me.

“Now, get some rest. The morning nurse should be around in about a hour or two with your breakfast.” The strange nurse said. “And remember, no sneaking out of your room without permission. If you need something from one of the vending machines outside, ask one of the nurses or one of your friends to get it for you. It's flu season now, and we're all battling it. So do us a big favor, don't be a spreader okay?” She said as she turned her head over her shoulder and peered right at me.

“Yes ma'am.” I said weakly, I just wanted to sleep.

“Good girl.” And with that she passed right through my door. And I mean she did pass right through the door, as in she passed right through the freaking door, sure I was a little freaked out, but I was also worn down from my spanking, and tired and my eyelids were growing heavier by the moment. And so, I nodded off, and soon I was fast asleep.

To be continued