Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. Be Afraid of What's in It.

Specter

I woke up in a hospital. For a moment, I had forgotten how I'd gotten there. Suddenly, the last night's events flashed before my eyes. The truck, coming out of nowhere and hitting my car, people loading me into an ambulance, doctors shouting out orders, me, slowly drifting off into sleep.

I sat up and looked around the room. It was extremely beat and orderly. I then noticed that I didn't feel any pain at all. How long had I been out? I walked around the small room, heading for the door. It was locked from the outside. That was strange. Seeing no other exit, I sat down.

I sat in that room for hours. I stared at the wall or out the windows, locked as well, bored out of my mind. Eventually, a nurse walked in with two other people. They didn't seem to notice me. Quietly, I slipped out of the open door. I walked down the hall; headed for the front desk.

When I got to the desk, the receptionist didn't even look at me. I tried to get her attention, calling out to her and even screaming at her. She still ignored me. A man came up to the desk behind me, and the receptionist greeted him kindly. Stunned, I walked away. It was if I was invisible.

I wandered around the hospital for what seemed like ages. No one seemed to notice me. Soon, I came to a room with a metal door. The door was open wide enough for me to slip in. I wish I had read the label on the door.

The sight that greeted me was a terrifying one. Two men were loading my body into a cremator. I stood frozen, unable to process what was going on. "Poor girl," one was saying, "No friends or family to identify her. Too bad her life ended this way."

I don't know how long it took me to realize I was dead. Feeling as though I was slowing burning away with my body, I fell to the floor and let out a scream, a scream that no one could hear.