Jessica and I spent a lot of time in the hospital hanging out with Matt and Maria. They made the hospital seem fun. When I was finally starting to feel better, they decided to “initiate” me.
One night, we stayed up playing cards and eating pizza in Matt’s room. All evening Jessica and Matt had been exchanging funny looks. I couldn’t figure out what was going on between the two of them. At midnight I found out.
“We’re going for a little walk,” Jessica said.
“Where?” I asked. We weren’t allowed off the floor without a pass.
“You’ll see,” Matt said. Maria giggled.
“Do you know where we’re going?” I asked Maria.
“Of course, but I’m not telling!” She giggled again.
Jessica looked around. “All clear.”
There were no nurses in sight because it was so late at night. I wondered where the nurse was who always sits at the front desk. Maybe it was her break time. We walked down the long back hallway. Matt kept looking behind us to make sure we weren’t being followed by any nurses. When the elevator arrived, Matt pushed the button marked ‘B’ for basement.
“What’s in the basement?” I asked. It felt like Halloween all over again, and I thought about Diana. She would probably love this adventure, wherever we were going.
Before anyone would answer my question, the elevator doors slid open, and we all stepped out. Right in front of us was a sign. ‘MORGUE.’ An arrow pointed to the left.
“Are we going to the...?” I started.
Matt and Jessica were smiling, and Maria was giggling again.
“No way!” I yelled, and turned back to the elevator. But the doors were already shut, and the indicator showed the elevator was up on the third floor. The next thing I knew, I was standing outside the door to the morgue.
“Do you think there are any dead bodies in there?” Jessica asked.
“Of course there are! It’s a morgue,” Matt said.
“You have to go in first,” Jessica said to me.
“No way!” I said again, because maybe they hadn’t understood me when I said it the first time.
“Go on,” Maria urged, still giggling.
What if there were dead people in there? What if Maria’s sister, Alicia, were in there? Maybe they forgot to bury her last month. What if we got caught? What if I don’t do it and they call me a chicken? The last thought made me reach for the doorknob.
“Go on. You can do it,” Matt urged.
I closed my eyes, held my breath, and grabbed the doorknob. I started to turn it. It was locked. Boy, was I relieved!
Behind me the three of them were roaring with laughter.
“You knew it would be locked!” I said.
“Of course,” Matt said. “You don’t think they would leave the door to the morgue unlocked in the middle of the night, do you?” He was laughing so hard he started coughing. Jessica and Maria were coughing, too. They all looked so funny that I started laughing. And then, of course, I joined the coughing. We must have been making an awful racket down there laughing and coughing because a security guard found us. Busted!
“What floor are you from?” the guard asked.
“Nine,” Maria told him, trying to catch her breath.
The guard escorted us all back up to the ninth floor. The elevator doors opened, and he shooed us out.
“Get back to your rooms.”
He wasn’t going to follow us or tell the nurses where we had been. He was cool.
“Thanks,” Matt said to the guard, as we got off the elevator. We snuck back to our rooms. None of us got caught.