When I opened my laptop this morning the screen saver picture took me by surprise. A bright orange jack-o-lantern was staring back at me. Wow, I thought, it’s almost time for Halloween.
Then I began to think of a crazy scary story to tell. So, let’s try this one.
****
The call came in at one in the morning from the triage center. A patients’ daughter reported that her mother’s catheter was plugged and needed the nurse to fix it.
This is the part about home health I disliked the most, being on-call all night and having to drive in the dark. I’ve heard disturbing stories from other nurses and whether these accounts are true or embellished, the creepy tales always stuck in my memory banks.
After getting dressed, I drove to Salem which gave me enough time to get my anxiety revved up. With the help of the rain and wind my mind went to places that probably should have been left alone.
After being on the road for twenty minutes, I finally arrived to a residential neighborhood and turned onto Devil’s Dyke Road. Good grief, who names these roads? The rain pelted the windshield as the wipers tried their best to keep up with the onslaught of water from the sky.
Peering through the window I watched for a two-story white house. Finally, it came into view. The weird thing was there where no lights on in the house. Not even a porch light. It finally dawned on me that the whole neighborhood was black. There must be a power outage, I concluded. Great.
Once I arrived, I pealed my fingers off the steering wheel and thought how the torrential rains and the blackout made for a perfect Halloween night setting. This couldn’t get any eerier. Can it? I turned the car engine off.
“There is nothing to be scared of.” I mumbled.
Instantly I was cold when I stepped out of my warm dry haven and was thankful that I thought to wear rain gear as the stormy elements worked against me.
Next, I retrieved my bag from the back seat and made a quick dash to the front porch but when I placed a foot on the first step instantly I froze as a high pitch yowl sounded nearby. After what seemed like minutes, I then continued a slow ascent to the porch.
Holding my phone, I directed the light and found the front door. Stepping forward I then was met with a loud groan as the wooden board under me took on my full weight. The wind blew creating sounds that heightened my imagination of ghosts flying around me.
“There is no such thing as ghosts.” I muttered.
Finally at the front door, I breathed in a sigh of relief as my cell light revealed the correct house numbers. With what little confidence I had left, I propelled my body forward and stood in front of a massive wood door.
Setting my bag down I reached up with a poised finger ready to press the doorbell. But before I could finish the act a flash of green light shined to my left.
As my brain tried to process the reason for the weird color, a screech so loud Hades would have opened their gates in fear of being nihilated by the noise. My anxiety rose to a DEFCON one level. Instinctively I held the cell phone and shined the light towards an object that sprung up out of nowhere to about a foot away from my face. The some six-foot-tall gory gray hair half decomposed looking like mummy started spewing smoke out from its mouth.
I watched in horror what I thought was the beginning of an apocalypse. My mouth formed a wide opening allowing my uvula to be clearly seen shaking side to side as the air from the depth of my lungs pushed past it producing a scream that would cause Hades then to close their gates back up in hopes I wouldn’t enter.
What made the situation even worse was The Phantom of the Opera on a pipe organ began to play emphasizing the ambiance of a haunted night. My body then gave up trying to support me upright and I fell backwards onto my butt.
Unbeknownst to me, just as I had reached the front porch the power had come back on and the owners Halloween paraphernal on the front porch had then powered up ready for its next victim. Me, the home health nurse.
At that moment I heard a click as someone on the opposite side unlocked the front door. Slowly the door opened with a squeal on its hinges as if to warn me of a looming danger. A light in the background created a spooky effect as it illuminated through the material of the long nightgown that the person was wearing. Long black hair hung around her body to about mid-thigh length. I felt like there was going to be another round of attack and kept looking for the butcher knife in her hand, but all she held was a set of keys.
As I laid sprawled out on the front porch, the woman hollered in a high pitch squeal. “Mama! Your nurse is here!”
Feeling relieved that someone was expecting me, I quickly pulled myself together and stood up. “Hi, I’m Nurse Tina. Your mom has a plugged catheter?”
The woman nodded and motioned me with her hand to come in. Looking past her, it was obvious I was being welcomed into a hoarder’s house. As I stepped into the home the woman closed the door, locked the pad lock with a key, and then deposited the keys in her pocket.
You know that niggling feeling you get on the back of your neck telling you that something isn’t right? I had that when I turned onto the street for this house. I should have turned around and went home.
I followed the woman as we made our way through a hall that was lined with clothing, boxes, bins, and who knows what else stacked to the ceiling.
“Mama! I told you your nurse is here!” The woman yelled.
At that moment something fury scurried out from between some stacks in front of me. I almost instinctively revealed my uvula again but was able to keep my mouth shut with the help of my hand. Good grief, not only is it a hoarder’s house but there are varmints sharing the space.
The woman turned around. “Be careful, don’t step on any of the pets.”
Pets! We need Tom the cat for clean up on aisle one. Jerry has escaped!
I followed the woman into what seemed to be a dining room that had been turned into a makeshift bedroom. After doing a quick survey of the room my eyes found an older woman in her eighties sitting on the edge of a bed. Her pale translucent skin and shocking white hair reminded me of the Miss Havisham character in “Great Expectations.”
While squinting at me, the woman spat out in a deep scratchy voice, “What do you want!”
“Mama! You said your catheter was plugged!” The daughter behind me called out.
Internally I rolled my eyes and wondered what lucky nurse was assigned to this patient.
I smiled and asked, “May I check your catheter?”
“No! It’s fine!” The old lady spat out.
That niggling feeling was now a blaring red light flashing in my brain telling me to EXIT NOW!
Keys behind me rattled. “I suppose you want out now.” The daughter spoke in a slow low voice.
Like a bat out of hell, YES, I want out. Then just as if hades were snickering at me for all the trouble, I caused them, the power flickered and then there was darkness. Oh no, this cannot be happening, I internally whined.
Then just as fast as the light went off it flickered back on and standing in front of me nose to nose was the daughter staring at me with her beady black eyes. I thought I would faint on the spot but thank God he rammed a broom stick down my body to hold this jelly of a mess together. Maybe I could use it to take flight out of this horror house.
The daughter then pushed her wired rimmed glassed up her nose with her forefinger. “You want out?” She peered at me.
After blinking a few times, I managed to retrieve a few audible words. “Yes, please.”
With that, the daughter backed up, turned around, and led me back to the front door. Slowly she pulled out the wad of keys and instantly picked the key for the dead bolt. What seemed like a painful hour, she finally unlocked the door. The daughter then pulled on the handle and the door sounded out a long squeal on the hinges as if groaning under the weight of its job to submit to the gate keeper’s command.
Without wasting a second, I exited the house with a speed of light that even scientist would have been impressed with. Not giving the diabolical Halloween paraphernalia a chance to catch their next victim, I flew down the stairs as if the broom in me had powered on allowing me to take flight. I threw my bag in the car, got in and closed the door with the monsters screeching out the last of their sinister laughs back on the porch.
With a sigh of relief, the car engine turned over easily. I reached for the gear shift but before I could move it into reverse, something slammed on the hood of the car. I swear my hair was standing on ends by now.
I turned on the windshield wipers to get a clearer view of what hit my car. My lovely experience at this house was not done, yet. The daughter stood in front of my car with both hands on the hood. Now drenched from the rain, her long hair splayed out around her body.
Unsure of what would happen next, I watched the woman slowly walk around the vehicle to my window. Instantly I made an executive decision that I was not getting out of this car.
The daughter stopped and peered through the window. Slowly she reached out her hand. With my hand on the gear shift I was ready to step on the gas pedal and leave rubber marks on the driveway. I pressed the button for a millisecond to automatically lower the window only wanting a very small opening to hear what she would say.
“You forgot your phone.” The shrill voice rang through the small space to my ear.
Closing my eyes, I realized that I must have dropped the phone in the middle of my haste to get out of the house.
The woman then gave me a devilish smile and proceeded to push the phone through the narrow opening I had allowed. As the phone dropped into my hand, the daughter turned around and left with the darkness engulfing her.
I placed a hand over my racing heart. All I wanted to do is go home. I put the car in reverse and left.
Who knew that being a home health nurse could be one of the most dangerous jobs on this earth! Well, at least I thought so.
********
Halloween can be a controversial topic, but for me I have nothing but fond memories of getting dressed up in costumes, trick-or-treating at neighbor houses, and trading candy with my sister.
This story comes from my weird imaginative brain with a hint of truth to it. I had fun writing it and hope you enjoyed it. Happy Halloween.
“It’s Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good scare.” – Brackett, Halloween (1978)
Image by DNY59 on iStock
Gwen
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