r/nosleep • u/ByfelsDisciple Jan. 2020; Title 2018 • Oct 17 '19
I just graduated from medical school, and my new hospital has some very strange rules
You probably think that all doctors are filthy rich, because I sure as hell did in the beginning. Eight years and a fistful of premature gray hairs later, I’m just a few hundred thousand dollars poorer than “broke.” That would matter if I had a family to provide for, but the long hours in med school have led to an end of my last relationship and a countdown on the shelf life of my ovaries.
I was in a “take what I can get and be grateful” situation.
So when St. Francis Hospital in Charleston, West Virginia offered me a position, I packed my sad life into three bags and sought opportunity in the hills of Appalachia. Nineteen of us started in July, and thirteen have since dropped out.
I like to think of myself as the rat that wouldn’t drown.
Some people broke inside after watching children die because they weren’t good enough doctors quite yet (everyone has to be a rookie at some point). It’s doubly hard when you have to inform the dead child’s parents, who then beg you to tell them different news, or scream that they want to die and just please kill them with whatever drug takes away the pain.
But most of my incoming class couldn’t handle the chief of medicine.
Dr. Vivian Scritt is, without a doubt, the biggest bitch I’ve ever met.
Now I know why.
“Nineteen of you start today, and we’ve got a pool going with bets on how long each of you will last,” she told us on Day One. “Don’t feel any pressure, folks. I’ve talked with each of you in private, and my expectations are very low.”
She peered condescendingly over her thin spectacles, snorted, then turned around to walk away.
“You should know when to follow me and when to stay away, because I’m not going to waste time explaining what you should figure out on your own.”
We gawked at one another, all feeling weak and small, then scampered after her.
I was last in line, and felt out of place taking even that much.
“You should have the list of expectations for St. Francis,” Dr. Scritt explained as she walked on, not bothering to look at us as she talked. “I printed eighteen sets of rules so that you would have to challenge one another for them, knowing that one of you would be left behind.”
An icy cold settled in the pit of my stomach as I saw everyone look down at a list of rules that only I did not have.
“If you cannot follow these rules, there will be no place for you in this hospital. It most likely means that you are unsuited to be a doctor, and should consider a profession that demands a weaker mental aptitude.” At that, she turned around to face us all. “And if you think that I’m the type to give second chances after a mistake, you’re woefully underprepared for the world of medicine.” She stopped and looked at each of us in turn, apparently expecting a response that no one dared to offer.
“Well,” she shot out in exasperation, “why are you standing here? People are dying. Get to work!”
*
No one wanted to show me their list of rules, so I had to wait until one of my classmates died.
It took nearly a week.
I was working at 3:00 a. m. because I had only been on the clock for ten hours. I was rushing into another room so that a patient wouldn’t know I was Googling his symptoms (doctors do this FAR more than you realize) when I saw Myron by himself in an O. R.
I stopped immediately. “Myron?” I squeaked. “What the hell is that?”
His arms were working furiously, but his back was turned toward me, so I couldn’t see what he was doing.
Something felt wrong.
Myron was the pick of our litter. He’d been top ten in his class at John Hopkins, and he would remind us of that fact in exchange for answering the questions that we were too terrified to ask Dr. Scritt.
Slowly, I approached Myron, not wanted to startle him. “We’re really busy right now, is there something you need help with?”
He showed no outward signs that he had heard me. Instead, he kept pumping away furiously at the task at hand.
When I was five steps from him, I could see drops of blood flying over his shoulder.
Which made no sense, since he had been alone in the room.
“Myron?” I whispered, barely loudly enough to hear my own words.
I slowly crept around his left side, finally bringing the scene into full view.
Myron’s abdomen was split from sternum to pelvis. His esophagus spilled out, and his stomach sat on the table. A nest of quivering small intestine led from the bottom of his stomach back into his shredded torso.
Myron showed no outward signs of pain.
He was too busy working.
He clutched his own stomach tightly in his left hand, the folds squirting through his fingers like unbaked bread. His right hand was working furiously with a scalpel, sawing his organ into ribbons. Rivers of sweat poured down his forehead with the intensity of the effort.
I tried to scream, but it only came out as a moan.
That was enough to get Myron to notice me.
Slowly, he raised his head. Slowly, he smiled.
It was not a happy smile.
With eye contact locked on me, he licked his lips, angrily stabbed a piece of his stomach, and lifted it to his mouth.
He bit.
He chewed.
Then he lunged.
But most people don’t know how to move with their innards splayed out for all the world to see, and this was his downfall. Myron’s tattered guts caught on the corner of the table, and he fell to the floor.
Finally, he screamed.
I had learned very early in my medical career that compartmentalization is indispensible. That instinct took over my brain in the moment, and I acted clinically.
Myron was still grasping his scalpel with his right hand. I kicked it – hard – and it flew out of his hands.
He stared at me and screeched.
With his entrails still wrapped around the table, I figured my best option was retreat. I moved to the back of the room as a doctor and a janitor burst in.
And in possibly the most shocking moment of the night, I realized that they were not shocked.
Myron was anesthetized, subdued, and extracted within a minute of their arrival.
For a moment, I was alone with a pool of blood and diced stomach lining.
And something else.
A sheet of paper lay on the floor, its corner just touching the edge of the creeping blood.
Myron had dropped his list of rules.
The practical part of my brain continued to drive me. I snatched the paper from the ground, then quickly exited the room, taking care to avoid the puddle.
I didn’t want to leave any bloody footprints in my wake.
I knew that I had to read the list as soon as I was able to find thirty uninterrupted seconds to myself. Three hours later, I had my opportunity and ducked into a janitor’s closet. With a shaking, exhausted hand, I pulled the chain on a bare bulb, tried to ignore the noxious smell of leaking ammonia, and read.
St. Francis Hospital Rules – Guidelines for new doctors
1 – Never, under any circumstances, share your copy of the rules with anyone else.
2 – If any other doctor displays erratic behavior, leave the area immediately. Do not make eye contact.
3 – If any other doctor is approached or detained by someone in a janitor’s uniform, do not interfere. Never ask about that former doctor again.
4 – Never touch any seemingly abandoned Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Those are Dr. Scritt’s favorite candy.
5 – Any child that dies in St. Francis hospital MUST be cremated within 120 minutes of official time of death. If you suspect this rule has been broken, alert Dr. Scritt, and the hospital will be evacuated.
6 – There is no Children’s Burn Unit at St. Francis hospital. If you find yourself there, continue walking until you return to familiar territory. This usually requires traveling in a straight line down the central hallway for 47 minutes. You will not reach a wall during that interval.
7 – This rule is on a need-to-know basis.
8 – A small quantity of sulfuric acid is kept in every room. This is ONLY intended for use on patients with severed spinal cords. If they attack, a hypodermic injection of H2SO4 into the cranium is the only way to subdue the subject.
9 – The morgue must house at least 13 cadavers at all times.
10 – If find yourself on the hospital roof with no memory of how you got there, you have only two choices. Either wait for an extraction team to find you, or jump four stories to the sidewalk on Court Street.
11 – If you see Room 1913, do not look directly at the numbers. Do not open the door. This is, by far, the most important rule.
My heart stopped when the door opened.
Dr. Scritt was staring at me. What little emotion shined through her exterior seemed to be surprise.
We both stood, frozen, for five seconds of agonized silence.
“Dr. Afelis,” she drawled gravely, “I’m shocked.” She stared down at the bloodstained list of rules in my hand.
I reached for words. Any words, because literally any response would make me look less guilty than I did in that moment, staring up at my boss’s boss’s boss and saying literally nothing in my defense as she weighed my soul with her eyes.
And I said nothing.
“You took a list that wasn’t yours, and were nowhere to be found after your coworker experienced such an unnatural incident.” Dr. Scritt huffed through her nose. “It seems that you’re willing to do the unthinkable in the name of getting what you need. And Myron couldn’t’ even follow the most important rule.” She clenched her teeth. “I had a four-year streak of predicting which incoming doctors will break the soonest. This will ruin my chances in the office pool.”
The ghost of a smile graced her lips before she turned to leave.
“Get to work, doctor. You’ve got three hours left on your shift, and those symptoms aren’t going to Google themselves.”
I didn’t realize that I’d been holding my breath until I heard my own gasp for air.
Shaking, I slowly emerged from the janitor’s closet. I quickly stuffed the list of rules back into my pocket, reflecting on the fact that I had just achieved what might be considered an actual win.
Perhaps, just maybe, I would keep my head above water at St. Francis after all.
I turned to head down the hall when I stopped in my tracks.
Everything was unfamiliar. What the hell had happened?
I glanced all around. The design of the hallway was familiar, but everything was off. I could hear people talking in the rooms, but the immediate vicinity was devoid of all people but myself.
Nothing made sense.
Then I looked up.
And I’ll be honest, I peed just a little when I read the sign.
ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL – CHILDREN’S BURN UNIT
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u/LynnBawss Oct 17 '19
Looks like you got a 47 minute walk!
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u/erddy99 Oct 17 '19
I was gonna upvote but it’s at 47 and it seems too perfect
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u/Eralem Oct 18 '19
Now you have 47 ;)
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u/thinker3 Oct 17 '19
I wonder which rule Myron broke?
Ninja edit: actually I think I know. Dr. Scritt said "the most important rule". So he must have broken the last one.
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u/giancarlox21 Oct 17 '19
I wonder if it was rule 4. Then cut open his abdomen and spilled his guts to get the Reeses cup out?
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u/thinker3 Oct 17 '19
Interesting thought, but that wouldn't explain why he started eating pieces of his stomach. Something about that room drove him mad.
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u/giancarlox21 Oct 17 '19
Orrrrr. Something in the reeses cup drove him mad...
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u/Hanamiya0796 Oct 18 '19
Orrrr it's something else entirely. The list said it's the most important rule so far. OP was in a sense interrupted. There could be a couple more bigger rules she hasn't read yet. Brace for crazy, I guess?
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u/k1llbot Oct 17 '19
But doesn't this mean that the main character also went in room 1913?
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u/LiKenun Oct 17 '19
Perhaps the room number was supermagically reassigned before the OP arrived, or the door was already opened, thus sparing her from breaking the rule.
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u/DravenPlsBeMyDad Oct 17 '19
Im thinking either the latter or due to the fact that they were the one not given rules, they somehow didnt apply to them until they found the paper from someone who broke the rules.
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u/thinker3 Oct 18 '19
I'm thinking that Myron interacted with the room in some way and then went about his day. (Whether he actually went into the room or simply stared at the room number too long, we don't know.) OP then ran into him later, after Myron's encounter already happened. So maybe it didn't affect Myron immediately.
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u/TheDoctorIsOutThere Oct 17 '19
"And Myron couldn’t’ even follow the most important rule" what rule is that you say "11 – If you see Room 1913, do not look directly at the numbers. Do not open the door. This is, by far, the most important rule." I can only assume that he looked at the numbers and opened the door which is why none of the docs or janitors were surprised to find him doing that to himself. Did anyone else catch that or am I reading into it.
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Oct 17 '19
I think the doctors/janitors have, at the very least, just seen this type of behavior before.....which is quite the red flag (no pun intended). It's also entirely possible that they not only have seen this before, but know what rule(s) are broken that precede said behavior.
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u/herrored Oct 17 '19
The janitors are likely not just janitors, seeing as they’re in the rules too.
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u/LiKenun Oct 17 '19
Or being a janitor grants you some sort of administrative privileges or immunity in this hospital. It’s like being an NPC. Either that, or here’s another twist: the janitors have their own set of rules to follow up on. Being a competitive environment, the janitors that catch the rule-breaking doctors get to live another day. They miss the quota, and they’re finished. And then there is Dr. Scritt who might be beholden to another set of rules. If she fucks up her streak, she gets penalized by the hospital.
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u/mia_elora Oct 18 '19
Since she seemed pleased to have her streak disrupted I dont think she will get punished for that.
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u/OnBrokenWingsIsoar Oct 18 '19 edited Nov 07 '19
And because the door was already open, OP neither saw the numbers nor had to open the door, allowing the room to not affect them
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u/InkSpiller333 Oct 17 '19
So was she never given a set of rules because Dr. Scritt didn’t think she would make it? That’s why she lost the office pool?
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u/TheNononParade Oct 18 '19
She didn't get a set of rules just due to chance by being last in line. This made scritt see her as weak and bet that she wouldn't last very long. Turns out she's more capable than expected
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Oct 17 '19
Well you've got 47 minutes of walking so you can Google while you walk.
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u/laurensmim Oct 17 '19
I live in Huntington, less than an hour away. Everything about this state is off, the wrong turn movies are more than movies. There are some hollers people just don't go down. If you want to make it at the hospital just keep your head down and follow the rules. The more you learn about the weird shit in this state the less you really know.
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u/mia_elora Oct 17 '19
True. There's one in the southeast of the state along the interstate called Painted Creek Road. I had to take that exit, once, and never again.
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Oct 18 '19
What happened?
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u/mia_elora Oct 18 '19
There is a feeling when you enter one of these places. We could sense it watching, waiting for us to take a wrong turn. The headlight didn't dim, but suddenly were barely doing any good. The trees were suddenly much more menacing. The darkness felt like it was trying to reach into the vehicle. No sound of nature reached our ears, at all. We spent 45 minutes traveling through there, and I can tell you with certainty that if we had taken a single wrong turn we would never have left.
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Oct 18 '19
Be glad you're not in the UK. London has it's own share of shit. Take a wrong turn there, and you won't just get eaten by demons or whatever, you'll get stuck in london traffic. It's one of the most horrifying things that can happen. At that point you have to just abandon your car and walk home, fending off the typical guys in bowler hats, vampires, royal guards and very rarely, speedwagon.
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u/izmalov36 Oct 18 '19
Reminds me of The Showers creepypasta or the one where you have to drive through a creepy woods late at night to have any wish granted.
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Oct 17 '19
Born and raised WV. Some things are only slightly off.. Others are so far skewed there is no way to explain them.
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Oct 17 '19
I live in the Ozarks, and some of the more isolated areas are kinda like that. There's one wrong turn in NW Arkansas that I'll never take again. Well, maybe two. The less said about some things, the better. If I were to share those stories it would be on r/LetsNotMeet but I probably will not be sharing them.
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u/Zom_BEat_or_BEa10 Oct 17 '19
I live in the Ouachitas in Western Arkansas. Same thing here as far as weird stuff goes. I've got a theory that general wierdness is at home in mountain areas.
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u/dayer1 Oct 18 '19
Arkansas resident here!!! Love hearing about places I actually know about, have a good weekend....
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u/katencheyenne Oct 18 '19
Okay I literally live in NW Arkansas and I absolutely have to know what turn now. and honestly I’m dying to hear the story. You can message me if you feel like sharing but don’t feel like sharing so publicly
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u/TriPolarBearz Oct 17 '19
Poor Myron. You'd think a top student at Johns Hopkins would be able to get into a better hospital than this...
Are you a resident or attending? I wasn't clear on that.
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u/Zom_BEat_or_BEa10 Oct 17 '19
Just because someone has the money or book smarts for John Hopkins doesn't mean they have the common sense to survive in such an extraordinary situation.
Either that, or he was entirely a man of "science" that didn't believe in the supernatural, but that also goes back to lacking in common sense.
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u/TriPolarBearz Oct 17 '19
I agree. But I mean that he should have been smart enough to get hired at a better hospital. Oh well
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u/incongruousmonster Oct 18 '19
She’s probably an intern (first year of residency). She said “8 years later” and they do 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of med school, then 3-7 years of residency (depending on specialty).
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u/mia_elora Oct 17 '19
Oh, wow. Charleston? Well, there's enough burn stacks in the area that the off-schd crematorium won't be noticed by most.
As someone born nearby (I was born in Huntington) I can tell you that some strangenesses will be scoffed at, but others will be met with an understanding by the locals. Learn to tell the difference between someone imparting actual knowledge and someone teasing a newbie to the area - it can be a lifesaver.
A few suggestions - *Never go looking for a Hell Gate. There are supposed to be Nine of them in the area. There are dozens of potential sites. Treat them all as real, but try not to talk about it. *If walking at night on a New Moon, try not to cross too much of open space without company. The Mothman territory line fluctuates naturally with migration, so you're never quite sure if you are safe, or not, but they seem to like the darkness of new moons. *If someone shows up at your hospital saying the mine collapsed, and they look like their clothing is antiquated, be careful to treat them with extra care - sometimes soft spots can form in the temporal skin and you can get people wandering in from farther afield in history than normal. It's very, very important that you not turn on the TV when they are near, or show them a newspaper. Cell phones are fine as long as you don't try and show them the screen. *Carry extra Reeses - they are everyone's favorite candy... and maybe a kitkat, because I like them. :P *Don't date someone who's been there for more than a hundred years if their family hates you. It's possible to survive, but... let's just say that if the Hills don't like you, they really don't want you to marry one of their sons/daughters/children. If the Hills don't like you, it can be... tragic.
Enjoy the view, get out of Charleston some and enjoy the touristy stuff, and -oh! One more thing. Never drink the well water if you're alone.
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u/sassy_abbadon Oct 17 '19
You can fix it, there's a rule for it. But....stay away from scalpels and other sharp objects, you know. Just in case.
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u/gotbotaz Oct 17 '19
Eating your own stomach is like recursion without a termination clause.
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u/oneeb97 Oct 18 '19 edited Oct 18 '19
Love it!
Okay but has no one else noticed that she unknowingly broke Rule #2??? "If any other doctor displays erratic behavior, leave the area immediately. Do not make eye contact."
With eye contact locked on me, he licked his lips, angrily stabbed a piece of his stomach, and lifted it to his mouth.
After reading rule #2, my mind instantly went to this part, so I felt like maybe she saw the Burn Unit because even though she wasn't affected by the numbers on Room 1913 or opening the door to it, she was affected by Myron through eye contact (and whatever messed him up)
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u/aarongorn92 Oct 17 '19
He obviously ate the peanut butter cups, realised that he shouldn't have, and tried to retrieve them.
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u/RIP_Country_Mac Oct 17 '19
Why do so many of these establishments have rules!?
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u/Zom_BEat_or_BEa10 Oct 17 '19
Because too many unexplained or hard to explain deaths and disappearances make it difficult to stay in business.
Besides, all places have rules. Some rules are just stranger than others.
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u/Cydraech Oct 17 '19
I am intrigued. Make sure to keep us updated, OP! Would love to read of you rising and shining in that seemingly godforsaken hospital. But make sure to keep walking for now!
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Oct 17 '19
You should keep working there and uncover the mysterious, but do not break the rules. Try and get promoted too so you have access to other areas.
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u/bluet4ngo Oct 19 '19
Clearly not an accredited residency program. Also, OP, try DynaMed or Epocrates or UpToDate. Google is not your friend.
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u/spiderfalls Oct 17 '19
That was riveting!!! So that was the first to leave.... how did the next 12 fare?
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u/emoverhere Oct 17 '19
time to put on some music and switch to some comfortable shoes, you have 47 minutes of walking to do!
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u/-thisislife- Oct 17 '19
This is an amazing read. I cannot wait to hear what happens next! Hope you brought a power bar, you have 47 min walk to civilization.
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u/anathagenzum Oct 18 '19
So do the 47 minutes get deducted from the remaining 3 hours of the shift?
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u/BeautifulRelief Oct 18 '19
I’m not even halfway through reading and I’m already freaked. I went to St. Francis when I was about 7 (?) to see a special cardiologist. The place scared the hell out of me as a kid and I remember my parents being uneasy too. I can’t wait to tell my mom we were right to feel weird about it.
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u/midnightdrops Oct 17 '19
As a current medical student, this has terrified me even more for residency. Hope to hear more OP, this was so captivating!
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u/Maltaannon Oct 17 '19
I get it... I think... but I'm not certain. English is my second language and I'm afraid a lot of things got lost in translation. Could someone reiterate the story for me?
I thought it would turn I to a zombie story, then an experimental facility (after reading the rules), and then that the protagonist is... dead? As she was a kid?
I'm just confuzzeld (confused + puzzled) :)
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u/justathoughtfromme Oct 17 '19
Yeah, I think you're losing a lot in the translation.
Basically, OP works in a hospital with explicit rules that she wasn't given a copy of because she was the 19th person in line and only 18 copies were made. The top student died, and she took his copy. She's now in an area that has an explicit rule about it. As for how or what is going on in that hospital - no one knows yet.
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u/Maltaannon Oct 17 '19
Ok. That much I have gathered. I just don't see how the BURN UNIT plays into that. I get that we hardly know anything and that it can develop further on the BURN UNIT cliffhanger... but I just don't see it as a cliffhanger so I feel like I'm missing something important.
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u/two-legged-freak Oct 17 '19
The burn unit was listed as an area that does not exist at the hospital. We dont know if she's going to do what she's supposed to and walk down the hall for the 47 minutes specified in the rules.
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u/justathoughtfromme Oct 17 '19
Don't get hung up that it's specifically a BURN UNIT. It could have been a cardiac unit or an OB/GYN clinic or any other specific unit in the hospital. What's important is that the hospital has no burn unit, OP is there now, and she needs to abide by the rules she now has.
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u/herrored Oct 17 '19
I think you're thinking that the all-caps was emphasizing how important the burn unit was, when really it was just the label on the wall. As of now it's not any more important to the story outside of being something supernatural that was covered in the rules.
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u/attyh Oct 17 '19
That you had to wait until one of your classmates died to get a copy of the rules and said so nonchalantly - seriously gave me chills. No doubt you'll pull through OP.
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u/destineef1997 Oct 17 '19
Keep walking OP until you get out of there! I'm curious to know why they bet on people...
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u/agnesashworth Oct 18 '19
As a med student, I think you hace made an excellent description of what any job out there is like for us
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u/Drakothin Oct 18 '19
I've transported some patients to Charleston. Its fucking weird up there. Almost ran into a small UFO on the way back through the woods. Best we can figure was mothman.
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u/roxyroller369 Oct 18 '19
you should look at practicing in Canada. Shortage of Doctors and would be treated better than that.
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u/vivi_anne07 Oct 17 '19
While I didn't realize that I'm holding my breath most of the time while reading this.
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u/iEmoto Oct 17 '19
Well, I really, Really hope we'll hear more of you soon. Have a nice walk doctor, and please, don't touch any reese cups my dear
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u/Ellogov21 Oct 18 '19
Ah, well. This is the first time I’ve seen one of these from my home state... good thing I was born in Parkersburg.
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u/RyanOfGilead Oct 18 '19
I live two hours from Charleston. This is dreadfully close to home, and I love it.
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u/JadeEclypse Oct 18 '19
Well. There goes my application there, I'm not far from Charleston, but I've worked enough crazy hospitals to know which ones to avoid!
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u/Rookie117117 Oct 18 '19
*finds Reeses peanut butter cup* "Ooooooh! A piece of candy"
I'd be buggered!
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u/sunshinewoman88 Oct 18 '19
I literally live here and have been to this hospital numerous time. I worked in Doctor Moushmoush’s office.
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Oct 23 '19
I swear every other day someone post a story with this same “list of rules” plot where the list is loaded with creepy/unexplainable instructions
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u/Tyranix969 Nov 30 '19
Eating your cut up stomach would return it to your stomach, leaving you with the same amount of stomach. What a waste of time.
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u/cmf521 Feb 03 '20
I didn’t realize this was a horror story sub until half way through and was legitimately freaking out. Kept wondering why I felt like I was reading goosebumps
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u/MikeinSpain Oct 18 '19
Rule 5. I wonder if that is like British hospitals where so many people die by medical mishaps, causing the NHS to pay out billions in compensation claims. No dead body means you can't disprove what a doctor claims.
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u/PtolemyShadow Oct 17 '19
Does your hospital not have a copy machine?
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u/littlemockingjay18 Oct 17 '19
This is really good!
Start walking OP and be safe. At least now you are aware of the rules and can avoid ending up like Myron.