Come Out, Come Out, Where Ever You Are

There was a hospital that once stood at the end of the street where I live. It was a hospital for children who had illnesses that could not cured. My grandmother was a nurse there in the late 1940's and early 50's. She adored the children, despite their aliments. She had a friend who also adored the children. Her friend, Rosalie Fredrick would bring fresh baked pies from her home and ask the children if they wanted to play games.

The children loved games, especially when it involved a special reward. If one of the children would beat Rosalie in a game, they would have the pie first before dinner. If they did not, Rosalie would eat it all by herself. Of course, it was not true, Rosalie allowed the children to beat her in a game.

One day in the autumn of 1953, Rosalie brought her signature chocolate pie for the children. "Let's play hide and seek," she said to them. My grandmother insisted that they stay indoors as the weather had been rainy and the ground was still muddy. Rosalie said she would count to 50 and the children would hide and try to beat Rosalie by getting to the safe spot in the kitchen where the pie was.

Rosalie began to count to 50 and she heard the children run to their hiding spots. Once she finished counting, she began to look for them. She checked their rooms and any other hiding spot while saying, "Come out, come out, where ever you are!"

Rosalie searched the bottom level and decided to check the top floor. The hospital had two floors, but the second floor was not being used as it was going through repairs. Rosalie was sure the children would hide there as there were many hiding places. She went to the second floor where there were many scaffoldings that the repairmen used to redo the walls and doors. The repairmen were not coming in on this day as it was a Saturday. She checked the first few rooms, but no children. She didn't notice that one of the scaffoldings was not properly set up. It was holding heavy wooden boards and it would not hold any longer. Rosalie walked under the scaffolding and checked the room there. No children. She called out, "Come out, come out, where ever you are!"

Suddenly, the scaffolding collapsed on top of her, the heavy wooden boards crushing her.

The children and my grandmother waited patiently for Rosalie to find them. They were excited to have chocolate pie to eat before dinner. They waited a long time and one of them decided to rush to the kitchen and the other children followed. My grandmother got really worried when Rosalie didn't show. She and the children waited for her in the kitchen. "Can we have a bite?" one of the children asked. "Let's wait a few minutes," my grandmother said and so they waited.

When it started getting late and dinner was getting ready, my grandmother decided to go look for Rosalie. She asked the cook to keep watch of the children while she went to look. My grandmother checked everywhere on the first floor, but no Rosalie. My grandmother knew something was wrong. Her best friend was never into pranks. She then thought of the second floor, but she was told to not let the children go up there as it was not safe. She went up there anyway.

She found the collapsed scaffolding and to her horror, she saw the crushed body of her best friend, Rosalie Fredrick.

Emergency personnel arrived, but it was already too late to save Rosalie. The children were heartbroken over the death of their beloved playmate. Rosalie's body was set in a closed casket as she was too horrific to look at. Her funeral was held on the hospital grounds and the children and my grandmother attended.

My grandmother decided to leave the hospital on Christmas. She bid farewell to the children and said she would pray for their health. Before she left, she went to the second floor where her best friend was killed. She bid farewell, but she told me as soon as she turned around to leave, she heard a familiar voice. She wouldn't say whose voice it was as she was too afraid to say it.

A few years before the hospital was set to be torn down, my friends and I decided to check it out. The doors were left unlocked thanks to explorers who came earlier. We checked the first floor, the beds were still in the rooms, and the kitchen had some rotten food that the rodents refused to eat.

We then checked the second floor. My grandmother told me the hospital decided to not reopen the second floor following Rosalie's death. There was a cold breeze coming in and a chill went down my spine. Then we heard a woman's voice, "Come out, come out, where ever you are!" I noticed that my friends' faces turned white. "Did you hear that?" one of them asked. The voice came again, "Come out, come out, where ever you are!" "Who's there?!" we shouted. The voice repeated much louder this time, "COME OUT, COME OUT, WHERE EVER YOU ARE!" We turned and ran. We reached the stairs and we ran out as fast as we could.

Today, the hospital is gone, making way for new houses. The bodies of the children who died there were moved to another cemetery. The grave workers also found the body of Rosalie Fredrick. Each of the children, including Rosalie were given a funeral and were buried in a church yard not far from where the hospital once stood. My grandmother attended the funeral and I went along. I was terrified of seeing Rosalie's casket, but I knew that she would be happy to be with the children she adored.

Whenever I walk pass the former hospital grounds, I swore I could hear Rosalie's voice, calling out to the children that she played, "Come out, come out, where ever you are!"

Story by BlueQuartz28