Paperwork

Paperwork

         It was a stormy afternoon at the hospice office.  Dark clouds shrouded the sky, thunder rolled, lightning lit up the heavens and rain was pouring down.

         Everyone was quiet in the office, each lost in their own private world.  Suddenly there was a loud, eerie, wailing scream!

         "What was that?" asked the Team looking around at each other to see who had screamed.

No one seemed to know, then they all heard  it again, a long, loud, eerie, wailing scream! "What is that?" Everyone wanted to know but no one wanted to move to find out.

         The scream came again, closer to them this time. Nurses, social workers, volunteers all gathered in the Team room.  The scream did not seem to be coming from this room. As a group they started to try and find the source of the screaming.

         They checked all the offices, the office manager, the owners, the volunteer area, even the nurse supervisors office.  There was nothing to be found, not a trace of where the sound was coming from.

         All had been silent for several minutes and they were beginning to relax and kind of laugh at themselves, feeling a little silly for being so scared.  They were making their way back to the Team room when they heard a moaning sound, this time it seemed to come from the clerical room.  All the patients charts were kept in this room, all the patients charts that were still alive were in one cabinet and all those that the patients had died were in another cabinet.

         In a huddle, they went into this room, just as they entered a loud boom of thunder rattled the windows and the lights went out!  It was complete and utter darkness in the office and it was still early afternoon!

         Everyone screamed, then all was silent, no one moved or made a sound. You could hear a pin drop, but what they heard was moaning and what sounded like feet shuffling.

         Finally Bridgett said in a loud  but shaky voice, "OK, what's going on?" No one spoke or moved, you could still hear the moaning and shuffling feet.

         The sound seemed to be coming from the cabinet with the "dead" charts in them. These are charts where the patient has died but the chart is not complete.  As the group moved closer to the charts, the moaning became louder and louder, the lights still had not come back on and it was still very dark!

         "Stop! Don't come any closer!" the voice seemed to be everywhere, the group stopped, frozen in their tracks.

         "How could you do this to us?  How could you leave us like this?"

         Everyone in the group was getting more and more frightened and the clerical staff was no-where in sight!

         "Our charts aren't finished, we have forms missing, and corrections to be made, we can't rest until our charts are complete!" the voices cried out, it wasn't moaning anymore, it was anger and frustration and this scared the group even more.

         "We're sorry," the group said as one, "we'll get the paperwork finished and then you can be at rest!"

         "We will be waiting, don't make us have to do this again!"

         Then all of a sudden the moaning stopped and lights came back on.  The group looked around the room, nothing seemed different, then they realized that the clerical staff was not around and no phones had been ringing.

         "Where are they?" Bridgett asked looking around.  Suddenly all you could hear was laughing and clapping, then the girls came out of the conference room laughing and saying "We got you!"

         It was still raining and thundering outside,  but all was ok inside, everyone was laughing and talking at once, realizing that it had all been an elaborate practical joke.  Everyone was about to return to their work when they heard a long, loud, eerie, wailing scream coming from everywhere at once!

         They all stopped and looked at each other, "It's not us," they all said to each other, "not us!"

         There was another long, loud, eerie, wailing scream - then complete silence.  Everyone was rooted to the spot where they were standing.

         Later when the Chaplain came in, that is how she found everyone, looks of horror on their frozen faces.  No one moving.  No one breathing.  Not an ounce of evidence of wrong doing.



         The office building stands empty - as no one dares to enter these doors again.



         The case is still open to this day, it seems to be one of the unsolvable mysteries of our time.





         What is the moral of this story you may ask?  Finish you paperwork completely and on time so the charts can be at rest!