by Marty Chan
“Is that story real?” Priya asked. “Or is it just a creepypasta?”
“A creepy what?” Hawkes asked.
“Urban legend,” Xander explained. “A ghost story.”
“Oh,” Hawkes said. “Well, I don’t know. It’s as real as any story about this place is. Believe what you want. I just know that my uncle was relieved when he was finally able to retire.”
Perkins poked her head out of the car window. “Okay, you kids head home. This is your one and only warning. Stay away. Understand?”
They all nodded.
“Now get going,” she ordered.
The kids hurried down the block, away from the police car and the haunted hospital. Priya kept glancing back at the car, which did not pull away.
“Do you think they’re going to search the hospital for Quest and his friends?” Priya asked.
Xander shook his head. “I think they bought our story. They’re probably just going to sit there for a while to make sure we don’t come back.”
“Now do you want to tell us what’s going on?” Li asked. “First you tell us to call the police. Then you tell us to stall them. What’s the deal?”
Omar agreed. “Yeah, those squatters scared the crap out of me, and you’re helping them?”
Xander explained what had happened with Quest’s group. He left out the detail of Priya’s illness. He thought that was her story to tell, not his.
“So they didn’t want anyone to know they were living in the hospital,” Xander concluded. “That’s why they were trying to scare us away.”
“I’d hate to be on the street when the temperature drops below freezing,” Omar said. “Still remember when I first moved to Edmonton. I was seven, and I had never seen snow in Egypt. I thought the sky was falling, I was so scared. And it was so cold that first winter, I don’t think I wanted to leave the house for a month.”
Priya laughed. “That’s so cute. I’d love to see the photos of you from back then.”
“Mom bought me a winter coat that was waaaaay too big. I looked ridiculous in it,” Omar said.
Li stopped and patted her body. “Oh no. I left my backpack in the hospital.”
“Well, the cops aren’t going to let us back in,” Priya said. “How important is it, Li?”
“My tablet is in it,” Li said. “I can’t leave it behind.”
“Seriously?” Omar said. “The cops let us off with a warning. I’m not going to take the chance of getting arrested for your tablet. Leave it, Li.”
“I can’t,” she said. “My mom will kill me if she finds out I lost it.”
“Maybe we can come back tomorrow and ask Quest and Rainbow to grab it,” Xander suggested. “I mean, they’re going to come outside at some point, right?”
“Not a bad idea,” Priya said. “We keep our word to stay out, and Li gets her tablet back. Sound good?”
Li agreed.
Omar shrugged. “Still think we should just stay away.”
The next day the group met outside the hospital. The building looked way less creepy in the daylight. The police were long gone. Xander and Priya walked around the parking lot, searching for signs of Quest and his friends, while Li and Omar remained outside the fence.
Xander cupped his hands and yelled at the roof, “Quest! Rainbow! Sage!”
Either the squatters had gone inside the building, or they were too high up to hear him. Xander and Priya gave up calling and returned to their friends.
“Tough luck, Li,” Priya said. “I think your backpack and tablet are long gone.”
“We have to get my stuff,” Li insisted.
Omar held up his hands. “No way. I’m not about to get arrested.”
Xander scanned the block. No one was around. “Okay, you can keep watch. I’m going in.”
“Forget it,” Omar said. “We promised we’d stay out.”
“It won’t take long. You stay here. No sense everyone getting in trouble.”
Xander jogged to the window entrance, grabbed the edge of the plywood and pried it away from the wall. Suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder.
“Going somewhere?” a voice whispered.
His breakfast lurched to the back of his throat. Was it the cops?
He slowly turned around. Priya grinned at him. “Gotcha!”
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I know my way around the hospital. We’ll get in and out faster if I come with you. I told Li to text us if she spots trouble.”
“What about Omar?”
“He left. He’s halfway home by now. He didn’t want any part of this.”
“You know, I always thought Li was the chicken,” Xander said. “But I guess Omar’s got her beat.”
“She’s only scared when it’s a game,” Priya said. “Omar’s petrified when it’s for real.”
They climbed into the room and headed to what had been home base. Their things were spread across the counter just as they had left them. Priya picked up Li’s backpack while Xander cleared out the props on the counter. He noticed the bag of kitty treats.
“You think Rainbow and Quest are okay?” he asked as he picked up the bag.
“Want to check on them? Maybe they can tell us where the real ghosts are,” Priya joked.
He laughed. “Okay, just give me one sec.”
Xander headed toward a closed door down the hallway and shook the bag. Behind the door, the cat meowed. Xander scattered the treats onto the floor and opened the door. The cat strolled out and started to eat the treats.
“Now we can go,” Xander said.
Priya chuckled. “Never took you for a cat lover.”
Xander smiled. The two of them then headed up to the chapel. The room was empty. No sign of the squatters or their gear.
“Maybe they’re on the roof,” Xander said.
Priya opened the door and peered out. “No one’s out here either.”
“Where did they go?”
“Maybe the police found them,” Priya suggested.
Xander let out a sigh. “I thought the cops bought our story. I’d hate for Quest and his friends to lose their home.”
“Let’s check out the morgue,” Priya said. “Maybe they moved back down there.”
They dashed down the stairs and made their way toward the basement. However, as Xander approached the corridor leading to the stairwell, he noticed something different. The cabinets, gurneys and chairs that had been stacked up as an obstacle course were gone.
“You think the cops cleared this out?” Xander asked.
“I don’t know,” Priya said. “I suppose they could have.”
They went down the empty corridor and reached the stairwell. Now barbed wire was strung across the staircase.
“No way anyone could have replaced the barbed wire that fast. They’d have to get a crew in to do this,” Xander said. “What’s going on?”
“Only one way to find out,” Priya said.
They lifted the barbed wire, crawled under and went down to the basement. When they reached the morgue, the doors were wide open, and the room was empty. Dust covered the floor, body lockers and examination table as if no one had been in the place for years.
“You sure this is the right room?” Xander asked.
Priya pointed at the sign over the doors. Morgue.
The kids searched the other rooms. No sign of Quest or Rainbow or anyone else. They returned to the morgue and stood in the middle of the empty room.
“It’s like they were never here,” Priya said, her voice echoing off the walls.
“Did it suddenly get cold in here?” Xander asked.
“Maybe we should go. I’m sure Quest and Rainbow’s group will be okay.”
“Yeah. I guess,” Xander said as he turned back to the hall.
“Hey, thanks for not telling Li and Omar about my time here,” Priya said.
“I figured some things in the past are meant to stay in the past.”
“You mean like the ghosts of the
haunted hospital?”
He smiled. “Yeah, right.”
“You belong to us,” a ghostly voice answered.
Xander spun around, his hair standing on end.
Priya laughed, holding up her phone. She clicked on the screen and replayed the eerie voice. “You belong to us.”
“Har, har,” Xander said. “Not cool, Priya.”
“Made you jump.”
He rolled his eyes. “No way. I knew it was you all along.”
They strolled out of the room while still arguing about whether or not Xander had been scared. The morgue doors swung closed behind them. Written faintly in red across one of the metal doors was a message:
Catch you on the flip side.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Michelle Chan, Wei Wong, Tanya Trafford, Arlene Lipkewich, A. Blair McPherson School, Kathy Oster, Delton Elementary School and all the students who begged me to write a scary story.
Excerpt
Par couldn’t join me for my training session on Sunday. His dad had grounded him for breaking the lamp. So I was on my own to go over the drills and routines for my “lesson.” I went down to the local rec center.
I had borrowed my dad’s sweats. They were about two sizes too big for me. That was a good thing though. No chance of any embarrassing rips with these baggy pants. I practiced the horse stance in front of the mirror, carefully swiveling my feet out.
After a few minutes I noticed Megan in the reflection. She was over at the other end of the gym. She was working some bicep curls. Her sleeveless T-shirt showed off her muscular arms. She must have sensed me watching, because she turned around. I resumed my horse stance, pretending I was focused on my own reflection.
Megan grunted and pumped a few more curls before setting the weights on the floor and wiping off her bench. She walked toward me.
“Nice horse stance,” she said.
“What? I mean, oh, yeah. Thanks.”
“So the rumors are true. You do know kung fu.”
I straightened up. “What are people saying?”
“That you’re some kind of martial arts expert. I think I overheard someone say you trained with Jee Ling over the summer. And somebody else said you’re related to Jackie Chan.”
“Yeah, well, you know what rumors can be like.”
“So you’re not related to Jackie Chan?”
“Actually, I’m his second cousin.”
“What? Really? That’s so awesome!”
I laughed. “No, I’m just kidding. The only thing we have in common is that we’re both Chinese. That’s it.”
“Oh. Still, it’s cool to meet someone else who is into martial arts.”
“So you’re into kung fu?”
She punched her fist into her palm and bowed. “Been training since I was nine. My brother was taking kung fu lessons, and Mom only had time to drive us to one activity a week. She gave me a choice. I could do my homework while he was doing his kung fu, or I could join in. Now he’s the one sitting on the sidelines doing his homework.”
“Wow, since you were nine. You must be pretty good. What belt do you have?”
She cocked her head to the side. “You in kung fu or karate? Belts are for karate.”
“Oh, right. Yeah, I knew that,” I said quickly. “I meant sash. I’m so used to people asking me what belt I am that sometimes it’s easier to just say belt.”
“I hear you. I’m blue. You?”
“I’m black and blue,” I joked. “Tough drills.”
Megan looked at me a little strangely. “So where do you train?”
“Oh, you wouldn’t know my studio.”
“Is it Gingwu? Wing Chun? I know all the kung fu studios around here.”
I inched away from Megan, eyeing the exit. If she pressed much more, she’d figure out that I was lying.
“Actually, I’m in between studios right now,” I said. “Anyway, I should probably get back to my workout.” That was my lame attempt to change the subject.
“Well, if you want, we could train together.”
Megan did a flurry of air punches in front of me, turning her hands into knife blades as she twisted her body and moved toward the mirror.
I nodded. “Not bad. Not bad at all. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Come on, Jon. I’d like to have someone at my level to do forms with. The only class that I can get to has no one of my age and level. I have to do forms with eight-year-olds.”
“Maybe.”
“Okay. Well, I’m always up for a training session. You text me, or I’ll text you.” She unclipped her phone from her armband and swiped a thumb across the screen. “What’s your number?”
“Uh…well…I’m not…”
“You between phones too?”
I laughed. “No, no.” I gave her my number. I had no intention of training with Megan. But I had to get her off my back.
After she had keyed in my number, Megan glanced up. “You know, everyone is pretty excited that you’re going to show off your moves at school next week.”
“Yeah, well, I thought it might be a way to get people excited about coming to my sifu’s studio.”
“I thought you said that you were between studios.”
“Right, right. Well, to be honest, it’s kind of embarrassing.” Oh man, this was hard! “The reason I’m between studios is because mine isn’t getting enough students to stay open all the time. My sifu is struggling. I thought this might be a way to get him new students.”
“Wow. That’s honorable,” said Megan. She looked impressed. “My studio,” she continued, “is super busy. My sifu complains he barely has time to clean up after all the little kids who come to his classes. I wish we had some older students. Hey, maybe I could visit your studio and train with you there. I know you’re probably more skilled than I am, but I can try to keep up.”
Time to check my invisible watch. “Oh man. I’m running late. My mom’s supposed to pick me up in five minutes. I have to go. See you at school?”
I hustled out of the gym, not daring to look back. Sifu Jon’s number three lesson? When you’re in the presence of a real kung fu expert, say little and get out as fast as you can.
Marty Chan is an award-winning author of dozens of books for kids, including Kung Fu Master in the Orca Currents line and the award-winning Marty Chan Mystery series. He tours schools and libraries across Canada, using storytelling, stage magic and improv to ignite a passion for reading in kids. He lives in Edmonton.
For more information on all the books
in the Orca Currents series, please visit
orcabook.com.
