Late Night Hospital Job ①

When I was attending a regional university, there was a part-time job where I could earn 15,000 yen for working overnight on weekends. The job involved being on duty at a small, rural private hospital and assisting/caring for inpatients (which was possible without a license at the time). All the inpatients were long-term residents, and they were all elderly. Because of this, I became quite familiar with the nurses and the patients. The hospital was about the size of a large detached house. The second floor housed long-term patients, and the first floor had rooms for about three long-term patients and a room for emergency admissions. The emergency room rarely had anyone admitted, and when someone was brought in, they most often passed away in that room. It was during my second year of working there that an emergency patient was finally brought in one night. I was anxiously watching to see what would happen, and the patient passed away late that night. It was a Saturday night. The next morning, Sunday, when I went to assist the long-term patients with their morning face-washing, most of them said, "I saw a girl in a red kimono," and "I saw her too. She was wandering around the beds late at night." There were no patients with dementia or hallucinations. Yet, everyone said the same thing in unison. (To be continued)