The following flash fiction story is related to my poem Metronome, which can be found in my August 2025 blog post here: Metronome: A Poem.
It’s not sci-fic, fantasy, romance, or lit RPG – all genres I’m interested in writing someday – but it IS creative fiction… and it was fun to write. I hope you enjoy it!
Ghost in the Hall
I left the room, the door closing gently behind me with a soft snick.
A frown creased my lips. Something was different out here. The corridor felt quieter than before, and a hospital ward should never be quiet. The usual hustle and bustle of the unit had vanished.
So strange. I thought. What’s going on?
Nurses and doctors sat together looking at a screen. The voices of patients and techs were dim drones behind closed doors, but I couldn’t make out individual words. It was like the noise of life had been turned down to low.
I stepped up to the nursing station and tapped a woman in blue scrubs on the shoulder.
“What’s going on?”
She didn’t answer. I tapped again and spoke louder. Again no response.
“You’re being rather rude.” I told her, but for some reason, instead of anger, I felt like my stomach was in my throat. A panicked kind of nervousness blared at me, telling me something was seriously wrong.
That same nurse’s neck jerk around to a monitor behind her where lines jumped on a screen. All but one. Her eyes spread wide and her mouth opened, moving a thousand miles a minute. She picked up a phone, everything happened at once. It was as if someone had kicked over a beehive. More hospital personnel appeared out of thin air and converged on a single room.
The room I had just walked out of.
I tried to look in, to see what was happening, but too many people surrounded the bed. A low, persistent tone begun – the first thing I could hear clearly. It reminded me of when I took piano lessons and my instructor had me follow a metronome.
Then a break formed in the crowd. A nurse had gotten up onto the bed and was administering CPR.
Oh, that poor person! CPR meant bad things were happening. I hoped they made it.
I tried to move out of the way as a cart with medical supplies was pushed through the door way, but a heavy pressure suddenly crashed against my chest.
I couldn’t breathe!
I tried to gasp for help, but no one paid any attention.
Pressure.
Pressure.
Pressure. It pounded against my chest in rhythmic blows.
Then it was dark. I tried to open my eyes, tried to do anything, but I my limbs felt like weights held them down.
“It’s alright, honey. We’ve got you.” A rough voice whispered next to my ear. “You just had a heart attack. You died for two minutes there, but we brought you back. You’ll be okay.”
Send me a reply and let me know what you thought! 🙂
In other news… Carmella, my 4 x 15 yard veggie garden, continues to produce. This week’s harvest – Tomatoes.
Wish me luck using all these! I’ll probably need to make yet ANOTHER jar of sauce… such a hardship, lol.
All my best,
RL Platt
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