As the title explains, I work as a Psychiatric Nurse in the hospital. Although a little green in my career, I have my fair share of different experiences working with mental illness.

The hospital I work at has a small mental health unit (often referred to as the psych ward). It is located in the basement of the hospital with 25 beds; there is one 4 bed men’s ward and one women’s dorm with 5 private rooms within this unit. The unit is L shaped, with the nursing station positioned in the middle to be able to see down both hallways. Since we do get a lot of patients certified under the Mental Health Act, this unit is locked at all times. Access is granted through a swipe card system. Any names or places to be mentioned have been changed/redacted due confidentiality.

My day began as any other would, by taking report from the day shift nurse. Seeing as I am still fairly new to this hospital, I predominantly pick up night shifts (730pm-730am) as they are generally the only ones available. The day shift nurse debriefed me on my patient load, and what the day had looked like. “Honestly, I think you’ll have a relatively chill night” Rebekah said, “not much went on today. The new guy in room B17 came to us yesterday and is currently waiting on a confirmed diagnosis from the psychiatrist; he has mostly kept to himself. I haven’t had a chance to look up his history yet, so I don’t have much to give you”. As I settled myself into my station, a small elderly man with brown hair appeared at the desk. “Hi, are you stacey, my nurse?” He asked nervously. He stated that his name was Eric and is currently in room B17. “Yes I am! It’s lovely to meet you; let me organize myself, and I will come and have a chat with you, okay?” I said, he just nodded and walked away.

Once organized, I made my way down to Eric’s room. He sat on the edge of the bed looking rather nervous. This wasn’t unexpected as the unit can be overwhelming to be on. “What brings you into our care, Eric?”. Eric began telling me how he had been apprehended in the community for disturbing behaviour. It all started with having gaps in his memory; chunks of time he had no recollection of what he was doing. “Some days I’d come to in a strange house. It was often turned upside down, like it had been trashed by teenagers; other times it would be something as simple as being completely naked and covered in dirt in my backyard” he said.

While talking, I felt the sense of familiarity with other patients I had taken care of previously. Having gaps in memory is not uncommon when patients are living with a mental illness, or on certain medication. Heck, I had a patient who slept-walked all the way to the grocery store and bought a pint of ice cream, only to come to with melted ice cream in their bed. We chatted for awhile longer, offering him reassurance that he is in the right place to help sort through what he is experiencing. After we were done chatting, it was about 8pm and it was time to begin my medication round.

While beginning my med rounds, I noticed a foul smell coming from Eric’s room; it reminded me of sulphur mixed with vomit. When I approached the room, Eric was no where to be found. I notified my colleague Sarah and began to search the unit frantically. It had only been about 20 minutes since I had left him to pour medication. After a full sweep of the unit, all we found were the hospital pajamas strewn across the room floor, that we had provided Eric upon admission. Closer inspection revealed a strange black liquid staining the collar of the shirt. This liquid was responsible for the awful scent I had experienced.

After I called security, we sent out a warrant to the police to detain him on sight and bring him back into our care, incase he had managed to get out into the community. While waiting for a call back, I began to review the door camera feed. From the start of my shift to the time Eric went missing only two patients had exited the unit (with permission from their nurse) with no trace of Eric. The evening paced on without a word from security or the police; I began to feel frantic as losing a patient does happen, but does not look good for a new nurse.

By 11pm there was still no word from anyone regarding Eric’s whereabouts. I called security to check back in, but no one had answered. Sarah and I began our first round of checks to ensure patients were safe and sleeping, I walked by Eric’s room again. That awful smell still penetrated my nostrils. “I don’t know what you mean ‘awful’ smell” Sarah stated, “I think it kind of smells like fresh rain and cut grass”. I ignored her comment and decided to do another sweep of Eric’s room, while Sarah continued with the night checks. While inspecting the bathroom, I noticed more of the black liquid found on his pajamas, was now dripping out of the vent above the toilet. “Strange” I thought, “I never noticed that before when we checked the bathroom”.

As I continued looking at this black liquid I began to feel a sense of dread creeping up my spine. I walked back out into the hall, and the sense of unease continued. The unit was generally filled with sounds of call bells, patients getting up or quiet chatter from the nurses, but at this moment it was as silent as the morgue. I stepped back out into the hallway and noticed the nursing station lights had been turned off, which was a big no-no due to safety of the staff.

As I began to walk towards the station I heard a sick squelching sound behind me, coming from the 4-bed room at the end of the hall. I turned off my flashlight and tiptoed down the hall. For whatever reason, I felt safer inspecting the sounds in the cover of darkness. The squelching sound got louder as I entered the room, and the overwhelming sulphur/vomit smell entered my nostrils; as I scanned the room each bed was empty.

When my eyes had finally adjusted to the pitch black, I noticed the curtain at the back of the room began to waver slightly. As I approached the movement, my eyes could make out 4 outlines of what appeared to be people crouching beside the bed and curtain. The patients, I assumed, had gathered together sneakily to talk at night. This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence as the unit could get lonely at times. “Hey gentlemen, I just have to let you know it is time for bed. Socializing can continue tomorrow, I promise” I said, as I went to turn on the light. “I will rip you limb from limb, if you turn on that light” a voice hissed at me. I froze, that same sense of dread came back immediately. Quivering, I took out my flashlight and turned it on; the 4 crouching shapes dashed out of view of the light, and I finally noticed what they were standing over. Sarah lay there lifeless, blood pouring out from a wound in her chest.

I gasped, nearly tripping over my own feet as I began backing up. Keeping my flashlight on her lifeless body, I began to see her arms twitch; slowly, she rose to sit up. As she turned to face me, her mouth began to stretch open to the point I thought her jaw might come unhinged. She let out an ear piercing scream. Her body began convulsing and sizzling as the same foul-smelling black liquid seeped from his mouth. I froze, my legs wouldn’t cooperate to run. Suddenly, a black silhouette ran past me and knocked the flashlight out of my hand and sent me flying back towards the door. With this sudden occurrence I felt my legs begin to gain feeling again; my brain screamed at me to run.

I sprinted out of the room as fast as I could, running towards the nursing station. “Where is everyone?” My frantic brain tried to process. I leapt over the desk and made my way to the staff bathroom. As I got there the door was locked, I began frantically knocking until the door opened and an arm pulled me into the bathroom. Rebekah put a hand over my mouth and told me to be quiet; why was she still here? She looked at me with her flashlight shining in her face “don’t make a noise”she said, “they can hear it”. Without talking, she quickly typed up on her phone her reason for being there. She attempted to text it to me, but the service on the unit is terrible, “fucking basement” I thought. Instead, she showed me and her phone screen read:

When I went to leave from day shift, I had gone to the cafeteria to meet with a couple girlfriends for dinner. About an hour in the cafeteria closed, and I was getting ready to leave. I noticed Eric wandering the halls by the cafeteria with a blank stare in his eyes. He was completely naked. I went out to ask him how he had gotten off the unit when he just turned to me with his mouth stretched open. Black liquid began to seep from his mouth and eyes as he screamed. His skin began to sizzle as he became enraged with the lights in the hall. He began to climb the wall, and crawled along the ceiling, smashing lights. He scurried along and began to charge me; I panicked and opened the door to the janitor closet to hide. He screeched at the light from the janitors closet and scurried into a ceiling vent. I hid there for a couple of hours, until I thought it was safe. When I re-entered the hallway everything was dark and there were no sounds. As I began to walk, I heard footsteps running towards me. I ran to this unit because of the locked doors, I thought it was safe in here. When I didn’t see any of you, I ran to the staff bathroom to take cover.

I couldn’t believe what I had just read, what was going on with Eric? How could such a small, elderly man scale the walls like that?

As I handed back the phone to Rebekah, I noticed black liquid falling onto the phone screen. Rebekah and I both froze; turning her flashlight upwards, we saw Eric dangling out of the vent with a sick grin on his face, “now what did I say about lights being used?” He hissed again. In a matter of seconds, Eric jumped onto Rebekah, smashing her phone in the process. I watched in horror as he began tearing at her chest, exposing her rib cage. He sank his teeth into her sternum before violently ripping it out.

I ran, I just ran. I didn’t know what else to do. Rebekah was gone. No where felt safe, until I remembered our storage room at the end of the hall; I sprinted for dear life. As I did, I began to hear rapid footsteps coming at me from all directions.

I barely made it to the storage closet. Upon closing it multiple bodies rammed themselves into the door. I cried silently, as the noises began to decrease until it was dead silent again.

This is where I have been for 2 hours now, and I managed to connect to the hospital wi-fi. It keeps cutting in and out and I haven’t been able to send a text or call due to same. I’m not sure if this will even post, but I don’t know what else to do. I found a flashlight and scoured the ceiling for vents, but there’s only one small one about 6”x6”. Although the sulphur/vomit smell still emanated from it, I felt safe as no human, regardless of how unwell they were, could fit through that. I haven’t heard any commotion since. Please pray for me. I will update if I can.

Update: it has been another hour now, and the strangest thing has happened. The sulphur/vomit smell is gone from the vent, and has been replaced with this wonderful scent of fresh rain and grass. I think they’ve finally left, and I am safe to go back out. I unlocked the storage room door to make sure rescue can find me. Thank god this nightmare is over.