Dr. Hang’s Coat

It was already a tradition that every new Dr. at the Cane Hill Hospital should go to the  Highgate Cemetery to get their coat after the first week of work at midnight.

Dr. Hang’s knees were shaking the whole way and the wind was blowing so noisy the trees around him seemed to fall. The moon was hiding behind some huge dark threatening clouds.

-The coat is at the end of the cementery on the big tree next to the common pit tied to a branch. Don’t forget we all had to do the same. You’ll be fine as long as you don’t get out of the main road. If you step on the grass for any reason you can’t go back to the main road at least you wanna find the Grim Reaper. – Dr. Urlic had told him with a scary smile on his face at the entrance of the Highgate. – In that case you’ll have to continue all the way to the common pit by crossing between the graves. Don’t worry, you can take this light with you, but you can only use it if you step on the grass. – He handled the light to Dr. Hang with his fat hand letting a loud laugh came out of his mouth at the time he tapped his arm twice in a mocking way.

Dr. Urlic and the rest of the Doctors have had told him the same story over and over again every night since the first day he got to the Hospital, about how the tradition started after a new Dr. got to the Hospital and helped a patient to die and the whole team of nurses saw the Grim Reaper at the corridor of the hospital. Every time someone told him the story they seemed to add something new. The entity took the Dr. away to the graveyard crossing the back street to punish him for taking a life that wasn’t his decision to take away. When the Dr. appeared pale in front the Hospital entrance the next nigth he couldn’t stop repeating over and over again that “the new Dr. have to take the coat from the tree at the end of the Cemetery“. He had to be taken to the Mental hospital area after that.

The story seemed pretty absurd to Dr. Hang even after one of the nurses showed him the old records from the Mental hospital area with the name of the Dr. who had been admitted. Dr. Hang chose to think that it was just a hazing but being in a cemetery by himself in the middle of the night was something that made nerves on the edge.

The Highgate Cemetery was almost 5 kilometers square. Dr. Hang had already walked 3 kilometers in trying to avoid the graves by going through the main road. When one of the trees broke due to the air, blocking the road infront of him and making him jump, his heart felt like coming out from his chest and the blood run away from his hands to the pit of his stomach.

-Mother fu… – He kicked the ground squeezing his fists.

The huge log had a lot of branches attached making impossible to jump over it, Dr. Hang felt his hands shaking and tried to take a breath to calm himself, he remeber Dr. Urlic’s words and turned his head to the grass on his left frowning. He did not believe in ghosts but wasn’t  either the bravest individual and the weather wasn’t making it easier for him. He would have to cross through the graves.

The air blew softly for a moment letting him rest for a second. The plants whispering around the graves filled his ears and his mind turned the sounds into soft voices while some big leaves and branches moving with the wind made him got tense once more. Everything moving around had human shapes for his mind and he wondered for a second what’d happen if he got back to the entrance without the coat. Dr. Urlic wasn’t exactly a good person, he would probably bullied him all the time anyway. Getting back with the coat he might could get him some respect at least.

The graves on both sides of the Main road looked at him through branches, crosses and statues. Dr. Hang took out the light from his jacket and squeezed it stepping slowly towards the graves on his left when one of the human like figures started to move towards him.