Crossing Into Forever

EXCERPT and then into Chapter 1

Ella awoke after a couple of hours. She felt more refreshed than she had this morning when she woke up. Her spirits were higher because she remembered the doctor had spoken with Mother Christina. She hadn't asked him any questions about it though. She thought maybe Maggie knew what had been said. She wanted to speak to the mother so bad. She was going to ask Maggie about this as soon as she could.

She was getting restless, so she had been getting up to walk around the great room, which she realized was an infirmary, so she could stretch her legs. She didn't dare go to the far end though. She stayed in the safety of the end near Maggie. Dinner came and Maggie gave her some books to read when she was done. This made the time fly by because before she knew it, it was supper time. She wasn't hungry, but again, she ate anyway.

It was getting to be later in the evening and she was reading when Maggie came to announce that they were going for a walk. Ella was pleasantly surprised. The thought of getting out of the infirmary and getting a change of scenery made her happy. She was hoping they were going to see Millicent, but she wasn't going to ask. Maggie gave her a pretty dressing gown that matched her gown and a pair of pretty pink leather ballet type slippers that hugged her feet. The two of them started their walk and Ella noticed how grand the hallways looked. They seemed to go on forever as well. "This place must be huge," she was thinking to herself. They had gone down a couple of stairways, then down another hallway, then down two more stairways. She was thinking the school must have a lot of levels to it. They had gone down so far, it seemed as though they were going down to the depths of hell. The last level they came to had no windows and seemed to be darker than the others. The walls and floors were made of stone, instead of the beautiful mahogany of the other areas. There was something about this area that gave her the creeps. It looked like something out of a scary movie she had watched with Millicent and her friends over the summer. Finally, they came to a door and Maggie opened it.

"Ok dear, we are here. Go in and have a seat and the doctor will be here any moment now."

Ella's mouth dropped and she looked at the other woman with eyes wide. She stammered her words. "What? Why? I've already seen him. Why do I have to see him down here? I don't understand."

"It's just a quick medical check. His records are down here, so he does all of his student's medical questions down here."

Ella looked at the woman again with a defeated look. Why does she keep having to go through this? Couldn't he get this information from Mother Christina? She knew he had come to the infirmary earlier, but oddly, she didn't remember much about that.

"Can you stay with me Maggie?" Ella prayed the other lady would stay with her. It wouldn't be as bad if she could.

"Oh, I can't dear. I have to do a few things next door. I won't be far though. The doctor will be here soon, and you will be just fine."

She reluctantly stepped into the room. It was grim and eerie, like the hallway. She immediately felt a knot ball up in her stomach when she looked around. All around the room, on all the shelves and on the large desk that sat near the front of the office, were large jars filled with...things. She didn't know what the things were, but she could guess that they were body parts and organs in some type of fluid. She felt herself starting to tremble. This was scarier than the movie she had watched with the girls over the summer.

Noticing her hesitancy and her trembling, Maggie knew it was because of the jars. Many of the students, especially the females, didn't like them. A lot of the boys thought they were cool, but the females, not so much.

"It's ok dear. They won't hurt you. They are from medical cadavers that the doctor uses when teaching his anatomy classes. They are harmless. Go on and have a seat there. No need to be nervous." Her voice still carried the chipper spirit that it always had. Ella was having a hard time feeling the same sentiment.