The Souvenir from the Morgue - A scary story

This story is another inspiration from Shirley. Here's me putting it in words and juicing it up again on her behalf. Enjoy!!

The marbles lay before them untouched. They were bored. Peter looked at his buddies as he rolled a marble with disinterest. Ah Hia had his face on his hands. He was pouting. TK had dozed off with his saliva dripping from the side of his mouth while Kin had started picking his nose. Even Samurai had started looking distractedly at his surroundings. Back in the 70's, kids in those days had to use their own creativity to make up their own games. Video games weren't invented then.

The December holidays had been a long and dragging one. They had played almost every game they could think of over and over again for the past few weeks already. Surely there was something they could do to keep their boredom at bay.

"I know!" exclaimed Samurai suddenly making everyone jump out of their skins. "Let's play hide and seek!" TK who had just woken up glared him. His shirt was now wet from his saliva.

"But where can we hide?" asked Ah Hia in a low and monotonous tone. "Singapore is so small lah."

Samurai stood up and pointed at an old hospital not far off. That was SGH - Singapore General Hospital for short. "There're plenty of buildings over there to hide in. Let's try something different today."

A few minutes later, on the grounds of SGH, they did a quick game of "Lom Chiam Pass" which is the local dialect version for "Scissors, Paper, Stone". It was decided that Peter should be the seeker while the rest should hide.

"Alright! You have up to the count of ten before I start to find you. Ready? Get set! Go!" The rest scampered off and ran as fast as they could.

"1, 2, 3 …"

Ah Hia climbed up a nearby tree. TK disappeared behind a building.

"…4, 5, 6…"

Samurai looked desperately around him and smiled. The Morgue! Peter would be too scared to find him there! He headed for the morgue and crouched at the door. The nurse who was supposed to be on duty was not at the front desk. She was busy attending to two medics who had just wheeled in a very bloody looking body. He darted towards the counter and crawled behind it. This is a great hiding place!

Ten minutes passed and nobody came to find him. There was a stale smell around him. Perhaps Peter would have given up by now. Guess he should leave now. He hesitated and glanced around. There was a shiny black phone on the table. Back in the 70s not every household could afford a telephone line. He looked at the phone with interest. There was a rotating dial with numbers in its holes. He had never touched a phone before.

Voices at the back told him that the front desk nurse would be back soon. On impulse, he unplugged the phone, cradled it and ran towards the door.

"Where have you been?" asked the others when he got back. "We have been searching for you for so long. Do you know what time it is?"

Samurai smiled and showed them his prize.

"Hey! Where did you get that from?" They asked staring with awe at the black shiny phone. He proudly pointed at the morgue and boasted. "I knew nobody would dare to go in there so that's where I hid."

With deep envy, Peter and the rest of the gang headed for Samurai's one room flat. It was now 9pm but his parents were still out working at the stall so they had the whole place to themselves. Studying the phone with excitement, the group sat around and exchanged stories of how they had witnessed people using a telephone.

"There was this Ah Pek at the coffee shop. I saw him put the phone at his backside and fang pui," lied TK. They squealed with laughter.

"Really? Sometimes when the other party is talking loudly at the other end, you can hear a croaking voice. Gua. Gua. Gua"

They giggled and rolled on the floor. The more jokes they told, the more they laughed. They had such a good time laughing with each other that they didn't notice the time. Suddenly a loud ringing noise interrupted them. It was very loud and sharp.

Brinnnnnnnggg! Brinnnnnnng! Brinnnnnnnng!

It was coming from the phone but it couldn't be. There was no line attached to the phone!

They froze in terror and stared at the ringing phone in disbelief. Just at that moment, the old grandfather clock started chiming to signal that it was midnight.

"Er…sh-should we answer it?" asked Ah Hia whose voice was now shaking.
"Maybe it’s a technical error. Just pick it up!" Reasoned Peter.
TK nudged Samurai. "You do it."
"Fine! Cowards!"

Samurai picked up the receiver slowly. The others looked on with anticipation. There was a dead silence. A strong wind passed through the flat. Ah Hia could feel goose pimples on his skin. TK gripped Ah Hia in terror. Samurai placed the receiver at his ears and listened. The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop in the background. A good five seconds passed.

Suddenly, the pupils in Samurai's eyes dilated. He dropped the receiver and screamed like a crazy person.
"Arrrrrrrhhhhhhhh!" He became delirious and ran out of the flat screaming at the top of his voice. Confused and terrified, the rest followed him screaming at the same time.

They found him at the dark staircase panting. Ah Hia touched Samurai's shoulders. He shuddered, screamed and took off again.

"Samurai! Wait!" They yelled after him.

They soon caught up with him to calm him down.

"What happened?" asked Peter between deep breaths.
Samurai looked at his friends and didn't answer.
"Come on!! Tell us!" screamed TK.
Samurai glanced at them and nodded his head. He sat down on a stone and tried to look macho.
"Don’t tell anyone about this. Swear?"
"We swear!' The gang said in unison and did their secret handshake. "Now will you tell us?"
"Okay," Samurai said slowly. " I heard a voice at the other end."
The others leaned closer.
"What did it say?" They asked impatiently.
"The voice said…" He looked around him slowly with tears in his eyes.
"It said I know what you did last summer."