Scary Stories and Urban Legends

I'm Not Martin!

It was the end of October and a
young boy named Sean was in
hospital. He should have been
picking out a Halloween costume
and enjoying himself with his
friends, but instead, he was stuck
in a hospital, waiting to have his
tonsils removed.

His parents spoke to the
receptionist and a nurse led them
down the hallway to the room
where Sean was going to be
staying. The lime-green walls
were all decorated with orange
and black streamers, white skulls
and paper cut-out pumpkin
heads.

When they reached the hospital
room, they heard a big
commotion. There was a boy lying
in one of the beds and he was
screaming "I'm not Martin! I'm not
Martin! "

Two other nurses were trying to
calm him down. One held a big
syringe and the other prepared
his arm to give him an injection.
They pulled the curtains around
his bed.

The screaming gradually stopped
and when the nurses opened the
curtains again, the boy was lying
unconscious in his bed.

Sean was curious and asked the
nurse what was wrong with the
boy.

"He's having his left leg
amputated in the morning," she
said. "The poor boy is so nervous
about it that he is trying to
convince us that he's not himself.
He thinks if he says he's not
Martin, he won't have to have the
operation."

"Are you sure you have the right
person?" Sean asked.

"Of course," replied the nurse.
"His name's Martin. It's right there
on his chart."

Sean's parents left and he sat on
the edge of his bed, reading a
book. Another nurse came around
with a trolley to serve dinner, but
he could only stoach a few
mouthfuls. The hospital food was
disgusting.

He lay on the bed for a while,
staring at the ceiling. He was
bored out of his mind. Just then,
he noticed that Martin was
waking up.

"Hey Martin," he said, "My name's
Sean. I'm your new roommate."

"I am not Martin," the boy
groaned as he rubbed his head.

Sean tried to have a conversation
with him, but the boy was
irritated and didn't want to talk.
He just sat there, silently
brooding.

At 10 o'clock, a nurse came in and
told them it was time to go to
sleep. She said goodnight to them
and turned off the lights. Just
before the lights went out, Sean
noticed the other boy staring at
him with an odd look on his face.

He soon dozed off, but his sleep
was haunted by strange dreams.

When Sean woke up the next
morning, there were two doctors
leaning over his bed.

"Let's go, Martin," said one of
them. "It's time for your surgery."

Sean was confused. "What? But
I'm not Martin," he replied.

"The nurses warned us about
you," the other doctor replied.
"They told us you'd say that."

"You're making a big mistake,"
Sean insisted. "I'm telling you, I'm
not Martin!"

One doctor reached out and
checked the medical chart at the
end of his bed.

"Of course you are," he replied. "It
says so right here on your chart."

"That's not right," Sean screamed.
"Somebody must have switched
them!"

He started to struggle, but the
doctors held him down and put
him in a straight-jacket. As they
placed him in a wheelchair and
took him away, Sean was still
screaming, "I'm not Martin! I'm
not Martin!"

The last thing he saw as they
wheeled him out the door was the
smiling face of the real Martin.