Have you ever been somewhere that doesn't freak you, personally, out, but many people have told you it's a scary place? So it is with the Anatomy lab. I personally find lab to be not at all intimidating and am perfectly fine to be there alone, however, ever since I was an anatomy student people have discussed the lengths they go to in order to avoid being in the lab alone. Again, being in the lab alone is not an issue for me and I am often there alone before/after sections meet. Today dawned a gray, humid, and ominous morn; post-drop off of my sistah and pre-visit to the gym I needed to drop off the final lab exams to the lab. Conveniently, lab is located in the bottom of the gym (a fact few know, and I'm sure all the gym patrons would love to learn :) ), so dropping said exams off would be no problem. As I unlocked the many doors/locks between the general public and the cadavers the thought "it's so weird that nobody else besides the professors, not even my TA's will come in here alone," crossed my mind. Now, this thought runs through my head pretty much every time I go into the lab alone because it really does astound me. Anyways, I put the exams away and notice that there is a general state of dishelvement in my office and, in a shocking twist to no one, begin tidying it up. Then it occurs to me that I should check the cadaver lab and make sure everything is neat and tidy. There is very little that annoys me more than a messy cadaver lab. Except an unorganized tool drawer in the cadaver lab. Sigh. So I go into the lab, and indeed, it is in a state of slight disarray-nothing terribly out of place, just some buckets still laid out to dry, clipboards and exam coversheets on various stations. I set to work and after a few minutes, the hair on the back of my neck starts to tingle. I shrug this off; I know I locked the outer door behind me so should anyone be in there they either have a key (and are therefore not scary because only the professors and I have keys) or they had to get through the ventilation system (and while Las Vegas may be one of my favorite shows, I am pretty positive that nobody is climbing through ventilation systems to get me). Mere milliseconds after I tell myself to get a grip I hear it. A chirping/sing-songy noise. It can only be one thing: a cell phone ringtone. I may have gasped out loud. I try to rationalize this new development to myself (a student left it, it's one of the professors, my phone is having a seizure) and have nearly succeeded when the noise stops. Before the tune was over. CREEPY! So I may have been in a state of semi-panic, but I tell myself I am being completely ridiculous and need to get a grip. I return to organizing the tool drawer and am thinking over this situation in my mind and realize that all of the reasons I generated for the noise are completely impossible: if a student left their phone in lab I CERTAINLY would have heard about it within the hour, not 10+ days after the last lab exam, both of the professors have keys and would have come and gotten their phone if they had left it and it was not either professors ringtone, and while my phone and I have some moments, it was in the office, two locked doors away from me in the lab, so even if it was seizuring, I wouldn't have heard it. Which didn't really comfort me seeing as I was approaching the "call someone to come and rescue me" state, but my phone was fairly far away. I have barely finished process this information, and had just placed the last tool in the drawer when...
The noise. It goes off again! I am genuinely freaked and start to move towards the door. However, when I get halfway across the room I notice something, the sound isn't as loud. All that I have passed are the bathrooms and 3 cadaver tables. Hmm. I return to the back of the lab to see where the noise is coming from. It seems centered around one of the cadaver tables. Well, I tell myself, either the cadavers have come back alive AND have pretty snazzy technology, or someone left their phone in the table during the exam. I flip open the latches and pull open a side of the cover, the cound increases in volume, I drop the table lid which bangs into my shin (of course this had to involve the table with the heaviest lid!). Cadaver is definitely not alive, check. No phone visible, check. Noise still beeping/singing away at me. Hmmm. I get gloves and investigate, thinking to myself, dude, if this was my phone I wouldn't want it back after it has lived in a cadaver table for 10 days. No phone anywhere. The noise stops and I am genuinely stumped. I am closing the table when something cool and metal touches my hand. I nearly scream, but look down.
It was the cadaver's pacemaker, and it was blinking and started chirpping away at me again. It needs new batteries.
