Teen Walks Into Hospital With Shoebox — Staff Are Stunned At Its Contents

For half a second, nobody spoke. Then Carla lowered the lid and looked sharply toward the treatment rooms. “Anna!” she called. Another nurse appeared almost immediately. Carla whispered something Noel could not hear. Anna’s tired expression disappeared. “How long?” she asked. Noel stared at her. “How long what?” Neither nurse answered him.

Suddenly, people were moving everywhere. A hospital trolley was pushed through the doors. Someone brought blankets. Another nurse picked up a phone and said, “Call the doctor down here now.” Noel stepped backward. He had expected them to take the box seriously, but not like this. “Is it bad?” he asked. Carla glanced at him. “We need to know exactly what happened.”

Noel looked at the shoebox again. Less than an hour earlier it had been empty, sitting beneath a shelf in the gas-station stockroom. Now three hospital workers were standing around it. “A woman asked me for the box,” he said. “Then she went into the restroom.” Carla looked up. “And?” “She came back with the lid closed, left it on my desk.” Before Noel could explain more, another voice spoke behind him. “Did you say a woman left this with you?” Noel turned. A police officer had just entered the waiting room.