Kerri had just completed her first month on the job at the nursing facility. She was still learning, but was getting a feel for the job. She worked on the west wing of the facility, where many of the patients were elderly. One of Kerri's patients was Dr. Benjamin Monroe. He was ninety-five years old with numerous ailments and disabilities. He also had episodes of seeing people who were not there. Some days he would sit in silence, while other days he would very coherent. There were also days he believed he was still practicing medicine. Kerri found Dr. Benjamin (as all the nursing staff came to call him) to be a very quiet man who gave her no trouble. He would smile at times and call her by another name, but she never let it bother her. It was part of the job. He had family who came to visit – his son, daughter-in-law and a grandson. But none of them got Dr. Benjamin as spry as one particular visitor during one of Kerri's shift.

Kerri was making her rounds when she heard voices coming from Dr. Benjamin's room. Kerri entered the room to find a young woman sitting in a chair by the bed. Dr. Benjamin was sitting up and speaking to her in a manner Kerri never saw before. The woman was dressed in a dark blue dress that came to her knee. Black gloves sat on her lap and a black coat hung behind the chair.

When Kerri walked in, the woman looked her way and smiled.

"Hello," Kerri said. "I didn't know you had a visitor Dr. Benjamin."

"I'm not too late am I?" the lady asked.

"Oh no, visiting hours don't end for another two hours. I'm here to check on Dr. Benjamin to see if he needs anything."

Dr. Benjamin answered. "I'm fine. This is Annabelle. She came to see from a very long way."

Kerri smiled. "That's nice. Well, I'll let you continue your chat. I'll check on you later. It was nice to meet you Miss Annabelle."

Annabelle replied, "You can just call me Annabelle. And could you have someone bring Benjamin some more water and ice. He was very thirsty when I first came in."

"Of course" Kerri answered. She left the room and came back with some ice and water. She found Dr. Benjamin and Annabelle still chatting away lively. Kerri could not help but notice how happy Dr. Benjamin seemed with this visitor.

As she sat the water down, Annabelle asked Kerri, "Have you been working here long?"

"Just a month so far," Kerri replied.

"Do you like it so far?"

"So far things been fine."

Dr. Benjamin then chimed in. "Annabelle is a teacher. One of the finest in New York City."

"Stop exaggerating Benjamin" Annabelle said.

"Oh really? What subject do you teach?" Kerri asked.

"High school English" Annabelle answered.

"I was never good at English" replied Kerri.

Annabelle laughed. "Not everyone is good at it, but that's because it wasn't your calling."

Kerri smiled. "You need anything else Dr. Benjamin?"

Dr. Benjamin answered, "No, I'm all right. I have Annabelle here." He reached out and grabbed Annabelle's hand as she continued to smile at him.

"I'll check on you before I leave. Again, it was nice meeting you Annabelle."

"Same here. I hope we will meet again" Annabelle replied.

While Kerri walked back to the nursing station she ran into the head nurse, Helen.

"Dr. Benjamin seems very energetic this evening with his visitor," Kerri said.

"Really?" Helen replied. "I did see someone walk into the room earlier. She was dressed quite fancy."

"She said she's a schoolteacher in New York City" Kerri replied.

"A schoolteacher? She must teach at one of those fine private school in the city. Was she his granddaughter or grand-niece?"

Kerri answered, "Not sure. She didn't say and neither did Dr. Benjamin. All I know is her name is Annabelle and she's a teacher."

The next afternoon Kerri ran into Dr. Benjamin's daughter-in-law, Vanessa Lee Monroe. She came to visit almost daily during lunch.

"Hello Miss Vanessa" Kerri called out. "How are you today?"

Mrs. Vanessa answered, "I'm fine. I came to see Dr. Benjamin. He seems more cheerful than usual. Did the doctors give him something?"

Kerri answered, "No, nothing different, but he did have a visitor yesterday."

"He did?" Mrs. Vanessa asked. 

"Yeah. Her name was Annabelle."

Vanessa had blank look on her face. "What did you say?"

Kerrie replied slowly. "Dr. Benjamin had a visitor named Annabelle yesterday."

"That is impossible. He doesn't have anyone named Annabelle who could come to visit him." Vanessa replied.

Kerri was now confused. "Well that's what Dr. Benjamin said was her name and she answered to it. She also said she was a school teacher."

Vanessa replied, "A schoolteacher? No you must be mistaken and seeing things."

"I didn't see anything and I wasn't the only one who saw her. Helen, the head nurse, saw her as well."

"I don't know what's going on here. Now I know Dr. Benjamin's mind goes from time to time, but for the money we're playing for him to stay in this place, I would think they would hire better help."

"Better help? What is that supposed to mean?" Kerri asked, getting angrier by the minute.

"Nurses that don't do drugs and hallucinate seeing people. My god."

"I didn't hallucinate anything," Kerri countered.

By this time, Helen came up to Kerri and Vanessa, to see what the growing commotion was about.

"Is there something wrong here?" Helen asked.

Kerri relied. "I was telling Miss Vanessa about Dr. Benjamin's visitor yesterday, Annabelle, and she is accusing me hallucinating."

Helen laughed. "Well, I saw her too Mrs. Monroe and I most certainly wasn't hallucinating."

By this time Mrs. Vanessa was furious. "Well someone is lying here."

Helen replied, "No one is lying. Why would you say such a thing? I'm sure the front desk has proof of the visit yesterday."

Kerri added, "Maybe it was a family friend."

"Dr. Benjamin does not have any family friends named Annabelle."

Kerri added. "Well someone was here to see him and she said her name was Annabelle. Dr. Benjamin definitely acted like her knew her, from the way he talked and laughed with her. I never seen him in such a calm and happy state before. "

"That's impossible," Mrs. Vanessa replied.

Helen asked, "And why is that?"

Mrs. Vanessa placed her hands on her hips. "The only person Dr. Benjamin ever knew named Annabelle was his sister and she died in 1958!"

Suddenly the room began to spin in Kerri's head.