The Silent Ward

ur Hospital

obs blinked at it, unsure whether the flickering was real or if her eyes were just playing tricks on he

been quiet at this hour,

sound, a pressure in the air, almost as

rything looked normal, all except for w

d. That wasn

perhaps, made her stop. Instead she stood up, pulled her cardigan tighter aroun

for weeks. It wasn't

istered a patient. A he

w was dark. The small square of reinforced

the handle. It t

r creak

od, not antiseptic, but the sour, metallic tang of

hand groping for

was no patient, not even a bed. Just a cold gurney pushed to the

ly from the machine, drawing a flatline

was jagged, and erratic, as if so

om noise, but words. A name scrawled over the paper, written over

a whisper, behind her, no breath, no voice, ju

turn

nd that the room was empty, and yet, the light dimmed, and her breat

and again no body, just the sound, the sound

– 17 minu

king back and forth, face streaked with tears. She wouldn't speak or blink, she just kept

ral Police Sta

e and stared at the file in front of he

Another face frozen in an expres

the file

er midnight. All under surveillance, and yet the tapes s

ive Nathan Marks, l

like hell,

," she

brown file on

this time, a nurse was found in shock, mumbling some non

e new file and

ard, but the number. It gnaw

uur again?"

loor. Psychiatric win

ood. "L

own sky. Siya hated hospitals in general, but now in particular she was hating this place, not because of the

hed their badges at the front desk, an

made it into public record. Half of it was still operational, outpatient therapy, trauma support, and

mbling hands met them a

aid, adjusting his

e about Nur

ed. "Wher

ing the same word. 'Listen.' Sometimes 'Asanda.

went

d at her but

g in Ward C3?" Siya

en. It's not on the active system. No keycard access. No patient assignment. Yet someone logg

ge," Mark

, relieved and unner

ery step louder than it should've been. The corridor had that s

other door, until you lo

ot vandalized, worn, as though t

ike breathing underwater. The walls were clean, the floor freshly mopped, and the equi

e strip. Flatline. Flatline.

thm, they followed a pattern,

nd pulled out her phone, sn

rway. "Looks like a pr

mured. "This i

up the EC

Asanda, the name again and aga

ling out,"

?" Mark

sist

lash – 13 Y

Student wing. S

was brilliant and analytical, whike t

he'd wanted to study abnormal psychology. She wanted to help the p

note either, and the CCTV went

ved it was just

lowed her sister. Now, she had

pital – Sublevel

, glancing around the dim stairwell as they des

said, pushing

ld that didn't come from bad insulatio

tal shelves stretched into the gloom. Folders, tapes, handw

ves. "You're lookin

was wiped two weeks after her disa

hat,

Ward C3 was before it

tense silence that only came from people who kn

y minutes,

led, was stuck between Cardi

– Internal

open

sychological profiles, but there were n

trates auditory sensitivity

es beneath the noise.' Mentions a son

fter Session 4. Claims to see her

ds tremble

her shoulder. "P

e an MKUltr

oto stapled to the last entry, it was

hair was longer, her eyes were hollow and she was

e record was O

s after her disappea

Siya, his expres

ight," he s

left," Si

round –

. In fact, the entire hallway was empty. Not just understaffed, but abandoned.

e of hearing, like someone humming through walls made

ut no one had opened it and from inside came a voice, it was

d her. No

at 12:23 PM, Talia Jacobs wa

ugh no one had logged her in an

shape, like she had died in the middle of a scream she hadn't chosen, and

stepped into the sunlight, on the roof top, but it didn'

ing god. Cape Town buzzed below as if the hospita

ng the Threnody file. "This

across the city. "This con

The way Asanda used to hum when she was nervous. That

oken signals. It was a song

"Whatever Project Thre

," Siya said. "Stil

no voice, just a crackling sound.After a short while there was a familiar word, drawn

t was her," she whisp

didn't

wind carrying with it the fain

ke a thousand mouths sing

whirred. Behind a thick pane of observation glass, a young woman sat s

. She was alive and

something tall, faceless, and waiting. And somewhere, a voice