The Silent Ward

om – Groote Schuur

a's sleeping form. A tangle of wires connected to heart monitors beeped slowly, rhythmically, each sound a fr

ps moved in silence, whispering things only the dead understood. The nurses had insist

ng two paper cups of bitter

e cup. "Her vitals are steady. But she h

in his posture. "You sure we sho

. "And have them lock her

gue. "So what's

g, Groote Schuur, these places aren't isolated. They're linked by s

"What kind

ompiling, dates, drawings, coded languag

sp

ion. A design that pulls you deeper the longer you st

his head. "L

door

red. Her eyes opened,

" she wh

side. "I'm here.

ising strength. "You didn't close i

tightened. "Wh

hey're still singing. Below the walls. B

pped clos

ce cracked.

– Sub-Level Reco

f metal drawers, dusty folders, and forgotten histories. Marks helped Siya drag o

ks' own arranged supervision, away from officia

e entries. Audio logs. Then she found it. A file marked: Subje

open

m, cleaner and fully intact. A woman strapped to the cha

ntainment unsuccessful. Subject self-harmoni

n. "Echo persists." She remembered A

ng?" she murmured. "What if they're heari

e saying the patients didn't j

record," Siya said. "

d. From one of the overhead speakers in

.Siy

. "Did you

ed, sligh

... echo..

hem dimmed briefly

walls. They're in the system. Anything with

eyes haunted. "The

East Wing – Ro

ty. The wind tugged at their coats, as if trying to pull them away from everything they knew. The hospi

anda anymore," Marks said. "I think

ven the SANDF facility Asanda was moved to before she vanished. They all ha

back of his neck.

e places now, Valkenberg's sublevel, Groote Schuur's

n," Siya said. "It's a map. A code. An

ver. "Someone?

uld answer, he

wn Nu

hen answered. "D

anical. "You're not the first to follow it. B

he line

the screen. "Th

ser. "We need to

in isolation. They're already reac

re t

re it began. Before Valkenberg. Before Gro

his eyes. "Do

ling a brittle document: Groote Sch

Ridge, beneath the o

cal wing under the Observatory? With a possibly haunted a

. "That's exactly

olation Roo

ghtly ajar. Siya's stomach dropped

oo.

t remained was the soft, rhythmic hum coming from the heart monitor left

der his breath. "The footage's blank.

d it. It was a hand-drawn spiral, drenched in charcoal, that was dar