Prologue
The fluorescent lights hummed a monotonous tune, a stark counterpoint to the unsettling silence that clung to the hallways of Abby's Hospital. Anastasia shivered, pulling her thin cardigan tighter around her.
"Ang lamig ah" she whispered, the words barely audible above the hum. It wasn't just the temperature; the hospital was adequately heated, but a deeper chill, a primal fear, permeated the very air she breathed. Tonight, she was on light duty, responsible for switching off the lights on the first floor before the night shift settled in. Abby's was a small hospital, compact enough to house only around 140 patients, but its size belied a certain... intensity.
"Hay Nako naman,parang kakaiba na ang hangin," she muttered, a knot tightening in her stomach. The looming shadow of the cemetery behind the building added to its unsettling atmosphere; a silent, watchful presence that seemed to seep into the very fabric of the place.
"Sana wala akong makasalubong,tulad ng sabi ni xia" she prayed silently, her steps quickening slightly.
The task was simple enough. A methodical walk through each ward, a flick of the switch, the soft click echoing in the quiet corridors. But tonight, the silence felt different, heavier, pregnant with an unspoken dread. Each shadow stretched and writhed, twisting into monstrous shapes in the periphery of her vision.
"Kalmado lang dapat Tash, memorize mo naman Yung our father eh, kaya mo to. Papatayin mo lang naman Ang ilaw eh. " she told herself, trying to quell the rising panic.
Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat against the oppressive stillness. She tried to rationalize it; exhaustion, nerves, the inherent creepiness of an empty hospital at night. But a deeper unease gnawed at her, a feeling that something was terribly wrong, something far beyond simple apprehension.
"May mali talaga,here" she thought, her grip tightening on the small flashlight she carried.
As she rounded the corner into the waiting area, a sudden movement caught her eye. It wasn't a sudden rush of air, nor a creak of the floorboards - it was a subtle shift in the shadows, a silent glide across the polished floor. Her eyes widened as she saw it: a wheelchair, empty yet somehow moving, rolling slowly and deliberately towards the reception desk.
"Ay, gage to- Lord wag naman ganto!"she exclaimed under her breath, her voice laced with disbelief and a growing sense of unease.
It wasn't a gust of wind; the air hung still and heavy, thick with an almost palpable sense of dread. There was no visible force propelling it, no discernible mechanism causing its movement. It glided, a phantom on wheels, a silent specter in the otherwise motionless room. The silence amplified the eerie sound of the wheels, each rotation a tiny hammer blow against her already frayed nerves.
Anastasia's breath caught in her throat. A cold dread, sharper than any winter wind, pierced her. The hairs on her arms stood on end, prickling her skin with a thousand tiny needles.
"God ko po," she whispered, her voice barely a breath. This wasn't a malfunctioning wheel; this was something else entirely. Something... sinister. The rational explanations crumbled under the weight of the inexplicable. The logical part of her brain screamed for a reasonable explanation, but the primal fear, the instinctual knowledge that something was profoundly wrong, overwhelmed her reason. Just then, a figure appeared from behind her, causing her to jump and whirl around. It was Bejen, her classmate, but the sight of him sent another jolt of fear through her. He was wearing a brightly colored beauty mask, pajamas, and slippers, munching on a snack. He looked utterly incongruous in the eerie setting.
"Huy, tagal mo, nakipaghabulan ka pa ba sa multo here?" Bejen said, his voice startlingly normal in the unnerving silence.
"Kaya pinuntahan na kita. Tash"
Anastasia stared at him, speechless, her mind struggling to reconcile the mundane reality of Bejen's appearance with the chilling events that had just transpired. The wheelchair remained motionless, a silent testament to the inexplicable events that had just occurred, leaving Anastasia wondering if she had imagined it all or if this was just the beginning of something far more unsettling. The unsettling silence returned, heavier than before, now punctuated by the rhythmic munching of Bejen's snack, a jarring counterpoint to the lingering dread.
