CHAPTER 6 – The Secret Beneath the Hospital
The next morning, Dr. Harrison refused to let Emma leave the hospital.
"I found something," he said quietly.
He led Emma, Daniel, and Claire through an old elevator marked:
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
The elevator descended.
One floor.
Two.
Three.
There were no numbers anymore.
Only concrete walls.
Finally...
The doors opened.
Emma stared in disbelief.
Hidden beneath the hospital was an abandoned maternity wing.
Dust covered everything.
Old incubators.
Rusted hospital beds.
Medical charts scattered across the floor.
Dr. Harrison shined his flashlight toward a heavy steel door.
Above it were faded letters.
MATERNAL RESEARCH UNIT – CLOSED 1979
Claire stopped walking.
"I've been here before..."
Her voice cracked.
"I woke up here after Emma was born."
Dr. Harrison slowly unlocked the door.
Inside...
Thousands of patient files filled the shelves.
Each one belonged to a pregnant woman.
Each file contained one identical photograph.
The mysterious smiling face.
Daniel opened a random folder.
Patient...
Outcome:
Mother deceased.
Another.
Mother disappeared.
Another.
Child missing after birth.
Emma's breathing became shallow.
"How many women?"
Dr. Harrison answered quietly.
"At least one hundred and twelve."
Then...
They reached the final cabinet.
Locked.
Richard Carter's name was engraved on it.
Claire whispered,
"He funded this place."
Daniel forced the cabinet open.
Inside lay a single black folder.
Marked only with Emma's name.
The file had been created...
Ten years before Emma was born.
Everyone stood frozen.
Daniel slowly opened the first page.
A sonogram slipped onto the floor.
It wasn't Claire's ultrasound.
It wasn't Emma's.
The date read...
July 18, 2031.
Five years in the future.
The image showed four children standing beside an empty hospital bed.
At the bottom, in bold handwriting, were eight terrifying words:
MOTHER EXPIRED. ALL FOUR CHILDREN SURVIVED.
Emma screamed.
Then another page fell out.
It wasn't a medical report.
It was a birth certificate.
The mother's name...
Emma Carter.
May you like
The father's name...
Left completely blank.
