Chapter 237: Payment
The patient stopped making noises. He held his bloody fingers, and he walked with such softness. The fourth floor was very quiet. No one could be seen. Xuan Wen and Su Mo had no idea why the patient was so scared. They moved silently and paused beside the nurse station for the ICU. The patient with insomnia took out a large ring of keys. He tried a lot of them before he managed to open the door.
The inside of the hospital had a generally light colour scheme to give off a clean, bright feeling. However, this ward was very dark. The walls, floor and furniture were painted with irregular lines. The lines connected together to form swirls that would suck one in if one looked at them for too long.
“When I can’t sleep, I’ll use the pen to record down the voices in my brain.” The insomniac picked up the blanket. The blanket was originally white, but he drew on it so much that it was already black.
“Are you saying these lines are voices?” Xuan Wen was interested. Ignoring Su Mo’s protest, she entered the ward. Su Mo was anxious. He wanted to escape once the patient entered the ward, but Xuan Wen seemed genuine in wanting to help him.
“Listen.” The patient put his ear near the blanket. His eyes started to roll, and several voices entered his head like threads. Xuan Wen did the same. The threads started to fray. They were like ripples. They were the whispers of the dead. Some wanted to see their children, and others blamed their children for leaving them at the hospital. There were also cries of regret. The voice grew louder. The threads turned from fish hidden under the ripples to large snakes and patches of shadow.
“I don’t want to die!”
All the voices gathered to form a united thought. All the lines gathered in the same direction. The insomniac yelled in pain. He was like a puppet controlled by endless threads. Once he closed his eyes, his brain would be dominated by different voices.
“The end of the threads is the back of the man’s head, but where do they start…” The slender fingers caressed the threads like they were musical strings. Xuan Wen walked to the bed that was closest to the door. “This pillow that most patients have used before they died.” The pillowcase was often changed, but the inside of the pillow hid the patient’s last memory. Xuan Wen ignored the crazed patient. She seemed to dance as she approached the pillow. Su Mo didn’t dare to get closer. He thought Xuan Wen had lost her mind. He cried for help.
Xuan Wen calmly sat on the bed. The last light of the day shone on her. Her hands gently picked up the pillow. She removed the pillowcase. The inside of the pillow was painted with human faces. The faces overlapped. They came from different walks of life, but death was fair.