Hospital

In the chilly night of March, Lin Xiaoxia stood in the hospital corridor and looked up at the clock on the wall. The hands of the clock moved unhurriedly and pointed to 11:58. The pale fluorescent tubes hung overhead, emitting a faint "buzzing" sound, like the off-key noise of an old record player, stretching her shadow very long. Today was her first night shift in this hospital. The pungent smell of disinfectant in the air was mixed with a faint, barely noticeable smell of burning, which made people feel uneasy for no reason.

"Xiaoxia." The head nurse's voice suddenly came from behind. The voice was floating and seemed to be separated by a layer of frosted glass, giving a sense of distance. "You're in charge of patrolling the fifth floor of the inpatient department tonight. Remember, don't enter Room 514 after 12 o'clock. That room... is a bit eerie."

Lin Xiaoxia nodded mechanically, but she felt suspicious in her heart. When making the rounds in the afternoon, there was clearly an old woman in Room 514. She was lying in the hospital bed with a drip, looking pale.

At exactly 12 o'clock, the bell rang particularly abruptly in the silence. Lin Xiaoxia took a deep breath, gripped the flashlight tightly, and started her patrol. The corridor on the fifth floor was deathly quiet, and only the sound of her footsteps, "da-da", echoed in the empty corridor. That sound seemed to step on people's hearts. The lights were also playing tricks, flickering on and off. Her shadow swayed on the wall, distorted beyond recognition, as if it had come to life.

As she walked, she came to the door of Room 514. A faint sobbing sound seeped out from the crack of the door. The sound seemed to be covered by something, intermittent, making one's spine tingle.

"Hello?" Lin Xiaoxia raised her hand and gently knocked on the door. "Do you need any help?"

The sobbing stopped instantly. Then, a sound of nails scratching the door panel came, from bottom to top, slow and ear-piercing, just like a cat's claws scratching on a blackboard, making people's hearts pound with fear.

Lin Xiaoxia's hand involuntarily rested on the doorknob. The cold touch of the metal spread from her fingertips, making her shiver. She took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and pushed the door open.

The room was pitch-black. Only the moonlight streamed in through the window, casting mottled shadows on the floor. Vaguely, there seemed to be someone lying on the hospital bed, with their back to the door, and a human shape bulging under the quilt.

"Hello?" Lin Xiaoxia turned on the flashlight, and the beam of light shone directly on the hospital bed.

But the next second, the quilt suddenly collapsed, and the bed was empty. Lin Xiaoxia's heart tightened sharply, as if being gripped by an invisible hand. She felt a chill on the back of her neck, as if someone was blowing on her neck, cold and clammy.

In a panic, she turned around and wanted to run, only to find that the door had been closed without her knowing. The light of the flashlight started to flicker. In the alternating light and darkness, she was horrified to see that the wall was covered with bloody handprints, and those handprints were slowly moving, as if countless people were struggling desperately to break through the wall.

"Help... please save me..." A hoarse voice rang in her ear, and the breath sprayed on her ear, wet, cold, and sticky.

Lin Xiaoxia let out a terrified scream, and the flashlight fell to the ground with a "snap", rolling under the bed. She bent down shakily to pick it up. Under the bed, a pair of bloodshot eyes stared straight at her, as deep and mysterious as two bottomless ancient wells.

"I've found you." The voice sounded again, with a sense of triumph.

Suddenly, a hand landed on her shoulder. Lin Xiaoxia turned around in horror and saw the head nurse standing behind her, her face as pale as a sheet of paper, as if covered with a layer of frost.

"Didn't I tell you not to come in?" The head nurse's voice was as cold as ice. "There haven't been any patients in this room for three years. Three years ago, there was a big fire in Room 514, and a patient and the on-duty nurse were both burned to death."

Lin Xiaoxia felt as if all the blood in her body had frozen, and her lips trembled as she asked, "Then... what about just now..."

"The one you saw was that nurse," the head nurse paused, and her voice dropped even lower. "She has been looking for a scapegoat."

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Lin Xiaoxia noticed that the head nurse's shadow was not right - that shadow was not the appearance of the head nurse at all, but a charred human figure, crawling on the ground, twisted like a boneless snake.

She stepped back in horror and hit the wall with a "bang". The beam of the flashlight swept across the head nurse's face, and Lin Xiaoxia was so frightened that she almost fainted. She saw that the head nurse's skin was peeling off like melting wax, revealing the charred muscles underneath, exuding a smell of burning.

"Why are you running away?" The head nurse's voice became hoarse and strange. "Stay here... It's warm here..."

In a panic, Lin Xiaoxia slapped the door desperately and shouted for help at the top of her lungs. Suddenly, the door opened with a "squeak", and she fell out as if she had lost all her strength.

The corridor was brightly lit. Several nurses heard the commotion and hurried over to help her up. "Xiaoxia, what's wrong with you?"

Lin Xiaoxia pointed at Room 514 with a trembling finger. "There... there's..."

The nurses looked at each other, puzzled. "Room 514? That room has been sealed for three years."

Lin Xiaoxia was stunned. She looked back at Room 514. There was a seal on the door, yellowed and old, like a scar forgotten by time.

The next day, Lin Xiaoxia gritted her teeth and decided to continue working. Perhaps what happened last night was just a hallucination caused by her exhaustion.

But at night, strange things happened again.

She was sorting out medical records at the nurse's station when suddenly, a series of footsteps came from the end of the corridor, neither too light nor too heavy, "da-da", approaching this way. Lin Xiaoxia looked up subconsciously. An old woman in a hospital gown was walking towards her slowly.

It was the patient from Room 514 yesterday!

The old woman came to the nurse's station and pulled out a strange smile. The corners of her mouth stretched wide, revealing a mouthful of black and yellow teeth. "Nurse, can you change my dressing?"

Lin Xiaoxia forced herself to look calm and squeezed out a smile. "Okay, please wait a moment."

She turned around to get the medicine, but then she heard a "giggle" behind her. The laughter was sharp and ear-piercing, like nails scratching on glass. Her heart tightened, and she turned around abruptly. She saw that the old woman's face was melting like ice cream. The skin was peeling off piece by piece, revealing the charred muscles underneath, and there was a trace of hot air coming out.

"Do you know?" The old woman's voice became twisted and hoarse, like the noise from an old radio. "That night, I could have escaped..."

Lin Xiaoxia was so scared that she stepped back again and again, and her back hit the wall with a "bang". The old woman - or rather, the charred patient - was approaching her step by step. With each step she took, a puddle of black liquid was left on the floor, exuding a smell of burning.

"But that nurse... she locked the door..." The old woman's vocal cords seemed to be burned out, and her voice was thick and hoarse. "She said... she wanted me to stay here forever..."

Lin Xiaoxia felt that her back was soaked with cold sweat, and a chill rushed from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. She watched helplessly as the old woman's hand was dripping black liquid drop by drop, leaving a string of charred marks on the floor, like the footprints of a devil.

Suddenly, the lights in the corridor started to flicker wildly. The bright lights dimmed and then brightened again. In this alternating light and darkness, Lin Xiaoxia was horrified to see countless charred figures crawling out of each ward, surrounding her like a tide.

"It's warm here..."

"Stay here..."

"Forever..."

These voices intertwined, like an invisible net, trapping Lin Xiaoxia in the middle. She screamed and stumbled towards the elevator, pressing the button desperately with her fingers. The elevator door slowly opened, and a pungent smell of burning hit her face. She stared in horror. The elevator was filled with charred corpses, standing crookedly, like burned wooden puppets.

She turned around to run, but a charred hand grabbed her ankle tightly. That hand was like a pair of iron pincers, not letting go. More corpses crawled out of the elevator, like black worms, surrounding her completely.

"Welcome home..."

Lin Xiaoxia felt that it was getting more and more difficult to breathe. It was as if a big stone was pressing on her chest, and her vision began to blur. In the last moment before losing consciousness, she vaguely saw the head nurse standing at the end of the corridor, with a strange smile on her face, a smile more terrifying than the darkness.

The next day, the police found Lin Xiaoxia's body in Room 514. Her body was severely burned, her skin was charred black, and she was curled up in the corner of the room, just like the victims of the fire three years ago.

But the most spine-chilling thing was that the door of the room was locked from the inside, and the seal on the door was intact, without any trace of being damaged...

Since then, there has been another terrifying legend in the hospital: every midnight, faint footsteps and sobbing sounds can be heard in the corridor on the fifth floor. Some people say that it is Lin Xiaoxia looking for a scapegoat, wandering in this cold hospital, never able to get out...

And the door of Room 514 has never been dared to be opened again, like a sealed taboo, firmly locking away those unknown secrets and fears.