The narrator visits Pearl Hospital and notices significant changes since their last visit. The hallways are cleaner but deserted. Fewer people are around and the nurses seem more authoritative. The narrator learns a new director was appointed a year ago who initiated reforms. However, some areas of the hospital remain inaccessible. Strange events occur, including unidentified nurses dragging an terrified man away and robots that smell of blood. A ghostly man warns the narrator it is dangerous to be out after hours but it is only 8:17 pm. When the narrator refuses to leave, they witness the man and another being shot dead by the mysterious nurses. The ghostly man reveals the new director's reforms involve killing patients, and threatens to

1. A Night at the Pearl Hospital
By: Vaniexe
Entering the Pearl Hospital, I was greeted with a cleaner environment, the dirty white
halls before look brand new, the molds that once embraced the corners are gone but
the hallways look deserted.
The children playing at night before are nowhere to be found. The chattering of the
people is minimal. The nurses look more... powerful.
I heard they changed the director of the hospital just a year ago so maybe it is the new
director's project to clean the hospital for better accommodation.
People say the director is quite vulgar but is close to the mass. He is quite strict but
many people like him. But I know it is only those who are in the upper floors who share
this opinion.
The elevators are still stuck and no, many people still cannot go upstairs for better
medication. A nurse wearing white uniform with red ponytail approached me,
"Bakit nandito ka na naman? Hindi ka pa ba nadadala? Umalis ka na. 'Wag mo nang
ituloy 'yang binabalak mo."
"May bibisitahin lang po ako. Ano bang sinasabi mo ate?"
"Alam kong aalamin mo na naman ang nangyayari. 'Wag mo nang ituloy,
mapapahamak ka lang."

2. I chose to ignore her because that's what people do, ignore people they can't
understand.
I was walking down the hall when little robots came to clean every single trash in the
way.
Walking further, I was about to turn in the corner when I stumble because two hurrying
nurses who appear out of nowhere brushed past me. Unlike the nurses I met in the
entrance hall, those two are wearing blue uniforms and masks. They don't even have a
tag. You can only know they're nurses because of the shots they hold in transparent
bags.
Across the hallway, a man was standing with blood shot eyes and he seems to move
closer to the walls. He is just a teenager, I suppose.
He looks so innocent and kind like someone who studies very hard to help the society.
But his eyes screams fear and his stance seems to cower. His head was bowed and his
hands seem to tremble.
I walk towards him and was about to ask him what was wrong when he suddenly
blurted,
"Ne, 'pag ganitong oras na, 'wag ka nang maglakad-lakad. Mapirmi ka na lang sa isang
tabi baka ano pa ang makita mo."
I think it's absurd because as far as I know, hospitals don't have curfews and besides,
it's only 8:17 pm on my watch. I look for the hospital clock and yes, it's only 20:17, why
is it even in military time?
Anyway, I haven't caught the man's last words because of a scream I heard from the
direction where the nurses go. I can't move like coldness covered my body and the man

3. shook even more. I was about to ask the man when another scream enveloped the halls
for a second, just for a split second followed by a deafening silence. It is eerily quiet.
Little robots, I suppose they are the reason why the hospital is very clean, emerged
from a small hole moving into the direction of where the nurses go.
One thing that caught my attention about the robots is that they stink of blood.
The man beside me spoke again,
"Ne, mas mabuti pang pumasok ka na sa isa sa mga kwarto dito kaysa maabutan ka
dito sa labas. Bilisan mo na! Umalis ka na baka may maabutan ka pa."
I am frozen on my spot because of the man's voice. He seems to be frustrated. I just
noticed that unlike the other people here, he is translucent and cold emits from his body,
and there are traces of where the shots are. I was dumbfounded.
I am still standing with the man when another man from the corner run towards us but
then nurses with blue uniforms tail after him at an impossible speed and in front of our
very eyes, it happened.
Shots fired.
Collapsing of a body.
Little robots leaving no evidence of the scene.
But there are two bodies that collapsed in the hallway.

4. "Sinabi ko naman sa'yo eh. Nagaya ka tuloy sa'kin."
"Bakit?"
"Ganito ang utos ng bagong direktor ne, ito ang pagbabago para sa kanila."
I can no longer speak of this because between me and the blue-uniformed nurses, two
people can keep a secret if one of them is dead.