Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Chapter 57

The military jeep pulled up to the entrance of Sanctuary Hospital

Lyra pustied open the door and hopped out, her feet hitting the steps as she glanced up at the gray-and-white building

Fifteen years ago, when she was first admitted, it seemed like a giant beast.

Now, standing at the entrance, the building didn’t look so imposing.

Lana got out from the other side, followed by two guards in plain clothes.

Lyra had already dashed into the first-floor lobby.

The smell of disinfectant wafted into her nose, and a small patch of paint had flaked off in the corner of the wall.

She didn’t even spare a glance at any of it, racing upstairs without hesitation.

“Red!” Lyra’s shout bounced off the empty hallway walls, echoing several times.

No one answered.

“Uncle Maddox!” Lyra called out again.

She dashed up to the second floor, poking her head out to look down the hallway. At the far end on the left was the nurse’s station, and on the right, a long row of patient room doors.

Not a single soul was in sight.

Not a living soul, not even a ghost.

“Sister Jo?” Lyra called out.

Lyra slowed down, opening each room door one by one.

Room 301-empty.

Room 302, the place she’d called home for fifteen years, the bed was perfectly made, just like always.

Room 303, Red’s room, was empty as well.

Lyra stood in the doorway, her hand resting on the doorframe, staring inside for a long moment.

The bed was still the same, but the curtains had been swapped out. A sliver of sunlight slipped through the new curtains and stretched across the floor.

Red was nowhere to be seen.

Lyra turned and headed downstairs, walking all the way from the east end of the first floor to the west, passing by the cafeteria, the storage room, and the activity room.

Uncle Maddox used to hang out by the activity room door. He always said that spot gave him the best view of the flagpole in the yard.

The area by the activity room door was deserted now.

Lyra dashed out to the backyard, where Sister Jo used to stand. She always said the flowers here were fake, and the ones back in her days at the palace were a million times prettier.

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Chapter 57

But the backyard was empty too.

Lyra searched the entire building from top to bottom, from the first floor to the third, even the basement She crouched down to check every corner of the storage room.

Not a single soul was left.

Lana followed behind, watching as Lyra went from running to walking, then just stood there, unmoving.

“Lyra, Lana called softly.

Lyra stood in the middle of the second-floor hallway, glancing left and right, her brow furrowing.

“Not here,” Lyra muttered.

“All three are gone,” she added.

She scratched her head, still sounding calm, but there was a bit of confusion in her voice.

“Maybe they went off somewhere else?” Lana asked.

“No way.” Lyra replied.

She shook her head.

“Uncle Maddox always said he couldn’t leave this place, and Red couldn’t either. Sister Jo could go out and wander if she wanted, but she never did-she thought the outside was too dirty, Lyra explained.

“So they have their own boundaries?” Lana asked.

“Yeah, it’s different for each of them,” Lyra explained. “Some are stuck in just one room, some can roam an entire floor, and some have the run of the whole building.”

Lyra pressed her lips together. “But now, they’re all gone too.”

Lana leaned against the wall. “Lyra, do you remember what you said before? Dr Hanson mentioned that some of the ghosts got ‘discharged Maybe the three of them are just like the ones who got ‘discharged before?”

Lyra was silent for a few seconds. “I don’t know.”

She kicked at the edge of the hallway tile “I never really figured out what happened to those who disappeared before

“Some of them were talking to me one day, and the next, they were just gone. Lyra added

Tasked Dr. Hanson about it, but she just said they’d been discharged and told me not to bring it up agam Lyra said

Lyra looked up. But how do ghosts get discharged from the hospital?”

“Do they reincarnate? Or just fade away?”

“I don’t know,” Lyra said

“I’ve never actually seen a ghost disappear One day they’re here, and the next day they’re just gone. Lyra added

Lana stayed quiet, but a thought crossed her mind: ‘Maybe the ghosts decided to check themselves out Maybe leaving was their own choice!

Suddenly, Lyra said, “I need to go to Dr. Hanson’s office.”

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Lana nodded and explained. “The office is locked up tight. We’ve gone through it a bunch of times, but didn’t find anything

“I still want to go in, Lyra said firmly.

Without waiting, Lyra headed straight up to the third floor.

Lana followed, motioning for the guards to open the taped-up door at the end of the hallway.

When the seal was broken, they stepped into a small office. There was a wooden desk, a chair, and a row of metal cabinets along the wall-all the cabinet doors were swung open, revealing nothing inside.

On the desk, there was a desk lamp with its shade crooked, a pen holder with two ballpoint pens, and the drawer was half

open.

“Everything’s already been taken away and checked,” Lana explained from the doorway. “Medical records, files, personal stuff -all packed up and sent to the Command Center.”

“We’ve searched this place four times already. There’s nothing left to look over,” Lana added.

Lyra didn’t say a word. She moved behind the desk and settled into Dr. Hanson’s chair.

The chair leaned back slightly as the springs creaked.

Her gaze drifted across the desk: the lamp, the pen holder, a layer of dust, and a few scratches.

Then her gaze stopped.

Lyra pressed her finger against the desk, her fingertip resting on the bottom right corner.

There, scratched into the wood, were the words: “The Vital Flame in Room 302 can’t go out.”

“Lana, come here,” Lyra called out.

Lana walked over and bent down, following Lyra’s finger to look at the spot.

“Look at those words,” Lyra said.

“What words?” Lana asked.

“Here, look, Lyra said.

Lyra traced the outline of the words with her fingertip.

“The Vital Flame in Room 302 can’t go out,” Lyra said.

Lana leaned in, her face hovering just a few inches above the desk, staring intently at the spot Lyra was pointing at.

All she saw were the wood grain and a layer of dust.

There were no words.

Lana straightened up and looked at Lyra. “Are you really sure about this?”

“I’m sure! It’s right here!” Lyra insisted.

Lyra’s finger was still pressed against the desk. “Right here, the words say: “The Vital Flame in Room 302 can’t go out.”

Lana’s mind was racing.

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They’d searched this place four times, and every time, someone took photos and videos-even zoomed in for close-ups on every inch of the desk.

Not a single person ever spotted any writing there.

“What was it written with?” Lana asked.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t look like it was done with ink or a pen.” Lyra replied.

Lyra tilted her head, leaning in for a closer look. “Looks like someone carved it in.”

“But the carving’s super shallow, and the lines sort of glimmer. Lana, are you really not seeing it?” Lyra asked.

Lana nodded, finally getting it. ‘So Dr. Hanson must’ve used some trick to leave a message only Lyra could pick up on, she thought to herself.

“That means Dr. Hanson not only knew, but was totally sure that Lyra could see things nobody else could, Lana realized.

“Lyra, are you sure Dr. Hanson wrote this?” Lana asked.

“I’m not sure,” Lyra replied.

Lyra ran her nail gently along the edge of the writing.

“But this is Dr. Hanson’s desk, and Room 302 is my room,” Lyra said.

“The Vital Flame in Room 302,” Lana repeated, her voice low and thoughtful.

“The Vital Flame,” Lana murmured, her mind racing.

She suddenly slammed her hand down on the edge of the desk. “Vital Flame!”

Lyra tilted her head, still puzzled. ‘What is Lana getting at?’ she wondered.

“Three flames, Lyra-it’s the Vital Flame!” Lana said, her tone urgent, trying to jog Lyra’s memory.

“Yesterday, your S Tier reward gave everyone in the country a +10 boost to their Vital Flame,” Lana explained. “Every single person got it.

“The game says when the three Vital Flame values burn strong, they can repel Wraiths and ward off evil,” Lana added.