Not many paid attentions when the plump, sullen-faced nurse walked into the hospital many minutes later than when everyone was supposed to clock in. Mirian Teoh found her workplace of eight years abuzzed with colleagues grouping up to chat whenever they get the chance to do so. The male hospital attendants were mostly resting. A clear sign their supervisor wasn't around. Even the cleaners were speaking in hushed voices.
Then she saw a whole ward cordoned off by a bright yellow, plastic tape. Teoh peered to see which room it was and let out a small gasp when she found out. She made the sign of the cross across her chest and thanked her lucky stars she didn't work the night.
She hurried to the changing room to don her uniform, from her lips the words, "Later, later. I've to change," to fellow nurses looking as though they wanted to start a conversation. With good reason. To everyone, she was the brave one. The nurse who kept her cool, who didn't suffer sleepless nights having been an eyewitness to a patient killing himself.
The patient was an oil and gas engineer accused of killing his wife and daughter. Without a verdict, the High Court had decided he suffered from mental illness and thus was not responsible for the murder of his wife and daughter. Teoh knew of the case. Heck, the whole country followed it, she had reckoned.
Teoh was on night duties the same night of his arrival. Doing the routine checks on the mostly sleeping patients when she heard heavy movements coming from the accused's room. She told the police later how she knocked on the door before opening it. The room's awash with all the light bulbs switched on.
Said she saw him standing on the bed with his hospital gown around his neck and looped to the fan. His left hand hanging limply at the side, blood dripping from a shattered wrist. A bloodied handcuff attached to the bedside rail. He was stark naked, she said, as he stared at the nurse standing at the door. Heard his last words.
"I loved them. Really did. Tell everyone that, please. Goodbye now."
She had closed her eyes that very moment, but there was no mistaking the snap echoing across the room. Teoh stood frozen as the man dangled from the ceiling fan. When she did open her eyes, his, all white, stared back.
What she didn't tell anyone was how those same eyes visited her dreams every other night. How she kept hearing his last words repeated. Repeatedly.
Thus, Teoh thanked God for sparing her on this occasion. And giving her the wards away from the wretched incident.
Refreshed on who needed what, Teoh pushed her trolley loaded with breakfast items past the one where she knew the yellow tape would be. The words "Do not enter. Crime scene" pasted on them. As though they were enough to deter any evil spirits within slipping out.
Teoh saw that the silent, handsome one was her third patient to drop off.
Somehow being with him calmed her temperamental side. She doesn't really know why, and minutes seemed to pass without her even realizing what happened. Only that she felt relieved of a heavy burden. Her recollection of the hanging thus made John Doe an early must visit. Third door on her left. There.
I loved them I loved them to death
Stunned to hear those words fully awake, Teoh found herself unable to move a single muscle. She saw the door's flat surface suddenly morphing, contorting into the facial features of a man. It opened its mouth and a tongue leered. She tried to scream only to find her lips sown together.
love me love me why don't you come in and love me just like he did them
Unthinking, Teoh reached out with her hand to clamp those lips shut. Found herself touching the cold, flat surface of the wooden door.
What the heck was I doing?
Breathless, Teoh glanced around her nervously and saw everything was as it had been. Her hands, however, were shaking. She dared not open the door. Half expecting to see him again before her. A man long dead.
And then from inside the room she heard a single word.
"Hello..."