This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

The fluorescent lights hummed their eternal song above Sarah Chen's head as she walked down the sterile corridor of Millbrook Psychiatric Hospital. Her footsteps echoed against the linoleum floor, creating a rhythm that seemed to mock the silence that had consumed Ward Seven for the past three weeks. As the newly appointed head psychologist, Sarah had inherited more than just patient files and administrative duties—she had inherited a mystery that was slowly eating away at the sanity of everyone who worked there.

The silence had started with Patient 237, a young woman named Emma Reeves who had been admitted following a complete psychological breakdown. Emma had been found in her apartment, sitting motionless in the corner of her bedroom, her eyes wide and unblinking, her mouth moving soundlessly as if engaged in conversation with someone who wasn't there. When the paramedics arrived, they reported that the apartment was so quiet they could hear their own heartbeats echoing off the walls.

Emma hadn't spoken a single word since her arrival at Millbrook. Not to the nurses, not to her previous psychiatrist, and not to Sarah during their first meeting two days ago. But that wasn't the disturbing part. The disturbing part was that other patients had begun to fall silent too, one by one, as if Emma's muteness was somehow contagious.

Sarah paused outside Room 237 and reviewed Emma's file once more. Twenty-three years old, no history of mental illness, employed as a librarian at the city's main branch. Her supervisor had described her as quiet but friendly, someone who loved books and helped patrons with genuine enthusiasm. There had been no warning signs, no gradual decline—just a sudden, complete withdrawal from reality.