Every pregnant nurse had spent extended hours caring for Evan. Every one had worked the overnight shift in Room 407C. Each insisted—sometimes through tears—that there was no partner, no affair, no explanation that made sense. Married or single, confident or shy, they all shared the same confusion and fear.
Rumors spread quickly through the hospital halls. Some whispered about hormonal exposure. Others blamed contaminated medications or environmental toxins. But Dr. Holloway, head neurologist, found nothing abnormal. Evan’s vitals were unchanged. His brain activity remained minimal. No reflexes. No response.
Still, the coincidences kept stacking.
When the fifth nurse, a soft-spoken woman named Emily Rowe, came into Holloway’s office clutching a pregnancy test and swearing she hadn’t been intimate with anyone in months, his certainty finally cracked.
He trusted science. But the hospital board wanted answers. Journalists had begun calling. Nurses were quietly requesting transfers away from Room 407C.
That was when Dr. Holloway made a decision he would later regret.