The cafeteria buzzed with soft chatter and the clinking of cutlery. The air smelled faintly of butter and something sweet — pancakes, maybe, or whatever the island chef had decided would make them forget where they really were.

Elara sat near the back, tray untouched. She’d been staring at her food for five minutes, lost in thought. Her conversation with Kendra kept looping in her head — curious people stop showing up.

She stabbed a fork into her eggs, trying to shake the thought off.

“Is this seat taken?”

Elara looked up to find Tessa standing there, tray balanced on one hand, grin bright as ever.

“No, sit,” Elara said, instantly relieved.

Tessa dropped into the chair with a dramatic sigh. “Thank God. My patient might be seventy, but she talks like she’s seventeen. She told me today I should wear lipstick to ‘make the boys behave.’”

Elara laughed. “Evelyn Brooks, right?”

Tessa froze mid-bite. “Wait. How do you know that?”

“You told me.”

Tessa squinted playfully. “No, I didn’t.”

Elara hesitated. “I… might’ve seen it on the system.”

“Oh, look at you,” Tessa teased, grinning. “Little Miss Snoopy. Should I be worried?”

Elara smiled sheepishly. “I was just curious.”

Tessa wagged a finger at her. “Curiosity killed the nurse.”

Elara almost choked on her water.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Tessa said, waving it off. “It’s just something I overheard in training. They said nurses shouldn’t get too nosey. Apparently, a few people got sent home early for breaching privacy. But come on—Evelyn’s name isn’t a state secret.”

Elara forced a small smile. Sent home early, she thought. That wasn’t how Kendra had phrased it.

Tessa leaned forward. “So? What else did you see on that shiny computer of yours?”

Elara hesitated, then said quietly, “Naomi’s file.”

“Oh?”

“It said she’s under review.”

Tessa frowned. “Under review?”

Elara nodded. “In yellow. Like a warning or something.”

Tessa’s eyebrows drew together. “That’s… weird. Maybe it’s a system error.”

“Maybe,” Elara said, but her voice didn’t sound convincing.

The noise of the cafeteria washed over them — the hum of voices, laughter from the far table where some of the younger nurses sat. A guard walked by, his boots echoing faintly against the tiles.

Tessa toyed with her fork. “You don’t think she’s in trouble, do you?”

“I don’t know.”

“She barely talks. It’s not like she could’ve done something wrong.”

Elara glanced around the room, scanning the tables automatically. The cafeteria was crowded, but—

“She’s not here,” Elara murmured.

Tessa followed her gaze. “Maybe she’s on duty.”

“Maybe,” Elara said again, though she didn’t quite believe it.

They ate in silence for a while. Tessa tried to joke about how spoiled the food was — fresh fruit, real butter, imported coffee — all for a hospital. “This place feeds us better than my last boss,” she said. “Makes me suspicious.”

Elara smiled faintly. “Everything here makes me suspicious.”

“True,” Tessa said, laughing softly. “It’s all too shiny, too perfect. Like someone polished reality.”

When the lunch bell rang again, signaling the end of the break, both women stood reluctantly.

“I’ll see you tonight,” Tessa said, slinging her clipboard under her arm. “Maybe Naomi will actually say something today.”

“Maybe.”

But Naomi didn’t show up anywhere else that day.

---

By the time the sun dipped low over the horizon, the halls of Laguna glowed with soft golden light. Elara walked back to the dorms, exhaustion creeping into her bones. The day had been long and strangely empty.

She passed two guards in the corridor; they nodded curtly but said nothing. The silence that followed her footsteps felt louder than it should.

When she reached her room, the door was already unlocked.

Tessa’s laughter greeted her first. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, reading a book. "You're late" She said.

“Had to finish a file,” Elara said, setting her bag down.

And then she saw Naomi.

The girl was sitting on her bed — back straight, eyes distant, hands folded neatly in her lap. She looked exactly the same as always. Not tired. Not restless. Just blank.

Elara froze for half a second, surprised to see her there. “Hey,” she said softly.

Naomi didn’t respond. She just turned her head slightly, eyes flicking toward Elara before returning to the window.

Tessa looked up then, following Elara’s gaze. “Oh, you’re back,” she said to Naomi, voice light, cautious. “Didn’t see you at lunch.”

No answer.

Tessa gave Elara a small look — the kind people share when they’re both thinking the same thing but don’t dare say it aloud.

Elara forced a smile. “Long day?” she asked Naomi.

Still nothing.

Naomi stood after a moment, picked up a folded towel from her bed, and walked toward the bathroom.

The door closed quietly behind her.

For a moment, silence pressed down like weight.

Tessa exhaled. “Okay… that was weird.”

Elara nodded. “She’s been like that since the first day.”

“Maybe she’s just shy.”

“Maybe.”

Neither of them mentioned the yellow under review mark. Neither asked where Naomi had been all day.

It was easier not to.

Tessa eventually went back to her tablet, muttering something about her patient’s ridiculous gossip. Elara sat by her bed, watching the last light fade from the window.