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Flash fiction · From the Margen catalogue

Internal notice 47/2026: nobody has been born in room 3 since Thursday

DISTRICT HOSPITAL — OBSTETRICS INTERNAL NOTICE 47/2026

Distribution: night staff, medical direction, IT.

Subject: anomaly in the birth reports generated in Room 3 since Thursday 6 August at 04:12.

1. Facts. Midwife Adela Requena (licence 28/45213) signed reports 21/06, 21/07 and 21/08 after three consecutive births. By morning the three records were not in the system. The mothers appear as admitted and discharged; the newborns do not appear.

2. Cross-check. The corridor camera filmed the three patients going into the room and coming out with a baby. The lab holds the umbilical-cord tests. Secretary Marisa Cots has confirmed that the identification codes issued that night (68219, 68220, 68221) are blank. The discharge register keeps the exact times: 04:12, 05:03 and 06:31; the name field in all three shows a long blank space.

3. Staff instructions. Any birth in Room 3 must also be written by hand in the room's logbook. The handwritten copy is delivered to direction before 08:00. Do not discuss the episode with the families until further notice.

4. Attached handwritten note from Adela Requena. «All three weigh well and breathe. I asked the mothers for the names: they don't remember choosing one. The first told me: —He tells me when I look at him.»