The Lullaby Paradox

A investigative journalist, still haunted by their sibling's unsolved disappearance 20 years ago, uncovers a pattern of cold cases linked to a rural psychiatric hospital shut down in the 1980s. As they interview survivors and dig through decaying patient records, they notice eerie parallels: each victim's final journal entry describes hearing a child's laughter moments before vanishing. Worse, the journalist begins experiencing phantom smells of antiseptic and burnt hair-details never publicly disclosed. When they discover a faded photo of their sibling in the hospital's staff archives, dated a year after their disappearance, the line between investigator and subject collapses. Now, every audio recording they review contains faint, growing whispers of their own name in the static.