Sergeant Neff and vomiting Richard

Suddenly a sound caught her attention. It was something like a faint, barely perceptible retching sound coming from behind one of the doors leading to the toilets. She slowed her steps and listened. The sound was repeated, and then she walked resolutely to the door.

When Delia Asia Vieira entered the toilet, her gaze immediately fell on the young man standing next to the toilet. It was Richard. He was leaning over it, belching convulsively, his eyes clouded, his face slashed with pallor. He jerked sharply, as if he had heard footsteps, and turned to face her.

"You... what are you doing here?" His voice was hoarse, almost a whisper, but there was a defensive intonation in it.

Delia Asia Vieira was a little surprised, but not embarrassed. She came closer, calmly watching him.

"What's going on here? Are you okay?" she asked, lowering her voice a little so as not to scare him.

But it wasn't just his condition that was at issue. There was something else.

Richard glanced back at the next booth. There was something in his gaze that Delia Asia Vieira noticed immediately-something was definitely wrong. There was blood under his fingernails, and his gaze was darting nervously around the room.

"There..." he finally said, trying to catch his breath. "There's nothing there. Just a mannequin, old and smashed to pieces. I don't know how it got there.

Delia Asia Vieira glanced in the direction he was pointing and her gaze fell on the next stall. On the floor lay the parts of a female mannequin, broken into many small pieces, its body covered in a black tint that gave the whole picture a surrealistic look. The shards of the plastic body were scattered on the floor, as if someone had hit the mannequin hard, breaking it into pieces.

"This... what is this?" Delia Asia Vieira couldn't hide her surprise.

She knew this place was strange, but she hadn't expected this. The mannequin was too realistic, its features almost human, but twisted and torn to pieces.

Richard looked at her, his eyes starting to fill with panic. He stood up abruptly and grabbed the sink, gripping it tightly with his hands.

"I don't know how it happened," his voice became tense and anxious. "I just walked in, and it was here. Everything was fine, I was just looking for the bathroom... I didn't do it! Honestly! I... I shouldn't have come in here at all!"

Delia Asia Vieira couldn't understand what was happening. She had seen many strange things in her life, but the mannequin in this toilet and everything connected with it became something completely new and inexplicable. The signs of panic in Richard's voice were too sincere to consider him an accomplice to what was happening.

"Are you sure you don't know anything about how this came to be here?" she asked, trying to find some kind of explanation.

Richard continued to stand, leaning against the sink, his face pale and his eyes frightened. He continued to vomit, swallowing hard and coughing, trying to wipe the beads of sweat from his face. It was obvious that he was unable to collect himself. Delia Asia Vieira watched him calmly, not trying to intervene, but still feeling that something in his story might be useful.

Richard finally wiped his mouth, but his hands continued to shake. His gaze darted around the room, as if he were searching for something or someone, and finally he spoke without looking into the robotess's eyes.

"You're asking how I got here?" His voice was shaking, but he couldn't seem to keep it in any longer. "I... I'm an explorer of abandoned buildings. Just... well, looking for interesting places. This place... it was supposed to be empty. Just an empty, abandoned place, you know?"

Delia Asia Vieira nodded, listening intently. She had met many people in her practice who were interested in studying abandoned objects, but Richard seemed different, as if something about this place had actually caught his attention.

"I walked around this complex," he continued, "like an explorer, like a ghost hunter, you know? I was sure there were a whole bunch of them here. A whole bunch of ghosts walking around the rooms. But the more I wandered, the more I felt like that wasn't true. Just cold concrete and old rubble, not a single ghost in sight.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, his breathing became more even, but the tension did not leave his face.

"I kept walking, looking into every corner, checking every floor. With every step I realized more and more that there was nothing in this place. Do you understand? Nothing creepy. I didn't see a single ghost, just silence and that's it!"

Delia Asia Vieira listened attentively, without interrupting. Richard continued, as if convincing himself:

"And so, you know, at some point I just got bored. I was tired, and I was irritated because I couldn't find anything interesting, even the most stray and not the least bit scary ghost. I went to the toilet, decided to at least catch my breath a little. I sat down, and then... well, basically, then I just started... throwing up. Out of frustration. Just because I couldn't find anything. And that's when you caught me, you painted fool."

Richard looked guilty, as if he was afraid that his revelation might seem too ridiculous or funny. He was making excuses, but there was genuine concern in his voice.

"You probably think I'm some kind of crazy person, right? But I feel like there's something wrong with this place. I've been to places like this before, but there's nothing here. I came here," Richard continued, "hoping to find at least some traces of what happened here before. Ghosts, some secrets... But now I'm not sure. Maybe I shouldn't have come here. Because there's nothing here!"

Robotess found his explanation strange, even false. She stood before Richard in the small, dingy powder room, his pale face barely able to hide his anxiety, his voice trembling as if he were trying to reassure both himself and her. But Delia Asia Vieira knew something was wrong. She had seen more than he could imagine.