All Chapters of Woke Up in Another Man's Body: Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
38 chapters
CHAPTER 21 — THE SHADOW IN THE WARD
Soft rain drummed against the hospital windows as evening settled over Mercy Heights. The corridors dimmed. The air cooled.A strange stillness moved through the building, the kind that came before something important broke the surface.James Wood, now known to this world as Dr. Adrian Cole, walked down the hallway with practiced calm. But beneath that calm… burned purpose. Tonight was the night his plan would shift from preparation to execution.He reached Ward C, where the medical monitors blinked faint green light across the patient rooms. Inside Room 307 lay one of the seven men who murdered him.Daniel Briggs. Once a “friend.” Now an unsuspecting lamb in the lion’s den. James stood outside the door. Action cluster. A breath. A decision. Then he stepped in.Daniel stirred.His eyes fluttered open, still weak from the “mysterious” nerve pain that brought him here. “Doc…?”Daniel croaked. “You came back.”James kept his voice gentle. “I check on all my patients,”he said. “Espec
CHAPTER 22 — THE LETTER TOM SHOULD HAVE FEARED
Thunder rolled across the city as the night deepened.Mercy Heights Hospital glowed like a lone lighthouse in the storm—too bright, too calm, too clean for the truth hidden inside its walls.James, Dr. Adrian Cole, sat in his office, the door closed, the lights dimmed.Only the lamp on his desk flickered golden light across the pile of documents he had been preparing.Letters. Seven letters. Seven invitations. Seven traps disguised as mercy. One envelope remained unsealed. Tom Harrington. James ran his thumb across the flap.“He’ll come,”he whispered. “The others followed the bait. Tom will too.”He signed it. Folded it. Slipped it into the envelope with surgical precision. Then he sealed it,slowly, deliberately, like sealing a coffin. Just as he finished, his office door creaked open.Nurse Liana stepped in. “Doctor Cole? A man is here to see you. Says it’s urgent.”James frowned. “At this hour?”“Yes. He won’t leave. He’s… intense.”James stood. “Who is he?”She hesitated. “He sa
CHAPTER 23 — WHEN THE HUNTERS START TO RUN
Rain hammered the hospital windows.Mercy Heights glowed under the storm, but something darker moved inside—panic, fear, and the first cracks in James Wood’s enemies.Dr. Adrian Cole stood in the empty room where Daniel had been. Room 307. Sheets thrown aside. IV line torn out. Blood droplets on the tiles.Monitors still beeping to themselves, confused by the absence of the patient they were supposed to be saving. Nurse Liana rushed in behind him. “Doctor, we searched the hall, the stairwell, he’s not anywhere in the unit.”James kept his eyes on the message Daniel had scratched on the wall: “HE KNOWS”“Seal the exits,”James said quietly. “Call security. Lock the elevators.”Liana blinked. “All that for one patient?”James didn’t turn. “Do it.”She hurried out. James moved closer to the wall, his fingers tracing the dried streak of blood beneath the message. So Daniel ran. Good. Running meant fear. Fear meant guilt. And guilt would make him careless.James whispered: “You should have
CHAPTER 24 — THE GATHERING OF SHADOWS
James Wood stepped out of the elevator of Rosewater Medical University Hospital, still wearing the fresh white coat that had become a symbol of his new identity.The early morning lights soaked the corridor with a calm glow, but inside him there was a storm—rising, sharpening, aligning.He was now a doctor. Not fully licensed yet, but already trusted, already valued, already underestimated by the ones who should fear him the most.He walked toward Ward C, checking the file in his hand when he heard footsteps behind him. “Doctor James!”a nurse called. James turned with a soft smile. “Yes, Nurse Helen?”“There’s someone waiting for you downstairs. He said he desperately wants to transfer his father to this hospital. He insisted on meeting you personally.”James blinked once. “Transfer? Who is he?”“He said his name is… Mark Davison.” James froze just for a second, no, a fraction of a second, but enough for his breath to catch. Mark Davison.One of the seven. He lowered his gaze to the
CHAPTER 25 — THE SECOND THREAD TIGHTENS
The hospital hallway was silent, the kind of silence that carried weight, like a held breath waiting to exhale.James Wood walked slowly toward the consultation room, Evelyn Moore following behind him in quiet heels that clicked rhythmically on the polished floor.He could feel her eyes on his back. Curious. Impressed. Unaware. Unaware that she was in the presence of the man she once helped kill. He pushed open the door, gesturing politely. “Please, have a seat.”Evelyn scanned the office with a light smile. “You keep your workspace clean, doctor. I like that.”James nodded. “A clean environment keeps the mind sharp.”“Oh, trust me,”she laughed softly, “I know all about sharp minds.”James sat across from her. “Tell me about your mother.”Evelyn crossed her legs elegantly. “She’s seventy-two. Heart issues. Very fragile. She's been getting worse, and the last hospital nearly destroyed her with bad prescriptions.”James’s brow tightened. “I’m sorry to hear that.”Evelyn sighed dramatic
CHAPTER 26 — The Third Shadow Arrives
The ambulance lights flashed against the hospital entrance as nurses rushed forward, pushing a stretcher into the VIP wing. James Wood stepped calmly into the hallway, latex gloves snapping softly around his wrists.On the stretcher lay a man in his late forties—sharp jaw, expensive wristwatch, silver hair gelled perfectly even in panic.Colin Steward. Another of the seven betrayers. Another thread in James’s web. Colin’s voice cracked weakly as they rolled him in. “Is this… Wood Memorial Hospital?”“Yes,”James said, stepping beside the stretcher. “You’re safe here.”Colin squinted at him. “You’re… the doctor?”James nodded once. “I’m Dr. Wood.”Colin exhaled in visible relief. “Good. Your letter said you treat complicated neurological conditions. The other hospitals are full of incompetent fools.”James placed a hand on his wrist. “I’ll handle everything.”Colin nodded shakily. “My head feels like it’s splitting open… and my legs, my legs feel wrong.”James spoke softly. “Calm down.
CHAPTER 27 — THE SHADOW IN THE CORRIDOR
Rain crashed against the hospital windows as if trying to punch its way inside. Dr. James Wood stepped out of the emergency theatre, pulling off his gloves.His heartbeat grew louder, not because of the surgery, but because he knew what came next.One of them had arrived. Again. He could feel it. The air always changed around them, heavy, familiar, poisonous. A nurse rushed up to him. “Doctor… Mr. Kelvin is asking for you. He says it’s urgent.”James froze. Kelvin. One of the seven. The man who used to laugh the loudest while eating James’s food… food Maria had already poisoned. James exhaled slowly. “Put him in Consultation Room 4. I’ll be there shortly.”The nurse nodded and hurried down the corridor. James leaned against the wall for one second, just one, steadying himself. Not yet. But you will know pain… confusion… fear… all the things you forced on me.He straightened his coat and walked. Inside the room, Kelvin was pacing like a trapped dog. The moment James stepped in, Kelvin
CHAPTER 28 — THE WHISPER BEHIND THE DOOR
The storm outside had become violent, lightning flashing like camera shutters, thunder shaking the hospital floors.Dr. James Wood walked briskly through the silent corridor, every light flickering overhead. His shoes echoed sharply, the sound louder than usual… unnaturally loud. His mind replayed the whisper: “He is not the only one seeking revenge…”James slowed, scanning the shadows. “Who’s there?”he said calmly. Silence. But silence in a hospital at midnight was rarely empty. A nurse turned the corner suddenly. “Doctor! Oh, you scared me.”James blinked, forcing his tension down. “Is everything alright?”She nodded quickly. “Sorry, sir. Just… weird night. All the monitors in Ward B reset on their own. And some patients say they heard voices.”James inhaled sharply. Voices. The same thing he heard. “Which patients?”he asked.“Two elderly men and a young woman. All said the voice whispered the same sentence.”James’s eyes narrowed. “What sentence?”She hesitated. “‘He is not alone
CHAPTER 29 — THE MAN WHO SHOULD NOT HAVE RETURNED
The morning sun rose behind a layer of gray clouds, casting the hospital in a dim, uneasy light. Nurses hurried through the corridors, monitors beeped intermittently, and the smell of antiseptic felt sharper than usual, almost metallic.Inside his office, Dr. James Wood sat perfectly still, staring at the file in front of him. The file of the man who had called at 2:00 a.m. The man whose voice trembled. The man who said the words that made James freeze in place:“Doctor… I think someone is following me.”And now that same man, One of the Seven, Was coming to the hospital today. James closed the file slowly, exhaled, and rose from his chair. A new phase of his plan was beginninA soft knock on the door.“Doctor? You said I should come.”James lifted his eyes. Standing at the doorway, drenched in sweat despite the cool air, was Daniel—the quietest of the seven conspirators. The one who rarely spoke. The one who always stood at the back of the group.Out of all of them, Daniel was the e
CHAPTER 30
The hospital lights hummed softly. James stood in the hallway outside Ward C, his coat still unbuttoned, his pulse steady but sharpened with focus.He had been waiting for this moment. “Doctor Wood,”a nurse whispered, “your 9 a.m. appointment is asking for you.”James turned his head slowly. “Which one?”“Mr. Kelvin Arinze.”The name cut through him like a thin blade. One of the seven. James closed his coat with a measured motion. He stepped forward. Kelvin sat on the examination bed with his elbows on his knees.His breathing was fast.“Doctor,”he said, “something is wrong with me.”James approached him with careful steps, his expression calm. “What symptoms are you experiencing?”Kelvin rubbed his chest. “I feel weak. No appetite. My stomach… it burns every morning.”James wrote on the chart, though he already knew the cause. “Do you drink?”James asked. Kelvin hesitated. “Yes. Too much.”James looked up. “How long have these symptoms persisted?”“A month now.”James moved closer.