The Psychological Mystery of Thomas King

Chapter Ten: The Darkness that Consumed the Light

Thomas

It was around 11:30 at night, when I heard the door to my room slowly open. I stayed lying in bed, afraid to move. My heart started pounding, and my mind kept asking questions.

Who was that?

What were they doing at this hour?
Was I gonna die?

The door opened with a horrifying creak and my sister poked her head into my room.

Wait... Ava?

"Thomas?" She asked. I sat upright.

"Ava?" I asked. "What are you doing here?" She stepped inside the room and quietly closed the door.

"We're rescuing you." She answered.

Rescuing?
What was going on?
"Rescuing?" I asked. "From what? And who's we?"

"Hailey, Liam and I came to get you out of here." She started explaining. "You said yourself that something strange is going on here."

"It was just a hunch." I told her.

"Guards and doctors keep watching you. And you also said that the doctors seemed happy to know that something was wrong with the patients. That's not normal." Ava defended herself.

"But, you can't just... break me out of here, isn't that against the rules?" I asked. My sister stared at me in disbelief.

"Did you not just hear what I said?" She asked. "You're in danger here, Thomas." I thought about Ava's words, and recalled all the strange things that have happened to me at the institute. I sighed.

She's right.

I had to get out of here before something happened to me.

Something bad.

"Ok." I said, getting out of the bed. "Besides, anywhere is better than here." I threw on the clothes I first came to this place in and Ava handed me a denim jacket. We exited the room to find Liam and Hailey waiting for us. The two of them hugged me and Ava joined in, creating a group hug.

"Are you okay?" Liam asked.

"Eh, more or less." I said. Hailey shined her flashlight down the corridor.

"We need to go." Hailey said. "Before someone finds us." The three went towards the window.

"Did you guys seriously come through the window?" I asked. The window that was closest to my room was 10 feet above ground.

"Yeah." Hailey said. "It actually wasn't that hard to get up here."
"After we got the hang of climbing." Liam added. Ava shined the flashlight left and right, frowning.

"How come there aren't any guards?"

"I don't know." I answered. "I know one guard is supposed to be stationed out here, but I don't see them."

"That's strange." Hailey remarked.

"Maybe they knew we were coming?" Liam asked.

"It doesn't matter." Ava said, going to the window. "We should get outta here before any guards come." She placed her hands on the window sill, ready to go through, when the window slammed shut. Ava's hands were nearly crushed and she staggered back, eyes wide with shock.

"You okay?" I asked her, standing by her side.

"Y-yeah." She said, nervously laughing. "Just a little shocked." Liam went towards the window, trying to lift it up.

"It won't budge." He said, gritting his teeth. Hailey went to another window and tried lifting it, but the window didn't open.

"They're stuck." She said, Suddenly there was a sharp cracking sound that came from the right. We all looked in that direction, Liam and Hailey flashing their flashlights towards the wall.

"Was that a guard?" Ava whispered.

"I don't know." I answered. There were more cracking noises. A tall and slender body came out from within the shadows. It had two abnormally large hands with razor sharp claws. Its four legs resembled the legs of a spider. Its bones cracked as it moved.

My body froze.

My heart seemed to stop.

There were no eyes.

Only dark pits where they should've been.

That's the monster on the wall.

The same one from my dream.

"Helllloooo dear childdd." It said in its raspy low voice, probably directing its statement to me. So it knew me. Could it be the same one from my dream?

"Who are you?" I tried to say as loud as I could, but it came out as a whisper.

"The Keeeeppperrr." It bellowed. "Made from flesh and bones, servant of the Stones." It pointed to all of us. "I ammm the Keeeppperrr of thisss space and I shalll killl alll strangersss who know thisss place."

"What is that thing?!" Hailey yelled.

I shall kill the strangers who know this place.

The strangers....

Realization crossed my mind in the midst of all the fear.

"Run." I whispered to my friends. And we do. The Keeper shrieked and followed after us.

Run.

Far, far away. Away from this place. Away from the fear, the unknown, the horrible reality that I had now learned of.

Run.

Faster and faster from the asylum of misery and pain, from the unsympathetic doctors and guards, from the supernatural.

Run.

From the creature born from shadows, from my own suffering, from the ghosts and memories that haunted me.

Run....