The Psychological Mystery of Thomas King

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Keeper

Liam

There's complete silence as I walk through the asylum. I look around trying to find the exit that's marked on the map. I have a habit of looking behind me, thinking there's someone behind me or that someone was in trouble. I shrug my shoulders. The others are fine. There's no one here. No one is here to hurt us. But still, something felt wrong.

It all felt too... easy.

I hear a sharp cracking noise coming from a room farther down the hallway, to the left. The door is open. I cautiously walk towards it. When I'm in the doorway, I peer into the room. The room is mostly empty, except for a few boxes stacked here and there, in the corners.

I'm about to turn around, when I hear more cracking noises. A silhouette emerges from the corner of the room. The silhouette is tall and slender and has claw-like hands. Its legs resemble the legs of a spider.

I freeze, hands shaking and heart pounding.

We were almost to the door, when I accidentally bumped into a cart I couldn't see in the dark. The creature snapped its head towards us.

"Run!" Thomas yelled. We ran towards the door as the creature bounded towards us. We're almost at the door, when I gasped. I held my side, which was covered with blood. The creature screamed, raising its arm to strike again, but Hailey and Thomas pulled me away. They put my arms over their shoulders and dragged me outside the door.

The Keeper.

It starts chuckling, lowly. I start backing away.

"Rrreeememberrr meee?" It says in its raspy voice. I hold my side, which begins hurting. I look down, but I don't see any blood. Without hesitation, I race down the hallway. I can hear it coming after me, screeching loudly. I try every door that I see as I run, but none of them open. Thankfully, I see an open door at the end of the hallway and dart in. I don't bother to close the door as I survey the room.

There's hospital beds, all of them unoccupied. Each of the beds are separated by light blue curtains. It strangely reminds me of the room we hid in the first time we saw the Keeper. I close all the curtains and go to the last bed in the very back left corner. I close this final curtain and crouch in the corner, drawing my knees up to my chest.

I stay silent as I hear the monster come down the hallway. It slows to a walk, trying the doors. It must've seen the open door, because it comes in. I tremble. One by one, it starts shredding all the curtains, screeching in disappointment if I wasn't there. It finally gets to my hiding spot.

I hold my breath.

It seems to hesitate, and just when I think it's gone it shreds the curtain. It screams at me, raising its claw-like hand.

I close my eyes.

And wait for the end.