•Illumoria•

CHAPTER THREE

'What a bitch,' Olivia thought, each step echoing as the old wood groaned beneath her. Despite her nerves, she felt a flicker of confidence—maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Meanwhile, Parker lingered at the stairwell entrance, scanning the shadows. A sudden instinct prickled the back of her neck—she felt like she was being watched. Her flashlight flicked across the room, and from the corner of her eye, she swore she saw a figure move.

With her back turned to the entrance, she began to walk away from the door, briefly forgetting about her sister. She felt as if she was supposed to follow this unknown force. Standing alone Parker tried to listen around her, finally hearing footsteps approaching she felt a hand touch her shoulder, causing her to flip the person who had touched her.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!" Olivia growled now sprawled across the messy floor.

"You shouldn't have snuck up on me," Parker said calmly, crouching to help her sister up.

Olivia groaned, rubbing her back. "Would Bobby be mad if I just left you here?" she muttered under her breath, half-joking, half-panicked.

"Before you go all kung-fu on me," Parker said, brushing herself off, "I found some weird stuff downstairs."

The two made their way down another flight of stairs, Parker leading the way this time, her flashlight beam slicing through the dimness. The walls were flaking paint like diseased skin, and the air smelled of rot and something metallic.
Parker pushed open the door to a small room, one so cramped the walls seemed to lean inward. A rusted bed frame sat in the corner, and on a warped wooden desk lay a crumbling leather-bound journal.

"So you think it was this nurse?" Olivia asked, stepping in cautiously.
"Pretty sure," Parker said, flipping the fragile pages. "Apparently she picked each patient for the doctor... and then dosed them with God-knows-what before handing them over."

Olivia's nose scrunched. "That's so messed up."
"Yeah," Parker muttered, wiping dust and grime off her hands and onto her jeans, leaving a dirty smear across the denim. She set the journal down carefully, almost reverently. "Well, let's get started, huh?" Together, they began to search the room for anything related to the nurse, the oppressive air making every creak and shadow feel alive.

It was as if a predator lurked among the piles of abandoned equipment and broken furniture, and Parker and Olivia had become the prey. Every subtle sound, every shadowed corner, set Olivia's nerves on edge. But Parker's steady presence kept her moving forward, forcing her to focus on the task at hand: uncovering the dark secrets of the hospital, one clue at a time.

•PARKERS POV•

We'd been searching for hours—morning bled into afternoon, and now the dying light of sunset bled through the broken asylum windows. Dust hung thick in the air, and my patience was running on fumes. I blew out a frustrated sigh and let my eyes wander back to the desk in front of me. That's when it hit me.

"Olivia!" I shouted, the sound bouncing off the peeling walls.

Footsteps pounded, and she jogged into the room, brow furrowed. "Why did you scream? I thought you found a body or something."

I grinned, gesturing toward the brittle leather journal on the desk. "Do you remember what Bobby always told you about spirits?"

Her head tilted. "Uh... that they suck?"

I groaned. "No! That spirits aren't always tied to their bodies." I scooped up the journal, holding it like a trophy. "You said the nurse was cremated, right?"

Olivia nodded. "About ten years ago. Why?"
"What if she's attached to this?" I dropped the journal back onto the desk with a thud.

Olivia's face lit up. "That's... actually brilliant."