I published this yesterday and I just found out that it's still saved as a draft 👿👿
The room was dark and dusty. A foul stench hang in the air like a bad omen, but to Andrea's complete surprise, the place was anything but ugly.
There was a big wooden desk in the centre with a large window reaching from floor to ceiling right behind it. The moon was visible behind the clouds, sending small rays of silver light into the room. Andrea noticed the big file cabinets on one side and the comfortable looking sofa on the other.
It was when she turned to look at Josh that she noticed the look on his face. It was one of complete hatred and disgust.
In all of the two years that Andrea and Josh had been best friends, she had only seen him happy and angry. She always thought that Josh was one of those people who were always optimistic about everything. Never had he expressed himself in a harmful way.
"What's wrong?" She carefully asked.
"I can't believe everyone thought this was acceptable." Josh said, his face forming into a sneer.
Andrea looked around, trying to understand what he was saying.
"What are you talking about?" She finally asked.
"This! The fact that they get to stay in fancy places and let the prisoners rot in cells."
Andrea frowned. Cells? What was he talking about.
Josh finally took a deep breath and calmed down a little. "This place wasn't built like a regular asylum. It was built to let people in, whoever came in never got out."
"Why?"
"They were experimenting on the patients, running tests on them."
"What for?" Andrea had never heard of this.
Josh shook his head. "I don't know."
Chills ran down Andrea's spine and she felt bile rise up her throat. Now she understood Josh's disgust.
"How do you know all this?" She asked and hugged the sleeping kitten closer to her body.
"I did my research." Josh answered vaguely and threw his backpack on the wooden table.
Andrea shone her light on the file cabinets and saw that almost all the drawers were open and empty.
"Josh, I don't think we'd find anything in here." She muttered.
Josh looked at the cabinets and pursed his lips, he took off his beanie and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Fuck!"
He stalked towards the cabinets and started searching frantically. "There has to be something!"
Andrea could only stand back and watch, she was shocked at Josh's behavior, it seemed as if he was losing his mind.
"Josh?" She muttered gently.
Josh stopped looking through the drawers and took a deep breath.
"Sorry. I'm sorry." He whispered with defeat.
"Is everything okay?" Andrea asked and gently put a hand over his shoulder.
He suddenly stood up from his crouch making Andrea jump and almost drop the kitten.
"Got it! How didn't I think of this before?" He walked over the wooden table and took out the folded blueprint from his pocket, he opened it and laid it on the table.
"What are you talking about?"
"The basement." Josh said without looking up from the paper.
"What about the basement?" Andrea walked so she was standing next to him.
"There has to be some records in the basement. They must've kept something there." Josh looked at her with excitement.
Andrea gulped. "Are you saying we have to go all the way to the basement?"
"Yes."
She shook her head. "Nope. No way in hell. I'm done here, so are you. We are going to go home and sleep, not that I think I will be able to close my eyes after today, and we're going to have good dreams about not being haunted by serial killer ghosts."
Josh held her by the shoulders. "Andrea, we've already made it this far, we just have to go and check out the basement real quick, it would only take a few minutes."
"You know what else will take a few minutes?" Andrea asked, the small kitten in her arms purred and cuddled closer to her chest.
"What?"
"When a serial killer beheads us!"
Josh rolled his eyes. "You're being a drama queen. There's nothing to be afraid of."
"Says the boy who kept screaming for a full minute because of a kitten."
Josh huffed. "You were scared too."
"But I didn't scream!"
He sighed with frustration. "Andy, please."
Andrea shook her head.
"I'll never touch your canvases again."
Andrea narrowed her eyes. It would be good if Josh didn't ruin her paintings, but it would be better to live longer than eighteen.
It's just an abandoned building, Andrea. She scolded herself.
"Okay, but we're running out of here if I sense anything fishy."
Josh grinned.
* * * * * *
Andrea shuddered in disgust as she looked at the hallway.
They were in the second building, the place where the patients slept.
They couldn't go to the basement through the main building since there was a big chunk of rock fallen from the ceiling blocking the door leading to the basement.
The second building looked like something straight out of a horror movie, and Andrea finally fully understood Josh's contempt towards the people working in the asylum.
The patients' dorms were basically cells. They were made up of metal doors with small openings that were covered with bars. Andrea took a look inside a room to find a small bed, a toilet and a sink.
Life in prison was probably better than here.
Josh's lips were pursed and he was silent, the kitten in Andrea's arms was fast asleep and its occasional purrs filled the silence hanging above them.
"Why would somebody want to experiment on people?" Andrea finally asked.
Josh gave a small shrug. "Money. Fame. People would do anything for attention, even if it meant harming others."
They were silent the rest of the way.
Andrea's heart kept thudding against her chest, she was sure that if it weren't for Josh, she would have never set foot in this asylum.
Finally, they walked down a flight of stairs and found themselves standing in a hallway.
One side of the hallway was completely made up of glass, showing the gates, while there was single door on the other side.
Andrea stared at the gates longingly. What she wouldn't do to get out of this hellhole.
"If my resources are correct, we have to go through this door, then down a set of stairs and the basement will be right there." Josh said and pointed the flashlight on the metal door.
Andrea sighed. If she did this, then she would be able to go home and sleep, and maybe even wallow in self-pity and think about Alexander.
"Fine, let's do this."
The kitten in Andrea's hands woke up and meowed as if agreeing with the plan.
Josh pushed the door open. It made a loud noise that had Andrea and Josh cringing.
The flashlight's illumination showed a staircase leading into darkness.
Josh went first. He held the strap of his backpack tightly and clenched his jaw. Andrea was sure that he was hiding his fear.
As they were halfway down the staircase, Josh finally spoke up. "If only Alexander knew that I'm exposing you to danger like this."
Andrea rolled her eyes.
"After our last encounter, I doubt he'll care"
"Whatever you say, Andy." Josh shook his head. "Whatever you say,"
He was the first one to reach the end of the stairs. Standing still, he pointed his flashlight towards the different parts of the basement.
The basement was as creepy as the other parts of the asylum. There were drops of water sliding down the wall and the water pipes had mold all over them.
There were random things strewn all across the room, Andrea even saw a broken chair on top of a box.
"How are we supposed to find William's folder in here?" She finally asked.
"We have to search." Josh replied simply and started moving towards the piled up crap.
Andrea sighed and followed.
After twenty minutes, Andrea was nowhere near to finding the folder. But she had found other things such as dead cockroaches, torn pillows and strange little test tubes.
"Hey," Josh called out across the room. "Come check this out."
Andrea walked to the direction where his voice came from. Josh was standing in the corner next to a box with something in his hands.
"What is it?" When Andrea got close, she realized that he was holding a small metal box.
"This box has films, like old school films." Josh said.
"Do you think it has one of the experiments?" Andrea asked.
"Probably, and I know the perfect place to watch it."
* * * * * *
The walk back to the room that contained the empty file cabinets wasn't as frightening as before. Andrea felt excitement growing in her stomach. This became more than just finding a file about a mythical character, and even though Josh had his own reasons behind this, Andrea wasn't going to question him.
Josh was right, they found a film player in one of the drawers of the file cabinet. It took them a while, but they eventually found out how to play it.
And now, Andrea was staring at the white wall where the video was being portrayed. She almost felt as if she was in a movie theater.
The video started out slowly, a man in a white robe came onto the screen holding a notebook and a pen in his hands. He had short black hair and thick rimmed glasses on.
When he spoke, his voice was deep and intimidating.
"Experiment 23, subject 35, June 10, 1964.
I am the supervisor, my name is Dr. Carter. Subject 35 is portraying signs of illness at the drugs she is being given, although strange symptoms started appearing on the subject, we are yet to find out if they are side effects or something else entirely."
The man stepped to the side and Andrea saw a woman tied to a chair.
Her face was downcast and being blocked by her long hair, her hands were tied to the back of the chair. She was skinny and thin, almost as if she hadn't eaten anything in days, and there were cuts and bruises covering her body.
Andrea wanted to throw up at the sight.
The woman finally looked up and Andrea gasped.
Her entire eyes were pitch black. Andrea's mind went into over drive. This woman was a demon, just like Andrea. But Andrea couldn't actually classify herself as a demon, since she was also half werewolf.
"Who are you?" The doctor asked, he didn't look the least bit fazed.
"Elizabeth Walters." The woman replied, her voice was low and quiet.
"What is the date?"
"June 10, 1964."
"Where are you?"
"Scarlet Hill's Mental Institution."
The man wrote something in his notebook.
The doctor picked up a bucket from the ground and held it between his hands securely.
Andrea and Josh both gasped when he threw the contents of the bucket onto the patient.
The woman let out a blood curdling scream and started thrashing around.
"Make it stop! Please, make it stop."
All the while, the doctor kept writing in the notebook without a second look at the woman.
Andrea wanted nothing more than to punch the man and by the way Josh was clenching his jaw, he seemed to have the same thought.
The man on the screen suddenly took a step back when the door of the room slammed open and a man ran in.
He ran straight towards the doctor and wrapped his hands around his neck.
"You son of a bitch! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!" His voice was like a blast of thunder.
Two others ran in and started restraining the man, one of them stabbed him with a needle and he went limp.
It was only when the man's face turned towards the camera that Andrea stopped breathing.
She knew this man. She had seen him in pictures and videos.
"Josh," She finally spoke. "Isn't that your father?"