The Dark Corners Box Set

by Robert Scott-Norton

  But he was already shaking his head. “Nothing. Guess I’m just a little jumpy.” And with that, he headed back to the rest of the party waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.

  The group was animated as they made their way up to the top floor of the building. Judy led the way beside Seth, and the rest of the group followed closely behind, their conversation subdued but the mood had lightened from the aftermath of the incident in the morgue. Even Glenda and Peter, who Judy suspected were the most likely to leave the ghost hunt early, were back on form. Glenda had her notebook clutched in her hand, and with her other held tightly to Peter’s elbow. Johnny was jubilant, and was filling them in on the history of the building, or as much as he knew it, and doing his best to point out any interesting artefacts that had been left in the hospital.

  “You can see here, again, the suicide barriers are still in place. It’s a long way to the bottom.” Johnny’s torch picked out the numbering on the wall at the top of the stairs. The staircase ended. “And we’re here,” he said, dramatically. “Floor four, known to the children and later the patients who lived here as the Correction Floor.”

  The group cautiously stepped out onto the landing, and their light beams crisscrossed each other trying to identify threats. Judy noticed Seth scanning the walls, and she realised he was making a mental note of any unusual doorways. She herself, couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The landing they’d arrived on, was typical of the rest of the building. The ceiling tiles had mostly fallen here, crumbling to dust, exposing the pipework and foam insulation above. The lino was strewn with debris and there was a rancid smell that reminded her of the back of her fridge on a hot day. She wrinkled her nose and struggled to put the stink from her mind. There were two ways they could proceed from here. To their right, a set of double doors leading to Ward 8. Arjun and Alicia had strayed up to the double doors and were peeping through the narrow glass panels into the blackness beyond. Arjun had his grip on one of the handles and was ready to open it when Johnny intervened, directing Arjun and the others to the smaller, rather more innocuous door to the left of the landing.

  “Ward 8 was heavily in use during the building’s time as a hospital. It’s not as striking as this section on the left. This door leads to the Delinquents' Corridor—a somber reminder of the treatment the boys and girls received here.”

  Judy felt her chest tighten, the sadness gripping her. She could imagine young children with dead stares as they were brought up to what at some point had been christened the Correction Floor. Michael was the first to go near the door, but he hesitated before opening it. Johnny stepped around Seth and Judy to stand beside Michael, then turned to address the rest of the group.

  “The section we’re about to enter, has been the focus of a lot of scrutiny from others before me. Even as a hospital, patients and workers would refuse to come near this corridor. They reported sounds of children wailing. And in the middle of the night, sometimes they heard screams. Make no mistake, this was not a healthy place to be.”

  He held the door wide so the group could file in. Judy followed behind Seth, but any comfort she had from staying close to this man that seemed to know the most about what was going on here, faded as soon as her foot crossed the threshold.

  The corridor she found herself in was about thirty metres long, dark like a bottomless grave, ending in another small doorway. She stared at that far door, trying to decide whether it was one of these doors to the Almost Realm that Seth had described, or whether it belonged there. Judging by the layout of this building, it made sense that it was the regular kind. The corridor was only two metres wide, and the floor was bare of any covering, leaving dusty floorboards exposed. The roofline rose to an apex and along the length of the passage, numerous doors and boarded windows alternated. Her torch picked out three windows on either side, and between them were what she presumed were cupboards, built into the walls. Michael had already reached one of these doors and had opened it shining his torch inside. Judy stepped closer and saw the tiny space beyond, the rear wall following the slope of the roofline. It would be unthinkable to stand up in here, and she speculated as to its practicality. What was this place used for?

  Johnny appeared by her shoulder. His breathing was uncomfortably close to her ear, and she stepped to her right turning to face him. His expression was mixed: sad but a little excited.

  “Back in the orphanage days, troublemakers were led up here and sealed inside one of these closets. They were held in solitary confinement for anywhere from one hour to a day. Anything deemed sinful or blasphemous, would give cause for you to be confined. There were even reports that children suffering from chickenpox were brought in here to keep them isolated from the rest of the children.”

  “What’s this for?” Peter enquired, shining his torch at a section of floor. A short metal race car and a rubber bouncing ball were set beside the skirting board.

  “I brought them up earlier. I wanted to see if we’d get any interaction with the spirits,” Johnny replied.

  Judy felt goosebumps on her arms. She peered around the others in the group and she could see they were similarly disturbed. It seemed brutal, it was barbaric, that these children who must have already suffered so much were being abused in such a savage manner. Something brushed the small of her back. Startled she spun round. It was Seth trying to get her attention. She followed him away from the group. “Whatever happens, stay focused. Remember where our exit is. And if you see any more of the things we saw in the morgue, let me know at once.”

  “If this is so dangerous,” she said gently, “why are we doing this at all?”

  He looked like he wanted to tell her something, but just as he was about to speak, Johnny lifted his voice. “Let’s get started. I was thinking we could do the human pendulum. Do you know that?”

  Seth shook his head so Johnny explained to the group. “We stand in the circle and we invite spirits to communicate with us, to use one of us as their mouthpiece. They will choose one of us and will feel a sensation like being pushed into the centre of the ring. If that happens to you, don’t resist, just let it guide you. We’ll then tighten the ring and the chosen subject will be asked questions by the group. We’ll see from the subject’s movements whether they are answering in the positive or the negative.”

  Johnny urged everyone to stand in a circle. Arjun and Alicia held hands and reached out to the others on either side to do the same, but Johnny intervened. “There’s no need for that. Can you also please turn off your torches and set them on the floor?”

  Judy glanced at Seth, but whatever he had been about to say to her before was forgotten for the moment. He looked solemn, and she wondered whether he was having second thoughts. The group obeyed Johnny and quickly they were in darkness. Judy focused on any noise at all—beyond the group’s breathing, she could hear the rain pattering on the tiles above their heads and the even more distant sound of cars on the main road.

  “I need everybody to relax,” Johnny said. “Close your eyes and let yourself be at harmony with the space you’re standing in. You’re safe here. The circle will shield us. The spirits don’t mean us any harm.”

  After what had taken place in the morgue that sounded dangerously economical with the truth. The last couple of hours had shown Judy that ghost hunting was not the pedestrian experience she’d been led to believe.

  “Spirits, we appeal to you to choose one of our group to be your conduit to communicate with us. Choose freely, safe in the knowledge that we will listen to you, and honour your presence and wisdom.”

  Judy desperately wished that she would feel no spirits seeking her attention. A minute passed, but in that darkness it seemed to stretch on and on, until eventually Michael spoke up. “It’s me,” he said, ominously. “Something just nudged me in the back.”

  Johnny replied, “OK, step forward.” A torch turned on, Judy blinked against the light. It was Johnny, and he arranged his small torch back on the floor, behind the group, poin
ting towards one of the walls. It stretched the shadows out so they reached the ceiling. Judy could barely make out the faces in the circle, but Michael had advanced into the centre and Johnny stood in front of him. Instinctively, the circle drew tighter.

  “So, what happens now?” Michael asked.

  “Now we need to set up.” And he asked out loud, addressing the spirits rather than Michael himself, “Can you demonstrate what it means for a yes answer?” Instantly, Michael leaned forwards, towards Johnny. He seemed astonished, a strange grin appeared on his face.

  “And now show me what a no looks like.”

  Michael leaned backwards, almost staggering. This time he didn’t look as amused. “It’s the strangest thing.”

  “Now we can ask our guest questions,” Johnny announced. “Were you a patient here?”

  Michael leaned backwards.

  “No,” Johnny said unnecessarily.

  “Were you an orphan?” Arjun asked.

  A delay, and then Michael leaned towards Johnny.

  A hush fell across the room. Judy felt oddly remote, like her brain had switched off. A shiver traced across her neck and she recalled what Seth had said about the door so kept her eyes directed on that.

  “How did you die?” Alisha asked.

  Johnny interjected, stressing the group were to only ask yes or no questions.

  “Did you die here?” Seth asked.

  Forwards.

  “Were you badly treated?”

  Forwards.

  “Were you ever shut up in one of these cupboards?”

  Forwards.

  “Did you die here as a child?”

  Backwards.

  “Do you mean to cause us harm?”

  For a moment, Michael hesitated, then he let out a nervous laugh.

  “Perhaps you should ask that again,” Peter asked. He was tightly holding Glenda’s hand. She was staring to the side, not looking at Michael.

  “Do you mean to hurt us?”

  Michael didn’t move.

  Seth caught Judy’s eye, and an understanding passed between them.

  “Perhaps we should move on?” Johnny suggested. “Did you have many friends?”

  Forwards.

  “Are they with you now?” Johnny asked.

  Forwards.

  Judy’s skin tingled, like it did when standing close to the dodgems. The air was charged, and there was a smell that came with it.

  “Do you miss your time here?” Seth asked, picking up the exchange.

  Backwards.

  “Are you lying?”

  Judy blinked. Everyone was studying Seth now. Michael wasn’t moving.

  “Are you an Adherent?” Seth asked, this time the insistence in his expression made him sound indignant.

  Michael didn’t move. “Hey, I don’t think it likes the question. I feel strange.”

  “If you don’t answer, I’m shutting this down—all of it. Are you an Adherent of the Fourth?”

  The reaction was immediate. It was as if a giant hand had shoved Michael hard to the floor. He slammed into it, the impact shaking the floorboards and toppling the torch Johnny had set against the wall.

  Alisha screamed and then Arjun and Peter helped Michael to his feet. Judy grabbed a torch from the floor and lit it to illuminate Michael’s face. Blood was running from his nose and he looked dazed and disoriented as if woken from a deep sleep.

  “Oh no, look,” Glenda said and Judy shone her torch around, trying to get a fix on what had caused the older woman’s reaction.

  Then she saw and stepped closer to Seth, feeling him reach his arm around her shoulders.

  The cupboard doors, the cells that had once been used to imprison those children deemed to have sinned were now all wide open, revealing black rectangles like hungry mouths waiting to be fed.

  “It’s time to leave,” Seth announced.

  14

  “What do we do?” Judy asked.

  “Get out of here as quickly and as carefully as we can,” Seth replied.

  “Is there somebody here?” Johnny asked the blackness. The activity hadn't alarmed him. If anything, his tone suggested it had delighted him.

  “Leave it out,” Michael said.

  “But why? We've been trying to communicate. This is their way of saying hello. They opened the doors as a sign.”

  “It may be a sign,” Seth replied, “but, I'm not sure it means what you hope.”

  The group all had a torch in hand and the cupboard doors were fixed in their sights. So far, nothing else had taken place, and that troubled Seth. What were they waiting for? Was this the launch of another assault like they'd experienced in the morgue, or something else?

  “Perhaps you should ask your questions again,” Judy suggested.

  But, it was one thing having the spirits converse through a guided vigil, this was of the spirits’ making and Seth felt the need to be prudent.

  “Do you mean us any harm?” Seth asked.

  Nothing changed. The doors stood open, but the corridor had plunged in temperature. They weren't alone.

  “I'd like to go now,” Glenda said. Peter put an arm around her.

  Seth eyed the black rectangle of the closest cupboard warily. None of this felt safe. He had been trying to antagonise the spirits, hoping for a reaction to his question about Adherents, and they’d behaved like this. What did it mean though?

  “It’s a warning,” Judy said, as if reading his thoughts.

  Arjun and Alisha led the way along the corridor, back the way they’d come. The others followed, hustling, not quite running. No one wanted to stick around and maintain the vigil any longer.

  A small rubber ball rolled out from one of the cupboards and bounced into Alisha’s foot. The pair paused and Alisha bent to pick up the ball, casting her light back to the area behind them where she’d seen the same ball upon entering the passage. Judy followed the light and saw that both the ball and the car were missing.

  “Who did that?” Alisha asked, a scarcely controlled anger simmered. This was a woman ready to snap.

  A faint squeaking came from a cupboard to Seth’s left. He shone his torch into the blackness but the light failed to penetrate beyond the door’s threshold. Inevitably, the toy car trundled out and parked an inch in front of Seth’s foot. This wasn’t anyone’s joke. The hospital was playing with them.

  “Who’s in there?” Michael said, stepping closer to the open cupboard nearest him.

  “Don’t,” Seth warned.

  Michael had a second to glance back at Seth before the darkness reached out and took him. It was as if the blackness was a tangible creature awoken from its cave and struck out to capture itself a feast. The cupboard door slammed shut, trapping Michael inside.

  Seth took the handle and tugged but it was useless.

  “What the hell?” Arjun cried. He stepped back with Alisha and Seth saw what would happen a moment too late to prevent it. They were standing too close to another one of the open cupboards and the blackness repeated its snatch, pulling them both into a cupboard, Alisha actually had a chance to snort a gasp of surprise before the door crashed shut.

  Seth grabbed Judy’s arm and flew with her to the exit.

  Peter and Glenda were behind, with Johnny right on their tail.

  “Hurry!” Seth urged, not wanting to look back but not able to help himself either.

  The darkness snatched at Peter as he ran past, missing him by an inch but Glenda wasn’t so lucky. She was older and not as used to running from the terrible as Seth, so when the darkness trapped her and drew her into a cupboard, she crumbled.

  “No!” Peter roared and dove into the cupboard after her. The cupboard door slammed shut, knocking him deeper inside.

  Johnny collided with Seth at the entrance to the corridor and all three survivors tumbled out into the stairwell’s landing. Seth fell with Judy on top of him whilst Johnny tripped on the pair of them and thumped his head against a wall causing a chunk of plaster to break off. The
door to the Delinquents' Corridor slammed shut with a dreadful finality that struck Seth in the gut. It had all gone to crap so easily, and there was no point denying that this was in every way his fault. He’d insisted a second vigil would be a harmless activity but all the while he was using it as an excuse to find out more about the Adherents and find a link back to Kelly.

  Judy was the first to recover her senses and scrambled to her feet. Either with great courage or great stupidity, she struggled to open the door to go back.

  “It won’t budge,” she wailed. “We need to help them.”

  Johnny was getting to his feet, but seemed mistrustful of his footing. It seemed he’d taken a sharper knock than Seth had first thought.

  “Help me!” Judy shouted.

  And Seth moved beside her, tugging at the door. “I think it’s jammed.”

  “Or locked.”

  “It’s not locked,” Johnny offered, coming over.

  “It’s the hospital then, or the shadows,” Seth said, not giving up. “They’ve taken what they wanted and now they’re keeping us separate. We should go.”

  He turned back to the staircase, then realising he didn’t have a torch with him, froze to the spot, too scared to step forward into the shadows ahead, but too scared to stay with his back to the terrible things that had seized his comrades. Judy grabbed his sleeve. “We’re not going until we’ve got them out of there.”

  “Then we need to get past that door. A fire axe or similar.” He noticed the torch Johnny had kept hold of, and he took it from him, aimed it for the stairwell and ran.

  “Wait,” Johnny said, and hurried after him.

  “You can’t go!” Judy cried, then realising that she would shortly be left alone in the dark, she too ran.

  Seth’s brain was working double-speed, trying to recall where he’d seen anything that could help them get through the door. As he rushed down the stairs, trying not to look at the ominous shapes at the edges of his vision, he pulled out his phone and unlocked the screen. It was long past the point of admitting that he needed help. There was only one person he’d trust to give him the help he needed, he opened the phone app and tapped his Malc’s face.