by Jesse Grey
“Ben,” Bridge felt so conflicted. Doing this to Paige didn’t feel right. He didn’t want to do that to her, but he had wanted to hear Ben say things like this to him ever since they had met. “No.” he said, finally swallowing his urges. “Go back to her. It’s the right thing to do.”
“What if the right thing isn’t what I want?”
“Enough is enough. I’m not having this conversation again. No more talking.”
Bridge left Ben once more, hoping that it would be the last time he’d have to do so.
Walking into Westbrooke High that morning, Kirby was really try-ing to stay true to the promise she gave her mom to make more friends, besides Mercer. Which was so frustrating, because she liked Mercer. She might have even really liked Mercer, but she had prom-ised her mom that she’d stay away from the throngs of the Sumner Shadows case. Not that she had been doing such a great job at it so far with Mercer giving her a ride to school earlier in the week.
She’d put her mother through so much over the past year and the last thing she wanted to do was upset her by staying close to Mercer and his friends. No matter how badly she wished she could.
Kirby made her way to her locker, quickly rummaging around for her history textbook, wondering how hard it would be today to ignore the cute way Mercer licked his lips when he was taking notes in class.
“Kirby.”
She whipped around to see two familiar faces, though she wasn’t quite sure what the girls’ names were.
“Hi.” She grabbed her textbook and closed her locker, giving her full attention to them. “Do I know you two?”
“Sort of.” The taller girl smiled. “I’m Faith Llewellyn.”
“And I’m Willa St. James.”
Kirby nodded, awareness soothing out her unfamiliarity like a wave of rain. “You’re Alex and Abram’s sisters.”
Faith smiled. “Yes.”
“We know that your mom is participating in the lockdown and curfew.” Willa explained.
“Right. And we know you’re not supposed to get close to anyone involved in the investigation, but Willa and I have been talking it over and we don’t agree that we should be punished for all of this.”
Kirby shifted in place. “I’m not sure I’m getting what you’re try-ing to tell me.” she laughed nervously.
“We’re saying that the three of us should get to know each other.” Willa finished.
“Plus, we’re pretty sure the guys are still hanging out behind our parents’ backs.”
“Why do you say that?” Kirby questioned.
“My car was gone last night,” Willa sighed. “And if I can wake up from a dead sleep and notice, it won’t be long until my parents can too.”
“Anyway,” Faith concluded. “We don’t think we should be suf-fering the consequences for pseudo-knowing a psycho.”
“You guys wants to be friends?” Kirby laughed lightly, regarding them with wide inquiring eyes.
“We know it’s your senior year and you’re new to Armor Falls. Which must suck, by the way.” Faith said, scrunching up her nose in disdain.
“I have Abe and Faith has Alex, but I can’t imagine being thrown into this mess without having someone to go through it with.” Willa commented.
“Also, we really need a photographer for Yearbook, if you’re in-terested.” Faith said hopefully.
Kirby couldn’t help but laugh. “And how did you know I even like photography?”
Faith and Willa eyed each other hesitantly. “Well,” Willa cleared her throat. “We just figured…with the polaroid.”
Kirby looked to the floor uneasily for a second. Neither of them needed to explain what exactly the polaroid consisted of.
“Not too often someone uses a Polaroid camera anymore.” Faith furthered. “The earrings are a pretty good indicator too.”
She laughed again, lightly tapping at one of her Polaroid earrings with her freshly painted cobalt nails. “I see. And I would love to help out and actually have people to talk to, but I don’t think I can. My mom—”
“Kirby,” Faith pushed. “Our parents didn’t think this through. If anything, your mom was pressured into the lockdown by my mom.” She stopped her speech to sigh. “We need to talk to each other to keep from going crazy.”
“And we really need a good photographer for Yearbook.” Willa smiled wide.
With newfound delight, Kirby guffawed, giving them a bright grin. “Alright. I’ll join Yearbook.” Faith and Willa slickly high-fived each other. “But I can’t do what the guys are doing, the sneaking be-hind our parents. I’ve put my mom through too much to do that to her.”
Faith shook her head. “We’re allowed to talk to each other if we join an extracurricular, remember?”
“That’s why joining Yearbook is genius,” Willa gestured to Faith. “She’s seriously this generation’s Stephen Hawking.”
“Please,” Faith chuckled. “Maybe this generation’s Judit Polgar.”
Both Kirby and Willa donned perplexed looks. “Um, who?” the latter quipped.
“Never mind.” Faith shrugged, a giggle curtseying from her lips. “So, Kirby, now that you’ve agreed to all of us getting to know each other, enlighten us. Who taught you to dress?”
“Seriously, that blue blazer has me living.”
Kirby laughed as the three of them started to walk down the hall when Abram, Alex and Mercer came in through the side door at the end of the hallway. The boys spotted them, eagerly ambling up to them as the threesome stopped for their looming march.
“Told you they were still close.” Willa whispered, just out of ear-shot of the guys.
“Well this is interesting,” Abram smirked. “I guess the lockdown can’t stop you guys.”
“Just following your lead.” Willa gave her brother a sarcastic smile.
“What are you talking about?”
“You took my car last night.”
The three girls watched as the guys wore worried facades, just as Bridge burst in through the side door, making his way over to the now large group in the hallway.
“What did I miss?” Bridge scoffed.
“Apparently, my little sister here has her car low-jacked.” Abram sighed.
“Please,” Willa dismissed her brother’s claim. “I woke up in the middle of the night and passed by my window to see my car was missing from the driveway.”
“You guys snuck out,” Faith stated, eyeing Alex eagerly. “It’s cool.”
“Just to talk about everything without worrying about our par-ents and Dagger.” Mercer stepped forward.
Luckily for the guys, the bell rang, signifying the start of first pe-riod.
“Saved by the bell, boys.” Willa smiled, hooking arms with Faith. Mercer stepped away from his friends and up to Kirby before she could leave with her newly formed sisterhood.
“We need to talk.”
Though slightly confused, Kirby agreed and nodded at Faith and Willa as they went to their classes. Mercer waved goodbye to his friends, planning on heading to class with Kirby when Principal Cobbins approached them.
“Wait,” She bellowed to his friends as she stopped before Mercer and Kirby, waving the rest of them over. “You can head to class, Ms. Wheaton. Mr. Meadows will join you shortly.”
Kirby gave Mercer a quick nod, leaving for their history class as his friends joined him, standing beside Mercer as the principal leaned toward them.
“I just got a call from Detective Dagger,” she began. “He wants to see the four of you again. He’s calling your parents as we speak, whom I’m sure you’ll hear from soon. He wants you down at the sta-tion after school. Now, get to class, boys. If your teachers question your whereabouts, have them call me.”
Thalia Cobbins left them to ponder on why Detective Dagger suddenly wanted to speak to them, all while they gave each other paranoid filled glances as last night’s events blared in their memories and waned their repose.
“Thanks for making it down so soon.”
Detective Dagger walked in front of them, pacing as they all sat in the all too familiar interrogation room. He stared at each and every one of them, pausing his pacing to lean on the table they sat before.
“I appreciate you and your parents’ continued cooperation.”
“Detective Dagger,” Alex spoke with extreme caution, fearful that a simple edge in his tone would bring out the worst attributes in the detective. “Is there something specific that you called us down here to discuss?”
Dagger shifted his head, taking his seat at the table. “Well, as a matter of fact, there is.” He looked at all of them intensely. “I want a Greatest Hits.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Mercer mirrored his friends’ expressions of distorted concussion.
“I’ve been thinking this case over and over. I’ve got the facts memorized. I can practically recite the police reports.” Dagger paused to laugh slightly. “But I don’t have enough sense of who Sumner is. I was just beginning to when you told me about the night of your first time at Shadows Manor. I want the Greatest Hits of Sumner Shad-ows. The top handful of moments of when you all started to realize that he wasn’t all...there. I want to get into his head through your memories.” He stopped to shrug his shoulders, a gesture of reluc-tance. “If you’ve got some memories in mind, that is.”
“I don’t know about you guys,” Mercer said to his friends before eyeing Dagger. “But my already developing inklings about Sumner were solidified the night we snuck into Arclan.”
“That night changed Sumner in all of our eyes.” Abram agreed.
“Alright then,” Dagger ran a hand through his light brown hair, primed to hear more about the infamous Sumner Shadows. “Who wants to start?”
Abram was getting suddenly weary about breaking into the asylum the closer they got to it. Shadows Manor was about a half a mile hike from Ar-clan Asylum. It sat on top of a slight hill at the very edge of the Shadows’ land. All they had to do was hike through the wooded area, and they’d be at Arclan Asylum.
“Dude, why the hell does your dad have all this land?” Abram questioned as he followed Sumner through the Shadows’ property.
Sumner just laughed. “Gramps wanted his kids and grandkids to have a bunch of land to work with.” He kept leading them toward the asylum. “In-stead of a massive playground, we got the asylum.”
“Where is your grandpa? Why is your dad opening it back up?” Lissa called from behind Abram.
“Dead.” Sumner spoke evenly, with no evident emotion present. “He died about a year ago. Dad said his last wish was to open the asylum back up and help as many people as he could. Dad left his job and decided to manage Arclan.” Sumner pushed through some tree branches as he switched concerns. “B-Merce, you two still back there?”
After Lissa was Bridge in their little follow-the-leader line up while Mercer brought up the end of the group. Bridge was making the hike with ease while Mercer was heaving more and more with each progressing step.
“Still alive, if that’s what you mean.” Mercer was barely able to speak, his lungs laced with lead and overexertion.
“How much longer?” Bridge asked.
Sumner turned around and gave them all a sly grin. “We’re here.”
As they all came out of the woodsy area, their eyes were suddenly as-saulted by the blinding white building that was Arclan Asylum.
“It’s huge.” Lissa scoffed.
“Gramps wasn’t into subtly.” Sumner laughed. “Let’s see what secrets lie behind these asylum doors.” he crooned eerily.
“How are we getting in?” Bridge questioned.
As Sumner led them around the side of the building, he snickered. “I’ve already rigged the door so it’s not locked.” he gave them another smile. “I’ve got everything figured out.”
They quickly approached the back of the building, where there was a sole door waiting for them.
“Are you sure that no one is here to bust us?”
“Quit being such a wet blanket, Merce.” Sumner commanded. “We’re fi-ne.”
“Wait,” Lissa said as they stopped before the door. “If you’ve already rigged the door, you must have planned on bringing us out here.”
Sumner played coy except for the devious simper spreading across his broad face. “Guilty.”
“How’d you even fix the door? Don’t you usually need a badge or a keycard?” Abram asked.
“Will you guys relax? Let’s just have fun.” Sumner rolled his eyes. “Quit asking pointless questions.” He pulled something out of his pocket and placed it near the keypad next to the door, the keypad scrambling various numbers and letters until it clicked, unlocking the door in a matter of seconds.
“We’re in.” Sumner smiled.
They all slithered into the empty asylum, all of them feeling all too cau-tious being surrounded by the white stone walls. Sumner led them out of the kitchen, where they had entered, and made their way into the main part of the asylum.
Patients’ rooms lined both sides of the hallways, making it too bizarre that patients would fill the halls in only three days. Completely rid of his earlier fears, Mercer ran into the nearest room, Room 26, and began admir-ing the creepy factor as his friends stopped their walk and joined him.
“This is so surreal,” Mercer said. “In a few days, they’ll be grade A cra-zies in here.”
“Maybe they’ll be some psycho murderer in this very room.” Sumner flexed his eyebrows suggestively. “I’m gonna make sure Sal isn’t here.” When he saw their faces, he sighed. “Security guard. Chill out. He’s not supposed to work tonight; I’m just going to double check. I’ll be right back.”
Sumner left them in Room 26 to admire the room. Mercer kept close to the window, staring out into the front lawn of Arclan.
“Can you imagine being locked up in a place like this?” Mercer stated in disbelief. “Shut away from the rest of the world with no say in how your life goes after they throw away the key.”
“I’d go crazy.” Abram scoffed.
“Most people that come here will probably need it.” Bridge said. “Or at least deserve it.”
Lissa zipped up her powder blue hoodie, crossing her arms over her chest. “This wasn’t nearly as fun as I thought it would be.”
“Yeah,” Bridge added, getting up from the tiny twin bed and joined Mercer by the window. “This place is just really sad and I’m not here for a depressing time.”
There was a sudden loud buzzing that shook them suddenly aware like a clown bursting from its jack-in-the-box coffin.
“What was that?”
The door to Room 26 abruptly swung close of its own accord, buzzing again once it was closed, locking them inside. They all ran to the door, panic thumping between them rhythmically.
“Sumner!” Lissa screamed.
Abram grabbed the door handle, pulling on it with every muscle in his body, but there was no opening the door. It was locked beyond his capacity.
“Dammit!” Abram exclaimed.
“Sumner! This isn’t funny!” Mercer yelled.
He came running up to the door, fear overturning his smooth features as he grabbed at the door.
“It’s locked!” Abram told him through the door.
“Guys, someone is here.” Sumner’s eyes were wide porcelain saucers. “Someone knows we’re here.”
“Get us the hell out of here!” Lissa cried.
Sumner fell then, almost like someone had struck him as he fell out of view from the small window in the door.
“Sumner!” Lissa screamed in terror.
“Holy shit,” Bridge said. “We’re gonna die in here.”
The loud buzzing returned as the door swung open immediately, caus-ing them all to stumble out of Room 26 and out into the hallway. They all looked around, but Sumner was nowhere in their field of view.
“Sumner?” Bridge bellowed out into the open.
“Shut up!” Mercer whispered. “You never yell out when you’re being pur-sued. Haven’t you lear
ned anything from horror movies?”
“I know how to watch horror movies, Merce, not star in them.” Bridge said, more quietly than before.
“Who would follow us here?” Lissa pondered aloud as they continued to move very slowly down the hall, all of them holding on to one another.
“Practically anyone.” Abram affirmed.
“Especially with Sumner’s reputation.” Mercer added.
There was a loud clamor just down the hall, around the corner that led into another hallway that they had yet to explore upon their visit. Inching quietly, they made their way toward the noise.
“Sumner?” Abram said loudly.
“What did I just say!?” Mercer chastised.
Abram waved him off with the hand that wasn’t holding onto Lissa’s tightly. “Sumner?” he repeated as they continued to slide over to the other hallway. “Sumner?”
A blur of movement assaulted their eyes as Sumner practically fell out from the other hallway, clutching his stomach.
“Jesus. Are you alright?” Lissa said from behind Abram.
His eyes looked glossy and distant. “Run.” Sumner moved his hand from his stomach, where there was a huge blood stain.
“Sumner!”
Backing away instinctively, their eyes stayed glued to Sumner as he laid still on the linoleum. Lissa screamed as tears cascaded down her tanned face.
That’s when Sumner started up a boisterous laugh.
The four of them stared aghast as Sumner got up from the floor, still laughing at the change of expression on his friends’ faces.
“I tried to keep it together for the best effect but that scream, Liss.” Sumner cackled again, lightning cracking over a dark sky. “You were so convinced.”
Mercer stormed over to Sumner and pushed him roughly, making the other stumble slightly down the hall. “What the hell is wrong with you!?””
“Calm down. It was just a joke.” Sumner scoffed, a smile still plastered on his face and an elated ringing to his tone.
“That wasn’t funny!” Abram yelled. “Why did you do that?”
“What’s the point of coming to an asylum and not getting scared? I was just trying to freak you guys out.”