The Prison

by Amy Cross

  “So where are the keys?”

  “What keys? It's all automated!”

  “And the windows too, I suppose?”

  Grace nodded.

  “Then we would appear to be sealed inside,” Leonora continued. “It's just like the first time, when Elenora locked all the doors and then...” She paused. “You know what she did last time, don't you? You know what happened to all those poor women?”

  “She cut their throats.”

  “It all makes sense now,” Leonora replied. “She wants us alive, but if she thinks she's going to lose us, she'll panic. Dead family members are better than none at all, at least for her. She doesn't mind living with ghosts, just so long as she's not alone.”

  “But why aren't there ghosts already?” Grace asked. “Where are the ghosts of the people she killed last time?”

  “Their bodies were buried outside in unconsecrated ground,” Leonora continued. “They were left to wander, but they had no special connection to Elenora. This time, all the dead will be her family members, and she'll make certain to imprint herself upon them before they die. In a way, she's already done that, since so many of them are aware of her legend. She's a foolish young girl, but she's not unintelligent. She knows what she's doing.”

  “They're out there,” Grace said suddenly, peering through the reinforced glass panel in the center of the door. “I see them.”

  “You see who?” Leonora asked, unable to rise up from her chair.

  “The old ghosts,” Grace continued, her eyes filled with horror, “the ones whose bodies were dug up in the yard. They're -”

  Before she could finish, she let out a gasp as a spectral blue face stepped close to the other side of the door, staring straight at her.

  “I imagine,” Leonora said calmly, “that they refuse to stay buried because they want justice.”

  Outside, hundreds of ghostly figures were making their way toward the building.

  ***

  “You know what she did,” Karen said firmly as she sat with Robin in one of the cells. “She deserved every fucking hit she took.”

  “No-one deserves to be murdered,” Robin replied darkly. “The mob -”

  “It wasn't a mob!” Karen hissed. “It was justice! In the old days, a girl like Amanda Weir would've been strung up from the gallows and made to really pay for what she did. We might've scrapped the death penalty a long time ago in this country, but that doesn't mean it's completely off the table. It just means people like us have to take matters into our own hands, and that's what we did to the bitch.”

  “And you're sure she's dead?”

  “Must be, with all the damage we did to her. I think she was technically still breathing when they hauled her away, but there's nothing much that can be done for her. It's just a matter of time, if she's not already -”

  Suddenly there was a bang nearby, as the door swung shut. Seconds later, they both heard the heavy metal lock being engaged.

  “Great,” Karen muttered, “looks like they finally got the power running again. I guess I'm stuck in here with you tonight.”

  “If the power's running,” Robin replied, looking up at the dark ceiling, “why are the lights still off?”

  “It's late. They always turn the lights off at night.”

  “Not in the corridor. Look out there, the whole prison's still completely dark.”

  “So they're up to something else,” Karen replied, patting her on the shoulder, “so what? Face it, you're stuck in here with me tonight and -”

  Before she could finish, a scream rang out from one of the other cells, followed seconds later by another.

  “What the hell was that?” Robin shouted, getting to her feet as the screams continued.

  “It's just someone messing around,” Karen told her, heading to the door and trying the handle, only to confirm that it was locked. “You know what they're -”

  “It's her!” another voice screamed suddenly. “She's in my -”

  The voice was abruptly cut off, replaced by another scream.

  “This isn't right,” Robin said after a moment. “Where are the guards? Why isn't anyone doing anything about this?”

  “Give 'em time,” Karen replied. “It's just... You know what some of the other girls are like, they use any opportunity they can get to mess with the rest of us. This is just them taking advantage of the situation and messing with our heads, they're -”

  She stopped speaking as another scream rang out, from a closer cell this time.

  “It's her,” Robin whispered staring at the door, as finally the image of Elenora Blake appeared again, entering the room. “It's all happening again, she -”

  Before she could finish, Karen let out a cry as a thick gash opened in her neck, spraying blood against the wall. As she dropped to her feet, she tried once again to open the door, but the handle still wouldn't budge.

  “Please,” Robin whimpered, with tears in her eyes as she pulled back to the corner of her bunk, “don't hurt me, please -” She let out a cry of pain as her neck began to slice open, and seconds later blood began to flow down onto her chest. The last thing she saw, as she slumped down dead, was Elenora Blake staring into her soul.

  Part Eight

  Today

  “Over here!” Doctor Bell shouted as she stood next to Amanda's motionless form. “Christine, this way!”

  Stumbling across the dark medical room, Chris bumped into one of the trolleys, inadvertently tipping it over and sending a mass of equipment flying across the floor. After steadying herself for a moment, Chris turned toward Doctor Bell and began to make her way forward, while reaching out to find something, anything, to grab hold of.

  “Just a little further,” Doctor Bell continued, her face filled with anticipation. “You can feel it, can't you? That missing part of your brain, it's taken away all your inhibitions, all your thoughts of doing the right thing. All you care about is hurting people.”

  Letting out a faint gasp, Chris reached out for the doctor, only to miss and stumble again, this time grabbing hold of Amanda's bed for support.

  “It's a shame about your eyes,” the doctor told her, reaching out and grabbing Chris's hand and then placing it on Amanda's chest, “but this is only the first proper test. Just feel your way around, and let the anger build. Don't you want to tear her apart?”

  Suddenly letting out a loud roar, Chris pushed the bed away with such force that it hit the nearby wall, while Doctor Bell had to step out of the way.

  “You're furious, aren't you?” Doctor Bell continued. “You're perfect in so many ways. Trust me, I know the kind of anger you're feeling, it's lived in my for my whole life. I always wondered why I had so much rage in my heart while others seemed to just go about their lives as if they actually cared about the world. While my friends would sometimes do mean things like tearing the legs off insects, I had a drive from childhood to take things further. I held back for as long as possible, but -”

  She ducked out of the way as Chris swung at her.

  “That's good,” she said with breathless excitement. “Don't worry, Christine, when I finally report my findings I'll make sure to give you some credit. First, though, I need you to prove my point.” She moved over to Amanda's bed again. “This way. Come on, just do what comes naturally. Kill every living creature that crosses your path. Prove to me that I was right all along!”

  Stumbling through the darkness, Chris made her way across the room.

  “You don't have long left, you know,” Doctor Bell told her. “The damage I caused to your brain is going to kick in soon, and then everything will fade away. In what little time you have left, why don't you embrace the true darkness in your soul.?You were a miserable wretch before you came here, Christine, but you were held back by just a faint hint of goodness. I've removed that now, so prove me right and embrace your desire to kill everything that's inferior to you! Be the -”

  “Doctor Bell!” a voice shouted at the far end of the room, as the door swung ope
n and Grace rushed through. “You have to come with me! There's been a -”

  She stopped as she saw the horrific sight of Chris, who had already begun to turn in her direction.

  “What the hell is that?” Grace asked, taking a step back.

  “It's my creation,” the doctor replied, smiling as she made her way around the edge of the room and took Grace by the hand. “Whatever else is happening, can't you take a moment to marvel at what I've achieved? I've taken a common criminal and turned her into something much worse.”

  Grace took another step back, but Doctor Bell held onto her hand and forced her to stay.

  “What did you come up here for, Grace?”

  “I...”

  “It must have been important. Why is the power still off?”

  “All the external doors are sealed,” Grace explained, her eyes still fixed on Chris as the creature stumbled toward her. “Ms. Blake thinks -”

  “Is that old hag still here?”

  “No-one can leave. We're trapped in here with Elenora Blake, and she's starting to -”

  “Nonsense,” Doctor Bell snapped back at her. “This whole situation is rapidly getting out of control, I need to take charge.”

  “You're a monster!” Grace shouted, pulling away from her. “I -” As she finally saw Chris's ruined face and hollow eye-sockets, she stepped back, with tears in her eyes. “What have you done to her?”

  “It's an experiment. Don't worry, she won't be missed. Christine was the lowest of the low, a real piece of human scum.”

  “You can't talk about them like that!” Grace shouted at her. “They're living people, they're -”

  “They're criminals!” Doctor Bell shouted back. “They're the perfect subjects for the next stage of my work. No-one really cares what happens to them, I can get into their brains one by one and fine-tune my work until it's perfect, and then -”

  “I'm calling for help,” Grace replied, pulling her phone from her pocket, “and when they get here -”

  “When they get here what?” Doctor Bell asked, stepping toward her. Grabbing a pair of scissors from one of the trolleys, she thrust the blades straight into the side of Grace's neck before grabbing the phone from her hand and tossing it aside. As Grace tried to speak, the doctor turned her around and gouged the scissors deeper, until finally she pulled them out and pushed her toward the creature.

  Gasping for breath, Grace clutched the wound in her neck as blood sprayed across the wall.

  “I've been preparing for this night for a long time,” Doctor Bell said with a smile, as she headed to the door and then glanced back to watch Chris slowly advancing toward Grace. “I'll be back just as soon as I've figured out this dumb mess. I sincerely hope, Christine, that by then you'll have followed your true instinct and killed the offerings I've left behind for you.”

  With that, she stepped out into the corridor and pulled the door shut, before taking a key from her pocket and locking the rest of them inside the room.

  “Who needs modern technology?” she muttered, smiling as she made her way toward the stairs. “A key's still the best way to lock a door.”

  Six months ago

  “Huh?”

  Turning, Amanda looked across the kitchen for a moment, convinced that she'd heard someone nearby. She waited, but there was nothing.

  Swallowing hard, she looked back down at the sandwich she was trying to make. Her hands were trembling, and in the back of her mind she could feel dark thoughts gathering once again, telling her to do awful things:

  Kill the children.

  Cut them up.

  Get rid of them both.

  Closing her eyes for a moment, she imagined herself taking the knife and cutting her two babies open; she imagined the blood pouring over her hands, and the screams as they breathed their last. Somewhere in her chest, there was a sense of great pleasure, as if she desperately wanted to just tear them to pieces. She imagined her husband, too, finding the horrific scene and falling apart. For some reason that she couldn't understand, her whole body tingled with excitement at the thought, until finally she was able to push the whole horrible image to the back of her mind.

  For now.

  “Kill them.”

  Turning, she looked across the room again. This time she was certain there'd been a voice, as if a little girl had been standing right behind her. She listened to the stillness of the house, but now all she could hear was the distant gurgle of one of her children. Seconds later, she realized Jonathan was laughing, as if someone was in the room with him. Hurrying through, Amanda reached the door just in time to see that both children were smiling up at something above their crib, despite the fact that no-one was in the room with them.

  Feeling a shiver pass through her body, Amanda headed back to the kitchen.

  Today

  Dropping to her knees, Grace tried desperately to use the palm of her hand to stop more blood flowing from her neck, but she was already starting to feel faint and when she tried to support herself against a nearby trolley she succeeded merely in tipping it over and slipping down against the floor.

  Rolling onto her side, she felt a sharp pain in her neck as more warm blood flowed out.

  A moment later, a dark figure stepped toward her.

  “I...” Grace tried to say, her lips barely moving at all. “Please... if I can just... Andrew's here...”

  Her lips moved again, just briefly, before she fell silent and her dead eyes stared up at the ceiling.

  Standing over her, Chris paused for a moment, swaying slight as she struggled to deal with the pain that had been overwhelming her for so long. Every second, another wave of agony pulsed through her mind, and she could feel herself wanting to destroy everything she could find. Taking a step forward, she almost tripped over Grace's dead body, but she managed to grab hold of a cupboard and steady herself, before turning and listening to the room.

  The only sound came from the storm outside.

  And then, slowly, she realized she could hear a faint rattling sound.

  Over on the other side of the room, Amanda was tugging at the leather restraint that had been used to tie her to the bed, and she was watching Chris with an expression of pure horror.

  Chris turned and began to stumble toward her.

  “No,” Amanda whispered, wincing in pain as she tried to sit up. No matter how hard she tried to free herself from the restraint, it was far too tight. “Come on,” she muttered, “just -”

  Before she could finish, she felt a sharp pain in her side and she had no choice but to lean back.

  Seconds later, Chris arrived at the side of the bed and reached out, grabbing Amanda by the shoulders.

  “It's me!” Amanda shouted. “Remember? From the van, and from earlier when I tried to help you!”

  Christ leaned closer, with fresh blood running from her empty eye-sockets.

  “You don't want to hurt me,” Amanda continued. “Please, we both have to get out of here! I don't know what's wrong with Doctor Bell, but whatever she's doing here, we have to get away. If we warn people, we can make sure that she never manages to hurt anyone else again!” She waited for some kind of reply, but Chris seemed to be frozen in place. “Can you even hear me?” Amanda shouted finally. “Chris, it's me, it's -”

  “I know,” Chris whispered, her voice barely audible.

  “Please, we have to -”

  “I know,” she said again. “I just... The pain is like... nothing I've ever... I...”

  “I know you're not a monster,” Amanda replied, pulling desperately against the leather restraint. “I heard her calling you that, but it's not true! I don't know what she's done to you, but there's no way you could ever be a monster!”

  “She hurt me,” Chris continued. “The pain...”

  “There's something wrong with her,” Amanda continued. “We have to warn someone!”

  “She talked to me. All the time she was hurting me, she kept talking, telling me about herself. She's...”

&n
bsp; “She's insane!”

  “She's been driven insane. She wasn't born like it, she told me about the girl... She saw her before.”

  “What girl?” Amanda paused, as slowly she began to understand. “The ghost? She saw Leonora Blake?”

  “She saw her long before she ever came to Hardstone,” Chris continued. “How can that happen? How can you see a ghost before you even get to the place that's haunted?”

  “I don't know,” Amanda replied, “but we have to warn someone. Whatever happened in the past and whatever happened with the little girl, right now Doctor Bell has lost her mind. Can you get me free from here? We have to find someone and make sure no-one else gets hurt!”

  Fumbling to find the leather restraint, Chris was finally able to pull it loose.

  “Come on,” Amanda said, getting off the bed but wincing immediately as she felt the pain from her injuries. “We have to...” She paused, as if the pain was starting to overwhelm her.

  “I can't come with you,” Chris replied. “Look at me. I'll just slow you down.”

  “But...” Realizing that she was right, Amanda took a moment to wait for the latest wave of pain to pass. “I'll come back for you. I swear to God, this is all going to get straightened out. There's no way all this madness can be allowed to continue.”

  “Just go,” Chris told her. “There's nothing I can do.”

  Hurrying toward the door, Amanda stopped for a moment and looked down at Grace's dead body. Figuring that there'd be time later to process everything that had happened, she stepped over the corpse and hurried out into the dark corridor, where the only light came through a window at the far end. Making her way to the stairwell, she was about to head down when she realized she could hear a sound from the next floor down, like a scream or...