“What?” I went over to her, pulled the gray frock out of her hands, and snapped, “We’re getting out of here now. The floor below us. It’s got to have another way out.”
I threw the frock back into the pile, and it landed next to one that caught my eye. The ripped pocket. It wouldn’t have meant a thing if it hadn’t had the large black ink stain on it. The shape of a big spider.
“Fuck.” The word fell from my mouth before I could stop it.
Kaitlin followed my gaze and landed on the ink stain.
“Fuck! I knew it,” she screamed, covering her face with her hands.
She crumpled to the floor and rocked on her knees, holding her head within her forearms. Her mumbles grew louder as she rocked with wider movement.
She recited numbers incessantly, shooting terror through my entire being. The sound of her voice echoed through the attic adding to my horror.
“235236235236.”
The numbers played through my mind like a sickening trick, exploding any final bits of rationality I clung on to.
“235236235…” she repeated, nonstop.
“Stop it,” I hollered. “Shut! Up!” I covered my ears with my hands. “I’m getting out of here, whether you’re coming or not!”
I turned on my heels and ran for the door. A quick glance back, and I saw Kaitlin scrambling to catch up to me. Thank Christ. Breaking away from her was my only hope at snapping her out of her hysteria.
“Hurry up,” I called.
I waited for her to catch up as she stumbled like a drunkard over the junk that littered the floor. As soon as she reached me, I grabbed her hand and flew into the stairwell.
We bombed down the stairs without any effort to stay quiet or go undetected, then smashed through the door to the third-floor wing.
Kaitlin’s neurosis returned immediately, and the numbers flew from her mouth again.
“23523623523623523623…” She repeated the line without pause, even for a breath.
I held her hand tighter, pulling her through the plaster rubble of the long corridor. Her steps fell heavy behind me, and I used all my effort to pull her along.
“She’s here,” Kaitlin cried out, causing me to stop in my tracks.
“What? Who?” I shouted. “Who, Kaitlin?”
“It’s Emma! She’s here,” she screamed.
My eyes flew wildly around the deteriorating hallway, trailing along the numerous doors that lined each side.
“Don’t stop, Kaitlin. We have to get out of here!” I pulled her even harder as my heart nearly pounded out of my chest.
My eyes played tricks on me as every shadow held a looming figure and every alcove proved to have something sinister ready to pull me in.
We ran toward the end of the hall, praying for an open stairwell that would lead us to the first floor. We stumbled through piles of broken ceiling tiles and damp chunks of wall. Without warning, we tripped over the snarled remains of rotting straps. Same as the restraints used in the research building.
Our feet caught in the straps, and we flew in opposite directions. I fell backward into one of the open side doors. Kaitlin spun and landed at the door opposite mine. She scrambled deeper into the confined space, staring at me with wild eyes, and pressed against the far wall.
I pushed myself up to sitting, my eyes darting around my tiny room. Gasping for air, I rushed back out into the hall. Claustrophobia had taken immediate effect, and I rejoiced at my freedom from the narrow space.
Kaitlin continued to push into the back wall of her tiny room. I waved for her to come out, but she shook her head in fear. I pushed the door farther open, in case for some paranormal reason it decided to slam shut on her forever. My imagination had gone haywire now.
As I pressed the door against the outer wall, I looked up at its small window. The cross-shaped opening sent a harrowing chill through me as I considered the subtle torment it would have caused for each patient. My eyes shot down to the end of the hall to land on a crooked white sign with small red letters… SOLITARY.
“Holy shit.” I exhaled. “Get out of there, Kaitlin. Now!” I reached in for her, too afraid to enter the space for fear of getting trapped in there forever too. “Please!”
Her lips moved with the silent numbers that refused to stop. Somehow, she was able to inch herself closer to me.
Fear bugged her eyes out, and I stretched for her. At last, our fingertips touched, then I grabbed her entire hand and pulled.
I yanked her as hard as I could, tugging her into the hall with me. Wrapping my arm around her shoulder, I pulled her along by my side. Then she stopped again, frozen at the next door. Her gaze stared into the darkness of the small room right next to the one she was just in. Her chin quivered as tears fell from her eyes.
I leaned behind her to see into the small room. Whatever it was she was looking at, it terrified her to the point of immobility.
I lifted my eyes, scared to death of what I might see, and there in the far corner of the small space was a girl. Crouched low, facing into the corner. Her gray frock covered her back and knees, and the ripped pocket held the form of a spider.
“Fuck,” I screamed. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!” I snatched Kaitlin’s shoulders and her head jolted on her neck, snapping her attention to me as I shouted, “Run!”
Chapter 20
We flew down the length of the corridor, certain we were being chased by Emma or some other terrifying apparition. Passing each narrow door with cross-shaped windows, rage built within me, thinking of all the girls of the past decades who’d been locked away in solitary to rot. Including Emma.
The vision of her broken, frightened form, hiding in the corner, saddened me to the depth of my core.
“This way,” I called to Kaitlin.
A stairway opened up at the end of the hall, and I was determined to use it.
“How do you know which way?” Panic lifted her voice to piercing decibels.
“Trust me! This will lead us out.” I left no uncertainty in my tone. And it was easy. I had no doubt this was the way to our freedom. It was our last chance.
Old wooden boards blocked the entrance to the stairs. They’d been nailed across the opening, but several had come loose and fallen. I grabbed onto the biggest one and yanked. With little resistance, it pulled out of the rotted plaster wall and dropped to the ground. It landed on other boards with a smash, drawing my attention to the mangled sign beneath it. The words ‘Not an Exit’ peeked out from the pile, and I kicked at it with frustration.
I reached for Kaitlin. Just as I moved toward the first step, a harrowing sound echoed through the corridor behind us. It could have been the wind. Maybe even creaking boards. But it sounded like an older woman’s voice commanding us to stop.
The terrifying sound froze my muscles, and I stared in the direction it came from.
“You will stop at once!” The harsh voice filled the air around us with a chill that shot straight into my heart.
Kaitlin’s face contorted with sheer terror and she pushed past me, nearly falling down the stairs.
“What the fuck?” she screamed as her feet hammered on the stairs in panicked flight.
I raced after her, flying down the steps away from the haunting sound of the old woman. I caught up to Kaitlin and pushed on her shoulders to make her move faster, certain the evil woman was about to grab me and never let go.
Her brazen voice crashed into the stairwell. “Stop at once! Or you’ll remain in the hole for another week!”
My muscles nearly liquefied as her threat generated fear in me that scattered my brain to the wind.
“Shit! Hurry up.” I shoved Kaitlin down the final steps leading to the first floor. “Out here!”
I shot through the heavy metal door into the darkness of the first floor. The boarded-up windows let in a small bit of light, but I followed my instinct toward the center of the building. We ran without stopping, glancing over our shoulders every second, screaming at every strange object.<
br />
A carved-wood railing came into view. The stairs of the foyer…
“That’s it,” I screamed in relief. “The front door!”
Tears filled my eyes as I pulled on the knob. The door resisted, caught again in its swollen wooden frame. I looked back to Kaitlin, only to see tears pouring from her eyes, too—her terror causing her to pace while searching wildly for her hidden assailant.
“My hands are too sweaty,” I yelled. “I can’t get a grip on it.”
“What the fuck?” she screamed. “Get us out of here!” Her voice filled the foyer with a screech that came from deep within her.
I rubbed my hands on my pants. With one more turn and pull, the door inched toward me. I rubbed again, then heaved with all my might. With great resistance, the door finally groaned open, as if reluctant to let us out.
Kaitlin pushed at my back, trying to get us out as quickly as possible.
“Go, go, go.” She shuffled behind me to extract herself faster from the confines of the ward.
We fell out onto the stoop and jumped down the concrete steps. The sound of the heavy wooden door slamming behind us sent a new level of hysteria through us.
We tore across the lawn around to the side of the building. The quickest exit from the grounds of the asylum was our only focus.
I glanced toward the chapel and the research building, at first blinded by the golden rays of the setting sun shooting through the tree branches. Confusion twisted my already-fried brain as I realized the sun was at the exact same position it had been in when we entered the ward. I turned back to Kaitlin, but she was already making distance toward the woods at the back of the building.
“Kaitlin, wait for me,” I yelled, turning to the other buildings one more time, in search of our friends.
There, at the edge of the research lab, I caught a glimpse of the guys, although Tom was nowhere to be seen. They were looking all around, searching for us. I couldn’t see well enough through my blurred, teary vision, but it seemed like Braden saw me.
The high walls of the Excited Ward loomed over us, and its dark shadows reached out as if trying to recapture me. Adrenaline shot through my legs and I ran faster than ever before, catching up to Kaitlin.
Running was our only chance at getting away from the sinister hold of the ward.
Tripping over branches and rotting leaves, we followed a trail into the thick trees that surrounded the asylum. Our frantic breathing filled the air around us as we searched for an opening in the woods that would lead us to safety.
As we went deeper into the cover of the trees, I slowed my frantic pace enough to draw a full breath.
“Slow down, Kaitlin,” I called. “We’re okay now. Nothing’s following us.”
“We’re not far enough yet.” She kept pushing deeper into the woods. “I can still feel it.”
I chased after her, knowing she wasn’t wrong. I felt it, too. No matter how far we ran, it was still right there.
Then she finally slowed her pace and I had a chance to catch up. Her gaze remained ahead of her, but her sprint had slowed to a steady walk. A moment later, she came to an abrupt stop and remained, unflinching, in her place. She turned back to me and called out.
“I see something.”
I caught up to Kaitlin to see what she had found. Black, wrought-iron fencing. Rotting and falling in. My eyes trailed along the length of the fence and it lined the edge of the trees. Within its border was an open field of lush grass and gently rolling slopes.
“This way.” I moved along the fence, searching for an opening.
Pushing branches away and snapping twigs under our feet, we made our way along the perimeter.
“I’m still scared, Grace,” Kaitlin whispered. “My head won’t stop spinning.”
“I know. Me too.” I stumbled on a branch, forcing my way through the brush. “I don’t understand what’s been happening.”
I gazed into the open field, cursing the difficulty of finding an entrance into its sanctuary.
“We saw her again.” She choked back the words and then swallowed hard. “She’s still in there.”
“Ya.” My head shook in disbelief. “I can’t think about that right now. I just need to know this is over. I can’t do this anymore.”
Getting lost in the ward, no, trapped, and then seeing Emma again… my mind was frantic with the insanity of it all. But it was the old woman’s voice, cold and cruel, that truly terrified me. Shouting at us to stop at once. The sound of the words in my mind shot despair through me again. She somehow had gotten a hold of my soul back in the ward and I feared she’d never let it go.
“Do you think Emma’s trapped in limbo or something?” Kaitlin mumbled, as if lost in thought. “I can’t help but feel bad for her. Like, she’s no different from us. I feel like, she was probably a lot of fun.”
I slowed my steps, gripping onto one of the spiky posts of the fence.
“Maybe.” I slowed to examine Kaitlin.
It was the first time in a while she’d said something aside from wanting to go home. She’d tapped into something new that I hadn’t considered before, and it felt right. Emma wasn’t scary. She was like us.
And her being trapped in limbo wasn’t that far-fetched. She’d died wrongfully. She’d been held prisoner against her will. A tormented soul.
I finally saw where the fencing turned.
“There. It’s the edge of the fence.” I hurried along again, hoping to find a road or some way out of the woods.
We jogged along the rusted fencing and reached the corner. Pushing overgrowth back, we pressed around it and a gate came into view. It opened into the field and didn’t appear to be chained or locked in any way.
As we got closer, it became clear that the gate was collapsing from age. Ivy covered its decorative metal scrolls and at the top, a plaque was screwed into the middle. It appeared familiar to me, and I stepped closer for a better look.
I twisted to check behind us and there, beyond the evergreens, a road revealed itself just over a ridge. Train tracks cut across it farther up, and I recognized it as the same road to the asylum that we’d driven many times. And I’d seen this exact gate from out the car window and dismissed it as a random sight.
My breath released and fell out of me. I knew where we were. We were safe.
I turned back to Kaitlin and sucked my breath in again. She hunched over, shaking in front of the gate with her eyes glued to the plaque.
“What?” I called. “What is it?”
She didn’t move and just kept staring at it.
I stepped up next to her and looked at the sign. It was a dedication, like a memorial. I glanced into her face wondering what had shocked her and it remained frozen, unblinking.
“Kaitlin?” I whispered.
I turned back and read the plaque.
In dedication to Dr. Thomas Johnson
Superintendent of Blackwood Asylum 1896-1936
For your selfless service to these souls so they may never be forgotten
“For we too have lived, loved, and laughed.”
“What the fuck?” I whispered. “Dr. Thomas Johnson? What the actual fuck?” I couldn’t form enough words to express my inner freak out. “Tom Johnson? What? Is he a fucking ghost?”
Kaitlin continued to stare at the sign, then finally lifted her eyes and looked past the border of the wrought-iron fencing, out across the green field. Her voice moved from deep within her without any emotion or affect as she stated, “It’s the lost cemetery.”
I moved past Kaitlin in silence to push the rusted, bent gate further open. Squeezing through, I gazed across the rolling field, wondering where all the headstones could be.
Kaitlin remained frozen at first, but then lifted her eyes to meet mine. A lost look of confusion settled deep within her gaze and her shoulders slumped. Slowly, her feet shuffled and then she began to walk toward me.
We entered the graveyard as the sun made its final dip below the tree line. Twilight’s glow se
nt an ethereal feel throughout the grounds, and we moved farther into the moss-covered clearing. A gentle breeze brushed along my ears, and I thought I might have heard Braden’s voice calling my name.
“I don’t like it here,” Kaitlin whimpered. “Something’s not right.”
I looked around for any sign of danger, only to see gentle slopes of lush green grass and spongy moss.
“It’s like it vanished,” I mumbled. “Like it never actually existed.”
Kaitlin glanced up at me with worry as her chin trembled.
Moving toward the center of the clearing, I surveyed the entire space confined within the black fencing. There was nothing to be found.
Then, taking another step, I stumbled on the edge of a hidden rock, buried in the long grass. I steadied myself and looked down at where I’d tripped. An indentation in the ground held the chunk of moss I’d kicked up.
I stepped away to examine the depression more closely. Then I noticed there was another identical impression in the moss right next to it. As I pulled back, more indentations came into my view. Rows and rows, covering the entire field with thousands of pockmarks.
My eyes widened as I gasped and dropped to my knees. I pulled the moss away from the slight impression in the ground, uncovering the side of a stone marker. I ran my fingers around its edges as I pulled more moss away. The marker was about the size of my hands held side by side.
“There are more,” I said to Kaitlin, pointing to the next one in the row. “Look.”
She dropped to her knees, pulling the moss away from the next stone marker.
We brushed at the surfaces, removing dirt and debris.
“There are markings,” I said as my fingers traced weathered engraving in the stone.
We brushed and blew at the surfaces again, exposing shapes.
“I see numbers,” I called out.
“Me too,” Kaitlin said, blowing at the dirt with short, shallow breaths.
The Shuttered Ward Page 18