When I
reached the library, I was sweating buckets.
I parked my bicycle and headed inside to the sort-of-cool library and
walked down the aisles. A book caught my
eye. “Stories and Rumors of Closed
Hospitals”. I shrugged at the sound of
the title but decided it was better than “Tommy and the Lost Island”, which I
had been forced to read a thousand times because I had to do a report on it and
Mum told me it was good to read some more “appropriate books for a fifth-grader”. So I pulled down the book and looked for a
place to sit. I spotted an open seat,
hurried to it, and got comfortable. It
was one of those nice couch chairs and across from me was some guy engrossed in
a newspaper. I turned my gaze to the
book and flipped it open to see a picture of a Victorian-looking mansion and
the beginning of the text and started to read.
“In a
certain town, over 50 years ago, there was a certain hospital. This hospital however, was no ordinary
one. It was for those who were mentally
ill. Or ‘insane’ if you want to be
direct. The building itself was formally
an old mansion from the Victorian Age re-built in the late 1800s and the owner,
an old man named Cornicus Berby, wrote in his will that when he died, he wanted
it to be turned into a hospital. He was
a doctor himself but little is known about his career. Dr. Berby had sympathy for those who were
mentally ill and there seemed to have been many a time when he would take the
mentally ill and the troubled into his home to try and help them. Around the time before the First World War,
he grew ill and passed away. He never
married and the only company he had was a Labrador Retriever named Bagel.”
“Ha,
Bagel,” I thought. “This old guy must've
loved his food.” The next part was
boring and it talked about his life and so on so I flipped through the pages
until it got back to the hospital.
“The
gorgeous garden surrounding the mansion was always full of beautiful flowers of
every season, a fountain with an angel statue pouring water out of a pitcher,
stone packed paths winding around through small gardens with tall trees, rose
bushes that bloom in the spring, benches, and even a pagoda with beautiful
vines climbing up the sides that flushed in green in the spring and turned to
autumn colors when the days grew cold.
Nurses would take the patients outside for some fresh air and for
activity. The rooms were nice and they
had white walls, comfortable beds, and each with a small window. Patients could look out at the trees in the
garden that surrounded the hospital and not feel closed off from the outside world. There was even a grand dining hall where the
patients would eat their meals and gather regularly for indoor activities. Nurses and doctors would visit the patients
in their rooms every day to make sure they were doing fine and talk to
them. Even the most unstable patients
would be treated kindly by the nurses who spoke to them as though calming a
child.
“However,
that was only the positive side of the hospital. There were rumors of what actually went on
behind those large metal doors and that brick stone wall that surrounded the
hospital and towered high so that no one could enter or leave unless by the
main gates. This wall was built long
after Cornicus Berby’s death and a few years after the hospital was known and
most thought it a quite peaceful and pleasant place. No one from outside was allowed in because
the patients needed a ‘calm quiet environment’.
The rumors ranged from the ridiculous to the horrifying. For the horrifying ones, it was said that the
doctors would use the patients as their guinea pigs taking advantage of the fact
they lost their minds and have no idea what’s going on.
“Psychosurgery
was one of the horrible experiments rumored about. It was rumored that patients would get
electronic shocks before the ‘treatment to make them feel better’. The doctor never had any intention of
actually helping the patient but rather their only concern was to stop the
insane behavior that was thought unacceptable in society. People, back then, thought mental illness was
just something the patients were doing on purpose. To treat these patients, the doctor would use
a small pick—one of those you would use to pick ice—and stab it above the
eye. Then he would go right in and pick
through the brain, damaging it. This
would make the patient’s brain damaged for life and they would calm down but
that didn’t mean they were sane and cured.
In other more horrible experiments, the doctor would send electric
shocks directly through the brain or snip away at the nerves from a little hole
they would open in the skull.”
I grimaced
at the thought of someone having their brain nerves snipped away. A shiver ran up my spine as I read the next
part and I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.
“These
were just rumors and no one could tell if they were true or not. It was also said that the most unstable
patients classified as ‘D’ for ‘Danger’ were kept in a secret dungeon that had
many tunnels and went down deep into the earth underneath the hospital. The patients were locked up tight in cages as
if they were wild animals. These
patients had metal chains around their necks with tags dangling from them. These tags had ‘D’ printed on them and
sometimes numbers just for the doctors to keep track of their ‘subjects’. And only when you went down there could you
hear the screams of agony as the experiments took place. No painkiller or any medicine was given to
the patients during the awful surgery.”
The man
sitting across from me suddenly sneezed making me jump. Trying to calm my beating heart, I continued
on to the next sentence almost afraid to know more about the old hospital.
“Now the
hospital is closed down and abandoned.
The reasons were never made clear.
Some thought it was just because it was getting old and some thought it
was because the most insane D-class patient killed all the doctors and nurses
and the other patients and escaped the dungeon but never leaves the building
for fear of the outside world. Others
think the dangerous patient is still roaming around the dungeon area unable to
get out. These people believed that if
you listened carefully, you could hear the patient screaming and others said it
was cursed…”
I
laughed out loud at this part and got a glare from the librarian. Okay, now this was just too much. I put the book back on the shelf and left the
library, excited to tell my friends about such ridiculousness.
When I
told my friends on Monday, they all laughed, too. Curses weren’t real—especially to our
pack. My best friend Freddy, me, Thomas
from next door, Billy from down the street, and Peter the science geek were the
members of NSP (No Superstitions Pack).
Tyler, who lived next to Billy, always said that you shouldn’t think
lightly about ghosts or they’d haunt you.
It’s gotta be a joke. So, we made
a bet. Billy said that he’ll bet there
is no way we will get cursed by going into any so called, “haunted” building
and “violating” the ghosts’ habitat.
Peter said it was scientifically impossible. So we betted on free Banana Triple Ice Cream
Sundaes for that. We knew we were going
to win so we made it the most expensive sundae.
That
night I got a call from Thomas. He had
found the perfect place for our exploring.
It was a building that was number one on the haunted buildings list. I quickly hung up to called up Freddy to tell
him about it. He was the leader of our
pack. When it was decided, I called
Billy and Peter and told them where it was.
Peter laughed when I told him it was “haunted number one”. Of course I chuckled along with him. I mean, come on! Haunted?!
Give me a break.
We
agreed to head off to the building the following night. It had to be night or it wouldn’t be spooky
enough. I was going first. Then Billy, Freddy, Peter, and Thomas. Sure it was decided by alphabetical order—just
like we always decided when we needed to go in some sort of order. “Andrew” always came first which was good
when you’re choosing the best piece of birthday cake or the biggest sundae. But sometimes it wasn’t good like if you were
going to be the first to hit the strict teacher with a spit ball when she wasn’t
looking. We also did things in last name
order and sometimes the birthday order.
Birthday order wasn’t good for Peter and Thomas because they were born
on the same day. Then they’d have to go
and see who was born first on that day and decide from there. I think Peter was first. They would count down to the last second but
Peter was still first.
The next
day at school I was so fidgety during class the Ms. Penters gave me her best
sit-still-and-pay-attention look. You know,
one of those looks where the teacher stares right into your eyeballs and makes
you feel sheepish and guilty. I kept
glancing at the clock. When you’re
excited about something time seems to go by so slowly you could melt like the
way butter does if you leave it out on the counter on a hot summer’s day. And it was
summer so I could have easily been melting in the stuffy class room. As I felt like I was starting to lose body
parts, the lunch bell rang and I was the first to dash out of the classroom for
lunch.
A lot of
other kids had the same idea so I was squished anyway. When I retrieved my lunch my Mum made me from
my locker, I headed to the cafeteria.
Billy and Freddy were waiting at the usual spot. I never knew how they did it but somehow they
were almost always able to beat the older kids to the cafeteria. I sat down and we waited for Thomas and
Peter. When all the NSP were gathered,
we dug into our food and talked excitedly about the exploration and how we’d
have to sneak out at night without our parents knowing. We were talking with our mouths full and the
girls sitting on the other half of the table gave us disgusted looks. But we didn’t care. We were having fun. What else did they expect eleven-year-old
boys to do at the cafeteria anyway?
After
school finally let out, we all went
home together and agreed to meet at my house.
Mum always came home late for work, and Dad was working on his paper in
the den so no one was around to nag me.
It was the perfect place to gather.
Dinner passed,
and I sat on the sofa waiting for 8 o’clock to arrive on my watch. When it came, just on cue, the doorbell rang
and Peter and everyone were at the door, all having been able to sneak out of
their houses. I welcomed them in and all
five of us boys sat at the dining table and quietly made out our plans so as
not to catch Dad’s attention as he worked down in the dugout. We chattered excitedly, eating Oreos and
drinking milk. Then when all was settled
and I made sure that everyone had their own battery charged flashlight, I
carefully walked down the stairs to Dad’s work room. After I peeked in to make sure that he was
absorbed in his paper, I gave a "thumbs up" to my friends and we all
snuck quietly out of the house.
Peter
had a cool GPS thingy on his iPhone and used it to take us to the forbidden
building. Only Peter had a cool iPhone
in our pack. His Mum let him have lots
of stuff my Mum never lets me have. He’d
also brought a picture of the building and some “spooky” information about
it. When I looked closely, it looked
very much like the picture of the old Victorian-like mansion I saw in the
library. When I read the information it
said, “Dr. Cornicus Berby was the former owner of this hospital before he
passed away.” I kept my mouth shut about
what I read in the library about psychosurgery and all.
While we
walked we talked about school, the girls, pizza Friday that we had every
Friday, and fake ghosts. Tyler called
once on the Peter’s phone. Peter and
Tyler were science geeks and hung out sometimes but Peter’s science was real
science and Tyler’s was paranormal science.
So, he didn’t belong in our pack.
He just called to warn us. So
typical of Tyler. He’s such a
chicken. After that, we talked about the
new Spider Man movie coming out but when we got near our destination everything
grew quiet. It was really getting dark
now and we shone our flashlights this way and that on the ground in front of
us. Freddy shone his under his chin and
made a face. I swat him softly across
the head and we snickered until Peter shushed us.
Then we
saw the building.
It
loomed over the darkness and looked like it had not been used for many many
years. It was definitely quite haunting
looking and more so than when I saw the picture that Peter brought to show
us. He said it used to be an “aseelum”
and asked if I knew what it meant. I
didn’t know. Anyway, that’s what I
said. None of the others knew. And that’s what made it more…spooky like.
Of
course we didn’t want to admit we were scared but I could tell by the look on
Freddy’s face that he was starting to regret coming here. But according to the pack rule, there was “no
turning back on a bet”. We had to finish
this task whether we wanted to or not.
The
building seemed different from the picture in the library and more…spooky, like
the dark image Peter printed out. It had
a wide garden and there was a dried up fountain with a statue on it on our
left. It looked like it should be an
angel with a pitcher but in the dark, it seemed more like a demon.
“What’s
that awful smell?” Billy whispered, pinching his nose.
There
was a stench of something like rotted garbage all around the building. I pinched my nose as it filled my nostrils.
“Hey,
maybe those ghosts forgot to take out their trash like their mommy’s told them
to,” joked Thomas. We all laughed
quietly and I felt more at ease but soon began to wonder what I would find in a
place where…well, insane people ran wild and one might have possibly… But I kept my cool. I would be breaking the pack rule if I
chickened out here.
When we
got to the entrance of the building, Freddy patted my back and muttered a
quiet, “good luck” as did the others. I
put my flashlight on full power and slowly crept up to the building aware of my
friends making sure I wouldn’t turn around and chicken out. I gulped as the windows showed no light and I
knew that my flashlight would mean my life in here. So as not to get scared, I thought about the sundae
that awaited me after this was over, reminding myself that what I read were
just rumors to scare people. A nice
sweet juicy banana with ice cream of three different flavors of your own choice
and lots of cream, chocolate sauce, and chocolate chip waiting for me at the
end of all this… It was called a Triple
Sundae because of the three different ice creams. The thought kept me going and I stepped
inside the old forbidden building, knowing there was no turning back now. I could hear Freddy and the others whisper
amongst themselves behind me as they walked to the back of the building to wait
for my return outside the forbidden gates on the opposite side.
The
entrance door had long since been broken down and the concrete floor was
covered in debris - paint that had peeled off from the walls, papers, pieces of
cloth and bits of glass, wood from old chairs and pieces of ceiling plaster
were strewn across the floor. My eyes gradually
adjusted to the strange dimness that engulfed the entrance. The walls were wooden but they seemed to
waver in the dark. I shivered slightly
even though it was the middle of summer.
Last I checked on Peter’s iPhone, it was nine at night. I made sure the small flashlight in my hand was
on its brightest and stepped inside.
As the
tiny, but somewhat comforting light hit the floor, I could see how trashed the
hallway was. Making my way carefully
through bits of wood, glass, and junk, I finally reached the door. I knew where this door led. Freddy searched the internet about this
place. This was the only door that led
to the other side of the building, a building for the insane, I thought… But again I forced the thought out of my
mind.
I gulped
as I carefully creaked the door open. The
door nob was rusty and it got stuck. I
jiggled it a bit until it turned again.
I peered inside. It was really
dark until I noticed that without thinking I had closed my eyes tight. Making excuses to myself that it wasn’t
because I was scared or anything, I opened my eyes. The other side of the door revealed a hallway
just like the picture from the internet with old lights dangling from the
ceiling. I could only rely on the little
flashlight to guide me to the other side.
As I
walked through the dark hallway, I noticed how everything was falling
apart. There were rusted tweezers,
pieces of ripped yellowed cloth, broken wooden chairs, papers, and even a
shoe. Everywhere was a mess and I had to
watch my step every now and then when my flashlight reflected on something
glassy and sharp. There were a lot of
doors down this hallway, each close to the other, and they seemed to call to me
as I passed them. I walked on down the
hall and counted the doors as I went to distract myself from the uneasy feel of
fear—wait, I told myself; this is just an old building! I’m the only one here. What do I need to be so scared for? When I came to the sixth door, I saw that it
was ajar. I wanted to see what lay
behind it. However, my fear got the
better of me and I hurried along the way.
Around
the tenth door, I felt like I wasn’t the only one walking down the
hallway. This was strange. Freddy and the others were waiting on the
other side and no one had come to this place for a long time. It was abandoned and some said it was
cursed. However, neither me nor my
friends believed in curses. It’s just something people say to get the
attention of the TV or the Internet world, I nodded to myself. But…there was a sort of a…a presence…
“…Andrew…! Hurry!” came Freddy’s voice suddenly, making
me jump. It sounded weak and desperate.
I looked
ahead into the darkness as I strained my ears to hear more. However, there was no more sound coming from up
ahead. Deciding that probably he was
just trying to get me to chicken out, I continued on my way. I felt the need to finish this task. Whether it was because of the rule, my own
stubbornness, or something else, I didn’t know.
There
were so many doors that I was getting tired of counting them. So far there were eighteen doors in total, or
so I thought. Between door nineteen and
twenty, I heard a whispering noise. I
froze in my tracks and looked ahead into the dark shadows that lay before
me. The whispering seemed to be coming
from somewhere up ahead. I listened to
the voice but I couldn’t determine whether it was a woman or a man. Suddenly, the whispering stopped and I was
once more left in grim silence. My heart
thumped and I could almost hear it interrupting the quietness of the place. The darkness surrounded me and I was afraid
it would gobble me up into its belly. I
took a deep breath and gathered what courage I had left. Then I shone my flashlight on the hall floor
and made the way forward.
The
hallway seemed to get darker as I got near the end. But my flashlight was strong enough to help
me along my path. I gingerly picked my
way through the debris once stepping on something that resembled a battered nurse’s
cap. I made a stop before every door to
make sure I was on the right track but the darkness was starting to confuse my
sense of direction and I tried not to turn around as it would only confuse me
more. My hand touched something on door
twenty-two and I flinched. But when the
flashlight shone on the object, it was a piece of dirty flabby paper nailed on
the door with some words written on it.
I tried to make out the words but most of it was smeared. All I could get was, “surgery failed”.
Time
seemed to creep along the hallway with me.
Every second seemed like a minute and every minute seemed like an
hour. The distance between the doors had
first reminded me of the hallway of a squishy apartment building. But now it seemed to be further apart as my
pace grew slower and my confidence was beginning to escape me. I felt that I would be walking this creepy
hallway forever and never able to escape the darkness’ cluches. When I got to door twenty-five I felt I had
been walking down this same hallway for hours but my flashlight told me I was
already at the end. If I opened the door
in front of me, I would no doubt see Freddy and the others at the gates
congratulating me on my return. A sigh
of relief escaped me and I stood still to calm my poor beating heart.
Then I
heard the whispering again. This time it
seemed closer and somewhat strained. It
was as if someone was trying very hard to speak but could only whisper. I could identify the sound now. It was coming from door twenty-six. Suddenly, an awful stench filled my nostrils
and I pinched my nose. It was the same
smell our pack smelled outside the building.
I flicked my flashlight to the floor and reluctantly released my left
hand from my nose. Door twenty-six
showed signs of rotting and the handle was missing but it was slightly
ajar. The whispering started to get desperate
and turned into whispery moans. I was
somehow drawn to the sound as it continued and I put my hand on the door and
carefully eased it open. It let out a
long creak making me flinch. There was
moonlight streaming in from a nearby window.
Gingerly, I crept into the room.
The foul smell similar to rotted eggs was stronger in here but I paid no
attention to it. The whispering seemed
to come from every wall and every corner.
I walked around the room constantly turning around and retracing my
steps. I stumbled on a piece of wood and
backed into something soft. As I turned
around, I dropped my flashlight and it landed with a thud on the floor.
It was
swaying after I bumped into it and I backed up, staring. It was a man, perhaps, and his clothes were
ripped and I could see his rotten bones and flesh. His arms that dangled at his side were
mummified as well as his legs. One of
his eyes was missing and his dried up tongue hung limp out of his mouth. His teeth were rotten and gray and his lips
were thin and he only had half a mouth.
Flies swarmed busily around him as he hung there from his skinny neck
swaying slightly to and fro from the impact of our collision. There was a rusted metal necklace hanging
loosely around his neck. A plastic
looking card dangled from the chain and I caught a glimpse of a “D” written on
it.
The man
was dead, I was sure of it. However, a
voice seemed to be coming from his throat and he was moaning in a whispery
way. Suddenly, one of his eyes that hung
loosely from his eye socket swiveled around and focused on me. I stared in horror as his mouth that was no
more than rotten skin and bone drew up into a sinister smile. His boney rotted arm reached out for me and I
finally found my voice. I screamed and
scrambled out of the building and rushed to the gates where my friends sat on
the ground waiting for my return.
When I
finally reached them I was out of breath and my heart pounded so much I felt
its pulse in my side. Freddy and the
others were sitting in a line with their backs to the building. Seeing that I felt relief well over me though
my heart was still pounding and my legs were shaking, I staggered over to them
and said,
“Hey,
you…you won’t believe what I just saw in there…we…we gotta get outta here! No one’s going in there. It’s…it’s just way too…Freddy? Guys?
What’s going on? Are you trying
to scare me? ‘Cause it’s not funny…”
I slowly
went around to stand directly in front of them and then I smelled something
foul…it was the same smell from before.
I looked more closely at my friends.
It was dark but I could just make out Freddy’s familiar silhouette. But soon my heart felt like it was going to
stop beating when I saw that Freddy’s skin was peeling and flies swarmed around
him. His mouth hung open limply and his
hands were like a dead man’s and one of his eyes fell out and rolled onto the
ground in front of me. I looked at the
others and Peter suddenly flopped over awkwardly and lay on the ground. I cried out in terror and shot away from the
awful sight as fast as I could go, dreading that I would be next. I fell twice scrambling in the darkness. My knees were scrapped and my hands were
covered in dirt. Panic rushed over me as
I found myself in an unfamiliar street with houses that loomed over me. I went this way and that trying to read the
names of the streets in the dark only half remembering how we got there. When I finally got to the familiar street
where the house I call home sits, I slowed to a stop, panting. I was breathing hard and fast completely out
of breath.
Up ahead,
just a few blocks away, was my house.
The lights were on and Mum’s car was parked in the garage. Seeing those lights, all that happened seemed
a distant dream. I would probably see my
friends tomorrow and we would all laugh at Tyler saying, “Curses aren’t
real! Give us money for the sundaes!” I felt safe and bent over, tired from
running. Then a foul stench suddenly
filled my nose.
It was
already too late.
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