April 3, 2023
Outside the room Blake, Kaylee, and I were in, we heard a loud pop, which interrupted our conversation. It had only been a day since we started seeking more information, but it led nowhere so far. We were in the midst of planning our next move, but it seemed we were about to be interrupted. With the moonlight shining through the barred window of the room, we waited in silence and listened from room F-20, the last room in F-Ward.
"Hello. Is anyone out there?" a voice called.
"Are there any spirits here wishing to make themselves known to us?" another voiced echoed into the halls.
"We are here as your friends. We are not here to judge you. We only want to communicate." The voice was just out in the hall.
I looked over to Blake, who was smiling, with a hideous grin. He winked at me and Kaylee. "Watch this," he said, then pushed over a piece of broken glass off the window sill.
"Damn, dude! Did you hear that?" one voice asked the other.
"It came from in here," the other replied.
The cracked door to our room opened and a group of people came into the room with us and snooped around. Their flashlights passed through us as if we weren't there. One stopped his beam on the floor next to the window and looked at the broken glass. He picked up one piece, held it even with the window sill, and dropped it to the floor.
Crash.
"That was the same sound we heard just a second ago," he said, looking at his buddy. He wore a herringbone flat cap, had dark brown eyes and brown hair, and was a skinny white male.
Another man, larger, with tattoos on his arms, wore a baseball cap. "That was definitely what we heard," he confirmed.
Meanwhile, Blake was sitting in the chair, laughing until his face turned blue. Kaylee was smiling as well, but I didn't see the humor in it. These poor people didn't realize what they were getting into. This place has some crazy, powerful spirit roaming around, eating other spirits, and it housed the lair of a freaking serial killer.
The man in the herringbone cap took a seat on the same bed as me and Kaylee. I gazed over and noticed his shirt. The design was easily recognizable to me. He was from the show Paranormal Seekers and a member of a cast of adventurers I used to watch on television. They would search supposedly haunted places and try to gather evidence of the supernatural. If these two were here, they must have quite a few more crews roaming the building.
The other man sat on the same couch as Blake, which, of course, made things a bit weird. Blake was now half-phased into the living human being. He teeter-tottered around the sofa, going in and out of the man and treating it like a joke. Kaylee was laughing, and I nervously shook my knee.
The cameraman stood in the other corner to get a view of the whole room. The larger man with the tattoos looked at the camera.
"This is Colt and Tango, investigating the second floor, F-Ward." He sat a device on the table in front of him. "We heard some noises in here and have decided to do an EMF session."
"If there are any spirits in the room, please wave your hands over that device on the table."
Blake looked on in interest.
"Don't do it, Blake," I whispered.
"Why not?"
"Yeah. Why not?" Kaylee repeated the question.
"Because, ah… because we can't let them stay here long. They're in danger."
That was the best reason I could think of. But really, I just wanted to be left alone. I had this strange sensation over my body that seemed to stem from being next to these living people. It was almost as if I were a bug and they wore bug repellant.
Is this something all spirits eventually feel towards the living?
"We promise the device on the table will not hurt you," Colt reaffirmed. They heard only silence while our conversation was going on around them.
"Screw it. I'm going in."
Blake got up from the couch and waved his hand over the device. As he did, the lights pulsated from the residential energy he carried as a spirit.
"Damn! Did you see that, Tango?" Colt called.
Colt nodded. "Was that you that just waved your hand over the device?"
Blake did the act again, with the same result.
"See that, Colt? No hesitation when I asked my question."
"Looks like we might have something here," he agreed.
The cameraman was going to and from Colt and Tango, trying to catch the responses from the device as well.
Tango started again. "If you're listening, we'll ask you yes or no questions. If the answer is yes, please wave your hand over the device once. If it's no, please wave your hand twice. Do you understand?"
"This is so cool," Blake said, grinning at me and Kaylee. He then waved his hand over the device once.
"That was a yes." Tango clinched his fists in excitement. "Alright. Let's start with something simple. Do you know you're dead?"
Blake answered yes as the device blinked once.
"So, the spirit isn't a residual one," Colt said. "Can you see us?"
Blake waved his hand over the device once.
"Are you the only spirit in this room with us?" Tango asked.
The answer was no.
"Are there more than three of you here with us?"
Blake again waved his hand twice.
"I'll count down from three. Wave your hand over the device to stop me once I say the number of spirits with us here." He cleared his throat. "Three."
Blake responded.
"Oh, three." Tango nodded to Colt.
"This is crazy, man," Colt said. "Is, ah-- Are you all aware of me and Tango?"
That was a yes.
Colt and Tango grew more and more excited. "Are there more than a hundred spirits here in the asylum?"
Blake looked to me and shrugged, waiting for an answer.
"Ah, probably," I said, shrugging back.
Blake waved his hand over the device once.
"Damn," Tango muttered.
"Are you all patients of this asylum?"
Blake waved over the device twice.
"No," Colt said, shocked.
Tango expressed the same thing. "Are any of the spirits patients of the asylum?"
Blake responded yes.
"Are the spirits in this room patients of this asylum?"
That was a no.
Colt looked over at his partner. "When we were told of this place, the client said the only people to die here died as patients before the asylum eventually closed."
Tango shook his head. "Maybe she was wrong."
A moment of silence passed as they thought of what to do next. Finally, Colt spoke.
"Are you trapped in this asylum?"
Yes.
"Do you wish to move on?"
Before Blake could react, I jumped from the bed and waved my hand over the device. Blake stared at me, and me at him.
"Would you like me to pray for you?"
Yes.
The investigators looked at one another in silence. Troubled by this, both of them shifted in their spots. Colt, the one who'd asked the question, pulled out a cross necklace from under his shirt and held on to it.
"This is unreal, Tango. I never… I never thought-- I've always been religious, and--" I think I saw a tear in his eye. "To know others are trapped here and can't move on--" He was unable to finish his sentence.
"In all our time, I don't ever recall a spirit claiming to be trapped. Makes me wonder what's going on with this place." Tango continued. "Do you know why you're trapped here?"
I answered no.
"Hmm. Are there any malicious spirits in this asylum?"
Yes.
"How many? One?"
Yes.
"Is it harming other spirits?"
Yes.
"God." Tango's eyes went wide. "Do you think that malicious spirit is what's trapping you here?"
I froze at the thought. I hadn't even thought of that, but the statement stuck like glue. It made sense. It all made sense now. I couldn't leave because of The Wolf. It was his doing all along!
I motioned over the device.
"Was that sprit the one that killed you?" Tango asked.
No.
"If you weren't a patient and weren't killed by this bad spirit, what killed you?" Tango asked himself, his fingers stroking his chin in thought.
Colt jumped back in. "Was it another human that killed you?"
Yes.
"Did you die within the past few months?"
Yes.
Colt paused. He had a haunted expression on his face and didn't look like he wanted to ask the last question. Eventually, he mustered the will to do so.
"Were you a victim of the local serial killer?"
Yes.
"Heavens! Goddammit!" Colt cursed as he jumped from the sofa. He grabbed the device and headed to the outside of the room. "I can't do this anymore! This is too much!"
Tango and the cameraman followed him, spooked.
"We have to call off this investigation," Tango added.
"We have to call the police!" Colt said, leaving the room.
Now alone, Kaylee, Blake, and I looked from one to another. My heart – despite not having one – felt like it was pumping a hundred meters a minute.
"What now?" Kaylee asked.
"We wait for justice," I responded.