Page 3 of Insane Obsession

“I don’t know. It’s just so—” She looks over her shoulder at me. “Real? I’m glad you’re with us, Finn.”

“Don’t exaggerate, babe,” Levi muses, but she shakes him off, annoyed.

“Well, Iam. Perhaps you just came along because you’re curious, but this guy has spent God knows how many hours of research into this project.”

“That’s because he doesn’t have a social life,” Levi mutters.

I ignore the comment and focus on the view instead. She is right. This place has been the source of my passion for years now. God knows how often I’ve drawn it. However, I have never been this close before.

This asylum is the cherry on the cake for a freak like me.

The crime was apparent, but everything around it wasn’t, making it a mystery. It’s the perfect research for a determined psychology student.

By the entrance, a stone animal—or what’s left of it—sits at the foot of the stairs: one feline-shaped eye, half a nose, and part of a grin. Lea snaps a picture and then lifts her light. “What the hell is that?”

“A bad omen.”

“It’s called a grotesque,” I answer. “A mythical figure carved from stone. It’s fixated on the walls. It might look scary, but engraving those in buildings was common in that era.”

“What the hell for?” Levi grumbles. “No, wait. Don’t answer that.” He steps up the stairs, followed by David. “Let’s get this party started, shall we?”

Massive iron doors separate us from a horrific past.

“Fuck me,” Lea whispers next to me. “This is so fucking freaky. Is it open? Finn?”

“Yes, it should be.” The authorization letter to visit the property sits heavy in my rucksack.

“Get your camera,” Jess hisses.

As the guys start pushing the door, I struggle with the zipper, hands clammy with sweat. The reality of what we’re about to do is hitting me. I’m already feeling light-headed and we haven’t even started.

“It’s locked. Man,” David sighs. “If it’s privately owned, shouldn’t we have been given a set of keys?”

“You’ve just got to push harder,” Lea urges. “This door has probably not been opened for a long time.”

“She’s right. I feel movement,” Levi finally pants.

“Film this,” Jess mutters in my ear.

The camera slides between my palms and I nearly drop it from my nerves.

Jess watches my fumbles and pulls the strap over my head. “There. That’s what they have these things for.” She smiles at me, but her eyes can't hide her fear. And at that moment, I wonder if she’ll back out. I wonder if I will.

Maybe we all should.

“Yes!”

The doors open with a loud tired groan. The long creak leaves an echo that has my eyes tearing behind my glasses.

Jess and I exchange one final look as we follow the others in. We’ve barely taken a few steps inside when the doors suddenly close with an unexpected force, trapping us inside.

Jess yelps.

“Alright, nice entrance,” David chuckles.

“Holy shit,” I mutter as I film the inky-black corridor. “We’re inside Saint James’s Asylum for Women. This facility closed in 1953 after the Laura DiSanti massacre, one of the biggest crime mysteries to date. On December sixteenth, today, exactly seventy years ago, at eight in the evening, Laura DiSanti took a shard of glass from the kitchen and killed four nurses and two other patients. We're about to reveal where exactly those killings took place and much more.”

The thought is…unsettling. I think the others feel it, too, because no one speaks.

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