Page 16 of The Asylum
“She takes care of rudeness towards us.” The words came back faint but clearly.
“She? Who’s she?” Bunny exclaimed.
“The dark presence I sense?” Connor suggested.
“Samantha, who is she, please?” I called out.
The REM Pod remained quiet, and we exchanged glances. Something had changed in here, and everybody sensed it.
“Harry here. Freddie, you caught a figure briefly popping her head out of the room. Judging by the shape and the face, it is female.” Harry’s voice cackled over the radio.
“Thanks, Harry,” I replied.
“The atmosphere has changed, and we’ve dropped another ten degrees,” Connor stated.
“Should we break out the SLS camera?” Freddie asked.
“What does that do?” Bunny inquired.
“It uses infrared signals and can pick up spirits. It makes them look like stick figures, but lets us see them,” Freddie explained.
“Cool, do you have it on you? Can I try?”
Freddie grinned, and Bunny pulled it from her backpack. It took a few moments to set it up, and the whole time, the temperature kept dropping until we could see our breath in the air.
“There you go. Move slowly and see what you can find,” Freddie instructed as she took her normal camera back from Connor.
Bunny moved around gradually, and I watched over her shoulder.
“Samantha, do you see the object Bunny is holding? That’s called an SLS camera, and it allows us to see where you’re standing,” I explained.
Bunny continued to move, but I glanced at Samantha’s room. “Bunny, focus there,” I whispered, pointing.
An O shape formed when Bunny turned in surprise.
“Yeah, I see it too!” I murmured.
Standing just inside the door was a female figure with long hair. She wore an old-fashioned dress, and while we could make out her outline, her features were hard to discern.
“Look!” Bunny cried, and I saw a stick figure appear exactly where the ghost stood.
“Hel-lo!”she called in a singsong voice before fading.
“Shit!” Bunny exclaimed, and I chuckled.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Connor said, and she nodded.
“That was a real ghost. I didn’t believe in them until yesterday, and I have to admit, I thought that would get debunked. But this? Nah, ghosts are real!” Bunny continued in excitement.
“Find the lost.”A wail made us jump. The hair on my body stood on end as the mood dropped. Everything faded to sadness, misery, and pain. Darkness came over the ward as we huddled together. Something didn’t want us here; I felt like it was trying to push us out.
“We mean you no harm,” I called.
“Lies.”
“No, please, we just want to talk. But if you’d like us to leave—”
“Go. Run. Flee. Death. Kill. Murder. Lost.”The words battered us, and I stepped back.
