Page 5 of The Asylum
“I know that, but I don’t want Magic’s brand of chaos affecting her.”
“That’s all Magic knows, brother, but I can tell you this, he’ll break his back to protect her,” I said, wanting to calm Sunny’s worries.
“Thanks. Let me help you with the bags,” Sunny offered.
“No offence, I need time alone. Too much peopling,” I rejected his offer.
Sunny nodded before slapping me on the shoulders and leaving me.
Finally, some me time.
“Pyro, you fuckwit!” Magic roared, and I smacked my head on the car hood. Maybe not.
Harry - Sunday
“Okay, so this is the information I’ve discovered. The Asylum was established in January eighteen twenty-seven as a Poor Farm for the county. It didn’t stay as that and graduated into an infirmary, an orphanage, a tuberculosis hospital, an unmarried mother’s home, and a nursing home. During that time, abuse was rumoured to run riot. It also did a short stint as a hospital for wounded soldiers.”
“Christ, with that history, that’s ripe for a haunting,” Jack mused.
“A lot of pain and grief in those brick walls,” Connor agreed.
“It became a nursing home in nineteen seventy-four, for a decade before its doors were closed for good. Someone took it on as a brief jaunt, as a shelter for the homeless. The serial killer Don Jacobs worked out of it, and after five years of his murder spree, it was shut down when he was arrested,” I continued and paused.
“Damn, I was aware he operated in New York State, but not here in Bethany,” Magic said.
“Yeah, Jacobs is linked to over fifty disappearances, but they only got him on twelve murders. Jacobs once claimed his kills were in triple digits,” I replied. I checked my notes even though I knew what was on them.
“We have the usual hauntings, disembodied voices, doors slamming, whistles, things being thrown, shadow figures andfull body apparitions. Doors are meant to slam, and the squeaking of wheels is heard near the morgue. Added to that catalogue are screams and howls.
“It is rumoured, but not proven, that over one thousand unmarked graves are here; no bodies have ever been discovered. However, investigations haven’t been carried out to discover them. Local authorities destroyed most of the buildings to stop the homeless moving in and dealers using them to grow weed. A nurse is supposed to haunt here, who some say was highly abusive, while others defend her. She’s been seen near the maternity wing or infirmary.”
“They have a maternity wing, Harry?” Freddie asked.
“Yes, patients would get pregnant,” I replied. I knew how the gang would react, and I wasn’t wrong.
“Sex happened, whether consensual or not?” Sunny exclaimed, outraged.
“Yeah. And I’d lean more on the non-consensual side than consensual. There’s also a rumoured seven-foot shadow man who people claim is benign and friendly. He’s supposed to be a gentle giant,” I added.
“If he’s a shadow figure, how do they know he’s male?” Pyro asked, and I shrugged. It wasn’t my place to prove facts, just to state them.
“Ask him when you find him,” I retorted. “A skull haunts the morgue, and there are photographs of it, although blurred, but it is possible to make out a skull. Crying can be heard near the children’s wing. A few figures in white have been witnessed walking the grounds, too.”
“Woah, several spirits?” Connor asked, leaning forward.
I nodded. “Yes, and it’s a strange report, but over thirty witnesses have seen them.”
“Together or separately?” Sunny asked.
“Separately. None of them seems aware of the others, and they all head in the same direction. People feel intense sadness and grief when they see them,” I added.
Callie tapped her fingers against her chin. “So, they could be heading towards the graves or maybe victims of Jacobs?”
“Agreed,” I replied. The same thought had crossed my mind.
“What about the building, Harry? Anything special we need to be aware of?” Callie inquired.
“No. Its design is strange but not overly so. It has two wings at a ninety-degree angle to each other. A third section comes off the back of it. That one is the same size as the other two, but it widens into a larger, rectangle-shaped building. Despite most of the windows being boarded up, the structure is sound, and there have been no collapses. It will be cold, so wrap up warm. No doors are locked inside, and it does boast its own security guards.
