Page 30 of The Asylum
“Shoo.”
“We’re shooing,” Connor replied, amused.
“Shouldn’t we stay? Push for more questions?” I asked as Connor hauled me up from where I’d been sitting on the floor.
“No, that’s the way to anger them. This spirit clearly thinks she’s working, and we need to leave her alone. How angry would you get if someone kept questioning you as you worked?” Connor said.
“True.”
We both stopped as we heard an infant’s cry. From behind us, we could faintly hear a lullaby being hummed in a woman’s voice. The nurse wasn’t evil at all — talk about rumours getting it wrong.
“Damn!” I exclaimed and turned to look. At the far end, near one of the rooms, stood a seven-foot shadow. Jimmy once more waved and then faded.
“Harry,” I whispered into the radio.
“Got it! Come back and review what you missed!” Harry replied.
Sunny
I was watching Magic with a beady eye. He carried a backpack, but from what I could see, he didn’t have a fuckin’ flame thrower in it this time. Why the hell had Callie sent us to the psych ward with Magic? Did she want us to lock him up? That would be my fuckin’ pleasure. I wondered if there were straitjackets around.
As soon as we entered, I sensed this place would be active. Phil and I exchanged a glance, and I knew we both felt it. There was anticipation in the air. The usual debris and typical graffiti were present, but there was more. The first room we peered into held a chair with electrodes attached to it.
“Shit,” I whispered.
We moved on and discovered a small room with a single bath standing over a drain. An icebox stood in the corner. Repulsed, I shuddered to think of its purpose. The next few rooms were padded cells, the padding torn open and scattered on the floor. There were cells with beds and shackles remaining in place, and I winced. God, this would have destroyed people.
We crossed to the other side and discovered something similar. But instead of a bath and shock chair, there was a table with instruments lying beside it. I moved over, and my hand reached out to touch them before I snatched it back.
“Are those… damn, that’s an ice pick,” I murmured.
“Lobotomy tools,” Pyro said.
I stepped away in horror. It was then that I noticed the straps that would have held a person down while someone whacked an ice pick into their head.
“Jesus,” I hissed.
“Jesus fled this place a long time ago,” Phil replied.
“Amen, brother,” Pyro stated.
“What was this room?” I asked as I stared at the huge speakers on the walls.
“Audio torture. I’ve heard of it but never seen it,” Phil declared and made an appalled face.
“What is it?” Magic boomed.
“They would play the scriptures repeatedly with no pause for days on end to try to cure madness. If they hadn’t gone in crazy, they certainly came out of it insane. They were denied sleep, rest, and were constantly tormented,” Phil elaborated.
“No wonder this place is so haunted,” Magic quipped, but it was without malice.
“Was this a male or female ward?” I asked, and Magic shrugged.
“Mixed. Those who were really bad were locked in the isolation cells,” Harry’s stated.
“Christ, this hellhole should be burned to the ground. The misery in here can’t be imagined,” I hissed and avoided looking at Pyro.
“Lessons can be learned from institutions like this,” Phil declared.
