Asylum Box Set

by Sian B. Claven

  I don’t recall any of this.

  She said she caught me stealing supplies from the medical room and taking them down to the laboratory as though I was preparing surgery for one of the doctors. At first she had been jealous, sure I was tasked with doing secret things she was not allowed to know about, but after following me several times she realized I was acting alone.

  Sometimes she saw me speaking as if I was having a conversation with someone, except there was no one there. Once or twice I would look up at her and frown, but then continue working.

  She followed me with Mitchell Lee. She said it had been really strange, but she wanted to see what I was going to do, and the thought made her sick. The only reason she didn’t report me was because she was glad Mitchell Lee died, being a child rapist. But, from her version of the events, I lured him out of his room by promising him a daughter of a patient, led him downstairs, knocked him out and then did the surgery myself.

  I tried to explain that it wasn’t me, rather Hans that did the surgery, but she swears on her life that the only person in that room was me.

  She then told me about Joshua. How sometimes he whispered about a ghost, a skeleton he had seen. At first Elsa was sure it was a result of the lobotomy, but now she thinks that what he had seen was Hans.

  Journal, she thinks everything that is happening is because of spirits in the Asylum and, as a good Catholic girl, says we should attend chapel and pray away the demons.

  Now, as a woman of science, I cannot believe there is such a thing as ghosts. There must be a medical reason for everything happening. However, after my experiences the day before, I feel there is more to the asylum than meets the eye.

  I agreed with her, but asked her to keep my story to herself until we had chance to attend chapel. Whatever is in this place is evil, and we must not alert it until we have all our facts.

  I spent the next few days researching the history of the Asylum that previously stood here, but nothing came up. I even tried the local library for newspaper articles, but still couldn’t find anything. I decided then that the first day I had off I would venture into the older section of the hospital to see if any files had survived the fire.

  That night Hans came to my room to speak to me about what I had seen. He discussed how Mary Sue-Ellen De Clara, the midget, firmly believed she was a man and he was simply assisting her achieve that status. I pretended to be fascinated, but then I got scared because he grabbed me and shook me, telling me that the world was filled with evil only fire could purge.

  When he let go of me, it was as though nothing had happened at all. He smiled and told me how beautiful I am, and how beautiful our children are. I had to pretend that everything was okay, that I was okay. I couldn’t help but shudder when he kissed me, though. The smoky smell I had so loved about him now smelled like burnt pork, while his lips were ice cold.

  I did venture into the old section of the hospital and found that nothing had survived.

  You cannot begin to understand how disappointed I was that no matter where I looked I just couldn’t find the answers I needed to prove I was sane, or possibly insane.

  Elsa keeps asking me about what we should do and when we should go to church, but I don’t want to leave just yet. I first want answers.

  Preferably before she has me committed.

  I found what I was looking for eventually, and it was via Dr Reed. He came to see how I was doing, having heard from Elsa that I wasn’t feeling well, and I asked him about the old Asylum. He confirmed that most of it, if not all, had burnt down except the basement.

  THE BASEMENT! I hadn’t even thought of that. Of course, if any files were kept in the basement they may have survived. I had to go there when Hans went to his rooms to rest. I needed to find out once and for all what is really going on.

  In the early hours of the morning, when I was sure Hans, and the rest of the hospital, would be asleep, I crept down to the basement and properly looked around. What I found was not files from the old Asylum, but a box. It looked like the flames had kissed it, but hadn’t destroyed it. I opened it to find journals, journals in Hans’s hand writing. Journals from the 1950s.

  It was impossible. It was impossible that Hans was that old.

  I took the journals back to my room and read them all. I looked at his diagrams, I read his notes. It was as though I was really there, as though I was in the old asylum in the 1950s.

  I found a picture of the staff in the box as well. I saw Dr Wellbottom and, after learning of his fate, I knew I had lost my marbles. The man I saw, the man I knew was out to get Hans, was dead. He had died a fiery death all those years ago and now I saw him.

  Like I saw Tate.

  Like I saw Clara.

  Since reading those journals I have seen them all again. At first I thought it was just nightmares as a result of discovering everything, but no, I know they are the malevolent spirits of the patients’ experimented on by Dr Hans Brock decades ago.

  Sometimes I see Clara with a scissors stuck in her head, blood spurting from her wound. I have felt Tate’s hands on my body as I slept, or sometimes when I walk past the day room he was shot in.

  The worst is Hans. I haven’t seen him since I found his journals and I am scared to; if I do see him, he may not be a man. He may be the remnants of whatever it is that is here.

  In this evil place.

  The worst part of this is that I see the ghosts of the old inhabit the new. I have seen Tate take over Joshua’s now mindless body and make it do things, things that aren’t possible.

  The other day another patient, one that was self-admitted and not dangerous at all, attacked her visiting daughter in the neck with knitting needles, and I have seen Clara and what I assumed is the ghost of her mother in their faces.

  The ghosts of this place will not rest until they can fully inhabit someone and complete the lives that were taken away from them. I cannot let that happen.

  I then ran into Hans. That was the scariest and worst part. He kissed me deeply, remarking how much he loved me and I tasted the burnt pork of his tongue. As he kissed me, his skin melted away, then his muscles. It was as though he was in a fire and everything was just disappearing, and I was left kissing a burnt corpse, which then asked me what was wrong. I calmly said nothing.

  That was yesterday.

  Today I made the decision that this ends here; I will not allow such an evil to continue unchecked. I made sure of it.

  Earlier today I went to the kitchen to add lethal amounts of arsenic to all the food, for patients and staff alike, and mine is still here.

  I have checked carefully. Everyone is dead.

  Elsa.

  Dr Reed.

  The orderlies.

  The patients.

  It is just me left and, as I sit writing this, I am trying my best not to look up at the pressing bodies of what feels like hundreds of ghosts all together, standing in my rooms, waiting for me, staring at me.

  It’s my time.

  If you have found this, please heed my words and let no other Asylum ever be built here. Destroy it and let these restless souls be set free and please know that everything I did, I did because I wanted to be a better person, a great nurse, and to truly help people.

  Goodnight.

  Goodbye.

  This is not the end …

  Epilogue

  ELSA

  Elsa was so excited about working at the Asylum. Her dream to become a doctor came closer by the minute. The bus that took them there was mostly empty. She suspected the other lady on the bus was also a nurse, but she was too shy to say anything.

  The history of the Asylum worried Elsa a bit, but she was the kind that kept calm on the outside, even if she was freaking out on the inside. She needed this job; she needed to save up enough money so that she could go across state to finish her studies.

  Although her true aspiration was to become a doctor, in life Elsa gave her everything all the time. She would do the same in this job, whether it
gained her recognition or not, and she would climb the ladder as quickly as she could to earn as much money as possible in a short period of time.

  When they arrived at the Asylum, Dr Wetson was there to welcome them, as was mentioned in the welcome pack she received. He gave them a tour of the institution and explained where everything was, what the safety procedures were and everything in-between. Elsa made sure to pay close attention, especially when she noticed another doctor watching how they behaved. It was like they were little school children all over again. The doctor’s name tag read Dr Wellbottom, and he looked important. She would make sure to impress him.

  Elsa made friends with Karen, the other nurse from the bus, and at first they worked well together. They managed to get everything they needed done and all the doctors seemed happy with their progress. That was until they had a falling out with an orderly. Elsa knew then that Karen would be trouble.

  While they worked in Block C, she was kind to the elderly patients, but once she was moved to block E, Karen became extremely arrogant and secretive and Elsa worried about her. She tried to speak to Karen about it, but she wouldn’t listen.

  Eventually she had no choice but to go to Dr Wellbottom. She spoke to him in the corridor about her concerns and he mumbled he had similar worries and ordered her to keep an eye on Karen. He mentioned that he thought she had a disease and was going insane.

  Elsa spent all of her free time following Karen around and, when she saw her sneaking a patient off, she made sure to quickly find Dr Wellbottom. He assured Elsa he would deal with it, but the next thing Elsa heard was that the very same patient was missing. She couldn’t find Dr Wellbottom anywhere to ask him about it. She tried talking to Dr Reed, but the arrogant fool didn’t hear her.

  When Elsa eventually found Dr Wellbottom, he said that the patient had indeed escaped Karen and subsequently the Asylum. He was free from the pain they had been inflicting on him.

  What Elsa couldn’t understand, when Karen did speak about her ‘work’, she kept mentioning a German doctor. There were no German doctors in the facility. Elsa would know; she made sure to know all the doctors.

  While Karen ran around like a lunatic, Elsa concentrated on her work. She still had a goal to meet and she didn’t want to be distracted by what Karen was up to.

  That was until Elsa followed her one night to find her kissing thin air. It was the weirdest thing, watching Karen sticking her tongue out and moving her head as though she really was kissing someone. When Karen pulled away from her invisible kiss, she was flushed, panting for air. She then went upstairs to where they kept the dangerous patients and led Mitchell Lee, a child rapist, out of his cell. She referred to herself as Clara and swished her nurse’s uniform around like she was wearing a short skirt.

  Elsa watched with horror as she placed him in position and brutally hacked away his testicles and penis with a scalpel.

  She ran, searching everywhere she went until she found a doctor. She saw Dr Wellbottom and hurried to him, telling him what was happening. He explained that he was aware of the situation and that Elsa was to return to her room, and do nothing further.

  Then Karen approached Elsa, rambling about ghosts, and Elsa thought it best to play along. She talked about going to church, all the while trying to remain calm. She needed to find Dr Wellbottom and tell him that Karen needed to be admitted immediately.

  At lunch Karen wouldn’t eat. Elsa encouraged her, but she shook her head. Once Elsa was finished, she moved towards the stairs, intent on finding Dr Wellbottom. He was downstairs in the basement laboratory. Elsa called to him, and screamed when he turned around, his flesh burnt, melted from his face. He reached his hands out, trying to talk, but his tongue fell to the floor.

  Horrified, Elsa charged upstairs back towards the cafeteria to find Dr Reed.

  Everyone was lying on the floor in piles of their own puke, including Elsa.

  She stood there staring at her body.

  She then looked up at everyone she knew; patients, nurses and doctors alike. All standing and staring at their own bodies.

  Karen, the last of the living in the Asylum, checked each of their pulses, closing their eyes as she went. She could see them, Elsa realised, ghosts, it was all true.

  She followed Karen, angry and hate-fuelled because Karen took her life from her. The others came with her. Together they watched as Karen wrote in her stupid diary … and then she joined them.

  And they consumed her.

  ASYLUM II

  BY

  SIAN B. CLAVEN

  Prologue

  “The jury finds the defendant not guilty by way of insanity.”

  “You are thanked for your time and are now excused.”

  Cole sat amongst the people in the courtroom and clenched his fists. He couldn’t believe that this cop killer was going to get off with the insanity plea. He wanted to storm out, he wanted to swear at the jurors, and he wanted to kill the prosecutor for being so incompetent, but he couldn’t. He had his friend’s memory to respect, and his own dignity to keep intact.

  “This has been a most unusual case,” the judge was saying, “and it deserves a most unusual sentence.” He shuffled the papers in front of him, and Cole watched, wondering if his dreams would come true and Bradley Walker would get the death sentence.

  “Because of the plaintiff's unusual mental condition,” even the judge sounded sceptical, “I will allow the detectives who arrested him to decide which sanatorium he will go to. Until then he will be held in the county jail waiting for his transport. The detectives have two days to decide, or he will be taken to Helen Jones hospital for the criminally insane.”

  With a whack of his hammer, the courtroom was adjourned, and Cole was free to leave.

  “What utter bullshit,” he heard another cop say.

  “Judge is full of shit and so is the jury if they believe that cock and bull story that he’s insane.”

  “Cole? Cole? Where are you going?”

  Cole didn’t stop to talk; he hated closed off spaces as it was, and the courtroom had been packed for this trial. He pushed his way through the lingering crowd and was soon on the steps of the courthouse, taking deep breathes of cool winter air. He pulled his hat on over his head and sighed, reaching into his pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes. Danny’s cigarettes. They had been on him when Bradley Walker shot him six times; the last one was the kill shot to the head. Cole had kept them on him since, even though he quit smoking years before. Man, he craved one now.

  “Cole?” It was Amelia Jones, a rookie detective from their precinct. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am about your partner.” Her voice was shaky - not good for a detective.

  “Thanks, Amelia,” Cole said gruffly. “We can only try and heal now and continue the good fight.”

  “And continue it we shall,” Jeremy Cox said with a slap on Cole’s back. “Especially after we decide where that fucker goes for the rest of his life.”

  Cole snorted. “There isn’t a place on Earth hellish enough for that thing.”

  “Oh, but there is,” Jeremy said cryptically, “but we’ll talk later. I have to interview a witness for another case.” He smacked Cole on the back again and left.

  Cole watched him go, eyebrows furrowed as he wondered what Jeremy and his boys were up to.

  ——

  “Why send him there?” Amelia asked as Cole walked in.

  “Because it’s considered the worst sanatorium in the world. They still do old practices like Electroshock therapy,” Jeremy explained to the room full of detectives gathered to decide Bradley Walker's fate.

  Cole was the last to arrive and already didn’t like what he was hearing. He didn’t like the idea of Bradley Walker being tortured any more than he liked the thought that Danny was gone. They were clean cops, good cops, and he didn’t want to tarnish his reputation for a cop killer.

  “Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Jeremy said once Cole had aired his opinion. “We’re not sending him to his deat
h, though we probably should. If he does die in there, it’s completely accidental, and none of us will be held responsible. Don’t you want Danny’s killer to pay for what he has done?”

  Cole did. He wanted it more than anything, and he remembered his anger when the jurors found him guilty but insane. He shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t matter if we’re good cops or not.”

  “Did it matter that Danny was a good cop when he got shot in cold blood in front of his family?” Jeremy asked, cocking an eyebrow at Cole.

  Cole remembered the haunted look on Catherine’s face, the way her children had cried, way too young to understand why Daddy wouldn’t wake up, and it set Cole off again.

  “Let’s do it. Who’s the doctor in charge?”

  “Dr Wellbottom,” Jeremy said with a secretive smile. “And we’ll be able to keep tabs on him the entire time.”

  “Cameras?” Cole asked.

  “All over the place,” Jeremy explained, “And we have access to them all.”

  ——

  Chapter One

  “You’re going away for good this time, Walker,” Cole said as he drove the car towards the Asylum.

  “I’m sure I’m going to just love it there, Detective Morris,” Walker said smugly, “almost as much as I loved killing Danny.”

  Cole slammed on brakes, and Bradley Walker slammed face first into the cage that separated him from Detective Morris.

  He spat out blood and smiled broadly. “Do it again, I enjoyed it.”

  “It was an accident,” Cole said. “Apologies for that. Raccoon ran out into the street,” he explained, glancing in the rearview mirror.