The Dark Corners Box Set

by Robert Scott-Norton

  “In case we need a quick getaway,” she said in answer to Seth’s unspoken question.

  Seth was torn. His skin prickled at the energies he felt, and glancing up at the ceiling, he imagined he could see through to the Delinquents' Corridor at the top of the building and wondered what was happening to the rest of the ghost party. He checked his watch and realised it had been almost 20 minutes since he’d last seen them. A heartbeat for him, but likely an eternity for those trapped in the roof space upstairs.

  Judy led the way back to the main entrance, proceeding carefully, watching her feet as she travelled. She’d pause at doorways, peering inside before dashing past. Seth followed her lead, appreciating her caution. Without their lights, the darkness ahead was a heavy threat that could consume him in a heartbeat.

  “He could be anywhere,” she hissed.

  “He’s likely to be close to the ghost party. I don’t think he’d ever get too far from them.”

  “Then we need a distraction to draw him away so we can get up there and rescue them.” She was brave. Brave or foolish. They were dealing with an Adherent of the Fourth and they were not the people you messed around with. “You reckon he’s trying to ready a ritual?”

  “I‘d say it‘s likely.”

  “And that’s why he brought the book.”

  “He needs it. The book always forms part of the rituals.”

  “So, we have something to bargain with.” And she took a lighter from her jeans pocket and passed it to Seth.

  “What are you proposing?”

  She stepped over to the crate of supplies that Johnny had brought into the building and picked up one of the air horns. “You’re going to draw him here and threaten to burn it, whilst I nip around the back way and get up to the top corridor.” The woman was mad. She grinned at him like she’d just solved an unusually perplexing crossword clue.

  Seth grinned as well. “You best find somewhere to hide until he gets here. I’ll sound the horn every thirty seconds until he turns up.”

  And then she did another surprising thing. Judy leant in and kissed Seth on the cheek. “Be careful.”

  “You too.”

  And she ran away from Seth, into the darkness, leaving Seth alone and more scared than he’d been since he was a ten-year-old boy.

  18

  Seth sounded the air horn again and winced at the noise. It sailed out from the main entrance, bouncing around the dark corridors ahead of him and back at him from the ceiling above. Judy was running into danger without him and he felt the guilt like a weight on his chest. If anything happened to her, it would be on him. He could have gone with her, they could have avoided Johnny or even better, taken him down together. There was no need for sneaking around. But, what's done was done. They were committed.

  In between blasts of the horn, Seth had tried to focus on the surrounding noises. The rain was still hammering down outside, and the wind had picked up. The heavy doors of the main entrance shook like a crowd of Black Friday shoppers were behind them. Seth ignored the noise and tried to control his racing heart. Judy had been right that Johnny couldn't risk any of the ghost party from escaping tonight. So, he had a plan for them. The Adherents were known to have practised sacrifice in many of their rituals but human sacrifice? He didn't think so. And what about the hitchers? How were they connected?

  Could Johnny detect that Seth had his own hitcher? Charlie was usually good at keeping himself undetected. In his professional experience, whenever he'd come into proximity with another medium, Charlie would slink back into the dark areas of Seth’s psyche.

  “Thank God!”

  Johnny. He was swaying at the top of the stairs in the shadows. His face impossible to read in the dark.

  He ran down the main staircase, his feet flying over the treads, giving the illusion he was half falling towards the bottom. Seth dropped the air horn and hammer and grabbed the man by the arms, steadying him and restraining him at the same time. Satisfied that he wasn't carrying any obvious weapons, and that he didn't pose an immediate physical threat, Seth let him go and stepped back, keeping his distance.

  Run, Judy. Go quickly.

  She'd have heard the air horn stop and would be making her way to the Delinquents' Corridor armed with nothing but a crowbar and her wits. Oh God, what were they thinking?

  Johnny's injury looked nasty. A dark bruise had already formed on his forehead and it had swelled up into a sizable bump.

  “You will want that seen to,” Seth said. “You might have a concussion.”

  “It's nothing, really.” Johnny turned, looking all about. “Where’s Judy?”

  “I got her out through the gates. She's gone to get help.”

  Johnny's eyes narrowed. “You opened the gates?”

  “No, but we found enough junk out there for her to climb over the top.”

  “Jesus, is she OK? That's some drop on the other side.”

  “She's fine,” Seth lied, praying that his lies weren't as obvious as they sounded to his ears. His satchel was pressing against his side, suddenly feeling heavy. He tried to ignore the sensation. “Where did you go?” he asked.

  “I went searching for the others. I thought I heard them crying for help. I didn't know where you'd gone and didn't want to waste any time looking for you.”

  “And did you make it to them?”

  “Almost, but the corridor was still sealed tight. We’ll need tools.”

  “How about your van? You gave me your keys remember. Let’s look.”

  Johnny snatched for the keys. “You won't find anything interesting in there.”

  “You must have hurt your head pretty hard if you’d forgotten you’d left a van key on the same set as the hospital set. What’s the problem? There’s got to be something helpful in the van. I thought your company was based around security. Screwdrivers? Hammers? A crowbar?”

  Johnny smirked. The smirk of a man who knows he's been rumbled. He stepped towards Seth but the medium had already sensed the attack coming and ducked to his left, before reaching behind Johnny's back and yanking his arm up his back, feeling the pressure on the elbow joint and pushing past the resistance.

  Johnny howled in protest, then his cries became a muffled yell as Seth slammed him into the wall, letting go of the arm. Johnny slumped to the floor and Seth couldn't resist delivering a kick to the man’s ribs. Johnny brought his arms up to protect his head as the kicks continued, curling himself up into a ball against the onslaught.

  Seth dropped back, exhausted and ashamed but satisfied all the same. Johnny wasn't even trying to get to his feet anymore, he just shifted until his back was up against the wall, before peeking out through his fingers to locate his attacker. Seth retrieved his hammer from the floor and felt the reassuring weight of it. He held it before him, raised so Johnny could understand he meant business.

  “Why?” The man on the floor sobbed.

  “You're a liar. You knew what was going on tonight, you planned it. You're one of them. An Adherent.”

  “What's an Adherent?”

  For a moment, Seth almost believed the pitiful voice, but then he recalled the contents of the box in Johnny's van and he resisted the urge to kick him again.

  “I’ve been in your van and seen your box of tricks.”

  Johnny stayed silent. He eased himself upright, resting his back against the wall as he looked at Seth with empty eyes.

  “You know nothing,” he said, carefully. The voice was the same but different, as if a new personality was on show, the old Johnny merely a character he was playing to convince them all that he was an idiot.

  “I know enough.”

  “So, tell me.”

  “I know you're an Adherent of the Fourth, the occult sect operating from this hospital before its closure twenty-one years ago. I know that you and your father orchestrated tonight to bring back people to this place that have some prior connection with it and you're aiming to perform a ritual that puts us all in danger.” He nodded. “Am I c
lose?”

  Johnny sighed. Then he brought his hands up and began to slow clap. The sound echoed loudly and Seth frowned.

  “I was raised into a family of Adherents,” Johnny said. “Dad used to draw blood from me when a ritual called for it. I never wanted to be involved, but it wasn't as if they ever gave me a choice.”

  “What’s your dad’s connection to this hospital?”

  “He worked here for a while. He was an electrician and in the 1980s was brought in as a freelancer by the contractors. Once here, he had the misfortune to meet Dr Graeme Lowman. He was the leader of this cell, the recruiter, the whip, keeping the others in line.”

  “He was the man that hanged himself.”

  Johnny nodded. “The hospital would get closed down anyway, but the police had been alerted to what was going on here and steps were taken to shut the cell down.”

  “What steps?” Seth felt like he was missing something. “You mean the police shut the place down?”

  “The Adherents weren’t the only cult operating back then. There was plenty of competition. There still is. I’d explain but I don’t think we have the luxury of time anymore. There’s something you need to see.” Johnny rose slowly to his feet, keeping his hands flat in front of him, making it clear that he would not be any further trouble.

  “What we need to do is get those people out of the cupboards upstairs. Get them away from that black cloud.”

  “I don’t think that will be possible, at least for a while. They’re under guard.”

  “You’re planning a ritual aren’t you?”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “I’ve been in your van remember.” And Seth slowly withdrew the book he’d taken from the box of artefacts. The expression on Johnny’s face flashed swiftly to annoyance and then like a blind suddenly rolling up, it was gone again. Johnny stiffened, and Seth kept the book out of reach. “What is this for exactly?”

  “I thought you were smart.”

  “I know it’s the Book of the Fourth. I thought these were honoured and to be kept under protection at all times. You left yours in the back of a van.”

  “It’s required for the ritual.”

  “Then I’d better keep a close eye on it.”

  Johnny grunted. “I’d be careful of it if I were you.” He started to move off, seemingly no longer interested in the book.

  Seth stepped in front of him, blocking his passage, but Johnny tipped his head and said, “I need to show you something in the basement. It’s serious.”

  Seth couldn’t help but glance up at the ceiling, trying to envisage where Judy would be. Johnny noticed the glance and Seth thought he saw the hint of a grin. Did Johnny know Judy was still in the building? He chose to believe that he was imagining things and if he wanted to give her a chance to get the others out, he needed to keep Johnny distracted. The man was not who they’d thought and was playing with them.

  “I want you in front of me at all times. Any funny business and I will kick the living shit out of you.”

  Johnny huffed but shrugged in agreement. “Fine,” he said, then walked across the entrance hall, grabbed a torch from the table and tossed it to Seth who flicked it on. “We should hurry,” Johnny said. “I don’t know how long that will last.”

  As if in recognition of its role in the evening, Seth’s torch flickered disturbingly before settling back into a steady beam of light. It might have been Seth’s imagination but he could have sworn that the light was dimmer than it had been even a moment ago.

  Judy had secreted herself into a narrow cupboard on the ground floor at the far end of the central wing. She’d been listening as Seth sounded the air horn with her heart thumping and a pulsing temple that she put down to the adrenaline flooding her body.

  What the hell had she been thinking?

  She was alone in a derelict psychiatric hospital with a satanist at large in the building, and a troop of impossible shadow monsters ready to appear and maim them. And let's not forget the hospital itself that was acting against them with the gaseous blackness that had seized the rest of the ghost party.

  Seth wasn’t being honest with her. He knew far more about these Adherents than he was letting on. That phrase that was transcribed during the Ouija board troubled her. What did the Children of the Adherents mean? That there were more of these cultists roaming these halls? That Johnny wasn’t alone? But despite her mistrust of Seth, out of the people she’d met tonight, he was the only one that had any idea what was happening. None of the rest of the group had been able to see the doorways to this Almost Realm, nor thankfully for them, had they been able to see the shadowmen that emerged. Was this common for him? To experience life knowing that out there, in every dark corner lay the possibility of some terrible threat?

  She was definitely marking tonight down as a mistake.

  Johnny’s dad had been persuasive and the money he’d offered would pay this month’s mortgage. Since Phil had died, and she’d uncovered the lie about the life insurance, she’d been left vulnerable. Despite everything that had happened in her house, stuff she’d rather not remember, it was still the family home and she was damned if she was about to give it up. It was Jemma’s home as much as hers and she didn’t deserve to lose the home she’d grown up in.

  Judy ducked her head out from her hiding place, ready to run the other way should she catch sight of Johnny. The corridor was empty, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Johnny had played them all, coming across as a little bumbling, it was a cute act. They’d all trusted him. But then to see inside his van; that had been an eye-opener. It almost didn’t register that these things could exist. Occult artefacts? A goat’s head? These things only existed in films, it wasn’t what you expected to find in the back of a ford transit.

  The air horn stopped.

  That was the sign. Johnny must be with Seth and that gave her an opening. She gulped, and slipped out of her hiding place, forgoing any light, and ran away from the primary entrance. There was a secondary staircase a hundred yards along the main corridor, and as she ran, comforted somewhat by the weight of the crowbar in her hand, a flash of doubt struck her. The crowbar might be enough to break into the Delinquents’ Corridor, but it was hardly a defence against the black cloud that had snatched the others.

  Running in the dark to fight something from a nightmare.

  As she ran, she noticed a sound. The screech of hinges in dire need of oiling. Doors ahead and behind her, all along this main artery of the hospital, were opening. Shit. She gripped tighter, terrified that she might have to swing this weapon and confront the enemy.

  She could stop, it wasn’t too late to turn and head back to Seth. The two of them together would be better against Johnny. She slowed, and the surrounding air shifted as a dozen rooms breathed into the main corridor, chill drafts that rippled her skin.

  It’s in my head, she thought. It doesn’t want me to go on. The hospital was messing with her, just like Seth had told her back in the courtyard. She was so tired though, so tired and ready to lie down and let Seth handle this. He was the expert.

  Inside your head.

  She slapped her face, gently at first, enough to feel a snap of pain, and then a second time and again until she could feel the burn on her cheek. And then she shook her head and tried not to pay any attention to the surrounding rooms with open doorways.

  “Get out of here,” she hissed. “Get out or I swear to God, I’ll burn this place down.”

  It wasn’t much, perhaps the sense behind the words than the actual threat itself, but the fog lifted enough for Judy to smile and head back to the secondary staircase, unhindered by any more doubt. She was breathing deeply and was reminded of how out of shape she’d become in the last few months since Phil had stopped forcing her to go to the gym.

  Doors led off from the first-floor landing, tape sealed the exits and Judy hurried up to the fourth floor—the Correction Floor. If her bearings were correct, she’d be able to head left at the top of the
stairs and pass through the section that Johnny had ordered them not to enter. That would get her back to the landing outside the entrance to the Delinquents’ Corridor where she would try to get inside and get the others out.

  She stepped onto the fourth-floor landing and took a breather. A pair of double doors lay on her left, a faded sign above declared the section beyond as Ward 8. She tried the torch on her phone but as she yanked it from a pocket and pressed the phone’s power button, the screen remained dark. Another one of the hospital’s tricks.

  “Doesn’t matter,” she said. “I like the dark. I can see just fine.” But her bravado wasn’t enough to stop her hand shaking as it reached for one of the doors and pulled it towards her.

  Standing on the threshold, she took in the space beyond and wondered which patients would have found themselves up here. The ward had been sliced up into separate living areas, each afforded a standard hospital bed, although these bare rusty frames were unlikely to offer much in the way of comfort. A tall cupboard unit divided one patient’s ‘room’ from the next, and these were fixed to floor and ceiling via metal posts. She approached and let the door behind her swing shut. There was something stuck on the cupboard door of the room right ahead of her, a picture, drawn on A4 paper, and as she got closer, she saw the fevered crayon scribbles of an old patient. A face with wide empty eyes, black and irregular. Two dots for the nostrils, and the mouth thin and frowning. And a corner of the paper was missing. Her heart thudded as she reached in her pocket for the square of paper Seth had given her earlier, outside when they’d first met, before they’d even set foot inside the building. She knew it would fit even before she brought the scrap to the picture she’d just discovered. She felt light-headed. This wasn’t possible.

  Unless, Seth was in on this whole nightmare.

  Something else about the picture set her mind racing. Detailed around the edge were symbols she’d seen less than an hour ago, symbols she’d seen as Seth had flicked through the book they’d found in Johnny’s van. She took a corner of the drawing and lifted it from the cupboard. Dry Sellotape tore away from the wood veneer with a crackle. Why was this here? Had it been left by a patient?