Thriller: Horror: Spirit Doll (Mystery Suspense Thrillers) (Haunted Paranormal Short Story)

by Stephen Kingston

  She was going to a place where it was always warm, where it never snowed, and to a new and exciting job. She had not worked with psychiatric patients before but she saw it as a challenge and a field that was often overlooked. Her friends at home had asked her if she was crazy, going to work in such a place, but she had told them about the pay and the benefits of living in a warm climate and they’d soon come to envy her instead.

  The hospital was not just a psychiatric hospital, after all. This place was a mental institution for the criminally insane. Sighing deeply Betty felt a moment of worry but remembered how much she was going to be getting on her pay check every week. That helped ease the fear quite a bit.

  Betty finished off her pie and had one more cup of coffee before she left the diner. She left the server a generous tip and waved as Denise called out to her.

  “Good luck with that new job and the rest of your drive, sweetie! Come on back when you are driving this way again!”

  Betty got into her car, an old Pontiac that had seen better days but ran like a dream, and smiled as the car started up. She did not know if she would ever be coming back this way again but she would make sure to stop if she did.

  Betty drove into the parking lot of the facility the next morning and stared up at the intimidating building. Three stories tall and made of brick the facility had very few windows and those were covered in wire and iron bars. The building was intimidating and gave off an uninviting air. It was not a place that welcomed visitors or curiosity seekers; it was functional from the concertina wire on the roof to the pointed cast iron gate that enclosed the bottom floor all the way up to the wide veranda at the front. The entire building screamed stay away, I am designed to keep the world safe from the dangers I hold within.

  Betty suppressed a shiver of foreboding as she stepped out of her car and looked up at the dark sky overhead. Yesterday’s storm in Georgia had followed her down to Florida and now the sky was dark and grey. Not the best way to start off her first full day here but she knew what was waiting for her when she got home.

  The house she had rented through an agency was far more than she had expected. She could hear the ocean crashing into the coast from her front porch, smell the salt water even, and see the beach from her bedroom upstairs. The two-floored house had two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, living room, and a very wide front porch. It was far more than she had had in Charlotte and the fact that it was fully furnished made the whole thing even better.

  Betty rounded her shoulders and marched up the six concrete steps to the front door of the hospital. Pushing in the double doors she walked into the lobby, as she had been instructed to do, and let the receptionist know she had arrived.

  Betty inspected the area seen by most visitors and found it the same as the building, functional but secure. No color to alleviate the air of tension barely contained and no artwork to give the place some class, just functional green walls and a plain, cheap desk in the middle of it all. There was not even a chair for visitors to sit in while they waited.

  Betty heard quick but muted footsteps approaching and turned to see an older woman, in her late forties or early fifties approaching. The woman wore the no-nonsense shoes most people associated with nurses in the time period, white leather with thick brown rubber soles, and the dress that seemed to lend the woman wearing it an air of authority. Betty found that often happened when nurses put their uniform dresses on. People responded to that authority and obeyed, as if the dress was some kind of magical talisman.

  Betty liked the woman on sight. She was a no-nonsense kind of person herself. Serious, focused, and with little time for games and silly notions Betty was a good nurse and her skills had been complimented many times. At 30 years old she had little time for romance and sex, she wanted to succeed, and so far she was living out her dream. In another ten years she wanted to own her own home and have her retirement planned out. By the time she was 60 she planned on having enough money in the bank to retire here in Florida and live out her days in peace and quiet.

  A much different way than her life had begun. Betty’s parents had often argued and her father often beat her mother. Betty remembered many nights spent under her bed, hiding from the angry words of her father and the frightened pain-filled screams of her mother. Betty did not know if her mother was just neglectful or if she did not have the money but the kids often went hungry, dirty, and without because of their parents. Drunk and unruly, both parents had been poor examples for their children and neither Betty nor her siblings had mourned for long when the pair died in a car accident when Betty was 18. She had learned one thing from them; love was a waste of time because it would just turn to hate and resentment in the end. She was never going to marry and if that meant she would never have children, so be it. She did not want to end up like her parents.

  “Hello, you are Betty Taylor I presume?” The woman said with a smile. Betty saw that the woman’s white hair had been pinned under her stiff cap and though her eyes were an ice blue they were warm and filled with a smile. “You are quite pretty, are you not?”

  Betty took pains to hide her looks, tucking her own hair away and wearing no makeup when she was at work. She had to wear it sometimes when she was out but most often it was only on special occasions. She wore a loose uniform to hide her figure and avoided flirtation. She did not have time for flings or dates. She had goals and kept to her path.

  “Thank you. Yes, I am Betty, are you the head nurse?” The woman had been staring at Betty and hadn’t introduced herself yet.

  “Oh yes, I do apologize! I am Margaret Bellows. I will be your supervisor and mentor. As it is your first day you will not be doing much work. If you will follow me I will give you the tour.” Margaret held her hand out in front of her and Betty started to follow.

  “Where will I be working exactly?” Betty wondered out loud, wondering which floor she would be on.

  “That may change as your needed elsewhere, you have quite a bit of emergency room experience and that will be helpful. During your training period you will likely be on the first floor but you may go up to the second and third floor. Most of the first floor is for administrative duties but we do have patients down here. This is my office, won’t you come in?” Margaret stopped to push open a door and walked through. “I need you to fill out some paper work then we will do the tour.”

  Betty filled in the forms, tax papers and confidentiality agreements mainly, and looked around the office. A typical office with a desk and chairs but there were no photos or paintings on the wall and no heavy mobile objects. Betty realized then that these things could be used as weapons and the reality of where she was set in.

  “Are there really dangerous people here?” Betty was not sure if her question sounded naïve or disbelieving but she meant to ask how dangerous the people actually were.

  “Oh we have some of the worst here. We are just outside of Saint Augustine so the public is safe but security is extreme here. We house rapists, murderers, and some very dangerous people here. Have you heard of Travis Brown? He was found with a woman tied up in his basement. He had had her there for years and there were bodies found in his backyard, 23 women he had abused and killed. The man has some severe mental problems so he is here with us.”

  Betty gulped as Margaret spoke. She had heard about him. Her conviction to work here wavered a little but then she remembered that house. She was tough and she would be trained. She could do it.

  “I know it is daunting but it is best you know about the worst of it from the beginning. This is not a place for gentle souls or the timid. I understand you have moved a long way to work here?” Margaret asked, her gaze inquisitive.

  “Yes, it has always been my dream to live in Florida. This job has allowed that to happen. As long as I am going to be trained I know I can handle it. We had drunks and drug users, and the mentally impaired, coming into the emergency room. I went home with bruises, cuts, and broken bones a few times. I will get the hang of this place too.” Be
tty hoped she had assured Margaret of her capabilities.

  The woman seemed to make a decision and stood up.

  “Welcome to the staff then, Betty. We are glad to have you.” Margaret shook Betty’s hand once more then led her out of the office.

  Margaret took Betty through each floor and department, introducing her to patients and staff alike. Betty noted the presence of many strong burly men, both in security and orderlies, and felt reassured by their presence. After introductions were made and Betty was shown to the areas she needed to know about Margaret took Betty to the cafeteria.

  “Most of your duties will consist of checking vitals, giving out meds, and keeping patients calm. If we keep them calm and head off conflict before it starts our jobs are a lot easier. Tea or coffee?” Margaret asked as they walked through the line.

  “Coffee please.” Betty asked. She was trying to remember the names of one of the doctors she had met. He had seemed a very intelligent and earnest fellow.

  “Do you have a boyfriend or husband Betty?” Margaret asked as they sat down at a table to go over some of the rules and regulations of the place.

  “Oh no. I am a lifelong, card carrying member of the bachelorette and happy that way society. I just do not have time for it.” Betty assured Margaret.

  “Ah. I see. Then you will have time for studying then. Your first few weeks are going to be filled with a lot of memorizing and reading. We have a lot of rules here but it keeps us all safe. I do not suppose you will be breaking Rule 22 if you have sworn off love.” Margaret said with a joking smirk that made Betty want to giggle for some reason.

  “Rule 22?” Betty asked, pouring cream into her coffee before stirring it.

  “No fraternization between staff and certainly none between staff and patients. At all. We can all go on outings together but no romances. Ever.”

  “That will not be a problem, I can assure you.” Betty promised before taking a sip of her coffee and grimacing. “Is it always this awful, the coffee?”

  “It is better in the evenings but it keeps us on our toes. Now, let’s go over the rules in depth.” Margaret gave her a conspiratorial smile and Betty could not help but smile back. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here after all.

  Betty spent the rest of the day going over papers, directives, and other reading that she had to start to learn. She made the rounds with one of the day nurses as she handed out pills and was amazed out how smoothly it all went.

  By the time Betty went home that evening she felt overwhelmed but sure she had made the right choice. Florida was heaven and if her job was a little odd, so be it. Staring out over the ocean from her bedroom window she watched a storm rolling out to sea and knew this was the place she was supposed to be.

  Chapter Six

  Betty wandered through the halls of the hospital a week later, a little more confident in her abilities to handle the job but knew she needed to be careful. You had to watch what you said in a place like this. Andy Ledbetter was operating under the delusion now that he was a Hollywood star just because she had called him a star when he stuck his tongue out after taking his medicine.

  Words were powerful in a place such as this and you had to be careful how you used them. The mentally ill could misinterpret what you meant and were susceptible to suggestions. She would have to tread carefully from now on. Betty turned down the hall, intending to head to a desk where nurses did their charting for each patient, but stopped when she heard a laugh.

  Betty was working the evening shifts now and the hallway was going dark. Between poor lighting and few windows the hospital could become a very dark place at night. She stopped and looked behind her but there was not anyone there. Studying the hallway carefully Betty could see there was not anyone there and the sound would have had to travel over 50 feet from the end of the hallway to reach her. It must have just been an echo, she thought as she started walking once more.

  She stopped once more when she thought someone came up beside her. She was startled because she hadn’t heard anyone coming up behind her but she could see their shadow out of the corner of her eye. Turning she saw once more that there was not anyone near her but she heard the laughter once more.

  Spooked and ready to be out of the hallway Betty picked up her pace and all but ran to the desk in the middle of the second floor. The area was well lit and two other nurses and a doctor were at the station. Betty sat down, breathing slightly heavy as she reached for a chart.

  “Are you alright, Betty?” One of the female nurses asked. Jackie was a large African American woman who always had a smile on her face. A widow with two small girls the woman still managed to find the joys in life. Something Betty thought was unusual when the woman worked in a place liked this but she liked Jackie and enjoyed working with her.

  “Oh, it is just my own nerves spooking me, Jackie. You know how it is in those long dark hallways.” Betty laughed at herself now that she was in the reassuring light and with others around. All of the patients were in bed by now; she must have been imagining it.

  “It is easily done in this place, that is for sure. You got the chart for Ernie Myers. I need to make a change to his medicine regimen.” Betty handed the chart over and went back to checking off the medicines she had given out earlier.

  “Hello, hello, hello. And what are you fine ladies doing on a night like this? Anybody up for some wine and dancing?” Travis Brown, the patient Margaret had spoken to Betty about on the first day she came to the hospital, walked out of the hallway she had been walking up earlier.

  “Boy, what are you doing out of bed? You know it is sleep time. Do not make me call Ben up here now, go on back to bed.” Jackie’s hand was already on the phone as she spoke, her pinky finger twitching on the dial.

  “Alright, alright Miss Jackie, I will go. I just wanted to see if any of you ladies might want to listen to some music with me, maybe get tied up in some dancing.” The tall man, pudgy with dark hair and dark eyes, was a sight that disgusted Betty. He thought he was handsome but he was not, his eyes were too mean and pig-like, his lips always set in a cruel slant that made him look intimidating rather than handsome or charismatic.

  He eyed Betty as he spoke, his right hand tugging at his beard before smoothing it down. Betty repressed an urge to shiver in disgust and tried to keep the disdain from her face. Travis winked at her before he left the hall, leaving once Jackie picked the phone up.

  “That man sure does give me the creeps.” Jackie murmured quietly, admitting far more than Betty had observed.

  “You too?” Betty asked, feeling she had just made an ally.

  “Girl, that man scares me something fierce but he’ll never know it. If you let them see the fear in your eyes they’ll roll over you like you was nothing more than a cricket in the road. You got to stand tall around them and let them know who is boss. Do not ever let them see the fear.” Jackie gave Betty a stern nod of the head and went back to her charts.

  Later that evening, as Betty was preparing to leave, she heard the laughter again. A shadow swooped by her as she turned around swiftly. She was in the nurses’ locker room and heard the sound of male laughter coming from the area of the showers. Betty felt her pulse go into overdrive and fear blossomed in her chest. Men weren’t allowed in the locker room.

  Betty grabbed her purse and ran out of the door. Looking behind her she did not see anyone. She ran to the nurses’ station and called out for one of the security guards to come with her.

  “There’s a man in the women’s locker room. Hurry before he slips out!” Betty ran back to the room with the guard on her heels. “He is in one of the showers, I heard him in there laughing.”

  The guard ran in, calling for whoever was in the room to come out. Betty stood in the doorway, holding the door open with her back. She saw the guard going to each shower stall and pulling open the curtain. There was nobody in there.

  “What’s all the ruckus little missy?” A male voice asked.

  Betty jumped as the voice
spoke and looked out of the doorway to see Travis standing there.

  “What are you doing out of bed? Get back to your room!” Betty shot out, her voice stern, brooking no argument.

  “Why, I just wanted to see what had you in such a bother pretty lady. Something spook you?” The piggish man asked.

  “Do not touch me! Now, get back to your bed.” She ordered.

  “I only wanted to see if your skin was as soft as it looked. I meant no harm.” He said, his hand going back to his beard to tug on it before smoothing the hair down. He licked his lips in a way that he meant to be seductive but came out as perverse and obscene instead, “You sure are a rather delicious looking little thing.”

  “You are disgusting. Guard; get this man back to his room!” Betty called out to the guard, stepping away from the troubled patient before he could touch her once more.

  “You touch her Travis and I will break your fingers. Come on, back to your room.” The guard pushed the man but he looked back at Betty once more before he went.

  “See you later sweet thing!” He gave an awful laugh as he walked away and Betty knew he had been the one in the locker room. That was the laugh she had heard.

  Betty went in early the next day to talk about the incident with Margaret. She knew she was new to the job and did not want to start complaining but she really did not feel safe. Her dreams had been haunted by the man’s laughter and she awoke at one point unable to move, certain that Travis was standing just over her, waiting on her to move before pouncing on her. The dark circles under her eyes were a testament to just how poorly she had slept.

  Betty knocked on the door to Margaret’s office and pushed the door open when Margaret called out.

  “Hello Betty. My you look tired honey! Have a seat.” Margaret waved at the two chairs in front of her desk.

  Betty sat down in one and tried not to wring her hands. She decided that the best thing to do was to just get it over with.