Asylum Hallucinations

Tommy pushed past Jamal, holding his camcorder. He pointed it at Ellie’s face, capturing her frown on the viewfinder. Ellie, feeling invaded, pushed the camera away from her face and said, "You're such a pain."

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Tommy said, his camcorder clutched tightly in his hand. "Exploring an abandoned asylum in the middle of the night? It's like something straight out of a horror movie." He grinned at Jamal, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "But think about it - if we capture some truly spine-tingling footage, we could be the ones making the big bucks. Imagine the reaction on campus when everyone sees us braving the haunted halls of The Elden Balm Asylum. And who knows, we might even go viral and become internet sensations. This is our chance to make a name for ourselves."

As Alleigh made her way up the steep hill, she called out to the others, "We have to find a way in first, genius." She gestured to the imposing, gothic building ahead of them.

The Asylum had been abandoned since the 1980s, and it was clear that time had taken its toll. The once grand structure was now crumbling with vines creeping up its walls, and most of the windows shattered or boarded up.

"I'm sure it won't be hard," Tommy replied, eyeing the building with a hint of nervousness. "It's been abandoned for decades and most of the building is falling apart. We should be able to find a way in."

Jamal pulled out his cell phone and checked the time. "We have about an hour left of daylight," he said, looking up at the others. "We should pick up the pace so we can get inside, set up, and maybe even explore a bit before we have to break out the flashlights."

They quickened their pace, hoping to beat the setting sun. Eventually, they arrived at what used to be the asylum's entrance.

"We're here," Ellie said, her voice barely above a whisper as they stood in front of the door. The large metal door was locked with chains, blocking their way. She tugged at the chains and padlock, making them jingle in the silence. "Now all we have to do is find a way inside."

"Thankfully, I thought ahead and brought my handy-dandy bolt cutters." Jamal shrugged off his tan backpack and placed it on the ground. He pulled out a pair of red bolt cutters from his backpack and handed them to Ellie, saying, "These should do the trick."

Ellie struggled with the bolt cutters, trying to grip and snip the lock in front of her. After a few attempts, she let out a frustrated sigh and dropped the bolt cutters to the ground, shaking out her sore left hand. "This lock is thick," she said, panting slightly. "I can't break through it."

Tommy, noticing Ellie's struggle, handed off his camera to Alleigh and cracked his knuckles. "Let me do the honors," he said, flexing his arms. "I've been benching 150 lately, so I should be able to break through this thing with no problem."

Ellie rolled her eyes at Tommy and handed over the bolt cutters. He took her place at the door and tried to cut through the lock but struggled just as much as Ellie had. Jamal snickered, "How's that physical training working out for you?"

"Oh, shut it," Tommy replied, stealing a glance at the laughing trio. "It must be the rust or something."

Alleigh chimed in, "Can you try the chains?"

"Hmph, sure," Tommy said, turning his attention to the chains. But he seemed to have even more trouble with them, straining and grunting as he tried to cut through the metal links. "Jamal, give me a hand," he called out, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead.

Jamal huffed and went to help Tommy, who continued to struggle with the bolt cutters. Together, they both griped the handles as tightly as they could, putting all of their strength into breaking through the lock. After a few minutes of intense effort, there was a loud crunch as the bolt cutters finally bit through the metal. Clamping down even harder, they were able to break through the lock and yank the chains off the door.

Tommy wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Man, that was a workout."

Jamal wrung his aching hands together. "You're not kidding. That was tough."

Alleigh looked nervously at the door they had just opened. "What if it was meant to be hard?" she said, her voice trembling slightly. "What if there's a reason why they don't want us to go in there?"

"The city or the ghosts?" Tommy asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Both," Alleigh replied, her eyes wide with fear.

Tommy wrapped an arm around her shoulder and said, "Don't worry, if you're scared, I'll protect you."

"I don't need your protection," Alleigh said, shrugging off his arm. She shoved his camera into his chest, making him wheeze as he quickly grabbed the camcorder before it could fall to the ground.

Ellie stood at the front door, gripping one of the handles of the double doors. "Are we ready?"

Tommy flipped open the viewfinder of his camera, turning it on with the press of a button. "Yup!" he said, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Alleigh and Jamal nodded in agreement. Without any more hesitation, Ellie yanked open the door, a puff of dust and dirt wafting out from the inside. The four of them stepped cautiously into the dimly lit asylum, their footsteps echoing on the dingy, tile floors. The floors were covered in years of dust, dirt, and who knew what else, and the chandelier hanging above them in the entryway was thick with cobwebs. The musty odor of mildew and decay permeated the air, a clear sign that this place had been abandoned for a long time.

As they walked deeper into the building, they couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. The walls were peeling, and the windows were either shattered or covered with boards, letting in only a faint sliver of light. Tommy walked up to the old reception desk, zooming in on the piles of paperwork and folders left on the chipped countertop.

“This is so cool,” Tommy said as he continued to film the inside of the asylum.

Alleigh wrapped her arms around herself and mumbled, “This place gives me the creeps.”

Jamal ran a hand over his shaved head as he looked around. “Honestly, me too.”

Tommy scoffed and turned to the others with a smug grin on his face. “Scaredy cats.”

“I don’t even know why we brought you,” Ellie said, her voice laced with frustration.

“Because I’m Jamal’s roommate, and I would have followed you all out here anyway.” Tommy held up his camera and said, “Plus, I have this awesome documenting device too.”

“Wow… It’s not like we all have one built into our cellphones now.”

“Phone cameras are not as fun and authentic as a camcorder.”

“Sure.”

The group pressed on, searching for a room to set up base. They tried several doors, but most were either locked or stuck. Daylight was fading fast, and if they wanted to get some exploring in before darkness took over, they'd need to find a suitable spot quickly.

Finally, they came upon the staff room, which seemed to have a small section for lockers and another section for snacking. There was even an old vending machine in the corner, filled with a handful of ancient snacks. With the door wide open, the group decided this was the best room to hunker down and make their safe zone.

Jamal sat his backpack down on one of the ten dusty tables that still stood upright in the room. As he rummaged through the supplies he’d brought with him, Tommy walked up to the vending machine, filming the contents inside of it. He looked back at his group and asked, “Do you think anything is still good in here?”

Alleigh scrunched her nose as she looked at the machine. “Ew… I doubt it.”

“But they got M&Ms and gummy bears.”

"Dude, don't," Jamal warned, placing a handful of snacks - chips, cookies, and even candy - on the counter next to his bag. "I brought plenty for us."

“Aren’t you curious?”

“Not really. I’m sure they taste the same as today’s version, just staler.”

Tommy placed his free hand on the top of the vending machine and shook it as hard as he could. To everyone's surprise, a medium-sized rat dropped out of the machine and scurried past Tommy and out of the room. Tommy let out a yelp of fright as he watched the scene unfold.

“Who’s the scaredy cat now?” Alleigh snickered.

Tommy glared at the girl across the room and grumbled to himself as he looked over his camera. Ellie shook her head, happy that Tommy got knocked down a few pegs. She watched Jamal continue to pull out items from his backpack and she said, “How much did you bring?”

“As much as I could.” He replied, glancing over at her. “It was hard with the bolt cutters, but I managed. We got four walkie-talkies, four flashlights, a handful of snacks, and a couple of power bricks with chargers in case our phones go. Not that we’ll get much signal in here, but we may need them.”

"You're always so prepared," Ellie said, impressed by Jamal's thoroughness.

“After my dad and I got stranded during a spontaneous road trip to see my gran, I vowed to be prepared for anything,” he explained.

Tommy propped a leg up on one of the wooden chairs and said, “I’m surprised you didn’t bring a cross, holy water, or the Bible.”

“I doubt that’d do much,” Jamal sneered.

"No doubt," he said. "We'd have had more luck with an Ouija board. Ugh, we totally should have brought one.”

“Do you guys think we’ll actually find anything here?” Alleigh asked.

Ellie was the one to answer her, “Who knows? But there’s always a possibility.”

Jamal looked at the time on his phone once again and said, “Looks like we’ll be exploring with flashlights.”

“Fine with me,” Tommy said as he grabbed one of the lights provided. “Makes it spookier.”

“We should split into groups of two,” Jamal suggested.

Alleigh shook her head. “No way! Every horror movie has people split up and bad things happen.”

Ellie nodded in agreement. “She’s right.”

Jamal sighed as he looked at the two girls. “But we’ll cover more ground if we split up. There are four floors to this place, not including the ground floor.”

Ellie pointed out, “We still have at least 11 hours left until sunrise. We can get through all the floors together.”

Alleigh gestured to the supplies on the table and said, "Shouldn't someone stay here to watch our stuff?"

Tommy scoffed. “Who’s going to take it? The ghosts?”

“You never know who’ll waltz in here now that the door is open.”

Jamal gave Alleigh a sympathetic glance. "Would you like to stay behind?”

“I... Not really,” she answered nervously.

“Well, I ain’t staying,” Tommy declared. “I’m getting the footage.”

Jamal added, “Me either. I want to make a post on my blog.”

All eyes turned to Ellie, who shook her head. "It's not me. I've always wanted to explore a haunted location.”

Jamal looked back at Alleigh. “So, either you stay behind, Alleigh, or don’t worry about the stuff here.”

“I’ll stay,” she said with a sigh.

Tommy placed a walkie-talkie in his back pocket and started to leave the staff room. "Suit yourself."

Jamal grabbed a walkie-talkie, handing it over to the scared girl in front of him. “Keep this close. If anything happens, paranormal or not, don’t hesitate to use it. We’ll come back to you.”

She nodded timidly. Jamal gave her a reassuring smile before grabbing his own walkie-talkie and flashlight. He patted her shoulder and went to join Tommy outside of the room. Ellie grabbed the remaining supplies and reassured Alleigh. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. I’m sure we’ll stop back in a few times for snacks and to check up on you.”

“I know,” the girl said meekly. “Be careful, okay?”

“You too.”

***

The three college students wandered through the dim corridors of the abandoned asylum, their flashlights providing the only light. Tommy held his camcorder up, filming their journey, and asked, "Where are we going?"

"There should be a stairwell up ahead," replied Jamal.

"How do you know?" Tommy asked.

"I did some research and found some old maps of the place," Jamal explained.

Ellie interjected, "What did you find out about it?"

"Just the basics," Jamal shrugged. "The Elden Balm Asylum was built in 1885 and almost burned down in 1945. Most of the damage was repaired by 1950, but the asylum struggled with funding and staffing issues before it was finally shut down in 1981."

"Wow, I didn't know all that," Ellie said as she carefully stepped over a toppled cart. "Did you see anything about hauntings?"

As they approached the stairwell, Jamal began to recount some of the paranormal activity that had been reported at the Elden Balm Asylum. "There were a few articles throughout the years. Workers would hear laughing in some of the unoccupied rooms, while others would see figures in different locations. The most recent paranormal sighting was five years ago when a group of hikers saw a woman in a third-story window."

"Creepy," Ellie commented.

Tommy chuckled and said, "It sure is. I can't wait to catch it on camera."

The stairwell seemed to be in decent shape, though it was covered in debris. It was easy enough to navigate, however, and the group began to make their way up to the next floor.

"Should we head all the way to the fourth floor?" Jamal asked.

"Why?" Ellie inquired.

"It may be easier to start from the top and work our way down to the bottom," Jamal explained. "Plus, all the high-security patients were on the fourth and third floors."

Tommy took the lead, bounding up the stairs. "Sounds good to me.”

Tommy, Jamal, and Ellie made their way up to the fourth floor of the Elden Balm Asylum, the stairs holding up under their weight. They entered the floor through a door that was hanging off its hinges and began to explore, shining their flashlights in every direction.

"Now what?" Tommy asked Jamal.

"I guess we should check to see if any of the room doors are unlocked or cracked open," Jamal replied. "Most of this corridor should just be patient rooms."

The trio started trying the handles of the rusted metal doors, but everyone they checked was locked. They tried to peek through the slits in the doors but couldn't see much. After fifteen failed attempts, they finally came upon a fully open door.

"Finally!" Tommy exclaimed, pushing past Jamal and Ellie into the room.

Inside, they found a small, dingy space with only a dismantled metal cot, dirt, grime, and a cloth discolored with age. Tommy's shoulders sagged as he said, "This is it?"

Ellie sighed. "What did you expect to find in these rooms? A dead body and blood?"

"Well, yeah... Or you know, a ghost.”

"We've only been here for an hour at most. I'm sure a ghost wouldn't reveal itself right away," Ellie pointed out.

“She’s right,” Jamal said. “There’s still a lot more to explore.”

Tommy groaned. “Ugh, fine. We better find something.”

The group left the room and checked the remaining three rooms in the hallway, but they were all locked. They decided to move down to the next floor, hoping for better luck. Their luck seemed to change when the third door they tried was unlocked. They opened it and entered, but the room was just like the one they had already explored - small, dingy, and empty except for a dismantled metal cot and some dirt and grime.

The three students explored more rooms on the third floor, finding that, unlike the fourth floor, most of the doors were unlocked or open. However, the rooms were all the same as the previous ones. As they made their way down to the next floor, Tommy complained, "This sucks. There isn't even anything cool about this place."

Ellie turned to him and said, "It may not be terrifying like something out of a horror movie, but the history of this place is still interesting."

"Yeah... Like I really care about old antiques and history," Tommy grumbled.

Jamal chimed in, "At least the second floor has showers and bathrooms, according to the latest maps."

Tommy grinned mischievously and said, "Naked ghosts."

Ellie made a face. "Gross."

"They could be hot.”

As they reached the second floor, they noticed that the layout was slightly different from the previous two. The floor had four doors on either side leading to a large archway that opened to a hallway. There was also a door across from the hallway, which was a simple wooden door with the word "storage" written on it. Jamal pointed to the archway and said, “I’m pretty sure that’s where the showers are.”

Tommy eagerly strode over to the hallway in question. “This is going to be so dope.”

“It’ll probably be empty, dingus,” Ellie said as she rolled her eyes. “Just rusted pipes, cracked tiles, and dirt.”

“Only one way to find out,” Tommy replied, leading the way into the hall.

As they entered the showers, they found that Ellie's prediction was accurate. The room was in a state of neglect and disrepair, with rusted and old shower heads lining the walls, and tiles that were cracked and crumbling. The room was covered in dirt, dust, and grime, and was in a bad state overall.

Ellie shook her head as she looked around the room, “Ugh… This place is disgusting. It looks worse than the rooms we’ve checked out.”

Jamal picked up a piece of tile and a small spider crawled out from underneath. He quickly dropped the tile and said, “Yeah. The showers are definitely the worst of the bunch.”

“And still no ghosts. Not even naked ones,” Tommy groaned as he filmed a hole in the wall.

“Dude, come on.”

“Well, we’re here to see some supernatural activity, right? Where is it? Because I haven’t seen it yet, and tonight is a bust.”

Ellie shook her head. “There was never a guarantee. Who says ghosts are real anyway?”

“Whatever… Let’s just finish exploring.”

As they were about to leave the showers, everyone's radios suddenly crackled to life. Alleigh's voice came through, glitching in and out as she talked. “Guys… Are you back? Guys…”

Jamal answered his radio, "No, not yet. We're on the second floor.”

There was silence for a moment before the radio crackled to life once more. “There’s someone in the hall… Right outside of the staff room window.”

"Don't move," Jamal commanded as he surveyed the group. "We'll be back soon."

“Okay…” Alleigh whispered in response.

“We got to go back,” Jamal said as he started heading out of the showers.

Tommy shook his head and said, “No way! I’m still exploring. You two go back, she’s probably just hallucinating anyway.”

“We don’t know that,” Jamal argued. “She could be in danger.”

“Sure, she is.”

As they spoke, strange creaking noises began to echo through the shower area. Ellie looked around nervously. "Do you hear that?"

“It’s probably just a rat,” Tommy said as he looked around.

As the creaking grew louder, red liquid suddenly shot out of the shower heads, one by one. The three college students backed away slowly, horrified. Tommy kept his camera trained on the bizarre scene, asking in disbelief, "Are you guys seeing this?"

"Yes, Tommy," Ellie confirmed, her eyes wide with shock. "We see it."

Jamal started for the hall, “We’ve got to get out of here.”

"Right behind you," Ellie said as she followed closely behind him.

When they reached the stairs, they noticed Tommy was not with them. Jamal turned to look back at the empty hallway before glancing at Ellie. “You start heading down. I’ll catch up.”

“But,” Ellie began to protest.

“Go.”

He sprinted back towards the showers, where he found Tommy still filming the red spray from the shower heads. Jamal grabbed Tommy's arm and shouted, “We have to leave now, Tommy!”

"This is getting really interesting," Tommy argued. "I'm not missing a minute of it."

“We’ve got what we came for. Let’s go,” Jamal pressed.

“I’ll catch up in a bit. Let me film this.”

Jamal knew there was no way to reason with him, so he gritted his teeth and said, "Fine."

He left his roommate behind and hurried to catch up with Ellie, who was likely already downstairs.

***

Tommy continued to film, trying to get as close to the red liquid as possible. He laughed to himself, "This is insane!"

Once he had captured enough footage, he started making his way to the stairway. As he watched the footage back, he muttered to himself, "We're going to be so rich."

As he slowly descended the stairs, still fixated on the footage, he ran into a solid object. Annoyed, he looked up to see what he had collided with. It was a person with their back turned to him. Assuming it was Jamal, Tommy said, "Dude, come on. Quit playing around. Where are the girls?"

The figure turned in one swift motion, towering over Tommy's 6'1" height. Tommy's breath caught in his throat as he looked at the creature's twisted and mangled face contorted in anger. It unhinged its jaw and let out an ear-piercing screech. Tommy stumbled backward, falling as his heel caught on the step above him. He quickly lifted his camera, trying to capture the ghost on camera, even as he fell.

The creature lunged towards him, and Tommy scrambled up the stairs in his seated position. He quickly regained his footing and sprinted up the stairs, tripping only a few times. He reached the fourth floor, unsure if the terrifying entity was still chasing him, but desperate to put as much distance between them as possible. As he entered the fourth-floor hall, his heart sank. All the doors were now open.

He took each step cautiously, breathing steadily, afraid of disturbing anything that might be in the hallway with him. As he passed each open door, he saw a female figure in dingy patient attire repeatedly banging her head against the wall. It felt as if he were in a trance or one of those dreams where the hallway keeps repeating and gets longer the further he goes.

Tommy's head was spinning, and he couldn't make sense of what was happening. Cold sweat drenched his body, and he felt like he was going to faint. He finally reached the end of the hallway, leaning his free hand against the cold concrete wall for support. He was hyperventilating and couldn't control his body. He turned around to lean his back against the wall and saw the same creature from the stairwell. The creature lunged towards him again, causing Tommy to scream out in terror before he lost consciousness and plunged into darkness.

***

Jamal met up with Ellie at the bottom of the stairs. She looked back at him, her expression anxious as she noticed that Tommy was still missing. "He's not coming, is he?"

"No, he wants to film it," Jamal said, rolling his eyes.

“Of course he does.”

“Let’s get back to Alleigh. Make sure she’s okay.”

“I’m right behind you.”

They retraced their steps, trying to remember where the staff room was located. After the strange supernatural occurrence, with only their flashlights to guide them in the dark asylum, they were even more on edge. Jamal led the way, and after a few minutes of searching, they found the room they were looking for.

When they entered the staff room, it was in even worse shape than it was earlier. All their belongings were scattered around. Tables, chairs, and vending machines were overturned. It looked like a tornado had passed through. The only thing missing was Alleigh.

“Alleigh!” Jamal called out as he scanned the room.

“Where is she?” Ellie asked, peering under a table.

“I don’t know.”

A muffled voice came from inside the room, “Guys, is that really you?”

Jamal wasn’t quite sure where Alleigh’s voice was coming from and said, “It’s us. Where are you?”

“In the knocked-over locker.”

Ellie shone a light on one of the few fallen lockers and asked, “How’d you get in there?”

“I hid after getting off the radio,” Alleigh mumbled. “I thought the locker was my best bet, but it got tossed shortly after I entered.”

“Hang on, we’ll get you out, okay?” Jamal said, reassuringly.

Ellie looked down at the locker and whispered to Jamal, “Are you sure we can lift this?”

“I’m sure we can. Though I do wish Tommy was here.”

Jamal crouched down by the rusted metal locker, getting his fingers underneath it the best he could. Ellie followed his lead, and soon they were lifting the hefty locker back up to an upright position. It was a struggle for the two of them, but they managed. Jamal didn’t waste any time to get the door open, revealing a frightened Alleigh. She threw her arms around Jamal and said, “Thank you so much.”

“It’s not a problem,” he replied, patting her back soothingly.

Ellie looked around and asked, “Who did you see?”

Alleigh froze as she broke away from her hug with Jamal. “He… It was. I don’t know. It had no face. The face was like a blur and distorted.”

“No face?” Ellie asked in surprise.

“None… Just a giant smudge.” Alleigh said, her voice trembling. She looked around and asked, “Where’s Tommy?”

Jamal huffed. “He wanted to film some blood we saw coming from the showers upstairs.”

“I hope he’s okay,” she said, concern etched on her face.

Right on cue, they heard the faint sound of Tommy screaming at the top of his lungs. The three of them looked at each other in horror, wondering what was happening to their friend.

“That didn’t sound like it came from the second floor,” Ellie mentioned.

Jamal nodded, “You’re right. He must have gone back up for some reason.”

Ellie glanced over at Alleigh and asked, “Are you okay to come with us?”

“Yes,” Alleigh nodded. “There’s no way I’m staying here alone again. Plus, the faster we get Tommy, the sooner we can get out.”

They rushed back to the stairwell, with Alleigh close behind them. They hurried up the stairs, hoping Tommy wasn’t in immediate danger. When they reached the fourth floor, they found Tommy floating in midair in the center of the hallway. His arms and legs were hanging limp, and his head was tilted back towards his friends. His eyes were wide, and he seemed to be in a trance. The doors of the fourth floor were slamming shut and opening wide faster than an automatic door.

Jamal, Alleigh, and Ellie stepped closer to Tommy, wary of the situation they found themselves in. As they got closer, Jamal asked, “Tommy can you hear me?”

Tommy’s mouth moved in a wide dysfunctional way, trying to speak, but it wasn’t his voice that came out. “GET OUT! GET OUT!”

“Tommy! Come on. Fight it,” Jamal said as he got closer to him. “Let him go! And we’ll leave.”

Tommy fell to the concrete floor, groaning in pain. He looked around, seeing the others, and asked, "What happened?"

Jamal helped him off the ground, gripping his arm and lifting him to his feet. "I'll explain once we get out of here."

Tommy glanced around the dimly lit room from the flashlights and said, “Okay… But where’s my camcorder?”

Ellie groaned and said, “Forget about the camera. We need to leave!”

“Not without the footage I got,” Tommy said as he frantically searched for his camera.

Jamal tapped Tommy’s arm. “I’ll help you look, but if we don’t find it in a minute, we’re gone.”

“Fine…”

The two guys worked together to locate Tommy’s camcorder. The doors were still opening and closing rapidly, the air inside getting colder by the second. Eventually, they found the camcorder at the end of the hall, and Tommy quickly scooped it up from the ground.

“Aw man, the viewfinder screen is busted!” Tommy exclaimed in frustration.

Alleigh screamed in irritation, “Who cares! We’re only going to make the spirits here angrier.”

Tommy huffed but followed the gang back down the stairs. They hurriedly descended the stairs, eager to leave the asylum. It didn't take them long to reach the bottom and enter the main area. They rushed through the double doors they had come through earlier. Outside, it was pitch black, the atmosphere much different than it had been during their late afternoon trek up to the asylum.

The four friends made their way back to campus in silence. Each of them tried to make sense of the confusing and frightening events that had just occurred. None of them could find the words to express their thoughts.

***

The next day came around, and Tommy invited the group back to his and Jamal’s dorm room to check out the film he took. They were all gathered around his desk, where his camcorder was connected to his laptop. Tommy sat at his computer chair, and turned to the three people gathered around him, “So, you guys ready to see epic footage I captured?”

Alleigh shrugged nervously, “I guess so. I’m still trying to deal with everything that happened.”

Ellie nodded, agreeing with Alleigh. “Same. I could barely sleep.”

Jamal agreed too, “I had nightmares last night.”

Tommy scoffed as he looked at them, “Sure, it was a bit traumatic, but we got some wicked footage to share with the world.”

“How can you be so calm about our time there?” Ellie questioned him. “You were literally possessed.”

“I don’t know,” Tommy mumbled as his shoulders sagged. “I just think it would be a cool tale to tell.”

Jamal sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

Tommy turned back to his computer and brought up the footage from last night. He fast-forwarded through all the boring bits, trying to get to where their night picked up. He eventually landed on the showers and played it from there. As they watched, there was no sign of red liquid gushing from the shower heads.

Tommy rewound and forwarded the video a couple of times in that section and questioned what he was seeing, “There’s no blood… There’s nothing there.”

“I see that,” Jamal said. “But we saw it.”

“Maybe the footage I caught of the ghost in the stairwell, or the doors going crazy is visible.”

Tommy fast-forwarded some more, going through all the footage until he reached the end of what he had captured that night. His mouth was agape when there was nothing caught from what they saw yesterday at the asylum. “Where is it? I caught everything. I know I did.”

Ellie tried to make sense of the empty footage. “Maybe the spirits don’t want us to show the world.”

“She’s right,” Alleigh said. “For all we know, we had a fever dream last night.”

Jamal agreed. “It could have all been an illusion for all we know.”

Tommy shook his head, “But we weren’t hallucinating! We were all there, we saw what we saw.”

“We did, but only the four of us will know what truly went on in that asylum.”

Tommy frowned. “Man… I really wanted to make some cash from this.”

“We can still put some of the footage on my blog. I’m sure the eerie tale will still get some views.”

“Sure, why not.”

The four of them spent the rest of their time recounting what they saw at the asylum while Tommy edited the footage and Jamal took notes for his blog. The four of them will forever be connected after their spooky encounters and will never forget it even if the general public doesn’t believe them.