Date Night

As our anniversary is coming up, Brett is going on about what he wants to do, how special he wants to make it. We both sit on the bed discussing different date ideas.

"We could go downtown and go to a bar or something? Then we could get a hotel room after... champagne...?" He starts to reveal his plan and the more he talks, the less appealing it sounds.

I don't know why, it should have been appealing, everything that he was saying seemed like a cute idea and any normal couple would probably say it sounded like paradise.

For some reason, I wasn't feeling like doing any of that.

"Okay... I have an idea and I know it's going to sound a little unorthodox," I started.

"Hey, no no don't say that at all. I like hearing your ideas," Brett stated. I watched his eyes light up.

He always does this thing where his eyes widen as he anticipates taking in new information, like his mind is about to catch whatever he is about to take in so his thoughts can jump and think of the next ten moves ahead; it's like dating a working AI.

"A... are you suuurrree?" I ask in a concerned voice. Usually he is the wimp when it comes to haunted things, especially haunted places.

I wasn't sure why, but for some reason I was craving something a little different; adventurous and maybe a slight bit dangerous. I naturally have an atunement for the supernatural, I haven't really seen a ghost or anything since I was like eight or so I was curious what it would be like in other haunted places.

My mom and stepdad promised to take me to an abandoned hospital for my twentieth birthday, I was actually really bummed that it happened although I guess it's a good thing because now I can do it for the first time as a date; which makes it more special.

"I mean, how bad could it be?" His reply was cute but I knew that what I was about to suggest was going to be a bit... off putting for him to say the least.

"Wellll... I was thinking maybe we could go to like a haunted abandoned hospital or something?" I suggest as I climb on top of him. I had to perfect the appropriate amount of seduction and eloquence in my voice; trying to create a perfect tactical tone.

"Ummm...I don't know babe, you know how I feel about those kinds of things..." He replied hesitant, but his tone left an opening that seemed like he wasn't exactly unconvinced.

"How about I make you a promise then? Like a deal?" I suggestively query. I start to play with the strings on his hoodie as a distraction tactic, I also started to lightly grind on his lap to allow him to become in a more convincing mood.

Just before he gives his answer he pauses, thinking it over and distracted. As he is doing this, I stop playing with his strings and move on to playing with his hair; one perk of being together with someone so long, is that you know what seduction tactics to employ.

"Hmm... fiiinneee. What did you have in mind?"

"If you take me to a haunted place, house or a hospital since I know those freak you out. I'll give you the best lap dance of your life," I offer.

"Well, how am I supposed to say no to that?"

"You're not," I whisper in his ear as I rub my hands on his inner thigh and rub my other hand through his hair.

He agrees and I tell him to look up different places to surprise me, as I climb off of him and hop in the shower and get changed.

We decide to visit this one abandoned hospital. It used to be named Wolcott Hospital but since it got shut down, people just stuck to calling it Hell Hospital. Not very creative I know, but it's believed that the very gates of hell are at that place.

As we are driving, a raven hits the windshield and Brett slams on the brakes.

"Are you okay?" He turns to me and puts his arm out on my chest, worried that I might have hit the dashboard.

"Am I okay?! Are you?? You're the one who was driving!"

The rest of the trip there, I could tell Brett seemed a little bit more on edge, almost like he was questioning the whole trip.

"You want to cancel?" I ask. I forced my tone to be more of a suggestion; I didn't want to make him feel like he would have been letting me down.

"No Ethan, I don't. I'm just a little worried. You know how superstitious I am."

"Yeah, I know. It's fine though, if every single superstition was real, we would be dead already. Personally, I'm supposed to have six years of bad luck left from breaking a mirror last year. And you hitting that raven, you're signed up for death right along with me." I laugh to try and lighten the mood.

Brett just ends up glaring at me, and then just focusing on the road in silence.

When we arrive, the outside of the hospital has an eerie vibe to it. I immediately start to get shivers down my spine; I already sense at least a dozen different spirits.

The thing with spirits is depending on how they died, they could be in an either eternally malicious or benevolent state. In my experience spirits exist for four reasons:

1. Because they have unfinished business, so they are stuck on a loop reliving their death.
2. They chose or are choosing to cling on to life; either of others or they liked the power that they held over the place where they died.
3. A medium was present in the area where they died and they were able to latch onto that person.
4. They aren't human or never were. They are demons or angels and they chose to remain on this plane to interfere as much as they can/guide others in the right direction because that is their sense of purpose. Or just to wreak havoc depending on the entity.

Generally, the first one is the most common and least intruding. The second is a little more dangerous because that's when they can follow you home and latch on to you in anyway. I've also noticed that once they do that, they can cling to objects around you should you chose to attempt to expel them.

The second also depends on the area. Some spirits just want to be left alone, reclaim that place as their own. Those ones allow a closed circle in with little to no interference. If it is a more malicious spirit, it will harbor itself and either remain dormant or appear to be dormant until it either gets strength or a reason to interfere.

The third is a hit or miss, generally in the area where they died they have the most amount of hold. However, if the medium has ties with the deceased in anyway; large enough for the spirit to connect, then it could potentially be dangerous.

The fourth is one of the scariest. The entity is either no longer human or never was, and they have the most power of all. They can interfere at will, and if it attempts to take hold of you, it could make you do all sorts of things uncharacteristic-like or odd. They are constantly looking for ways to either help or enter life by any means; that makes them the most desperate and when you're in a weakened state, desperation/emotion is what fuels them.

We start to look for how to get in; most haunted places are hard to break-in to and if you get caught, you'll get a ticket for trespassing. Personally if it's abandoned and people are just passing through and not staying the night, I don't see what the big deal is.

Finally, we see this hole in the fence. I grab his hand and we squeeze through the hole. Once inside of the fence, we find the entrance to the hospital.

"It's locked!" Brett kept trying to pull the door open but it wouldn't budge; it was like something was keeping it sealed.

"Looks more than that, it doesn't even look like it's wiggling at all. Let's see if we can find an open window or something."

"Sounds like a plan!"

Brett and I wander around the outside of the hospital for about five minutes before we see a window that's not all the way shut.

"Hey! Told you!" I exclaim. We open the window together, it took a few seconds for it to budge.

After we climb inside, the window slams shut behind us and he looks at me in terror.

"It probably was just because we broke the window hinges or something," I try to rationalize.

"Yeah... sure, that makes sense in what universe?"

"In a universe where we're super strong?"

He chuckles for a minute before we continue to explore.

We reach this corridor that is pitch black. I try to flip the lights on but there is only one that flickers briefly before fading out. I keep flipping the switch back on and off again but nothing happens.

"Well... shit," I groan.

"Good thing we have our phones," Brett pipes up

He pulls out his phone to light up the corridor. I see a bit of a shadow near one of the doors and when he scans the hallway with his phone, it appears to run into a different area. I try and focus on the area but I can't seem to feel it's presence or anything. Perhaps it wasn't there at all and it was just my imagination?

We start to walk deeper into the hospital and I get comfortable enough to geek out a bit.

"You know, they say after midnight, you can hear the screams of the tortured!" I excitedly exclaim.

"Gee... that's such a fun fact to know," Brett rolls.

"... Sorry... it's just one of the urban legends."

"I didn't want to come here in the first place. I wanted to go to a bar or hotel or something. I'm only here because you basically seduced me into going."

"I know... I know... I'm sorry. How about after we pick-up marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers and have a fire and s'mores! There's nothing scary about that!"

"T... that actually sounds great."

"See... not all my ideas are shitty!"

We continue down the hallway for a while until we hit a portion of the hospital that has been marked off.

"What's this?" Brett asks.

I stand on my tip-toes and use my hand to brush off the dust that has collected on the plague of the door. After brushing it off the letters are faded from age, but you can still make out the word "Psych Ward."

"Great. Now we get to deal with the crazy ghosts and demons."

"Come on! It'll be fun!" I exclaim.

I try and pull the door but it doesn't budge. Then we both try pulling on it with our weight combined, nothing happens.

"Fuck! I guess we'll have to find another ward," I start.

Just as we turn to leave, the door eerily creaks open. We both look at each other with equal arousal and terror. Our curiosity cannot be quenched. We advance towards the door, making light footsteps in order to listen to the surrounding atmosphere.

Upon entering the ward, we are met with the most foul stench that I have ever smelt before. The equipment is badly aged and outdated and they have tools for lobotomization.

Brett covers his nose and mouth the moment that we step through the doors.

"What is that stench?!" he exclaims.

"I dunno. It smells like something has died in here."

We try to search the ward a bit to see if we can find a body or something that would explain the smell. We only find rusted tools and dirtied up sheets that they use for the patient beds.

"There's nothing cool in here. We should try to find another room," Bret pipes up.

"What? Not willing to wait around to see if there's any spirits?" I joke and hit his shoulder.

"Actually..." He pulls out an Ouija Board and flaunts it to me.

"Are you crazy?! You actually brought one?!?"

"Yeah. I mean... I figured might as well go all the way."

Brett starts to open the board and we both put our hands on the planchette.

I read the instructions and we begin.

"I'm kinda nervous..." I state.

"Come on, don't be. It's just a stupid game people play at parties to make everyone feel on edge."

"Yeah... I suppose."

"If there are any spirits here, can you make yourself known?" Brett beckons.

After a few moments of silence, a rattling is heard by one of the trays holding the lobotomization tools and the planchette slowly starts to resonate, moving towards the answer 'Yes'.

"Not funny, Brett."

"I didn't move it. I swear."

The rattling gets louder and the planchette violently moves to the letter 'R' then 'U' then 'N' then it flies out of our hands. The lobotomization tools fly off the trays and we stand up and book it.

After a couple of minutes of running, we find ourselves trapped even further in the hospital. In the confusion, we must have kept running deeper instead of turning back.

"Where the hell are we now?"

"I dunno, but this isn't good."

Brett points out the map of the hospital telling us that we are now in the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit Ward.

"Wouldn't this be the same as the Psych Ward that we just were in?"

"Not really... this unit is more specialized than the standard Psych Ward meaning the people in here are classified as insane so if there are any troubled spirits in this ward well... they're probably not too friendly."

"Great. You just had to bring an Ouija Board."

"Well... you're the one who wanted to do a Date Night at a haunted abandoned hospital!"

"Yeah. I just wanted to visit the already existing spirts, I didn't want to interact with them. Once that connection is established, it's extremely hard to reverse."

"Yeah, yeah."

We hear faint sounds of screaming in the distance.

"What's that?" Brett starts to wander off.

"Stop! Don't leave me!" I exclaim.

I look at him and he seems entranced, like he's in some sort of a daze. I start to follow him and he gets even more mechanical like.

"If this is your idea of a joke, stop."

Brett acts like he can't even hear me. The screaming wasn't that loud, I don't see how he could be that enthralled by the spirit.

I grab his shoulder to slow him down but he just brushes me off and continues.

Pacing back two steps, I follow slowly behind. As he proceeds, the screaming gets louder and louder until we enter a room with a gurney and a curtain and what appears to look like an alien probing station.

"Uhhh... Brett... I don't like this... Let's just go back and get s'more materials."

He doesn't hear me and just stands in front of the gurney staring at it rocking back and forth.

"Brett... hey..."

I reach out for him and he turns at me with blackened eyes and an expressionless face.

I panic and run for the psych ward we were in previously.

Once I make it there, I shut the door and lock it.

Seeing the Ouija Board and the planchette gives me chills so I kick the board and the planchette goes flying. I just hope that doesn't piss any of the spirits off.

I hear Brett coming closer towards the door. He just starts pounding on it and says in a different tone:

"Let me in. I'm not gonna hurt you."

His voice is different, he is different. I don't know what to do.

I curl up in a ball and just keep rocking back and forth hoping that he'll either revert back or just go away.

After several minutes, I just hear him collapse and fall to the ground.

I cautiously open the door and see that Brett is just passed out in front of the door.

"Brett?" I shake him awake and he just looks at me with a blank stare.

"What happened?"

"I dunno. But I don't like this one bit, we really need to get out of here."

"Okay."

I help him up and the board comes hurling towards us. The tray that used to hold the lobotomization tools starts to shake and rattle. The tools themselves begin to lift up from the ground.

We run down the corridor, this time in the direction that we first entered.

Taking twists and turns, with speeds that I don't think either of us have ever reached before, we finally make it to the entrance.

I look at Brett and I say:

"You know, home sounds good."