Four White Walls

Chapter Four: Room 119

After dinner was over, I followed Rowan into a lounge area. He explained that there were more rooms he didn’t show me. It was a mansion and there were plenty of rooms. Many I would never get to set foot in. Tons were off limits. Most of the taboo rooms were the Psychiatrist’s rooms. There were others that just didn’t have reasons.

“This one,” Rowan pointed as we walked by a cracked door, “…has been empty since they opened this place. Only one person has inhabited it.”

“So… why is it off limits?” I asked.

Rowan shrugged, “People say it’s haunted.”

I scoffed.

“Really! Don’t go in there! The counselors and mentors here will get super pissed if you even open the door,” Rowan warned. “The one girl who stayed here committed suicide. She refused help and just one day slit her wrists when no one was watching her. Her best friend found her not ten minutes later.”

I shivered. I couldn’t imagine walking in on a dead body. Death was something that scared me. Never had I been one of those little boys obsessed with death or dead things. Most kids my age thought dead animals were cool and would run over and poke it with a stick. I would try and hold in my lunch.

“Why do you think it’s haunted?” I asked. “I’m sure people have died before and not haunted rooms.”

Rowan kept his eyes forward and rubbed his neck uneasily, “Um, well, everyone who goes in there…”

“Never comes out?” I asked mockingly and smirked.

“They come out,” Rowan said. “First, there’s this draft… which most people say can be caused by wind, which I guess is plausible… But then the door closes. A girl can easily be seen. She appears where she killed herself. Let’s just say she doesn’t like it when you enter her room. She never liked it when anyone entered her room.”

A shiver traveled down my spine. I hated ghost stories.

“The intruder will get a rude awakening and will be shoved into the wall. This girl was bullied and she believes that everyone will bully her. So, now that she’s dead, she can bully everyone else,” Rowan said.

“You’ll be beat up if you don’t leave?” I asked.

“Yep,” Rowan said simply. “So, I suggest you do not go into room 119. Just stay out of there. It’s so easy.”

We made it into the lounge room were a large flat screen was set in front of a circle of couches and chairs. Bean bags were set in the middle of the seats.  Behind all of the seating arrangements was a pool table and two computer desks side-by-side. One of the computers was taken up by a girl dressed all in white. Her hair was the lightest blonde I had ever seen. I looked at her wrists and saw them in new bandages. Brown stains on her wrists, hinting possible day-old cuts underneath. 

“Who’s she?” I asked Rowan.

“Oh, she’s just about as new as you. She arrived about the day before you showed up so I don’t know her name. She has depression. We have a lot of saddies here. They normally make friends with each other, but if you want, you can go ask her name. Right now is our free time right before your first counseling session. Mine was before you arrived. Go introduce yourself if you want. You have time,” he smiled and sat down in a big chair in front of the TV.

I cautiously approached the girl. I wasn’t great at social interactions, like I kept reminding myself, but this place was different than high school. I was here to get better, as well, so I might try to challenge myself.

“Hi,” I said in a small voice.

The girl turned around and looked up at me with gigantic blue eyes. She blinked a few times before turning back to her computer screen.