The Fallen Roses

Chapter 3

Areail sat back as the autopilot mode of the car took over. She picked up her phone and dialed her father. "Yes Areail have you found out anything?" He asked while coughing. "Dad you really should ease up on the cigars, but yes I'm following up on a lead now." She replied as the car stopped at the gates of Smithhaven. " I've got to go I'll call you when I can." She said. She rolled her window down as a guard approached her through the rain "How can I help you tonight ma'm?" He said as he tried to talk over the still heavy storm.

She flashed her badge "I'm Detective Areail Jones and I was trying to see if I could request a last minute audience with Dr. Caroline Mitchell." He took her badge and stepped away to make a call on his walkie talkie. "I'm sorry." He said as he handed her back her badge " Dr. Mitchell won't be seeing anyone tonight." Areail reached into the passenger seat and grabbed the card she took from Rose and handed it to him. "Tell her I'm here about Rose." The gate began to open and a shallow voice from the walkie talkie said " Let her pass through I shall allow this arraignment." He waved her through and the car continued on through the gates as they closed behind her.

Areail had been living here for only a while, but she knew just as much as the locals when it came to the infamous Smithhaven Institution where it is said that those who are admitted are never freed again and also being the home to the one known as the "Demon". From the outside it looked like a normal two story hospital, except for the fifty feet high razor wire fencing and guard towers stationed in each of the four corners. She stopped the car at the front entrance and a guard opened the door for her. "Follow me please." He said. Areail happily obliged as she scurried out of the rain she left Rose's place so fast that she forgot her umbrella.

A breeze of warm air came flying at her as the double doors slid open. The inside of the facility was massive an armed guards and workers roamed the halls moving about like ants in a colony. A short dark skinned woman with a stern expression across her face approached her. She was well dressed so she obviously had to be Dr. Mitchell or someone else important. "You must be Detective Jones?" She asked in her shallow voice as she outstretched her hand. Areail nodded as she shook her hand. " I am Dr. Caroline Mitchell and I am the director of this beautiful facility that you see here." She said enthusiastically.

"What do you know of Smithhaven detective?" She asked as they began walking down one of the corridors with a guard following closely behind. "Well everything." Areail replied. Before joining the police force she had always wanted to be a psychologist, but after the murder of her mother five years ago she decided to follow in the footsteps of her father. "Well don't worry Detective Jones this is one of the most secure institutions in the world, and no one can escape." They made there way to an elevator and she typed in a code and pressed "B3". "What's B3?" She asked confused. Dr. Mitchell laughed and pointed down at the floor "Oh you didn't think this was just a two story building did you?". The elevator began to drop at very fast rate as Areail fell to her knees. " You'll get used to that." Dr. Mitchell smiled as she helped her to her feet.

Once Rose arrived into the city and more and more people got admitted Smithhaven had to expand to be able to house some of the more serious patients Mitchell explained. "My office is straight down this hall." She said pointing to a bright gold double door. " However, I should warn you that down here is where we house the most fiendish of Rose's patients. Even "he" is here." She said pointing at a chained door next to her office. They made their way down the hall and all Areail could do was keep her head down. She'd never been so scared in her life. The air was cold and it felt as though the pressure of their eyes were weighing on her. The hall was dark, but she could see that every patients room was a large window made of glass with a large door. She couldn't make out anyone of them, but they could see her clearly.

"It's alright dear." Dr. Mitchell said as she grasped her hand "They can not harm you this is six inch thick tempered glass they can't break it, and even if they attempt and electric charge will rush through there suits." As they made it to the door the sound of someone smelling the air deeply froze her in her tracks. "I smell a rose whose petals have begun to fall." A deep voice said. Areail slowly turned to the heavily chained door. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't fight the urge to look. Through the glass she could see the glowing eyes of a tall figure pacing back and forth across the room it's gaze never straying away from her. The fog in the room from the air conditioning blowing made looking at it more unsettling.