On The Verge

Chapter 2- Room 225

———————Chloe———————

⠀⠀I was scared. I was almost regretting my idea to smuggle Paige out of the Pittsburg Sanitarium.

⠀⠀What if we got caught? What if we got arrested? These thoughts raced through my mind as I shivered in the cold night, standing next to the Sanitarium, the other girls nearby. The darkness seemed to consume our bodies, making our dark silhouettes barely visible through the cover of the night.

⠀⠀"Ready?" Nia asked me, her face masked in shadows. I nodded, despite being confident that I wouldn't ever be ready. But I needed to do this for Paige. We had decided that Nia and I would sneak inside and find Paige's room while Maddie and Kendall would wait outside with the ladder. When Nia and I found Paige, we would bring her down onto the roof of the first floor and down the ladder.

⠀⠀It seemed so simple, but deep inside I knew it wouldn't be. Nia gestured for me to follow her as we crept up to the front door of the sanitarium. The front door was partially made of glass, therefore allowing me to clearly see the receptionist sitting at the front desk. She would surely see us when we went in, which would terminate our plan to smuggle Paige out of the building.

⠀⠀Nia offered me a look that clearly demonstrated her frustration towards the situation. I groaned, knowing that I didn't come all the way out here to not even try to liberate Paige. I signalled Kendall over and quickly explained the situation.

⠀⠀"You need to distract her. Maddie can handle the ladder." I told her. Nia nodded, backing me up. Kendall looked at me, shellshocked and terrified. Yet she held her head high in determination as she walked through the front door and into the sanitarium.

⠀⠀"Good afternoon." Kendall said loudly to the receptionist.

⠀⠀"It's night time." She answered rudely. Kendall remained unfazed.

⠀⠀"I'm looking for a friend of mine. Could you tell me if uh, Natalie Smith is available for visitation?" Kendall asked, her smile still not faltering.

⠀⠀"I'll go check." The receptionist answered, leaving her place at the desk and walking to a back room.

⠀⠀We took our chance. Nia and I sprinted through the front door. My heart pounded nervously as we covered the lobby, heading strait to the stairwell. Nia pushed the door to the stairs open and we fell through the opening. As the door slammed behind us we heard the voice of the returning receptionist.

⠀⠀"There is no Natalie Smith here." She stated, disgust imminent in her cold voice.

⠀⠀"Really? I must be confused. Silly me." Kendall cried as she hastily exited the building.

Nia and I lay in the stairwell, catching our breath. Our heavy breathing was the only sound that could be heard, reverberating up the stairwell.

⠀⠀After a moment, we stood up and began carefully tip-toeing up the stairs. About halfway there, a loud chime sounded. We both froze in place, my heart nearly stopping. The sound rang out in the stairwell, echoing around us.

⠀⠀"It was just my phone," Nia whispered. "Kendall was confirming we knew the room number."

⠀⠀I allowed myself to relax and forced my breathing to return to normal as my heart rate began to settle into it's normal rhythm. We crept up the remaining stairs and carefully opened the creaky door leading to the second floor.

⠀⠀"Room 225." Nia reminded quietly.

⠀⠀The second floor was just as daunting and eerie as the first. Haunting moans reiterated through the hallway as the sleepless patients assumably lie awake in bed. Every step we took seemed to be as loud as gunshots as the hallway floor creaked beneath our tentative feet.

⠀⠀We crept down the hall, trying to stay in the shadows. As we neared the end of the hall, where Paige's room would be situated we suddenly began to hear a petrifying voice. I looked over at Nia, my eyes as wide in terror. She had the same panic-stricken expression plastered on her ashen face.

⠀⠀I couldn't make out what the voice was saying, it was a series incomprehensible articulations that resonated through the hall. We proceeded fearfully step by step until we found ourselves outside of room 225; Paige's room.

(A/N: make sure to leave a comment. Constructive criticism maybe?)