Shadows of St. Dymphna Asylum

Five Years Later

The events at St. Dymphna Asylum never truly left Josh or Isaiah. Even after they escaped—or *thought* they escaped—the nightmare followed them in ways they could never fully understand. The darkness that clung to them became a silent passenger, infecting every aspect of their lives.

### Isaiah

In the years that followed, Isaiah distanced themself from everyone they knew, slipping into a life of isolation. The weight of what happened—the screams, the distorted faces, Byleth's final stand—played on a loop in their mind. They tried therapy, medication, even hypnosis, but nothing could silence the whispers. Every time they closed their eyes, they felt the cold touch of the asylum, saw the twisted smiles of the spirits that had claimed their friends.

Unable to cope, Isaiah turned to researching the supernatural, determined to find some explanation for what they'd encountered. They poured over occult texts, conspiracy theories, and haunted legends, trying to piece together the origins of the asylum's curse. The walls of their small apartment became a chaotic collage of news clippings, scribbled notes, and photographs of abandoned asylums across the country. Isaiah was convinced that St. Dymphna was just one piece of a much larger puzzle, a network of cursed sites linked by something ancient and malevolent.

But the more they learned, the more fragile their grip on reality became. Isaiah began to see shadows moving in their peripheral vision, heard faint echoes of laughter in the quiet of the night. They knew deep down that something was watching them, waiting for the right moment to reclaim what it believed was its. Sleep became impossible, and their days blurred into a haze of paranoia and desperation.

One night, while pouring over old blueprints of St. Dymphna, Isaiah found a hidden section of the asylum that hadn't appeared on any official plans. The discovery sent a chill down their spine—it was labeled *The Heart*. From that moment, Isaiah became obsessed with returning, convinced that the key to breaking the asylum's hold lay within that secret chamber. But they knew they couldn't go back alone.

### Josh

Unlike Isaiah, Josh tried to bury the past beneath layers of normalcy. He moved to a new town, took a steady job at a construction company, and even started dating again. But normal never felt real—everything seemed just a bit off, like a dream that could unravel at any moment. He constantly felt watched, like someone—or *something*—was just out of sight.

At first, it was just little things: lights flickering in his apartment, objects disappearing only to reappear in impossible places. Then, the nightmares returned—vivid, suffocating dreams of endless hallways and echoing laughter. In those dreams, he was always running, but never fast enough. Sometimes, he saw Fritz's hollow eyes staring back at him, or Lani's twisted grin as she whispered, "You should have left when you had the chance."

Josh tried to push it all away, to tell himself it was just trauma, nothing more. But then, he started hearing the voice again—the one that had taunted them five years ago. It spoke to him in the quiet moments, whispering *come back* whenever he was alone. No matter where he went, the voice was there, growing louder, more insistent.

His relationships began to fall apart. People around him noticed the way he'd zone out, the dark circles under his eyes, the constant, nervous glances over his shoulder. He lost friends, jobs, and even his girlfriend, who couldn't handle his erratic behavior. Josh tried to drown it all out with alcohol, but it only made things worse. The voice grew angrier, more demanding.

One night, Josh finally broke. He stood in his empty apartment, staring into a mirror, and for a brief moment, he saw someone else staring back—a version of himself with hollow eyes and a twisted grin. He smashed the mirror in a fit of rage, but the reflection's mocking laughter echoed in his mind long after the glass shattered.

That's when Isaiah contacted him, out of the blue. They hadn't spoken in years, but Isaiah's voice was filled with the same haunted desperation he felt. Isaiah had found something—something that might finally give them closure.

"We have to go back, Josh," Isaiah had said over the phone, their voice trembling with a mix of fear and determination. "It's the only way to end this."

Josh's first instinct was to hang up. He wanted to run as far away from that place as possible, but he knew that wouldn't change anything. The asylum would never let them go—not really. It had been five years of living in its shadow, and he was tired of being afraid.

"Fine," Josh finally agreed, his voice rough from years of bottled anger and regret. "But if we go back, we're finishing this. No more running."

---

### The Return

Isaiah and Josh agreed to meet near St. Dymphna in a small, forgotten town a few miles from the asylum. They hadn't seen each other in years, and when they finally did, the sight was unsettling. Isaiah was gaunt, eyes sunken with dark circles, their once-bright demeanor replaced with a jittery intensity. Josh wasn't much better; he looked older than his age, his face hardened by years of fear and guilt.

"I found it," Isaiah said, pushing a crumpled map into Josh's hands. It was a detailed layout of St. Dymphna, with one section circled in red: *The Heart*.

Josh stared at it, feeling a cold knot form in his stomach. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"An answer. A way to stop it—maybe even a way to bring them back." Isaiah's voice wavered with a note of delusion.

Josh sighed, glancing up at the dark silhouette of the asylum in the distance. "We're not coming back from this, are we?"

Isaiah met his gaze, their eyes hollow but resolute. "We never left."

And so, with no one else to turn to and nothing left to lose, they walked back into the darkness, back into the place that had marked them forever. But as they approached, the moon vanished behind thick clouds, plunging the world into an unnatural darkness. The doors to St. Dymphna creaked open before they even touched them, welcoming its wayward children home.

The last shred of hope flickered between them like a dying flame as they stepped inside, knowing that this time, the asylum would not be so forgiving. The shadows shifted, the walls whispered their names, and somewhere deep within the building, the Heart of the asylum pulsed—eager to reclaim what had never truly left.

This time, St. Dymphna was hungry. And it had been waiting for them all along.