creepshow (wattys2018)

The Asylum

Heather Page walked briskly down the freezing cold corridor of the Mental Asylum. She brushed her straight blonde hair back over her shoulder and pulled her jacket tighter around her body. She sighed as she approached the front desk, frowning as she noticed the same woman was there once again.

The older woman peered at Heather through her thin glasses that were cracked slightly in the right corner and sat loosely on the edge of her pointed nose. Heather always thought she resembled a fairytale witch as all her features were similar to one, right down to the mole beside her chin.

She picked up the blue pen and scribbled her name down on the sign in sheet quickly, tossing back on the counter and forcing her most charming smile. "Hi, I'm here to see my sister, Hannah Page."

"Need the room number?" The woman replied, not matching Heathers smile.

"No, thank you. It's room 204, I remember."

"We're you here earlier?" The woman asked in an aggravated tone.

"No, I come every night. I'm pretty sure you're the woman I speak to every time I come in as well."

"Room 204. Make it quick, the place is about to close and you don't want to get caught in here over night. It does things to you. Especially to pretty little things like you." The woman leaned closer with every word until suddenly straightening up and focusing back on the paper she was writing on before.

Heather shifted uncomfortably and forced a strained smile. "Um- thank you? I'll make sure to hurry." She turned on her heel as the last word left her lips, and hurried down the hallway in the opposite direction. 

The lights above her flickered harshly as she turned on her sisters hallway. Heather squinted her eyes and rubbed her temples as the lights began to hurt her eyes. She increased her speed and reached room 204 within seconds.

She took a deep breath and twisted the door knob. She released it quickly as she realized she wasn't given the key. "Perfect." She mumbled, turning and starting back down the hall.

She took nearly four steps before the door behind her creaked open, making Heather freeze and turn back around. "Hannah?" She called out softly, as to not startle the younger girl. " Hannah?"

She approached the door slowly and pushed it open more, slipping inside slowly, leaving it cracked. She looked around the small room and spotted her sister sitting on the floor up against the wall. Hannah held her knees to her chest and rocked softly back and forth.

"Hannah?" The younger girls head snapped up at the sound of Heathers voice and within seconds she was launching herself at her sister.

Heather laughed and held her sister tightly against her chest, smoothing down her blonde hair as she did so. "Hannah, did you open the door?" She pulled the girl off of her and held her at arms length.

Hannah nodded and smiled proudly, leading her sister over to the bed and shoving her down on it. She plopped down in front of Heather and grinned. " I knew you would come tonight."

Heather nodded. "Of course silly. I always come. How are you?"

"Bored." Hannah replied, falling back on the bed and sighing loudly. "I changed my mind, Heather. I don't want to do this anymore."

Heather sighed. "Come on, don't do this again. We all agreed that sending you here would be the safest thing for all of us."

"But Heather, I won't tell anybody I swear! I was just scared. I'll be good. I'll keep my mouth shut, I promise." Hannah pleaded, sitting back up and gripping her sisters hand.

"I'm sorry. You were calling the police, Hannah! Mom would have a cow if she knew I was visiting you and dad probably wouldn't ever let me leave the house again. They're still so disappointed." Heather replied, brushing her hair out of her face.

"What did you expect me to do? I walked in and saw the- there was so much blood! I was scared!" Hannah shuttered at the memory.

"See, you're too fragile and weak to handle this. You're better off here. Aunt Sarah got here last night. She brought cousins Millie and Annie with her. You remember them, don't you?" Hannah nodded slowly. "Sarah said on Millie's eighteenth birthday they let her in on the family business and she was more than happy to help. Annie though, they sent her to a place just like this."

"They did?" Hannah peered carefully at her sister.

Heather nodded. "Mhm, sure did. She was in there for three whole years before she was strong enough to handle it, and look at her now! Aunt Sarah said Annie personally brought three people to us!"

"Really?"

"Yep. She said Annie laid out a nail stripped and popped their tires." Heather laughed to herself. "She actually laid in the ditch and pretended to be injured so they would walk her home. Uncle Pete and her brothers took over from there, obviously, but still! Now do you see? This is what you need."

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her sisters forehead just as a nurse pushed open the door and leaned in. "Sorry to interrupt, but it's closing time." She stood back  and waited for Heather to join her.

"Okay. Bye bye Hannah. See you soon."

"No!" Hannah cried, jumping to her feet, startling the nurse. "I'm not crazy! I don't deserve to be here! My family are the crazy ones! They kidnap people and eat them! I saw it!" She dashed forward to grip the nurses arm, pleading with her for a few seconds before a few more nurses hurried in and held her down. "No! You have to believe me! Go check! Send someone to my house! They have people there right now!" Her voice died down as the sedative they stuck her with began to kick in.

"Are you alright? That must be so hard for you." The nurse placed her hand on Heathers back as she led her down the hall.

"She needs help." Heather replied. "I feel so bad for her. That must be awful to feel like your carrying around this horrible information and nobody would ever believe you."

The nurse nodded softly. "Don't worry honey, we'll take good care of her."

Heather nodded and smiled, continuing down the hall until she reached the front door. "Oh!" She started as she turned around to face the nurse once again. "You should check the locks on her door. I think she's tampered with them. We wouldn't want her getting out, now would we?"