Chapter 4 - 9:40
I don’t know where I am,
I don’t know this place
Don’t recognize anybody
Just the same old empty face
See these people they lie
And I don’t know who to believe anymore.
______________________________________________
Dr. Caroline Judd observed the scene unfolding before her with a calculating, heartless gaze. Her stoic expression remained unfaltering even as the girl on the screen before her let out a scream filled with the deepest pain imaginable. But the psychiatrist felt no sympathy. For her, this was purely research, the girl her test subject. Morals are a funny thing; some people seem to simply lack them. Caroline knew this of course, but she also knew money and need can sway even the most righteous of people. She mentally scoffed as she looked at the pathetic students in lab coats surrounding her. They were only wasting her time in trying to please her; as far as Caroline was concerned the only important things in life were research and herself.
She impatiently sighed; she wanted the fun to finally begin. Yet all the dimwitted girl had done was screaming and crying in fear. She was watching the girl to study the effects of fear on a person emotionally and physically. Of course no one needed to know how far she was willing to go. This extent was proven by the vast array of monitors in front of her showing every inch of the asylum. There was enough infrared cameras and equipment to put Ghost Hunters to shame. She needed something more.
“Jeremy,” she suddenly snapped, causing the young boy to flinch and spin around in his chair to gaze up at the doctor. His brown hair was closely cropped but still had a slight curl to it. With delicate features and aquamarine eyes, he was cute, in a slightly geeky way.
“Y-yes Dr. Judd?” he replied, with a slight tremble of nerves in his voice.
“I need something more to work with. Something less cheap horror movie and more…unsettling. So what do you have?”
“Um, right, well she seemed to have an immediate reaction to the whisper reel. So maybe audio is the best way to get to her? I remember hearing about a museum where they played heartbeats through a wall. Could we try something along those lines?”
“Brilliant! I knew there was a reason I keep you around Jere,” She clapped her hands together in devilish glee as Jeremy paled considerably. He hadn’t quite realized that his suggestion would be taken seriously as he himself found it mundane. Jeremy silently cursed to himself as he had no intentions to further the girl’s torment, not that he would ever express this to Caroline. He knew the woman had something seriously wrong with her but all of her actions had been approved and she had threatened him away from delving any deeper than he had. Truthfully he had tried to investigate how this received approval but once Caroline found out she threatened his education and further psychiatric career. He wouldn’t allow her to ruin years of hard work because he was too nosy. But still, watching the trembling girl on screen would be completely different when he knew he had come up with the source of her terror. He once again wondered what the real purpose of the study was. Sure, studies on fear had been done before but participants usually sign a waver and know they are going to be a part of a study. The participants are usually only unaware of what the study entails. But she didn’t seem to know she was being watched at all. In fact she didn’t give any indication that she was aware she was even part of a study.
“Danielle?” he called out to the girl sitting in front of the wall of monitors opposite him.
“Yes?”
“Does anything about this whole situation strike you as odd? Like we don’t have all the information we should”
“No, not really,” she replied, turning back to watching the monitors. Jeremy attempted to shake off his unease, but something was simply not right about the whole situation. He turned back to the monitors and flinched as the girl let out another keening wail of heartbreak. Once again confusion struck him. Why had she suddenly reacted so violently?
“Dan, can you wind that back to right before she started talking?” she nodded an affirmative and soon after that rewound the video. As he closely examined the girl he saw her head quickly snap to the corner and he followed her gaze. “Stop!”
“What? What’s wrong?” Danielle questioned after the sudden outburst. She looked at the frozen frame and couldn’t understand his reaction. Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion over the thick black frames of her glasses. “I don’t see anything.”
“Look, there, in the corner. Don’t you see it? Dan. I think there a person there.”
++++++++++++++++
Jeremy led the team quietly into the hall near where the girl was sitting and mindlessly staring at the wall. He was sweating bullets and fidgeting in fear of failing Caroline and nerves. He couldn’t believe he had spoken up when he felt such sympathy towards the girl. Jeremy felt overwhelmingly guilty but continued on.
“Ok this wall here is just a dud. The air vent towards the top is an access panel that we can insert the speakers down and start wiring through,” he whispered to the men behind him as they balanced multiple speakers. Somehow the team managed to quietly procure a ladder and set up for the most daunting experience of Jeremy’s life.
He just didn’t want to break her.
___________________________________________
let me explain,
Obviously 5 months without an update is a rediculously long time and not fair to you. So heres why; first of all, in august I started volleyball everyday and in september I resumed school. school work and volleyball leads to pretty late nights and made me want to do absolutely nothing aside from eating and sleeping. But the worst part was two months ago I got a concussion and my sysptoms still have only improved the tiniest amount so concerntrating on writing is really difficult. even writing this short chapter took about a week. so while I can't promise i will update every day, or even every week, It'll never go this long again. If you're still reading this I love you <3
oh and follow my twitter for updates! @chasing_pages
xoxo,
Jay
YOU ARE READING
After the End (on pause)
HorrorThe dare was harmless. All Reyna had to do was stay one full night alone in the abandoned asylum frequented by teens for years. Seems simple right? Hell no. >>>>>>>>>> They were so sure of themselves, causing me to believe them as well...
