Hell Blessed

Chapter 7

The door, which was conveniently unlocked, groaned as it swung open. I stepped forward but Val put her hand in front of me before I could move too far.

“Watch out!” she said. “There’s a hole in the floorboards.”

“Wow, thanks.” I said. I caught myself and then stepped again, this time careful to avoid the gap.

The lobby was a disaster, to say the least. The wallpaper was faded with age and peeling from the walls in some places. The drawers of the file cabinets behind the desk were open, revealing hundreds of medical files. It struck me as strange that they had all just been left there and no one had bothered to save them. The wall clock had fallen to the floor and the hands no longer moved. The time on it was 11:37.  We continued into the hall. The baseboards were stained and graffiti covered one of the walls. Sconces hung from the walls between rooms.

Abruptly breaking the silence, Val asked, “Hey Cas, can you measure EMF in the hall? I want to check out some of these rooms.”

“Sure. Call me if you find anything. Or just yell.”

“Okay.” she said and jogged off down the hall, leaving me with the bag.

I turned on the EMF reader and started walking. At first it showed nothing but, the deeper I went into the hospital, the higher the readings got. Suddenly, they peaked. I took another step and the readings went back down again. I looked to both sides of me and noticed a door. Could whatever was causing the high readings be down there? I took a step back and they went up. Definitely whatever was behind the door.

Then I saw the clock next to the door. The time was exactly 11:37. That’s weird, I thought to myself.  I switched off the detector and opened the door. It revealed a flight of stairs. “Maybe I should get Val ,” I thought aloud. I pulled out my cell and dialed her number. No answer. “Val!” I shouted but got no answer. I saw the time on the phone was 11:36, with five seconds left to go. Curious, I decided to wait and see what would happen. Five seconds later the time changed, and the phone turned off. At that point I decided that the less time I spent in here, the better.  “Oh well, no point in waiting” I said, and went in.

The staircase was made of worryingly thin pieces of wood. Stepping carefully, I descended into the basement of the hospital. At the foot of the stairs was a light switch that lit up a single bulb hanging from the ceiling at the opposite end of the room. I looked up and jumped when I saw Val standing in front of me.

“Hi Val,” I said to her cheerfully. “I didn’t know you were down here. You didn’t answer your phone.

She said nothing.

“Val?” I said.

“Hey Cas,” she said callously.

“Hey….what's up? Is everything okay? You're acting a bit strange.”

“Of course. Everything’s fine. That's what I always say. I mean, you're always fine. I can't be anything else than that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You, of course. You’re always so perfect. You know how to do everything and you know it. I’m always second best. Outshined by the brilliant Cassandrea.”

“What do you mean?” I said and started to walk towards her but she pulled out her gun.

“Get away from me,” she said coldly.

“Val, put the gun down,”

“Is that an order?”

“I just…”

“Once again, I have to do what you tell me to. You’ve been bossing me around since the moment I met you. You call me your friend but I know I’m nothing but a follower to you.”

I stepped back, stunned and hurt. That was when I looked into her eyes. My reflection was upside down. I suddenly remembered a Filipino myth about a creature called an aswang. It inhabited people and made them turn on their friends and loved ones. And the only way to tell if one was present was an inverted reflection in the eyes of the possessed. This wasn’t the real Val.

“I know you don’t mean that,” I said. “You’re being possessed by an aswang. It’s making you say things.”

“Oh, I’ve read up on them too, they...we... don’t create the emotions. They only intensify what is already there. Everything your friend said is, to a certain point, true.”

“No, you’re lying! Val, I know you’re in there,” I said, stepping towards her.”

“I told you to stay away,” she said. “This is your last warning.”

“Come on Val, fight it.”

“I warned you,” she said, and fired.

I fell to the ground. The pain was excruciating. I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out. Val’s eyes flashed blue, then faded to their normal color. The aswang was gone.