Cotter Woods

Part 4

The boys and the girls split up and circled what looked like the first wing of the place. I was walking ahead of Avery and Camila with Aiden, searching for any possible way in. I couldn't help but notice her clenching her teeth and cracking her knuckles over and over again. 

"Aiden, you know we'll be fine, right?" I said putting my hand on her shoulder, we stopped walking for a moment.

"You don't think... I don't know," She looked around, as if to make sure the girls couldn't hear her, "Don't call me crazy, okay?" I nodded and smiled. "You don't think she's still in there, do you?"

"Who? Who would stay in this place?" I asked, slowly starting to walk again. 

"E-Emily Whites." She finally said.

"I don't think so, Aid. I'm not even sure she's a real person, to be honest with you. That story is pretty far-fetched, you know?"

"I get that, I know it's just a scary story..." Her voice faded, we stopped walking again. I looked at her and I swear, I have never seen someone look so scared. "What if it's not?"

"Hey! Guys! We found an open window!" I heard Avery and Camila shout. I patted Aiden on the back and started to walk towards the girls. I could see Dallas, Asher and Diego jog around the corner. They were all laughing and yipping as Avery pointed up at what was an open window. I smiled a bit, but what Aiden said stuck with me. If the stories were real... I don't think anybody could move Emily Whites from this building. She was so set on finding her friends again, but so worried that they would be mad at her if she left the asylum. I suppose they could have drugged her, or done something to her that would make her temporarily forget about the woods. But, when she got back to her reality... how long would it take for her to find her way back? The thoughts were all racing through my mind as Diego boosted us all up and through the window, Asher and Dallas helped pull him up after, then, we were all inside. 

"Now this... is some horror movie crap..." I heard Camila say. I hadn't turned away from the window yet, but when I did, I felt chills all down my back. We were in a tile room, a few spots on the wall were broken, punched, hit with something I assume. There was what was left of a wooden bed shattered on the floor in varies places. The worst part, was the ceiling. Tally marks covered the entire thing. Each one was carved deeper in the cement than the one before it. The marks got bigger and bigger, the last one was at least an arm's length. The only thing I could think of was the patient who was in this room, growing more and more insane each time they marked off another day. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Camila jumped and headed for the door, which was now just a sad slab of rusted metal that hung by a single hinge.

"I'll tell you what I'm waiting for... someone else to realize this is insane and we can be arrested for this." Aiden scoffed, following the group out of the room.

"Have you met the cops in this town? The worst thing they've dealt with since 1994 is Mrs. Fuzzle getting ding-dong-ditched." Diego laughed. 

I shook my nerves out and grabbed Aiden's hand, "This will be fun, we will get tons of cool pictures." I let go and ran up to Camila who was in the front of the group. The room led to a hallway of rooms, all of which looked the same. A few doors were shut, most of them open though. Each step we took farther from the windows led us deeper into the dark. 

"Flashlights everyone? What do you say we explore around this level completely, then go up further?" Dallas said, flicking on the light on his phone. He was in the back of the group so, everything in front of me was still almost pitch. 

"Good idea," I said turning on my light. I screamed immediately  when I realized what was in front of me. The sound of my yell rang on forever, echoing down the empty place. "Holy shhhhi-"

"Guys! Look!" Camila said, pointing to what was in front of us. Footprints. Of blood. I really wish I could say it looked like ketchup, but I had never seen something so real. "Let's follow them!"

"Okay, this was a hospital! Why would there be blood? Did doctors not watch after these insane people?" Asher asked as Camila led us farther down. 

"I don't know man. This is all so messed up. This town is so small and this place is so big. How many nurses could they hire, you know? The freaks probably ran around killing each other and it would be weeks before any doctor would know." Diego said, his loud voice also echoing down the halls.

"Um, not what I'd like to hear. What if we come across a body? Then what will we do?" Aiden asked. 

"Aid, I think they would clean the place up before shutting it down." Dallas told her. 

"Oh really? That room back there looked like it had been 'cleaned up' to you?" She fired back. She had a point. As much as I'd love to be as daring as Camila... I just felt uneasy. And call me crazy if you want, but, I didn't feel like we were the only ones in that place... I let the group walk  ahead a little and I shined my light behind us. The scariest part of the whole place was the darkness that swallowed anything and everything. With the little light I had, I saw that we had been walking on the footprints for a while now. I wanted to know where exactly they came from. but the thought of being left in the hallway terrified me, so I caught up with my group as fast as I could.