Mind's Echo

Shelly

Shelly nodded at Quincy's words, "See, Shelly," he said with a small smile, "nothing to worry about. Mark seems to possess a great deal of professionalism. You'll be fine with him," and grinned. 

"Yes, I can certainly see that. You and Eva have a grand ole time exploring, Quincy." She paused a moment to give him a look that let him know she could see his interest in the redhead growing. She actually admired him for not squirming under her pointed gaze, and she was even beginning to feel a little excited about the upcoming investigation, despite the lingering apprehension tingling along her spine. The lightening of her mood was reflected in her tone as she playfully said, "I do hope y'all find what you're looking for!" 

She winked at him, then gave Eva a grin. Turning to face Mark and Alex, her grin faltered when she noticed Alex's reaction to the picture on the wall.

Shelly watched the myriad of expressions on Alex's face as he studied the picture, and finally walked over to him, gently resting her hand on his arm in a gesture of comfort, but also as a means to bring him back to reality. 

"Is everything okay, sweetie?" 

She could feel him trembling slightly, and knew he had seen what she had seen earlier. He looked at her, but his gaze seemed a million miles away. Looking around the room, she decided she would speak to him later about what he had seen, if they were ever alone. Although the haunted look in his eyes tugged on her heartstrings, she couldn't help but feel a little relieved that she wasn't the only one spooked by that particular picture. He told her he was okay, taking deep breaths the whole while to steady himself. She patted his arm and smiled at him. 

"It's just that photograph ..." Alex began before being interrupted by Mark's enthusiastic shout.

"Come on, guys! Let's get this creep-fest started, shall we?" Mark called out to them. 

Shelly looked toward Mark, offering a smile of consent. She turned back to Alex, shrugging slightly.

"Come on, Alex, let's go. You and I can discuss this picture later. In fact, I am quite anxious to discuss it with you," Shelly whispered, pulling Alex away from it, and toward Mark. 

Alex allowed her to lead him toward Mark, and the trio began to move into the dark hallway. They all turned on their flashlights, shining them in front as they slowly moved forward.

The paint on the walls was peeling off, and the floors were chipped and broken. 

"Be careful, guys. The floor has lots of holes, and we do not want to break our necks!" Shelly said, gingerly stepping around a rather large hole in the rotten floor. 

They walked slowly, making sure they stepped carefully. Shelly kept her hand on Alex's arm since he didn't seem to mind. 

"Thank God these flashlight batteries are strong, and light up so good. It's almost as good as having a light on," Mark boasted, leading the way.

Soon, they came to a stairwell. Shelly gingerly stepped up first, wanting to see if the steps were as badly rotten as the floor, or if they would hold their weight. Alex put a steadying hand on her waist, ready to catch her if need be.

"They seem sturdy enough, guys," she informed them as she began to ascend. 

She was soon at the top of the stairs. Shining her light, she noted a series of open doors, which appeared to be leading to rooms. 

"Let's see what's behind door number one," she suggested, turning into it. 

Shining the light, she noted several filing cabinets, and a desk. The floor was littered with documents and open file folders. Shelly felt a thrill dance up her spine. She was sure they could find something about the asylum in the mess.

"Cool! I am going to see if there are any important documents in these!"

Shelly began by opening the top drawer. It started to protest, but she gave it a solid yank. It gave up the fight, screeching open. Shelly gritted her teeth against the jarring noise. She was disappointed to find that there was nothing in it but a few pens and a paper clip. The second drawer was more promising, as it actually held some files. She eagerly removed them, dropping them onto the single chair in the room. She grinned up at her little group. 

"Oh, nice! I wonder if these are patient files!?" 

Mark and Alex both moved in close to her, shining their lights on the loot she had discovered. She opened the first file, and something about the woman's face was familiar...

"It says the woman is Violet Gander, age 33, married to Michael Gander, 39, who was the wealthy owner of several coal mines, as well as a land owner, with hundreds of acres to his name. She was in here for treatment of schizophrenia and depression. One of her symptoms was hearing voices: she heard God telling her to kill her husband, because he was supposed to come back to the Lord as an angel. Dr. Lewis had tried treating her with Haldol, Navane, and Zyprexa; however, none of those medications worked. He decided to perform a lobotomy, and it was scheduled for the night of June 23, 1959." Shelly looked through the rest of the papers, and could not find anything else. "That is it, guys. There's nothing in here about the actual procedure. I wonder what happened?"

"Did you say the 23rd of June?" Mark asked. At Shelly's nodded confirmation, he continued, "That's the day all the patients went, well, crazy. As the story goes, the good doctor was doing a lobotomy on some dude's old lady, and the husband wasn't too keen on it. He stormed into the middle of the operation and killed the doctor after finding that his wife had died on the operating table." He jerked his head toward the file still in Shelly's hands. "That must be the lady the doc was operating on."

Shelly and Alex stared hard at Mark. Neither of them knew the story of the asylum. Now they were both kind of wishing they still didn't.

"Um, wait," Alex held up a finger, a thoughtful, anxious expression on his face. "What is today's date?"

"Oh, my God," Shelly murmured, bringing her knuckles to her mouth. "You guys, today's the 23rd ... of fuckin' June!! What the hell?!"

Mark laughed. "Yeah, it is. That's why I chose tonight to do my investigating. Bet it was Eva's reason, too."

It was all starting to come together for Shelly, and she wasn't liking the direction of her thoughts. As the trio stood together, looking back and forth at one another, the temperature in the room suddenly dropped. Mark checked his digital thermostat.

"I checked this when we topped the stairs, folks, and it seems as if it's saying that the temp just dropped 25 degrees! Whoa!!!" Mark looked around the room with a mixture of excitement and fear dancing in his eyes.

Shelly and Alex found themselves holding hands, clutching tightly to one another. The air around them started to feel ... alive, as though it were crackling with static electricity. At the same time, all three turned their attention to the open doorway. They were startled to see a mist, or shadow, standing at the door for a brief second before suddenly disappearing ...