These Dark Abilities #NaNoWriMo

Three

The asylum looked like I imagined any asylum would; dark, gray, and lifeless. It was a permanent three story block that stood out against the light blue sky. There was a high barbed wire fence that stood around it, though half of it was lying down. Mason maneuvered the car around the spiked wires and parked the car around the back, where it wasn't visible from the road. When I pointed this out, he said that it was to keep any visitors from seeing we were here.

Visitors?

The absence of the cars purring turned the car into stone silence. I almost reached forwards and turned it back on, if not to keep myself feeling sane. I wanted the pointless noise to reassure me that something was still normal. I was tired of the changes. I didn't want anything else to be different.

"Explain to me why we're here." I inspected the building from the outside. It looked abandoned but the mention of visitors was starting to creep me out. There were rows of barred windows that covered the three stories. Some of them had curtains in the windows, some were spotted with red droplets. The one directly ahead of us was covered in what I assumed was blood. A crack stood out in the center. It was a circle and spiderwebs of cracks spread out from it, reaching all the way to the frame. I kept my eyes on it while we got out of the car. It looked dark and foreboding. I could only imagine what the rest of the room looked like behind the glass pane.

There was a backdoor that was locked shut with various chains. Mason unlocked them with his mind and pulled the heavy iron doors open. I looked over his shoulder at the dark interior. All I could see was a short corridor, which opened into what I assumed was a bigger corridor. Mason went first, with me in the rear. We walked down the hallway and entered into what I had thought was another hallway. It was clear that I had been wrong. There was rows of table lined up in straight rows in front of us. There were two things that kept this from looking like a normal school cafeteria. There was no long bench. Instead, there were individual slabs in front of the designated places for the platters. Second, two manacles sat at each spot. I assumed that they had chained the insane people's wrists so that they could eat but couldn't fight or escape.

"Woah." I looked around more. Little bars of light filtered in through windows at the top of the room. "This is... creepy."

"Get used to it. We stay in out-of-the-way places like this a lot." Mason replied.

"Usually out of the way means a cabin in the mountains, not an abandoned insane asylum."

Casey sat on one of the chairs. Clouds of dust spread around her every time she moved but she didn't seem to care. "We haven't been fully honest with you, Nadine." She rubbed the front of the table and fiddled with the chains, which made a loud echoing racket in the silent room. "There are things happening right now that we have dragged you in on. It's not fair, but there is no going back now that you're this far. It's time you really understood what we're going through right now."

"Let me guess. Life as one of you isn't as fun as you make it all seem. We're going to die by thirty... all that usual stuff."

She looked puzzled. "Not usually, no. We have been known to live past the normal mortals. Our lifespans usually end up being longer. It's just that the reason we specifically wenty for you is because of who you are. Nadine is an infamous name in our groups. It's a name of fighting and war.

"You see, your mom was one of us but she left and wiped her memories. Now she sits in a nursing home at a young age, trying to forget the unforgettable. She named you Nadine because she was hoping you would carry the name on to become something that she couldn't."

"So my mom is one of us? That's why she sits in a care home babbling nonsense?"

Mason shook his head. "She mumbles what you consider nonsense, but it probably has truth inside her old life. She may be a vital clue later on."