Asylum | E.D

17

"My blood turned cold."

Jaylee

Jane hands both Ethan and I the backpacks. It contains toiletries, two shirts for both of us and some snacks that would somehow help us survive for a week. She also told me that she had slipped some money on one of the little pockets of the bag.

"Ready?" Jane asks, looking at both of us. "Always." I answer with a smile as I slung the bag over my back and set foot outside the clinic. Ethan offers her a grateful smile and in just a few seconds, we're already scorching through the dark empty halls.

"Where are we gonna go once we get out of here?" I ask directing the question on either of them. "I know a place," Ethan answers. "But I'm not sure if we'd still be able to go there after years of me being away."  He shrugs.

"You both can stay at my place." Jane offers. "That way I can know if you two are safe." She breathes. I was about to say something when Ethan abruptly grabs me by the hand, pulling me into the other direction. Jane follows both of us and has her forefinger at the front of her lips, signalling for us to keep quiet. 

I held onto Ethan's arm as we both peek into the hallway we just left checking for any signs of other staff.  "How long is it until we get to the exit?" Ethan asks Jane, while we're still squeezing ourselves on the side of the empty hall.

"It's still far away from here." Jane answers. I'm getting anxious and stressed out by now. What if these all fail? What if somebody catch us escaping? Does that mean that we're going to get locked up in here forever? 

Ethan squeezes my hand tight, he must have sensed my doubt and nervousness. "Don't worry, we'll make it." he assures me. I managed to force a weak smile out of my face.
He's right, we're going to make it. We need to make it.

When we're sure no one's in sight, we quietly tiptoed back to the hallway leading to the exit. All throughout the time, I'm struggling to keep my breathing steady and I can sense that Ethan and Jane are doing the exact same thing too. We turn around a corner, leading to a much darker hallway. There are abandoned desks on the side and a chair missing its leg blocking our path. Ethan put it on the side as we continue to move along, making no sound as much as possible.

It is eerily quiet, and the sound of our own breathing are the only visible sound that I can hear. I held onto Ethan's arms as we are walking because I keep stumbling because of the dark. I look over at him, and he seems to be excited with the thought of finally leaving this place, which makes me feel the same way too.

There's an open door leading to an empty room as we pass by a dark hallway. We turned towards the left and then another right corner. I'm pretty sure I would get lost if I don't have anyone accompanying me.This asylum is quite big.

As we're about to take another step, we hear footsteps and talking. All three of us looked at each other alarmed and I tightened my grip on Ethan. He looks around and found a door. He pointed its direction towards us as I silently pray that that door is open. We quietly walk towards the room and Jane tries to open it but it won't budge. 

"Is it locked?" Ethan asks trying to make his turn of opening it now. Jane shakes her head, "No. But it seems like it hasn't been opened for a long time that's why it's hard to open it." 
The voice grows louder by the second signifying that whoever those people are, they're getting nearer. "Hurry, I think they're about to head in this direction," I panic wanting the door to open now. 

Jane tries the handle once more pushing it harder, Ethan on the other hand is pushing the door itself helping Ethan. And I, on the other hand, is just looking at them. I feel useless. "It's cleared for now-"

"No. We can't let them escape." 

My heart starts to beat much faster. Who are behind those voices? And who are they talking about? "Is it open yet?" I ask, panic taking all over my system. The two of them keeps using all their strengths to push open the door, and after a few seconds, it finally opened sending a loud crash. 

Jane ushers Ethan and I both quickly inside the room. My heart is pounding in my head I'm afraid any second whoever is out there would find us here. Ethan peeks through the small slit on the door. "Who's talking?" He asks. I lean against the cold wall, heart hammering inside my chest. "I can only see their shadow." Jane answers.

"Is somebody out there?" one of the voice shouted-asked and it's clear now that it's from a man. But I don't know who, obviously. I steadied my breath, holding it as well as Jane and Ethan. We're squeezing onto each other inside the small room, each of us trying to get a glimpse from outside.

"Let's head back to the office," the man says to whoever he is talking to. I heave out a sigh of relief once we hear their footsteps vanishing. "It's Dr Matthews." Jane informs us after. Ethan checks outside to see if it is clear and we're safe, and once it is, he nodded at our direction as we start to leave the room. 

I can feel my nervousness taking over me every second. Doing the actual thing is not as easy as when it was still just a plan. All the three of us gets all nervous everytime there's a single sound or anything. Afraid that at any given moment, someone would catch us and we'd be damned. It's making me nauseous.

"Over here." Jane whispers as he leads us into another dark hallway, turning into the left corner and walking down a flight of stairs. Ethan is taking two steps at a time as I follow closely with the two of them. 

The weight of the bag that Jane had given me is now starting to burden me. I stumble at the last step and Ethan helps me up. Jane turns around another corner first, checking if there are any guards, when she's sure that the coast is clear, she ushers both Ethan and I to continue walking.

"How far is it still?" I ask, feeling the need for a break and a water. Ethan opens his backpack and got a water bottle handing it to me. I gladly take it and drink half of it in one go. 

"A bit far." Jane answers. We continue trudging down the hall, I'm quite energized by the water thanks to Jane. Halfway through walking, after rounding another corner, we hear two female nurses speaking. 

The three of us quickly finds a hiding place; under an abandoned table. It helped that it is dark, the two nurses didn't notice us. "Why is it that there are a lot of empty rooms in here?" I ask as we stand up from our recent hiding place. Jane looks around the place and then leads us to the hallway.

"Before, the other completely derranged patients, the harmful ones, are locked up in this part of the sanitarium. But now, they're transfered to the new building." she tells us. Ethan and I nod at the information and then remain silent as we make our way through the dark halls, with only Jane's small flashlight as our guide."What time is it?" Ethan asks. Jane looks at her watch, "11:04 pm." 

A guard is checking the halls and the empty rooms and we immediately run and hide behind an old cabinet.
We're all holding our breaths, afraid that any movements or sound would hinder our plan of escape.  The guard passes through the cabinet we are hiding at without ever noticing us behind it.

I heave out a sigh of relief for the umpteenth time this night. Jane stands in front of a door and we enter it leading us to another hallway, but this time, it has bright lights. Another factor that adds to the challenge of making it out of this place. 

"We're close." Jane announces, as we walk quietly and carefully into the hall. Being aware of any other person lurking around in here.  I can hear cries from some patients and other muffled voices. "Where are we?" I ask Jane. "This is the extension building," she responds.

"This is the new building where the harmful patients are locked up as I said earlier." She tells me. We hear footsteps and jingling of keys. We look at each other with panic in our faces as Ethan drags me along with Jane into a corner. We don't have anywhere to hide ourselves so we're all clinging into that tiny hope that this wall separating us from the guard would be of any help. 

The footstep vanishes, the jingling of keys stops. I almost heaved out a sigh of relief for another count this night as Ethan, Jane and I prepared to proceed with our journey. Before we could even step an inch, we were interrupted by a familiar voice. 

"Where do you think you're going?" 

My blood turned cold.