Haunted (Kaylor)

6

Karlie mindlessly bounced a ball off the wall over and over, reflexively catching it as she let her mind wander. It had been three days since they had been caught in the hallway by the guards, and felt like she was going to actually go crazy with boredom. Luckily they had been able to avoid suspicion thanks to Cara's quick thinking - she had immediately "confessed" that the three of them had skipped dinner to go get high in the bathroom. The fact that she was able to produce a sample (does she carry that with her everywhere? Karlie wondered) and always acted a bit odd anyway helped their case.

It was immediately confiscated, to Cara's disappointment, and they were ordered back to their rooms. From then on, their doors were locked and they could only leave with one of the employees of the Institute. According to Cara, who had apparently been caught on these charges before, it would only last a few days. Less than a week, for sure. Karlie was hopeful that the end was near; she was desperate to know what had become of Thirteen. Assuming they could ever get back in there without getting caught again.

Apparently she was getting too distracted, because she missed the ball, causing it to bounce away and roll under her dresser. Grumbling with annoyance, Karlie got to her feet and walked over to the heavy piece of furniture before kneeling and trying to locate the ball. There was very little room between the bottom of the dresser and the floor, and Karlie barely could fit her hand underneath to feel around for the ball.

Her fingertips brushed something and she recoiled slightly, scraping the back of her hand on the dresser's bottom. That was most definitely not the ball. Cautiously, she reached back in and managed to grab ahold of the item. She carefully pulled it out and looked it over.

It was a book. Or rather, a notebook or some sort of journal. The cover was dusty and the pages were a little yellowed, but overall it didn't appear to be very old. Curiously, Karlie cracked it open, blowing the dust from the first pages as she scanned them. It was a diary. The inside cover was marked in neat pen with an unfamiliar name - Taylor Swift. Karlie thought for a moment. Do I know a Taylor? Or did she get to go home before I got here? That must be it, or it wouldn't be in this room.

She turned to look at the other page and was soon absorbed in reading it. It was undated.

My name is Taylor, and this is my diary. Today I am 26 years old. I don't know if I'll ever celebrate another birthday, so I might as well mention it now.

"Wow, that's kind of a dark way to start," Karlie muttered to herself.

I've been here for a couple of weeks now. No one's told me why. Well, that's not exactly true. I just don't consider "hysteria" to be an actual medical diagnosis. I didn't think anyone did anymore. What is this, the 19th century? But I'm getting off topic here. The point is, something's wrong with this place. There's nothing wrong with me. As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with anybody else, either. I'd say it's all just a big scam designed to earn them money by running a quack facility - which it probably is - but there's something else. Something sinister.

A knock on the door startled Karlie from her reading and she quickly shoved the diary under her pillow. "Yes?" she called, walking to the door.

"It's time for dinner," a guard said, opening the door and letting her out. Karlie eagerly followed him into the hallway and toward the cafeteria. She was excited to let Cara and Lily know about her discovery. Maybe there's something important in that book...something we can use to take this place down. Once she arrived in the cafeteria, she quickly picked up a tray (some kind of grayish soup) and headed to their usual table to wait for her friends. The other two showed up one by one as the other patients began filtering in, and finally they were all sat down.