The sun was barely penetrating the solemn clouds as the rain stung the car’s exterior. Drowned headlights and the occasional road sign were all I could make out through the windshield. The forest on either side of me didn’t help either. I’d been down this way before, but now it all felt… wrong. I hadn’t seen any cars yet either, which didn’t help. The drive down the long stretch of highway to the Asylum wasn’t particularly long, but it felt endless - minutes felt like hours as worry and intrusive thoughts brought on by the video trespassed through my mind. Alex would have let me know he was okay by now. Where was he? What was that thing in the video? Is he dead? I shook my head at the latter, trying to keep a grasp on the situation. He’s fine. He’s okay. The video is just a prank. His sense of humour has always been… eccentric. He just got stuck in the Asylum and has no cell service. I reasoned with these thoughts, but my face fell dark once I remembered that he sent me that video. He said my name. He pleaded for my help. I should have been exhausted from a long day at work, but the thought of losing my only friend kept my eyes straight, but my mind overworked with stress and anxiety.
I looked over at my phone’s GPS to make sure I hadn’t missed my exit. I was confused to find the arrow that should have been speeding down the highway stationary. I thought it was just slow at first (my phone being prehistoric by modern standards), but quickly realised that I had no signal. The bloody thing should work without signal anyway, I thought, and at that, the app crashed. I groaned as the picture of Alex slipping on an ice lake flooded the screen. I was the one taking the picture of him mid-fall, his eyes wide and his expression priceless. I chuckled to myself as I looked at it. I’m coming, buddy.
I looked back over to the windshield to check for road signs, trying to find the exit to the Asylum through the curtain of heavy rainfall. My dying headlights illuminated something in the distance, and as I got closer, I made out a road sign. I slowed down, but couldn’t read it in time as I drove past. I stayed alert for the next road sign, not wanting to waste any extra time missing the exit. One lit up in the far distance, but it wasn’t as illuminated as the previous one, making it harder to see. This one was darker in colour, too, as if something was obscuring it partially. I leaned forward, squinting my eyes hard, trying to read the sign as it got closer.
‘JOHN’ The word was smeared on, bleeding from the white sign.
I stared at it in disbelief as it passed me by. I swore under my breath. I dwelled on it, but reasoned that driving by it so quickly, I must have mistaken a tree branch on the sign for a creepy message or something, and visibility was terrible, too. But I think the video was doing a number on me, making me see things that weren’t really there. I drove on, turning my attention back onto the road.
There, to my left in a clearing, just before the forest’s treeline, was a billboard. The board was of a smiling salesman. I’d passed by the billboard many times before on trips out of town, always shuddering at how creepy his smile was, but didn’t really think much of it. But this time, it was different. Something was off. There was something swinging from the billboard, and as my lights made out what, my blood ran cold.
Bodies. Two bodies hung from the top of the billboard. Bags on their heads. Ropes around their necks. They swung calmly, contradicting the harsh, torrential rain that was beating down on them. “LEAVE” bled through the billboard everywhere, in different sizes, and in different amounts of blood. All but him: the smiling man. His face was the only part of the billboard not covered. He stared into my eyes. He stared into my soul. He smiled at me with a wide grin, like when a predator knows they’ve cornered their prey and they’ve got nowhere to run.
I turned into the exit that appeared on the side of the road and drove down the long stretch of dirt road leading up to the Asylum in silence.
—
I parked the car in front of the large, gothic gates, the stone sign before them reading “Evas Em Asylum”. I gripped the steering wheel. The rain crashed into my car. The Asylum was hidden behind a winding driveway and the surrounding forest.
This didn’t feel right. It felt wrong. But Alex needed me.
I turned the key and stepped out of the driver’s side. My body was instantly attacked by beating rain, drenching my messy black hair and stinging my exposed face and hands - I felt my hoodie and jeans start to weigh me down.
The rain was noticeably cold for July dusk, the dying rays of the sun drawing long shadows out of the structures around me. The towering metal gates stood out like a blackhead in the thick forest foliage, guarding the condemned mental institution, and looming over my crappy, rusting Nissan; The gargoyles and strange intricate patterns unsettled me. There was a mossy, dilapidated security guard booth before the gates. The roof was overflowing. Water spilled over its edges.
I reached back into the car, grabbed my olive bag - back home, I threw what I thought I needed into the bag: a crappy flashlight I bought a couple years ago that was collecting dust in my kitchen drawer, some spare batteries, a First-Aid Kit, and my knife. I thought I wouldn’t need much more or any food; it’s not like I was going to be spending the night. Get in, get Alex, get out. Easy.
—-
The gates clanged as I shook them - chains tied the gates together, a huge steel padlock looking at me as if to say “Nuh uh uh! Now that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, well… fuck you.” I said to the inanimate object.
“No no. Fuck you.” It replied.
I turned away in defeat, knowing the padlock was grinning at me as I did, and walked towards the overgrown booth.
Fuck that padlock.
Nature was reclaiming the booth - vines, moss and other vegetation crawled up the walls, both inside and out. I peered into it through the broken glass window of the door: the wooden desk was left empty, probably scavenged through by bored kids; a single (for some reason) burnt office chair was left upside down against the door; and there was a metal crucifix on the wall, nestled nicely in the green, turned upside down. Very funny, I thought to myself. I kicked the door in, sending the chair clattering into the corner. I walked in, glad to be out of the rain, even for a little bit. I searched the desk, hoping to find keys or something to help me get through the gate. I pulled the top drawer out and found a single pink Post-It note reading “Boo!”.
Ahh! You got me!
I pulled the drawer underneath and found some scraps of paper and a ring of keys! Aha! Bingo. I grabbed the keys and pocketed them. I went to close the drawer, but stopped when I saw the note that was left underneath the ring of keys. “You’re going to die here John. Leave NOW” The fuck?! I picked the note up out of the barely-lit drawer and held it up to my face. “You need to stop leaving your keys, Joe. Dumb-ASS”
Fuck. I’m losing my damn mind…
I stepped out of the booth and made my way to the gate. After trying five keys, I swore out loud when the sixth didn’t unlock the smirking padlock. “That’s a lot of keys you got there. It’s a real shame none of them are for me! John 0, Padlock 2.” The padlock goaded.
“Shut up, you’re not real.” I said putting the keys back in my pocket.
“Then how am I talking to you? And why are you responding?”
“Why do you have a Southern accent?”
“Why do you talk to padlocks? Do you have no friends?”
“Why do you… Why are you stupid?” Good one, John.
—-
I rustled my way through the forest that surrounded the perimeter of the Asylum, reasoning that Alex must have come through this way and got in through a hole in the fence. The chain link fence topped with barbed wire seemed to stretch on for miles as I walked along it, looking for any weaknesses in it. By the time I reached foliage that was too thick to walk through, the sun had sunk under the horizon. I turned around and started walking back, the forest around me turning very gloomy, very quickly in the darkening twilight. My flashlight, as previously stated, is very crappy - with a set of batteries in it, it only lasts about 3-4 minutes until it drains them completely, and partially melts them too, so I didn’t want to use it until I really needed it. I told you it was crappy.
As I crunched back, making sure I hadn’t missed anything, I walked out of the way of a tree and kept going. I stopped crunching and turned to look. The tree was tall, old, creepy, and twisted towards the gate. It gave me an idea. The tree was a…a…
I’m not even going to try and name the tree and embarrass myself, but… it was a tree… with branches… and leaves. Said tree with branches and leaves was climbable, with some stubs of snapped branches inviting me to climb it and jump over the very tall fence topped with very sharp barbed wire.
What a stupid idea I thought to myself as I climbed the tree and dropped down over the very tall fence and very sharp barbed wire.