Well, it’s currently the dead of night for me and I have nothing more reasonable to do. I’m currently working the night shift for this mental hospital and, well, it’s pretty uneventful right now. Working here isn’t too much of a drag though; I’m a janitor and well, to say the least, it’s pretty mundane to clean the floors and listen to the things patients have to say. You kinda get used to it. I truly attempt to avoid the patients here since some can easily turn on you. I got attacked once while working here but that wasn’t too tremendous just a few scratch marks. But the pay outweighs the shortcomings.
However, there is another thing that makes this job worth it. To explain, the institution I work at has 4 wings. I work in the north wing and that’s where they keep the moderate-risk patients like those with bipolar and such. The west wing is where they keep low to no-risk patients, the kinds that have had a mental breakdown and need help or those with low-risk mental disorders. The south wing includes our high-risk patients with severe schizophrenia and instability. But then there is the east wing which has been abandoned for years and is off-limits to most people. That doesn’t stop me from going into the east wing on my smoke breaks or alone time though. Truth be told it’s nice and relaxing in the east wing, but that would make sense since it’s void of life. It’s a relic of the old times as it was in operation between the 1920s to the 80s as far as I can tell. It still has those old rotary phones that connect to the wall. What’s strange to me is how most of this place is intact. The chairs, beds, and even filing cabinets are still here with no recorders though. I searched through most of the drawers and filing cabinets here and found no records of anyone ever being emitted here.
You might wonder why I’m looking through drawers to find patient files and to that, I say the curiosity of a 22-year-old is something else. All my coworkers wouldn’t dare to even step through the door into the east wing. Unlike them, it draws me into it from the sheer cloak of mystery this place has. That isn’t my only reason, since I have asked the receptionist what are the oldest files we have and they say from the ’90s so 40 years of information is just gone. But I did find one thing of interest and that is this journal I found. It was hidden in a roof tile that fell due to the dilapidation of this place. It has no title or anything, and I haven’t read it but I will share with you what I have read in this thread.
It’s been about 40 minutes and my shift ends in about 6 hours I started at 10 pm so I still have a long way to go so here are the first few entries I have read.
“Entry 1:Hello, my name is Doctor Robert Cenvly, and My team and I are tasked with finding the effects of smoking on the human body. We will conduct research for a few months and all findings will be reported here in this journal. My colleagues include Dr.Martin a biologist, Dr.Howard a botanist who will research tobacco that is used in cigarettes, and myself who not only has the funds but the equipment and knowledge to study alongside them. The research will start tomorrow today we will start preparations and acquire different types of tobacco from different companies.”
I find it interesting how old this book must be from the contents alone this crew finding the effects of tobacco it must be at least 70 years old, but there are few pages left so let me continue
“Entry 2: Today is the day; while Dr.Marting and I will study how lungs react to smoke, Dr.Howard will research tobacco and how nicotine can affect the human body”
“Entry 3:We currently have found no correlation but we will not give up. But Dr.Howard has taken note that tobacco obtains its effect via nicotine so we will conduct more research on this chemical we have yet to be able to separate nicotine from the tobacco but will try and see if the main source is from the chemical itself.”
That’s as far as I have gotten but I still have 6 more hours so I’ll continue reading. And if you are asking if I should be working then no I have finished my task and I am on standby until further notice waiting until someone drops a cup or something to go clean up.
Alright, I’m back with a few more entries and to say the least their research seems to be going pretty smoothly.
“Entry 4:Dr.Howard has separated nicotine and tobacco so now we can test the pure effects of the drug, In the meantime, Dr.Martin and I have made the brilliant discovery that the smoke inhaled from cigarettes and cigars damages your lungs as we have visited hospitals and found that most smokers have developed some sort of lung disease further research will be necessary.”
“Entry 5:After a few weeks we have concluded that the reason that cigars and cigarettes are so popular is with nicotine causes a dependency on cigarettes. To test this theory we took 10 smokers and asked them to go a few hours without smoking. Most of the subjects started to get irritated or anxious without their cigarettes and so with this, we can conclude that tobacco is addictive. We also gave half the subjects pure nicotine to substitute for tobacco and it seemed to satisfy their needs.”
“Entry 6:Now that we have this information we still need to find out how tobacco causes cancer, and that brought me and my team to go to an autopsy of a smoker and use their lungs to conduct research. We have compensated the relatives of the person to use their body to conduct research and the mortuary has also agreed to use their facility to use as a place to conduct our research as we don’t wanna contaminate our supplies.”
“Entry 7: We went to the autopsy and were able to open the lungs and took a few pieces. From what we could see the damage to the lungs from cancer has made them completely dysfunctional and is probably the main reason he died but we will need to send our reports to the lab and verify our research”
These people were dedicated to their job. I wonder why this book is doing this here in an abandoned mental ward. Well, I still have about 5 hours while writing this so I can probably finish this book there still are some pages left to finish.
“Entry 8:We put the pieces of the lung under a microscope and found that cells were destroyed and even the structure of the cells was destroyed so the smoke causes absolute destruction in the lungs. We have sent our discoveries to the news to report our discoveries across the world and warn people about these dangers.”
“Entry 9:Something happened we were just sending a letter to the local news and we noticed something in the lungs it seems to be an organism of some sort it is microscopic. We will continue our research of this strange microscopic species.”
Reading that my hands fell clammy and I fell a little sick but that was a long time ago there can’t be parasites in our cigarettes now and besides, there is more than one way to smoke. What about vaping you are telling me vaping also has these tiny leaches too?
“Entry 10:These things whatever they are they grow fast. They pass not only through cigarettes but through the air they can go all through the wind. When I walked into the lab today I turned on a light and saw these tiny dust particles in the air but I looked closer they weren’t dust but clumps of their parasites traveling in the air. I don’t know how but they can flow and sustain air time. I don’t know how but we must wear masks to avoid these things entering our bodies.”
My skin crawls reading that. My stomach turns wondering if this is some story some patient made. I truly hope this is some twisted fiction or else I would never feel comfortable knowing there is some kind of parasite able to enter through my nose. But I will continue reading to see if there is a good ending to this book.
“Entry 11:Dr.Martin has found that these parasites not only grow in large numbers but can also evolve at fast rates. Within hours of being exposed to air, they developed wings to fly. Not only this but we have also realized that these parasites start in the lungs and move their colony all over the body controlling the mind and limbs. We found this out by doing another autopsy of a body and finding them crawling through the dead remains of the person. Most disturbing is that they started to crawl on people nearby and the most obscure is that the people around us didn’t seem to have any reactions. Are these things able to control the actions of people? How long have these things been around? I must not stray from my objective I must find answers.”
“Entry 12:Knowing about their existence stops the illusion. I don’t know why if they do it for torment, or if it is my own doing but I can’t stop seeing them. They are in the food, on my wife and my son. I haven’t eaten in days, because I see them squirming on my food, in my eyes, and even in my dreams. I don’t think it matters anymore. They have already burrowed in me for who knows how long. Maybe since my first breath. Maybe that’s why babies cry they see these monsters entering their bodies without any help and the rest of the doctors just stare at them as if nothing is happening. I see them right now. Crawling on this pen, on my hand, on the paper. I must not get distracted. I’m writing this to inform you. Your body is a host to a being of unknown origin. Please submit to it or face my punishment like the one bestowed upon me.”
“It’s me, Robert. I can’t talk anymore they have started to crawl out of my mouth. I feel myself growing weaker by the day. They know I am a danger and would warn the unsuspecting hosts. I can’t stop this, but the best thing to do is not to know about their existence. They have hijacked my mind. I have started seeing things that don’t exist. My colleagues have had the same experiences. Howard was sent to a psych ward and is going through shock therapy. I know that won’t help him but maybe his mind will succumb to numbness to not feel the pain. Meanwhile, Martin ran away. He said he saw a being of higher intelligence and ran into the deep forest of Canada. I know he didn’t see anything it’s all in his mind. And me well I can’t sleep. They torment me with the voice of my wife and child but they moved out a month ago due to my strange behavior.”
“The voices I can hear them. They let me keep this notebook in my cell because this is the only way I can communicate. I have asked them so many times to turn down the music but each time I asked they say there is no music playing. Their lying to me I know they are. Not to mention I always ask for Jell-O the things can’t get into Jell-O but no they insist I eat a real meal. Little do they know parasites on a hamburger aren’t real meals either. I still hear that music. I can’t move my left arm. I have gone blind in my left eye. I know why this is happening they are eating away at my brain and I can sometimes feel them nibbling and chewing. It’s painless though. I don’t know how they can do it without me feeling pain but at this point I want them to finish their job and find someone new.”
My face turned pale and I spitted up some vomit.
“Oh, no no no”
I look down at my puke and noticed something squirming.
I flipped through the pages of the notebook and it was all unintelligible writing and drawings. I looked back down at the vomit and saw them. They started to crawl over the floor. I felt my dinner come back up through my stomach and saw it go all over the floor. I started to cry feeling the wiggle of them come down with my teats on my cheeks.
I know this is the end for me it will be days now before I lose my mind. But I hope this can bear as a warning that maybe some things should just go unexplored.
It’s been a few weeks now and the Jell-O helps keep my food down. Now and then I can hear the munching but it isn’t that serious. I currently reside in the west wing until further notice. They hired a new janitor after my mental breakdown. I still can hold my thoughts pretty well and they even allow me to use the computers for an hour a day. This might be my final outlet before they fully take over my body. I have noticed a numbness in my face and my right hand is starting to get stiffer and stiffer. I got rid of the notebook as it was a constant reminder of my demise. I have asked doctors for brain scans and they all say my brain is fine. I don’t believe them. I think the parasites can camouflage themselves as parts of the body. I have told my family I’m just not well to save them from this torment. Well, the nurse says my time is up. I have to go now and take my medication which won’t help but maybe if I believe hard enough it will.