Chapter 3 - The Abandoned Asylum
The teenage driver dropped Clara off at the edge of a dense pine forest.
She thanked him and walked alone up the crumbling asphalt driveway toward Blackwood Manor.
The massive stone building was covered in dark green ivy and surrounded by a rusted chain-link fence.
All the windows on the first floor were boarded up with thick sheets of plywood.
It looked completely abandoned, but Clara noticed fresh tire tracks pressed into the mud.
Someone had driven a heavy vehicle through these gates very recently.
She approached the heavy front doors and slid the brass key into the old lock.
The mechanism clicked smoothly, and the heavy door groaned open.
Clara stepped into a dark, dusty lobby that smelled of mildew and stale chemicals.
Flickering emergency lights cast long, terrifying shadows across the peeling wallpaper.
She walked softly down the main corridor, checking the faded numbers on the doors.
Room 101.
Room 102.
She needed to find the room Veronica’s phone had displayed.
She needed to find Leonard’s Room.
A sudden, sharp scream echoed from the floor above her, rattling the glass in the ceiling fixtures.
Clara froze, pressing her back against the cold plaster wall.
Footsteps hurried across the wooden floorboards right above her head.
“The sedative isn't working fast enough,” a woman's voice complained.
Clara recognized that voice instantly.
It was Veronica.
Clara crept toward the main staircase and slowly began to climb the concrete steps.
When she reached the second-floor landing, she peeked around the corner.
Veronica was standing in the hallway, holding a metal tray covered in surgical tools.
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Lawrence Cobb was standing right beside her, smoking a cigarette.
“If he doesn't sign the transfer papers tonight, we bury him alive tomorrow,” Lawrence said smoothly.
