Nightmare Institution (Book 1)

https://rumble.com/v59ldic-nightmare-institution-part-1-by-ray-bush.html

 Nightmare institution

By Ray bush

Hunter floated up from the darkness of his mind like a balloon drifting slowly on a windless day. The inside of his head felt like a slow moving wave pool, sloshing back and forth. This was not a normal sleep, that realization came to him moment by moment. Hunter thought this must be how it feels to wake up from a long night of drinking even though in his seventeen years he had never drank. Hunter tried to open his eyes, they briefly stuck as if he had pinkeye, then opened.

The room was dark but not completely. There was a strange orange glow, like the evening sun shining through mostly closed blinds. He was lying in a bed halfway between sitting up and lying flat. Hunter’s body was very heavy and equally stiff, the kind of stiff feeling that usually accompanies a long stay in an uncomfortable bed. Hunter sat up into a full sitting position, his spine cracked with the sound of someone squeezing and twisting bubble wrap. He blinked quickly until his vision began to clear. As he scanned the room to get a grasp of his surroundings. He quickly began to wish his eyes had not opened. 

Under the tall window to his left was an uncomfortable looking couch, the arms were made of wood and somehow got torn open across the length of the plaid patterned backrest. Covering that tall window and draped behind the couch was a dark curtain decorated by a complicated tan design. Directly in front of him was a heavy wooden door with a chrome industrial door handle. Stiffly, he turned to look at the wall behind him, his heart sank like a submarine. Covering the wall hung equipment and long dead gauges, both covered in dust. He was in a hospital that had been long abandoned. Holes covered the walls and wires hung from missing panels in the ceiling. All the lights were black like the eyes of the dead watching him. He was scared and confused by this strange situation he found himself in. 

Now that his eyes finished their initial investigation he let his ears take over. The silence was deafening, but only for a moment. It was shattered like thin glass by the almost imperceptible sound of a piano playing. Hunter could not tell if it were real or just his ears trying to hear something. He chalked it up to his imagination. He chalked this whole situation up to a figment of his imagination. This had to be a nightmare. He tried to force himself awake; his efforts were futile. Hunter heard a door close somewhere in a distant hallway. The echo echoed through dozens of unseen corridors to his ears. 

Good, he thought in order to comfort himself in this crazy nightmare at least I am not the only one in here. He was trying to contradict in his mind what his eyes were seeing. He felt a brief moment of relief. Then he heard the cry of a very young child, the kid was probably not even out of diapers. It was muffled, so it was most likely on a floor above or below. His comfort left him like a small child fleeing the monster under their bed. 

Slightly panicked, Hunter swung his legs off the side of the bed. He did not stand on the legs he knew would fail him, as they were still numb. His muscles ached, his head throbbed, and his heart was now pounding. His legs felt like he had been lying down for an entire year. While he waited for the feeling to come back to his get-away sticks so he could stand on them, Hunter closed his eyes and searched his memory. He thought hard to remember what he did to end up in the hospital. He had no luck, his mind was blank. 

His hope was hidden behind intense terror when he heard a long, slow two-note whistle. Hunter was hopeful he was not alone yet he was not naïve to the menacing tone. Luckily, he would have time to think about what to do with the new person. The whistle was still a good distance away. Maybe he could get out before he had to see the  face behind the whistle. The silence that followed terrified Hunter from his head to his shoulders all the way down to his knees and toes. Then the piano continued playing its haunting tune, Hunter was starting to believe he could be in trouble, or he was in the most vivid dream of his life. That piano would play the soundtrack of this nightmare. His stomach tied itself into a pretzel, his eyes filled with tears. He felt this would be the longest night of his young life. The amnesia was as terrifying as these insane surroundings.

Hunter closed his eyes again as he began to take slow deep breaths. His dad has always told him that the best decisions come from a calm mind. His heart slowed and he wiped his eyes as he opened them. He needed to gain his bearings and take in what he was really seeing. It didn’t help. He looked at the window, the curtains blocked out the light, if any, that may have tried to shine in. He looked again at the overhead lights, still black. He looked at the walls and saw the source of the orange light. On each wall was a long thin cylindrical tube emitting the light. They shined more brightly than Hunter would have thought possible. Above the light was one word, Hunter completely agreed. ”EMERGENCY.” 

He looked at the couch. It was not torn. It was not cut. clean like a knife would cut, it had been clawed by something with very large hands. The walls had a few similar gouges as the couch. Presumably by the same claws. There were also holes in the walls, like an pissed off boxer punched the hell out of them. Something terrible happened in this room. He knew he was right when he looked at the floor and saw the large stains that could only be blood. Hunter’s own blood finally flowed the feeling back into his legs all the way to his toes. He stood slowly testing his legs like a newborn horse, the last thing he wanted was to fall and knock himself unconscious again.. They had a bit of a wobble but his legs did not betray him. He took a short step not lifting his foot from the ground. The basketball shoes startled him when they squealed loudly on the floor like he made a quick stop while playing basketball. Another door from a faraway location echoed to his ears. As the echo ran away down other passages Hunter noticed the volume of the piano had increased slightly. Someone was playing something slow and sad. Hunter had no clue if he were trapped in a nightmare or if he found himself in a horrible situation. Either way, he wanted to get out of this hospital. 

He took another step, this time not trying to test his legs, Hunter  wanted out of this room and fast.. His foot slid on the floor almost causing him to do the splits. He looked down at the ceiling tile that almost took him out. Instinctively he looked to the ceiling where it had come from. Glowing red eyes stared at him from the darkness where the ceiling tile had once been. As fast as they appeared, they were gone, yet no sound came from the ceiling. Hunter blinked rapidly hoping his eyes could convince his mind he did not just see what he saw. His head snapped to the open door when he heard the same two note whistle. This time it was closer and somehow even more menacing.   

Hunter knew he must get moving. He walked slowly out of the room and into the hall. It was no surprise that the hall looked like a tornado passed through it. In the strange orange light the scene was absolutely disturbing. Chairs were turned and tossed every-which way. Hospital beds lay on their side with torn and bloody sheets hanging to the floor. The walls looked like someone had a week long brawl with the sheetrock. A rainbow of scrubs of all sizes were scattered everywhere. Blood stained patient gowns helped to finish the god awful scene. Everything was exactly what he expected judging by the room he had awakened in. This can’t be possible, how the hell did I get here? Hunter wondered to himself.

His room was at the end of a long, dimly lit, hallway. To his left was a window under the window was a balled-up curtain. Surely, once upon a time, they must have covered this window until something, that Hunter didn’t want to meet, tore it down. Hunter looked into the intense blackness of the night outside the hospital, hoping but not expecting to see something. What he hoped to see he didn’t know but he needed to see something. Unfortunately there was nothing, literally nothing. No streetlights, no headlights, no moon or stars. It was a darkness like he was buried deep inside a cave. Hunter had never been to a hospital that had nothing around it, normally hospitals were in highly populated areas. With this  kind of darkness, he must have been in the middle of nowhere. Then out of nowhere it appeared.  

A speck of yellow light like a cave opening like he was seeing the opening of the cave that he had been buried in. At first it was a speck, then a pea, finally the size of a flashlight. It looked like Hunter was walking towards the exit despite his feet not moving. He felt a tinge of hope, this may turn out to be nothing but at least it was something. That was what he wished for and that is what he got. It continued to grow, or get closer Hunter was not sure which. It froze when it reached the size of a bowling ball. It was not a light at all, it was a ball of gas like a crystal ball floating in the night. The perfect circle began to morph, like watching a single cell splitting under a microscope. The top rose and thickened as the bottom dropped and thinned. The slow moving smoke began to darken and solidify. Hunter watched in terror yet he was powerless to look away. His heart nosedived straight to his stomach as the shape suggested the slightest resemblance of a skull. Two circles darkened, Hunter knew that is where the eyes would be. Hunter was mesmerized. Teeth formed in the mouth as the cheek bones lifted and sunk in.

Time slowed to a crawl, Hunter could tell by the way the piano slowed like a record set on the lowest spin setting. For a very long moment, nothing happened. Hunter locked eyes with the skull and time shifted back as the skull somehow smiled with no lips at the young man. The skull charged the glass making Hunter stumble back, arms flinging trying to catch his balance. He landed in a chair that, around the fear he thought, had not been there before. The glass formed to the shape of the skull and stretched it closer. It also glowed red around the illuminated skull. Hunter pushed himself back with his feet, the chair rolled. And still the glass stretched until he found himself face to face with this demon once again. It looked like plastic wrapped stretched around a halloween decoration..

Hunter could not tell if the soft voice was a whisper or a voice in his head, “We have you.” He blinked his eyes opened, the skull was gone and the window was flat. His heart was pounding as he tried to calm his breathing. What the hell was that? He asked himself. An icy breeze circled him like a small arctic dust devil. Hunter quickly jumped to his feet when he realized he had been sitting in an empty wheelchair. 

By the time Hunter spun on his heels, the chair was gone. What the shit just happened? he whispered to no one in particular. He repeated the whisper when he realized it was not only the chair that was gone, the hall was completely empty. No office chairs, no beds, and no scrubs. How the hell did that happen? Hunter blinked hoping the chaos would return, but somehow still happy the hall was empty. Is this really happening? he thought once again Or is this the most vivid nightmare that he had ever had? Thinking it was a dream continued to give him a slight feeling of hope. 

It has to be a nightmare, Hunter mentally tried to convince himself he even faked a smile. Then there it was the piano again, he didn’t remember it stopping, so he guessed it never had. The volume was clearly increasing now. Somehow, that helped to convince him that it was indeed a nightmare. Watch He told himself, next the door will shut and then the whistle will follow. Right on, que the door shut then the two-note whistle, like the piano it was getting slightly louder. 

He was not the least bit worried that the sounds were getting louder, Hunter was very confident that he was stuck in a terrible dream. It would be like walking through a haunted house, it would be scary but nothing would really happen. A smile touched his lips. The ball of stress in his stomach loosened, unfortunately the feeling was short lived. As if in response to his ease, the hooting jovial laugh of a demented jester echoed its way through the hospital. He should have known that it was a false sense of hope that was far too real. Instinctively Hunter covered his ears to block out the sound of the insane laugh. All the doors in this long hallway slammed in unison. The orange lights turned off, leaving Hunter in utter darkness. His eyes filled with tears as terror flowed through his entire body. 

Then silence. The laugh disappeared as quickly as it had begun. The only sound was his pulse banging in his ears like a lunatic playing the drums. Darkness and silence was the worst for him. Tears rolled slowly from the corner of his squinted eyes and down his hairless cheeks. The piano began again, significantly louder but still playing something slow and sad. Hunter did want to see which servant of Satan was playing this piano. Hunter was about twenty percent less sure of his nightmare theory after that display. He thought of last Halloween when he took the pretty young woman on a date to a haunted house. His heart slowed a bit. Nightmare or not, he did not want to meet the jester behind the laugh. 

He thought that he had to get moving so he began to jog down the hall. After only a few steps he stopped. He did not like how loudly his basketball shoes slapped on the large, black and white, checkerboard patterned floor. Hunter didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention to his location, despite the thought that his location was common knowledge in this place. It was not until now that Hunter realized that the doors were now open again. 

He walked lightly down the hall. Don’t you dare look in those rooms Hunter, don’t be stupid. Hunter told himself as forcefully as he could. He did not want to look, so how did he want to look at the same time? How long had it been since these rooms had been occupied? Decades? Years? Judging by what he was experiencing, probably only days. Or even worse, still occupied. His head turned slightly as he walked past room 4211. What in the blue hell are you doing? Hunter asked himself, What if there was someone in there? The thought left him torn. He may see something horrible, but on the other hand, he may find someone like him that just needed or even better could give some help. 

Hunter walked slowly past each room looking in carefully out of the corner of his eye. He hoped not to see a monster but kind of wanting to find someone in his situation. The rooms on the left gave way to a long counter that was once a nursing station. The white countertop, half covered by neatly placed steel clipboards holding patient forms. Hunter had inherited his mother’s desire to know every little detail some called her nosey. He stopped to have a look. The piano continued to play the soft slow melody  that took his breath while taking him to a childhood memory. 

Hunter was seven years old sitting on the green grass under a bright blue spring sky. The piece of a young child was an amazing feeling. He surrounded himself with his favorite cartoon action figures, maybe ten including one in each hand. His back was towards the brick house, the bricks were different tones of tan.  On the south side of the door, that was not a door it was ajar, was a large living room window. To the north of the door were two smaller bedroom windows, his room the furthest north. He had two-action figures fight each other while the others watched. On the other side of the open door sat Hunter’s blonde haired mom playing beautifully on an antique piano. In that moment he felt happiness, and hope that he would wake up and this would all be over. 

He did wake up, but not from the nightmare, but from that soothing memory by the sound of a door closing followed by that damned whistle. Then something new, Come out, come out wherever you are. The voice was still distant but powerful and deep but somehow soothing, like a loving father somehow. He could also hear teasing in the voice. Hunter thought the mystery man was still far away, yet he knew that he had to get moving if he wanted to avoid the confrontation. 

Disappointing to Hunter the papers were blank and the computer screens were black. He should have known. Hunter got moving as fast as he could while still keeping his shoes quiet on the floor. He left the sad scene, a once busy nursing station now dead and lifeless, loneliness filled his heart. He wished his mom were here. He had never known a woman that could match her inner strength. Then he thought of his dad. The tall man with the dark hair and the broad shoulders. If he were with Hunter, the whistling man would be running scared. His dad had always protected him. He prayed, not to God, but to his deceased parents for the strength he had always seen in them. 

He left the nurse’s station behind and moved down the hallway. A wall that ran the remainder of the hall replaced the deserted workspace. The wall was broken in three places by windowless wooden doors, Hunter guessed that behind them was storage or maybe dietician offices. On the right Hunter passed three empty rooms, when he reached the fourth he was not so lucky. In room 4216 a dark haired girl sat on the couch staring at the floor as if she were examining her feet. Hunter froze. He did not think that she knew he was there, and he was not one hundred percent sure that he wanted her to know. He had been hoping to find someone but now that he had, Hunter was not so sure he wanted her company. She sat motionless in a blood stained hospital gown and her matted wet black hair hung down hiding her face. He could not stop looking at the girl, she did not move. Hunter was not even sure if she was breathing. 

“Hey,” Hunter said gently, “Are you okay?” She did not move, “Let me help you,” Hunter began to take a step. The piano played but that was like news from a distant land. The baby began to cry again, Hunter hated this place. He was completely focused on her. He jumped when that goddamned door slammed in sync with all the lights going out. Then there it was that same maddening whistle.

The lights came back on as the last note finished. “Nobody leaves this place,” she whispered. Strangely, Hunter did not think that he heard that menacing voice with his ears. She was inside his head. “He is on his way. It is too late, there is nowhere to run.” 

“Who is on his way?” Hunter asked, even though he really didn’t care who was coming. “It doesn’t matter,” Hunter, continued, “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” If she did not come this time, Hunter would be forced to leave her behind. He wanted to help but he would not be here any longer than he had to be. 

The girl looked back at him through the eyes of a girl that lost her soul long ago. They were sad and painful to look at. Hunter was terrified and deeply saddened. The dark circles under her eyes gave her the look of a girl wearing heavy makeup who had been crying for hours. He was able to see all this despite her black hair hanging down in her face like hippy beads in a doorway. Hunter was now paralyzed with terror and wondered what would happen next. The lights went out again, this time for longer. When they came back on, the girl was now just outside the doorway holding a large serrated knife in her left hand. She smiled an unpleasant smile that showed her rotting teeth. Her skin was also rotting away in pus-filled patches. This girl had been suffering for far too long. A single tear pooled in her eye before spilling down her cheek. 

Her mouth opened, fully exposing her pusey gums and rotting teeth, just like her skin, and she let out an ear-piercing wail. The orange lights dimmed off and the overhead lights began to strobe. Slowly at first but gained speed quickly until the lights flashed as fast as a strobe light in a stoner's smoke room. Hunter raised his hands to his ears, though it did nothing to drown out the sound. Tears filled Hunter’s eyes. Hunter saw the strobe light gleam off the stainless steel blade of the bread knife. Hunter expected her to lunge at him to try to slice at him. He wanted to run but was powerless to fight against his morbid curiosity. The shriek filled every inch of the hospital from top to bottom. Her eyes still locked with his, they seemed to be begging him for help and at the same time wanting to murder him.

She raised the knife to her neck and began to saw through it rapidly like a cracked out lumberjack. blood spurted in the strobe light. Hunter thought he would lose his mind if he did not get away. This time his legs obeyed as he ordered them to sprint down the hall. The scream chased after him like a cat chasing a scared mouse. 

Hunter reached the wooden double doors and looked out long thin rectangle windows that gave Hunter a limited view of a new passageway. The scream stopped as he had touched the cool stainless steel handle. The overhead lights ceased their disco strobe and the orange emergency lights returned. He froze, but he was not sure why. There is no way Hunter would turn to see a nearly headless body on the floor, he was not that curious. As his hand began to turn the handle, Hunter heard a whizzing noise cutting through the air behind him. Like a baseball thrown by someone with a strong arm. Hunter was about to look, not wanting to get hit in the back of the head with something. Before he could turn his head, something banged hard on the door next to him. Both doors rattled hard against each other, then something thumped on the floor next to his foot. 

Hunter screamed and fumbled the door handle like a madman when he saw that it was her bodiless head looking back at him. Blood pooled around where her neck was once connected to her shoulders. He thought as he looked again into those eyes. Now they were not weak and pleading, they were deadly like a cobra’s eyes. He now looked into the eyes of a witch, or maybe she was a demon. It didn’t matter, Hunter wanted no part of either. He looked back in the direction he and the head had come from. Her headless body stood facing him, Hunter wasn’t sure if facing was the right word since her face was looking at him from the floor. He thought she stood in a confrontational stance, shoulders high and brood, chest puffed up, and her fists clenched tight. She let out another of her deafening screams. Thankfully, this was only a short burst like the honk of a car horn. Hunter ran out the door without another look back. 

The orange glow was gone; it was replaced by a soft light like walking through a forest in the early morning as the sun's peak over the mountains. The scream was gone and even better that passageway was gone. To the right was a wide walkway with a very high ceiling. On the wall before him were similar doors as the ones that he had just used. Through the windows, he could see the stainless steel doors of three separate elevators. Hunter wanted no part of an elevator in this nightmare institution. Leading away from the doors into the large corridor was a wall broken only by three five story  windows to the outside covered in white blinds. Hunter was glad for the blinds; he did not want to see outside again, he just wanted to get to the ground floor and find the nearest exit. The wall ran twenty feet further than the walkway, which ended in a chest level, mini wall. Hunter guessed that on the other side of the mini wall was a drop off to the first floor. He imagined each floor below him was the exact same layout. 

To the right of the large walkway was the same chest high mini wall. It was about four feet a decorative stone, then about a foot of smoke glass, topped by a large white cylinder that could have served as a giant’s handrail. The right wall ran a bit down the walkway then both veered off to the right, likely into the heart of this awful place. Set back from the mini wall was the outer wall of the hospital, Hunter thought the space between the two would be a long drop that would lead directly to the morgue, do not pass go do not collect two-hundred dollars. To the left was a short dark hallway, somehow none of the soft light penetrated the threshold. There was a single door at the end of the short walkway. Above hung an exit sign glowing bright green. Next to the glowing “EXIT” was a small green arrow that pointed down. This is what Hunter had been hoping for, a way out. 

A door shut with a loud bang and then came the menacing, two-tone whistle. It was much closer this time. Dammit, Hunter thought. He was too close now, probably around that corner somewhere on the walkway. The chaos that happened in that last hallway surely alerted the mystery man to his exact location. It did alert him to my location and don’t call me Shirley. Hunter laughed to himself. His choice was easy. He quickly went to the left, into the small hall, and out the door. He ran down the ten or twelve steps then turned back and ran down the next twelve stairs. He was hoping to take the stairs to the ground floor but the way to the second floor was blocked by swirling darkness. 

It looked like a black slow moving tornado, instead of debris there were faces swirling in the blackness. Pained faces, faces in agony, it was the faces of the souls lost in these walls. He looked closer, Hunter saw the glowing blue eyes staring back at him with a mix of hope and pity. Not a single pair of eyes, not even ten pairs. It must have been dozens of pairs, maybe even 100 sets of eyes. As Hunter starred, almost becoming hypnotized by the slow swirl. The pit seemed depthless, he thought this is similar to what the river Styx must have looked like. Hunter thought this the gateway to hell, or at the least one of the portals. His need to leave was now more intense than ever. He did not want to end up a soul swirling in the endless dark slow moving vortex. 

“Well I guess we will see what’s on the third floor,” Hunter said to himself. “Fuck me.” 

Hunter walked through the door to the third floor wishing there was another way yet knowing there was not. All the young man wanted was to be on the ground floor. There was no way you would challenge the doorway to hell so here he was. 

This floor was much darker than the previous. Fluorescent lights hid in the casing in regular intervals but only every third or fourth light was illuminated. The configuration of the floor was an exact copy of the floor above, as was the case in most hospitals. The piano continued to play its endless sad tune, he assumed that it must be on the first floor. Hunter wanted to smash that damn piano with a damn sledgehammer. He hated the music but at the same time, the sound of a piano always reminded him of his mother. Hunter found himself wishing for his parents again. Again nobody came. 

Hunter stepped away from the door scanning the floor as best he could. He was tired of the surprises this place kept springing on him. He could not see much in the terrible light. To his immediate left was a hallway leading into an abyss-like darkness. Ahead was the large walkway leading to the right. Hunter thought that might be the best way to go. To his right was a wall and the door to a corridor Hunter was sure would lead to an identical hallway from the floor above. Hunter did not want to go down that hall unless he had to. From above came three loud knocks.

That’s the door at the top of the stairs, Hunter thought manically. He heard the door open then that familiar whistle echoed in the stairwell. Instinctively, Hunter ran to the first door he saw. Now he found himself in the very same hall that he had so recently escaped. 

There was one immediate difference between the two hallways. The nurse’s station was maybe twenty feet from the door Hunter guessed. He used his hand to ease the door shut behind him while he investigated his surroundings. He was not very happy with what he saw. The door clicked shut behind him. On the nurse’s station sat the same metal clipboards. Behind the counter was the same computer. The only difference was the bronze statue of a mother holding her baby wrapped in a thin blanket. The sculpture was from her stomach up. Hunter thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. She seemed to be bouncing the baby softly. 

Hunter focused his eyes but also focused his ears, “boop boop didem dadem wadem chew.” The voice was soft and soothing. 

She turned slowly to look up at Hunter, still singing beautifully. Hunter recognized the song as a song his own mom used to sing that to him. Was this the sign from her that he had been waiting for. “And they swam and they swam all over the damn.” Hunter stumbled into the door when he saw that it was his mother’s young face on the statue. The door rattled. “SSSSHHHHH,” the mother hissed. “You will wake him.” Hunter wiggled the handle franticly causing her to get more agitated. “SSSSSSHHHHHHHHH,” the door would not open. The baby started to fuss quietly as his mother tried to calm him. “Boop boop didem dadem wadem chew and they swam and they swam all over the dam,” she sang. It was not helping. The fussing quickly morphed into a soft cry then rose into an all-out baby cry. 

“Now look what you did,” her voice took on a demonic undertone but was somehow still beautiful. “Get out of here,” Her voice was losing its beauty. “Get out of here, Get out of here.” She went on as the baby continued to cry. Hunter wanted out of here but the door was not opening. He turned to see why and saw the white sign with red lettering. 

“Due to the rising threat of kidnapping this door will automatically lock. Please inform nurses when you are ready to leave.”

Son of a bitch! Hunter was becoming less scared and more angry.

Thankfully the mother went back to the soothing song but the baby still filled the hallway with cries. Hunter ran past the nurse’s station and deeper into the maternity ward. That was absolutely not where he wanted to go but again he had very few options. Hunter skidded to a halt when he saw the next discrepancy in the hallways. Large windows that Hunter knew would be for viewing area for the families of newborns. He thanked God when the last cries echoed away from his ears. He stood as still as the statue should have been. Luckily he stopped soon enough where he could not see into the nursery, the angle was wrong. His heart was pounding in his chest, only partly because of the short jog.

Hunter did not want to walk by the windows, he checked back the way he had come for a door he missed or anything but the nursery. A door shut somewhere and the whistle closet followed. That was not close enough Hunter thought he should be right outside those doors. He was almost disappointed. Hunter was of course wary of the man but part of Hunter wanted to just face him and get it over with. When he thought about it he was relieved, his fear of the man was still a bit stronger than his desire to face him. He will deal with it later, now he must focus on the nursery. 

Keep your head down and walk fast, he told himself. What if there’s a baby in there, He answered back. The first Hunter felt shame, of course the second voice was right.

Despite the man moving further away, Hunter still wanted to get out of this place post haste. Following the nursery windows were two halls, Straight ahead would lead him directly to the window and the room that he woke up in, now he was just a level below. The second wrapped around the nursery so that more families would be able to view. Hunter really didn’t want to walk by these windows, but there would be no other way out. Ahead was the way back to the beginning of the nightmare and the horrible skull, not to mention it was a dead end. He would have to turn right past the nursery, he would force himself to look. He looked out the window to see that same yellow dot appear in the distance, Hunter had to move now. He knew what that speck would turn into. 

There is no way I want to see that shit again, Hunter thought out loud. Just walk past the window head down, eyes on the floor. 

Squeak, squeak, squeak, Those squeaks were coming from the nursery, Squeak, squeak, squeak. The squeaks were evenly spaced apart. Hunter did not want to find out what that was. He looked to the window and outside the glowing speck was now the size of a tennis ball. He had to move. Hunter picked up his right foot and with great effort from his brain took a step forward. A big part of him just wanted to give up, curl up on the floor, and wait for whatever was going to happen to just happen already. On the heels of that thought was a burning desire to not give up and not be a quitter. He felt strength flowing into him. Had his prayers to mom and dad been answered? His left foot obeyed the command to move much easier, then the right was even easier. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Hunter watched his black shoes move forward. If he looked in the windows he thought he would freeze. 

Proudly he passed the first window support without looking in, squeak squeak squeak. It almost sounded like a lonely swing blowing softly in the park. Hunter took another step and he felt his head beginning to raise. 

What are you doing? Half his brain asked.

It’s a baby, what if it needs our help? The sane part of his brain retorted. Honestly Hunter didn’t know which half of his brain was sane anymore. 

Deep down he knew that he had to help this baby if he could. He raised his head completely and looked through the reinforced glass. Squeak, squeak, squeak. There sat a small child in a pink playpen bouncing her head against the mesh screen. Squeak, squeak, squeak. She looked down, making her light brown hair hang over her face, just like the girl upstairs. Hunter shuddered at the thought of her. She wore a once white onesie that was now stained like a tie dye shirt from months of neglect. He felt a pain in his heart like he had never felt before, not even when he lost his parents. Tears filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks in warm streams. Squeak, squeak, squeak. 

Hunter tapped on the window softly, he had to get this girl out of this place. Tonight was no longer about him. 

Who the hell would have left her here? Hunter asked the empty hallway. Tears still ran out of his eyes, but now they were rage tears not out of fear. The baby stopped bouncing her head so she could slowly raise it. Hunter felt the tension thick like chocolate milk. Was she a baby or was she a monster? He wanted to run but he forced himself to stay, Hunter was almost sure that the baby was a monster. 

The baby had the eyes of an innocent newborn full of tears that quickly flashed to the red eyes of a demon. The baby locked eyes with Hunter, grabbed two handfuls of hair, and gritted her teeth so hard that her head began shaking. The hair came loose with bloody chunks of skin still attached. Hunter unfroze and moved quickly past the windows then turned right. The baby watched as it began to cry the most sad cry Hunter would ever hear. Hunter ran down the hall and was happy when the last window, also the demon child, was behind him. 

Unfortunately he was now in almost complete darkness, the only light was a faint white glow from the fluorescent lights above. The flickered which he knew meant they were close to the end of their lifespan. He turned left and there were doors on either side that were most likely offices, maybe accounting or something like that. He didn’t hear a door shut this time before he heard the menacing whistle. He followed the hall left again. On the right were more office doors, one was Lynda White, another Lois Witte. Hunter wondered where those women were today. On the left one of the doors was open, Hunter went in quickly, this could be a good place to hide. Maybe the man will become uninterested and leave. 

Hunter heard someone sobbing faintly like a song on a summer breeze. This felt different than the previous encounters, this sob sounded like Hunter felt. “Hello,” Hunter whispered, “Who’s there?”He waited for a response and when he didn’t get one he said, “come out, I can help you get out of here.” Hunter strained his eyes in the dim room hoping he would be able to see them. He prayed this was not another trick of the hospital. “Where are you? I heard you crying, let me help you.” Hunter thought he never learned. He had already been burned twice in this hospital but is now putting himself in the very same situation. He was asking for it again. 

“Get away from me,” Hunter was shocked, he was expecting a female voice for some reason. There was still a little strength left in the  voice, that gave Hunter a bit of  hope. “You’re going to lead him right to me, Get the hell out of here.” Hunter had been wrong, there was no strength left in this man, he had been broken. 

The man screamed, but someone held it in his throat, when he heard the door shut followed by that haunting whistle. “Who are you?” Hunter asked. 

“It doesn’t matter,” the voice said from the darkness. “Please go away, I don’t want him to find me.” 

“Come on man,” Hunter pleaded, “Let’s get out of here together, we will be stronger that way. Between the two of us I bet we could take him. At least tell me your name.”

“Felix,” Hunter thought that was progress, he still couldn’t see him but he had a general idea where the voice was coming from. “There’s no getting outta here. He knows you are here and he knows where you are. So you need to get away from me before he knows where I am too, you are going to get me killed.” 

“Felix,” Hunter was using his most encouraging voice, “Together we can do it man, we can take him. I know it.”

From somewhere in the hallway, probably by the nursery a voice said, “Come out Hunter. Are you talking to someone?”

“Get out of here,” Felix was still speaking softly but Hunter could tell that he was furious. “Get the hell out of here. Don’t say another word, please just go.”

Hunter hesitated, he wanted to help Felix but it seemed Felix wanted nothing to do with him. Hunter decided to leave without another word, Felix remained hidden and Hunter hoped that he would not get the man caught. Back towards the nursery was not an option so Hunter turned left and hoped this hallway was not a dead end. The whistle came from very close behind him, Hunter decided to jog on the thin carpet floor. There was very little noise from his feet. 

He quickly reached a stairwell with an exit sign hanging above it. “Hunter,” the voice called, Hunter hated his playfulness it made him more disturbing. “Come out and play son.” Hunter didn’t think it mattered which direction he turned out of the office, he was convinced the voice would have come from behind him either way. 

Hunter got to the stairwell and the gosh damn door was locked. He jiggled the handle with no consideration for the noise he was making. The man knew exactly where he was, the time for stealth passed and the time for moving his ass was upon him. There was a door on the right and the left, on the right was Dr. Eleanor Peeble’s office. That was no good, Hunter would be trapped like Felix. 

The unseen man tapped something on, Hunter thought it must be the nursery glass. “It’s ok Darcy,” the man’s voice was as smooth as silk. Hunter thought that anyone who didn’t change their voice when they talked to a baby, human or animal, was a lunatic. “Did that bad man scare you? Don’t you worry baby girl, I’ll take care of him for you.” Hunter thought he was much more scared than that baby would ever be. 

The door on the right was marked as the ICU, not great but Hunter thought that was his better chance to find an exit. Hunter reached for the door with a heart full of hope that it would open, it did. He slid in but shut the door soft behind him. The orange glow from the emergency lights that began this nightmare, shined dimly in the intensive care unit. Hunter found them to be much worse than the dimness of the hall. That same whistle tickled his eardrums menacingly followed by a deep laugh. 

The ICU appeared to be a U shape of rooms around the nurse’s station that took up the center of the large unit. Behind the station was a wall that undoubtedly were rooms that held supplies and food. Hunter looked down to see a knee high swirling mist engulfing him to the knees. This can’t be good, Hunter thought to himself but he had to continue on, behind him lay torment. Most of the curtains to the rooms were thankfully closed except for room 328.

Hunter heard things scurrying under the fog which is what was making it swirl. For the ten millionth time tonight, Hunter wished he wasn’t in this freakin hospital. A hand grabbed his leg and nearly pulled him down, Hunter had no desire to see what was under the fog. He pulled his foot away then quickly kicked at whatever was below the mist. He started to run and more hands pawed at his legs and pants, he did notice then no hand ever penetrated the mist. Somehow, thank god, he managed to keep his feet. 

Luckily he made it around the U without much trouble, the grabbing hands had very little strength. As Hunter reached for the handle, the door rattled loudly from three hard bangs. His heart jumped in his chest. Hunter wondered how he was able to be at this door so fast, he didn’t notice the hand around his ankle when he began to run. Hunter fell flat on his chest and all the breath left his lungs in a bursting whoosh. Hunter could not see a thing through the fog, despite hands pulling at him from all directions. They seemed to be forming from the fog itself. One ripped his shirt, another pulled his hair, a third grabbed his balls and gave them a hard squeeze. Hunter pulled away from them all then tried to stand. A hand wrapped around the back of his neck then pulled his face hard into the floor. His nose broke and blood spattered into the emptiness of the fog. 

Hunter fought harder and the hand around the neck let go, almost giving him whiplash. He stood up only to see the mist was up to his thighs now, soon it would engulf him. Hunter started breathing in short bursts and panic took over his mind. The fog continued to rise at a steady pace, He had no idea what he was going to do. He wished he would have just faced the whistling man that would have been a better fate than this. The smoke was at his waist when his eyes locked on room 328. He could raise the bed giving him at least a minute to think. He sprinted there, fighting off the mist hands, then closed the curtain behind him. He leapt on the bed and curled his body up as tight as possibly. He thought he never squeezed himself tighter in his entire life, he hoped it would be enough.

A fog hand slowly crept over the edge of the bed, like a curious rabbit peeking out of her hole. Hunter squeezed himself tighter, hopefully becoming smaller again. The smoke was at the bottom of the mattress now, He never got the chance to try to raise it. Hunter tried to curl up even more but it was not possible. Four hands grabbed him within split seconds of each other, two on his left leg, one on his right hip/thigh area, the last grabbed his right ankle. He was breathing hard and trying to kick his legs free, with almost no effort the hands kept hold. The smoke hands already had his right leg off the bed and his foot under the smoke. Hunter fought hard but more hands latched on, at least five more. They pulled hard and the only thing keeping him on the bed right now was the hands on the left pulling Hunter in the opposite direction. 

Maybe realizing what was going on, the hands on his left leg let go. Hunter was now being pulled quickly to the right, This is where it ends, he thought. He was now halfway off the bed holding on to the head in hopes he wouldn’t be dragged to the floor. Hunter began to scream in fear and effort.

Then he heard the door open, followed again by that menacing two note whistle. The hands let go making Hunter fall hard to the floor. The mist cleared the room instantly, Hunter had no idea where it went. “Ollie ollie oxen free,” He said then chuckled to himself, “Come out come out wherever you are. That’s what we used to say playing hide and seek as a kid.” Hunter thought this man was crazy, but he was starting to believe it was not a man at all. Most likely some kind of demon or magician. “It’s time to end this son, tonight has been fun but I have got to get my beauty sleep in. Room 328, Right?”

Hunter was on his butt so he used his feet to scoot him behind the complex frame of a hospital bed. The boots clumped closer and closer until the man stood right outside the curtain. A hand grabbed the curtain and then that damn whistle. Hunter used his feet to push himself to the wall almost to the point of standing. The curtain opened and a bright light filled Hunter’s vision. His brain was more than confused as he struggled against the arms trying to hold him down. 

“Calm down sugar,” A woman’s voice spoke sweetly, confusing Hunter even more. “Hunter, please calm down. You don’t want to hurt your legs more than they already are.” What did that mean? Now that she mentioned it, Hunter had no feeling below his waist. 

“What’s going on?” Hunter asked, trying to blink out the brightness, “Where am I? Who are you?” 

“Just relax darlin,” Hunter's vision was beginning to clear, “Take some deep breaths and I will explain everything.” 

Hunter willed his mind to slow and now that he could see he looked around a bit. He was in a hospital, but not the same hospital. Well it might be the same hospital but this one was well populated. He could hear the beeps of machines and the bustling of busy nurses. Hunter laid his head back and tried to relax. He didn’t like that he was in the hospital but at least now it was populated. He began sobbing softly in relief, that was one crazy nightmare. 

“What am I doing here?” Hunter asked and tried to wiggle his toes . As far as he could tell nothing happened. “What’s wrong with my legs?”

For the first time he looked at his nurse, she was a very pretty heavy set black woman. “This is going to be hard to hear,” Her face looked grim, “You were hit by a car crossing the street.” Hunter cried a little harder, “But we are going to get you all fixed up. We have the best surgeons in the world working here, you’ll be just fine sugar.” She pulled out a sterile needle then found a bottle of something in her pocket. It took her almost no time to find his vein, she injected him with something. “Count back from one hundred and this will all be over.”

At ninety nine Hunter was worried, at ninety eight he felt the drugs kick in and his mind relaxed a little. Ninety seven his eyes began getting heavy, ninety six he smiled broadly. Ninety five his eyes closed, ninety four Hunter's heart stopped when he heard that slow two note whistle. The curtain was pulled open, and Hunter tried to scream and open his eyes. His body was unresponsive and unconsciousness took him.