The Hosptial (Book 2)

https://rumble.com/v5bcznd-the-hospital-part-1-by-ray-bush.html

 The Hospital

By Ray Bush

Roger drove the long road to nowhere wondering how he was talked into coming back to this place. He hadn’t been back to this place since that sad day 3 years ago. It affected him so much that he left the town a week later and never even went back to the place he had been raised. He Turned up the radio, Superstitions, Traditions, and Definitions was his favorite podcast. The content was fascinating and was told in such a fun and interesting way. Kristen was explaining to Carol the superstitions behind the Northern Lights. He lost the battle to his memory. 

Roger skidded his car to a stop behind the hospital at the emergency room entrance. He couldn’t believe that his mom had been robbed and shot. Orkney had almost no crime, and hadn’t had a homicide in decades. The owner of the gas station where she worked said the plates were from California, the rest of the plate had been taped over. She had done everything they said, according to her boss but they shot her anyway. Lois was the sweetest woman on the planet, everyone that ever met her loved her like family. Roger jumped out of his car only to be stopped by the security guard.

“You can’t park here son,” the guard told him, “You have to park over there.”

“Tow my car,” Roger was only sixteen and in a complete panic, “I need to get to my mom.” He tried to run past but the guard was much larger and stopped him.

“Son you can’t park here,” the guard repeated, “Your mom is good for now.” That was the first time Roger looked at the man, it was Harvey. Roger knew him as long as he could remember, both Harvey and his mom worked here his whole life. “Hurry and move your car and I’ll take you to her.”

Roger didn’t argue further. He parked his car but when he got in the emergency waiting room Harvey was nowhere to be found. Roger went to the desk, he didn’t recognize one person in here. He didn’t remember the last time he went anywhere in this hospital and didn’t recognize someone. He was basically the mascot. The nurse at the desk was a bit rude and told him to take a seat and someone would get right to him. Roger didn’t even pretend to listen.

“Who the hell are you?” Roger asked, he also didn’t try to pretend he wasn’t angry. “I grew up in this hospital, I guarantee that I know her doctor and he’s gonna be pissed when he finds out you gave me shit.”

Before she could respond Dr. Everett  exited the patient area into  the waiting area looking heart broken. Roger knew Dr. Everett since he was a baby, he was the one that delivered Roger. “I’m sorry Roger,” the doctor said and put a not so comforting hand on Roger’s shoulder. “She slipped away already. She’s gone.”
Roger’s mind fogged over with overwhelming emotions, the first was disbelief. The doctor’s had to have made some mistake, they didn’t take her pulse right or the machine got unplugged. Dr. Everett hugged Roger. He pushed the doctor, Roger quickly passed from disbelief to anger.

“What did you guys do?” Roger said. His eyes were full of burning hot angry tears. “You guys fucked something up, she was fine until you got ahold of her.”

“”Roger you know I did everything I could,” He wouldn’t have been the one to treat her of course, he worked in pediatrics, but obviously he would have made sure the best doctors were present. He was an old family friend, his dad’s best friend. “You know that, right?” Doctor Everett also had tears in his eyes. 

Roger was hit with a hurricane of sadness that sent him to his knees in front of the doctor. Roger wrapped his legs in a tight hug and sobbed into his pants. 

 When Roger came back to the moment the episode was over and he was going ten miles an hour under the speed limit. He couldn’t believe he was coming back to this place, he put Orkney and all these horrible memories behind him. And now Orkney was no more, the town had been murdered. He always knew something was going to happen with that family. They were scary as hell, especially Grampy. Even still he couldn’t believe the town was gone, thankfully his mom’s best friends Christine and Kelly moved to the hospital in Vernal after Lois passed. They weren’t able to work in that place after that day, Lois was the most loved person in the hospital. The day she passed was the day the hospital stood still. 

They kept in touch with Roger, which he was very thankful for. It was almost like having a part of her with him. They were the ones that set this job up. The two knew of Roger’s struggles holding down work but they understood why. He was now nineteen but lost both of his parents before he was even seventeen, that was a lot to deal with. They also knew that Roger’s pregnant girlfriend was also getting ready to leave him. Neither wanted that but both understood, she had to take care of the twins inside her first. 

They gave Roger this job cleaning out the hospital then said he could come work for them in the hospital in Vernal. The bulk of the work had already been done, they just needed Roger to get the miscellaneous things out of the kitchen. Mostly disposable cups and silverware, but there were pans and other things scattered everywhere. They hired two other temp workers that would meet him in the abandoned town at the abandoned hospital. This sounded like the worst nightmare Roger could think of. But he needed the money and the job, Samantha needed him to get himself back together. Roger couldn’t let her down again. The look on her face every time he came home from either being fired or quit a job killed him. He knew she wanted to stay with him but knew that she wouldn’t much longer. He knew this was his last chance. He fought the urge to turn around and instead lit a joint. 

He smoked and zoned into the podcast and tried not to think about the Nightmare Institution he was heading towards. Before he knew it he pulled past the half-ruined “Welcome to Orkney” sign. He heard what happened on Christmas Eve of course, he tried not to look at the sign or anything else. He pulled into the parking lot. The building was a five story monstrosity covered in dark windows watching  like a hundred eyes of a massive white demon. A five-story rectangle jutted out from the center of the structure, which was the casing for a long back and forth staircase. The white stone looked to be glowing in the gloomy night.

Roger parked in the handicap spot closest to the main entrance under the rectangle stairwell. In its heyday the garden area past the walkway in front of him would be filled with flowers and green trees. It used to be Roger’s favorite place in the world, now it looked like hell’s entrance. By the entrance to the west building was a white security truck, Roger wondered if it was the same truck that carted Harvey around the property. Roger guessed that it was. He threw his joint out of the window, lit a cigarette, and got out of his car. That was a habit he needed to kick as well, he didn’t want to shorten his life with twins on the way. He scanned the windows while he waited for his help to show up. On the third floor Roger thought he saw a face looking back at him. Not a scary face. It was the troubled face of someone in dire need of help. He blinked and the face was gone. Roger blamed it on the weed and the fact that it was six in the morning. Not to mention he just drove for forty five minutes. He didn’t understand why Christine needed him here at six but he was too poor to complain or ask questions. 

He pulled his phone from his pocket, when he unlocked the screen his background was a picture of his mom and him when he was a little boy. He hadn’t seen that picture since the day of his mom’s funeral. Roger through the phone on the seat of his 1984 four door grandma mobile. How the hell did that happen? Roger was terrified. His heart  beat hard in his chest, breath was almost impossible to breathe. He grabbed his phone and unlocked it again, he didn’t want to look but he had to. This time it was his normal picture of Sam, he loved her so much. He did have a message from Christine that concerned him very much. It was only two words but he hated them. I’m sorry He read. 

Headlights turned in the entrance, Roger’s heart sank. He didn’t trust the headlights for some reason, the sound of the exhaust sounded suspicious somehow also. Roger ran his hand over his clean shaved face then rubbed his hand over his head, flattening his the black spikes. The small old truck pulled up next to him, the exhaust made Roger cough. There was something seriously wrong with this car. The engine sputtered to silence and the exhaust let out a single soft backfire. The driver stepped out, he was a tall white man with a square head and long black greasy hair. He was dressed in dirty black clothes and even dirtier work boots. The other one stepped around the front of the truck, he was a short hispanic man dressed nearly identically. 

“It’s about time,” Roger said, he sometimes used anger to mask fear, “What took you so long?” The tall man nodded towards the building, “Yeah I know. That’s what I've been waiting for.” 

Roger didn’t wait for a response, and it’s a good thing because one didn’t come. He walked towards the building, the two men followed but not for long, they rushed to catch Roger. The tall man was on his left and the other on his right. They were walking too closely, like Sam when they went on their nightly walk.

“Why are you guys standing so close?” Roger asked, “What the hell is wrong with you guys?” They were approaching the glass entrance way. Roger could see all three reflections in the glass, he wondered how he could in the blackness. He could only think about it for a second. The men on either side began to darken as if they were being engulfed by a shadow darker than the night. First the tall man's face turned slightly transparent then darkened to a blackness like Roger had never seen. The hispanic man smiled a toothy smile but Roger could see now that it was fake. It was like someone was projecting a likeness of these two strange men onto an unseen black canvas.  “What the hell’s going on?”

Each man took Roger’s arm, Roger fought but their fingers were like vice grips. It hurt all the way to his bones. At first Roger drug his feet, they lifted him off the ground. They were morphing from average men into wraiths with glowing green eyes. But he didn’t think they were morphing exactly, it was like the projector was slowly running out of life.  Roger fought harder but he was not near strong enough. As the drew closer the air began to feel electric, a cyclone of crazy swirled wildly in Roger’s mind. He couldn’t let them take him in there but he also was not able to stop them. It was not only the men dragging him, the hospital seemed to be drawing him in as well. He could almost feel its hunger. 

Through the glass entryway Roger could see that only about one of every three lights were lit. The white light did not do much to illuminate these halls of the dead. The crosswalk passed beneath the trio on either side. Roger kicked his feet wildly but it only hurt more when the shadows tightened their grip. His breath was now coming in short quick whistles, he would lose consciousness at any time. 

“Wait,” Roger yelled, “please guys please I can’t go in there.” They paid no attention to his pleas, Roger couldn’t even tell if they heard him. 

They quickly passed the sidewalk then stepped on the rubber mat in front of the doors. The doors folded over on themselves. Roger was nearly in full panic mode. They walked into the lobby, every third light shined dimly. It looked like it had not been touched since its abandonment. The chairs had not been flipped; it didn't appear they had even been moved. A piano sat near the far wall. Behind the piano was a large stone wall waterfall that somehow was still running. The water ran musically over the stone.

“Please guys,” Roger begged, he was speaking to them like they hadn’t just morphed before his eyes, “I can’t do this, I need to go home.” 

Office’s passed on the right which then gave way to a wide hallway. A corridor branched off on the left, then another on the right. On the other side of the hallway were large service elevators, Roger knew them well. The doors were cloudy steel making the reflections distorted shapes, well his reflection the others had no reflection. Without a button being pushed the elevator dinged and the smokey doors opened. Roger was carried on, inside all the walls were mirrors as well as the ceiling. The doors closed and Roger was still the only reflection. The elevator dropped slowly and surprisingly smoothly. They moved from floor one past A floor and stopped on the B floor. The elevator dinged again and the doors opened on the floor Roger had always hated the most. 

He was taken out of the elevator. A hall branched left and right but he was dragged straight. Unfortunately Roger knew what was that way. It was like Roger was being dragged into his worst nightmare. Wires hung from missing ceiling tiles, red lockers passed by on either side. He knew those to be where the doctors and nurses put their personal clothes and belongings. Roger wondered why they painted them, they had always been white. But when he looked close he didn’t think it was paint, he looked away before he had a chance to figure out what was going on. It was the same as the main floor, one out of three lights shined. 

The sign he dreaded was approaching slowly, “Morgue.”  Roger slipped from consciousness into the deepest part of his mind, which turned out to be a blessing. They turned the corner and Roger missed the bloody handprints painting the walls. He didn’t see the three bodies on the floor. The hospital beds tossed on their side and the hallway was also cluttered with office junk, which his companions passed through like a summer breeze. 

Roger opened his eyes to a horrible sight, he was staring into glowing green eyes under an empty looking black hood. A whisper filled his mind, “All you have to do is stay alive until he finds you, he will explain everything.” 

“Please don’t leave me here,” Roger was openly crying. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure where he was but he had a pretty good idea. They turned their backs on him then floated away and straight through the wall.

 Roger sat up to see a wall of drawers behind ‘stainless steel doors, that somehow gleamed in the dim light. This was the worst possible place for him to wake up. He got to his feet then dropped to his knees to pray. There was no answer from God, not Budha, Zeus, Or Odin either. The rest of the tables in the morgue were tossed about so on his knees Roger was not able to see the drawers anymore. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the pack of cigarettes but he pulled out the joint instead of a cig. He flicked his lighter and inhaled deeply, he held it in for a good ten seconds. He coughed out the smoke, he hated the way it echoed through the entire hospital. As if in response to his cough he heard a door echo back at him. That really sucked for Roger.

He checked his phone for a couple reasons, he wanted to call someone. He didn’t know who, Roger didn’t have any friends or family. He had Sam but she was pregnant and this much stress would be terrible for the babies, he couldn’t risk any harm to them this late in the pregnancy. He had no signal. He clicked into the messages and she hadn’t text, but how could she. He put the half a joint that he didn’t smoke back in his cigarette box and pulled out one of the smokes. Roger didn’t want to linger but he had to collect his thoughts. Roger heard a breeze coming towards him, it sounded like it was from the banquet room behind the elevators. It passed the lockers and turned towards the morgue, the door flew open and voices swirled around him in a small whirlwind. 

“Roger,” the voices whispered, “We are coming for you.” The whirlwind twisted its way out of the room, the door slammed behind it. 

The last drag of his smoke burned his lungs, he didn’t realize it had burned down to the filter. He dropped the cigarette, stomped it out, then screamed when all the doors to the body drawers began shaking hard. Three out of four tables slowly began to twist with a disgusting sound of metal squealing on tile flooring. He moved quickly to the door where the handle was rattling wildly. Tears cloudy his vision. The smell of rotten wet couch and burnt hair filled the morgue. The tables stopped spinning. A drawer in the center of the wall flew open violently, something that looked like a body shot out and landed on the opposite side of the table furthest from Roger. He heard it flopping around on the floor for no more than fifteen seconds, Roger thought of the time he saw the man fishing that threw a carp on the bank to let it suffocate by the air. When the man wasn’t looking Roger took the fish and put it back in the lake. The room went silent, it must have moved itself into a moveable position.  

Something began chattering nonsense words, or maybe it was a language Roger had never heard. It sounded like someone talking deep in their throat, or maybe a demon. Roger grabbed the handle. It wouldn’t turn, it only bounced in his hand. Long fingernails scraped on the floor and a heap of something drug behind the sound. Roger twisted hard and the nob turned easily. He ran out of the room into the garbage filled hall, it was like a gauntlet. He dodged the garbage and abandoned equipment the best he could. Roger stopped and turned back to the morgue, he didn’t want to see but he felt like he needed to. A pale hand reached out of the door then the other. It dug its knife like nails into the floor then pulled until Roger could see the elbows. It stretched its hand and repeated the process. It pulled out to its shoulders, the face was a hideous monstrosity. It had long thin hair hanging from patches, most of the wretch’s head was bald. Its eyes were black, haunted and sunk into its cheek bones. The left eye hung lower than the right giving the impression it was melting. The thing looked sad and terrifying at the same time. 

For just a moment Roger’s legs nearly turned into spaghetti noodles. Roger turned to run, he pushed through wires hanging from the ceiling. In the globe mirror, hanging in the corner of the T of the hallway, he could see that the elevator was still open. Roger jumped over the body of a young woman leaning against the wall. She was headless and  her head was cradled in the crook of her right arm. Her dark eyes opened as Roger passed over her. With a lunatic smile on her face, she reached for his legs with her left arm. She got a hold of the left one, luckily Roger was able to keep his feet. He yanked his leg but the thin woman was much stronger than she should be. He got his leg free then sprinted to the T intersection. The headless woman got to her feet and the wretch was right behind her. Roger turned right at the T to see that the elevator was still open, they gave him a little hope. Roger was three quarters down the hall, he looked over his shoulder to see the headless girl turn the corner with the wretch crawling at her feet. Roger thought the thing's legs didn’t work and that’s why it moved the way it did. 

Roger looked back to the elevators and tumbled over an empty wheelchair that absolutely had not been there. That hurt but Roger got right back to his feet. That damn demon chant, it had to be the wretch, was driving Roger to lunacy. The elevator door began to close, Roger ran faster. Roger thought he could hear an angry dog snarling and barking, he hoped never to meet the thing. It sounded ferocious. He looked backed to see the things closing in, he had no idea how the wretch moved so quickly. The doors were almost closed when he reached them so he jammed his arm through the gap, he knew the censors would make the door reopen. Something grabbed his hand. Without thinking Roger yanked his arm back, his hand cleared the door just as it closed leaving him staring at his smokey reflection. Roger was angry, he pounded on the cloudy doors twice. On the second thump and demonic fast flash in the doors. Roger screamed, the elevator was not an option. 

He turned right towards the stairwell he knew was there, it went all the way to the fifth floor. Roger would only need to go to the main floor. He passed the double brown doors marked as the electrical room then another that was the office and lounge area for the life flight helicopter crew. The wretch still chanted and dug its knife nails into the floor then dragged its body. It was an awful sound. He reached the stairwell. He looked back to see the pair reached the elevators and turned his way. The hinges screamed when he pulled the door open. He bolted up the stairs as fast as he could, but he was a chubby smoker so it wasn’t that fast. The doors slammed shut as he reached the first landing of the turnback stairs. He chugged his way up to floor A, only one more floor. Roger was moving faster than he ever had, he got to the door for the main floor. A door below him screeched open then shut. The chanting followed Roger up the stairs. 

Roger turned the handle but it didn’t even budge. He yanked on the door hard, still nothing. He could hear the two climbing towards him fast.  How the hell is that thing that fast? What the hell is going on? They reached the first landing then the second. The door and knob would not budge. They were on the landing below him. One more and they would be with him. Reluctantly Roger began to climb the stairs towards the second floor.

When Roger reached the second floor he grabbed the door handle and yanked hard. The door opened about three inches then pulled back shut hurting Roger’s shoulder. It felt like someone was on the other side but Roger thought it more likely it was the essence or life force or whatever was making this place feel alive. A scream came from below, more like the shriek from the mythical banshee. Roger continued yanking on the door, it was more solid every time he tried. He knew that he would have to follow that scream at least to the next floor. With the scream gone Roger was surprised that the demon chant didn’t come back. Instead the stairwell was completely silent, Roger wondered what happened to the other two. Roger focused his ears hoping to break the silence. Roger didn’t want to hear the demon chant or the way that wretch dragged its mangled legs behind it. 

“I see you,” that whisper came from above, it almost sounded like his mom. “Come to me Roger, I can help you.” It was his mom, that was the angelic voice of Lois that he missed so much.

Maybe her soul was in this place and that’s why he was summoned, to save her. That gave Roger a fresh burst of bravery, hopefully she was on the next floor.These stairs were a nightmare for the chubby young man. Why was it so god damn quiet in this stairwell? Roger reached the third floor, the demon chant started again. The brain was funny, ten seconds ago he missed it and now that he had it back he hated it. He could hear the thing clawing stairs and dragging itself towards him. It gave Roger full body chills. Roger grabbed the handle that would have let him into the third floor, the doorknob didn’t even budge. Roger tugged unlike the first floor, the door didn’t even almost move. He heard footfalls from what had to be the girl, or at least he hoped it was her. Roger thought he may have a chance to get away from these two, he didn’t need a third to join in the fun. 

“Roger,” His mom called down the stairs to him, “Why did you let me die here. My soul can never leave.” That brought tears to Roger’s eyes, “Did I not take care of you?” His mom began to cry softly, so did Roger.  

Roger climbed the stairs and somehow reached the third floor landing again, how the hell did that happen? This should be the fourth floor, he shouldn’t be surprised. He knew this would be a long night for him. He didn’t even have a chance to try to open this door. Someone had erected a brick wall blocking any chance of escaping the stairs this way. Roger ran to the fourth, he was breathing hard and his heart was also beating just as hard. He did put some distance between himself and the monsters, but he wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. He prayed that the fourth floor would be open. His prayer was answered but as the old saying went, be careful what you wish for. Two wraiths charged the door from the other side of the wide hallway. Their green eyes blazed under their empty black hoods. Roger slammed the door, they beat on the other side. They tried to turn the knob but the door was locked, it was weird that it locked from inside the stairwell. He couldn’t imagine a scenario where it would be necessary to lock someone out of a stairwell.  Roger chugged his way to the fifth floor, he felt like a car running out of gas. 

When he got to the fifth floor the door opened much too easily, Roger didn’t like that. Floor five seemed to be inviting him in. The floor was as bright as a full moon lit night. He walked down a short dark hall into an enormous hall. In front of him across the large walkway was a chest high mini wall. It was about four feet of decorative stone, then about a foot of smoke glass, topped by a large white cylinder that could have served as a giant’s handrail. There was a large gap then another wall most likely housing patients, or maybe surgeons, who knows in a labyrinth like this. Roger remembered there would be three walkways to the right used to get the rooms beyond the gap. This floor was dead silent, emphasis on the dead. To his right the ceiling and wall was caved in blocking any chance of going that way. He would have to go left.

The drop off was to his right, on the left was a waiting room then a window where the receptionists would sit and a door for when the nurses called patients back. There were figures sitting in the chairs in the darkness of the dim waiting area. The shadows looked at Roger with glowing blue eyes.There faces had no features and there eyes had no emotions but Roger could feel their pity. He thought he was in a lot of trouble if shadow figures who were stuck in this place probably until the end of time would pity him. Roger forced himself to look ahead and walk his way to the stairwell all the way down this hall. He felt all the blue eyes on him but even worse he felt a thousand eyes watching from outside of reality. 

A shadow person ran across the walkway in front of Roger and tumbled itself over the edge. Roger watched in disbelief, for a good five seconds he wasn’t even sure what he saw. Roger looked where the shadow had come from, it was another of the identical waiting areas. Another stood up, ran, then tossed itself over the edge. Where that one sat another took his place, or maybe it was the same being cycling back to his torturous existence. Another jumped, then another, then another, until the darkness seemed to be swirling around Roger like a river just before the water tumbles over the falls. Roger fought against the force of them, they were pushing him towards the edge. Roger was not ready for that falls. They had him pinned against the chest high wall. Roger dropped to his knees. The beings started using him for a stepping stool. They pushed Roger flat on his stomach. 

Despite their speed and just the sheer number of beings, the floor still remained completely silent. Roger’s air was being pushed from his lungs little by little as each shadow foot used him to jump. He was gasping for air, every time he tried to inhale another foot would step on his back pushing the air from his lungs. This was a bad idea. Roger tried to do a push up, it was impossible. He was being trampled to death. He was going to end up one of the blue eyed shadows dreading every single second of his existence. Roger tried to army crawl forward but there were just too many feet. 

A two note whistle pierced the silence. All the movement stopped and Roger was able to gasp in some breaths. He was very thankful for the relief, he was in full panic mode and thought he was about to die. Roger stood up then looked around. The blue eyed shadows sat calmly in their chairs making a point to not look at Roger. What the hell was going on? It was the strangest feeling Roger had ever felt to be ignored by things that weren’t even real. 

“Boop boop didem dadem wadem chew,” his mom sang from somewhere, “Mares eat oats and doe’s eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid'll eat ivy too.” Tears filled Roger’s eyes. He missed that woman so much. Then the two tone whistle, all the shadows disappeared like five hundred puffs of smoke. There was no use wondering where the not quite people went, he was glad they were gone. Roger moved forward but did stop when he saw an empty wheelchair sitting in the walkway that had once been empty. 

Roger turned around to go back but a terrifying shriek came from that direction. Roger would rather face an empty chair instead of whatever that was. He reluctantly moved in the direction of the chair. With each step the chair spun a little more towards him, Roger stopped moving. He could almost see a transparent person in the chair, like a shimmer in the air. Roger turned back the way he had come, the hall was blocked by some strange humanoid creatures. They looked almost like people, but morphed a little. Almost human, like someone who spent their life in the depths of a cave. Their skin was palish yellow and their eyes were large and black. Back wasn’t an option, but he didn’t want to go forward either. Roger looked over the edge of the walkway and thought about jumping. He wanted to investigate all options.  

The chair squealed its way towards Roger, it had been for too long since that thing had been oiled. Roger backed up, but then remembered what was behind him. He stopped. The chair inched closer Roger’s heart was pounding, he stepped away from the drop off. The chair turned in that direction. Roger’s heart was beating hard, he felt and heard it in his ears.It stopped as Roger inched closer, the chair stopped moving forward but it did turn to watch as Roger passed. Roger couldn’t help looking into the chair, the shimmer person was gone or at least he was more camouflaged. Roger did feel like he was being watched. 

Roger passed the chair and walked backwards like a basketball player getting back on defense. The chair followed as well as the hall full of mutants. Roger stopped and so did the group as well as the chair. This was like the worst game of red light green light that Roger had ever played. He had no idea what to do. He took another step back, the wheelchair and the mutants inched closer. Roger turned and ran for about five steps, it sounded like an army was behind him. Roger spun again, they stopped. A slow two note whistle broke the silence, the mutants stepped back. A door shut from somewhere behind Roger and the things stepped back three more step. Someone banged hard on a door, the mutants stepped even further away. They were almost all the way shrouded in darkness, Roger wondered how deep the four mutant lines went into the blackness of the corridor. 

Roger waited wondering and waiting for what would happen next. Nothing did, the mutants stared at him silently. Roger stared back, matching their silence. Roger heard the sound he didn’t want to hear, the nails scratched the floor then the body dragged behind. The demon started chanting again, Roger was confused because he thought the first words were “Help me.” Could this thing really need help? Surely not, this thing was a monster. It scratched the floor and drug itself forward again. The mutants parted in the middle. It scratched the floor and dragged itself again. Roger didn’t want to see them again so he turned and ran. The wheels of the chair squealed like crazy as the empty chair chased him, the mutants were also giving chase. 

Roger stopped and the group stopped behind him, Roger didn’t know what he would do. The mutants were still a bit away but the chair was right on top of him. “Boop boop didem dadem wadem chew,” his mom sang. This place was truly maddening. 

He had to run, Roger stood looking at this group of mutant     

soldiers trying to catch his breath. Roger wished he kept himself in better shape or at least he wished he wasn’t a smoker. Hell he even smoked weed and a lot, he may inhale more smoke than oxygen and his lungs were feeling that right now. He knew that the door to the stairwell was just around the corner. The mutants moved a step forward. Now Roger was worried, they were starting to move even when he didn’t. They stepped forward again, the wheelchair hit him in the shin fairly hard. He had to move now. 

Roger ran and the sound of a thousand footfalls filled the air, Roger was terrified. He felt a fingertip touch his back. Roger dug deep and found another level of speed. Roger followed the corner to the left, the exit was in sight. A hand grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled hard. Roger twisted off balance he almost fell but caught himself with his left hand and got back to his feet. A lunatic laugh sounded like singing over the footfalls that sounded like a drum beat. A hand reached out and pulled out a lock of Roger’s hair. Roger made it to the door, opened it, and slammed it behind him. 

The mutants hit the door and the wall like a tsunami wave crashing on the shore. Roger looked out the long rectangle window running from top to bottom. Now that he was seeing them up close they were even more terrifying. Their eyes were not black the were blood red swirling like a crystal ball. Their teeth were sharp, yellow, and held in their mouth by bloody gums. They clawed and bit at the glass but it seemed that none of them thought or had the intelligence to reach for the handle. Roger didn’t linger. He hoped to get to the ground floor but he wouldn’t be able to make it past the fourth. 

Blocking the way was a swirling black hole filled with what looked like the souls lost in this godless place. Hands reached out of the blackness towards Roger. He stepped back and up three stairs, he heard the glass from the window on the door break. The snarling got louder. Roger moved down the stairs towards the door, carefully avoiding the hands reaching out of the slow moving whirlpool of souls. Three hands shot from the blackness, two grabbed Roger’s left leg and began to pull. He grabbed the handrail and fought against the hands. They pulled harder. Roger’s hand began to slip, he didn’t notice but the snarling from above was gone. They pulled him off the stairs and towards their abyss. His left foot hit the blackness, a jolt of burning cold bolted up his leg.

 Roger fought harder but he was losing badly. There were three knocks on the door above. The hands let go and all the faces in the black hole disappeared. Roger didn’t hesitate, he opened the door and stepped into the fourth floor.

Roger was relieved when he walked out into this floor, it wasn’t great but he felt like this one would be manageable. The floor was a copy of the floor above but it was a bit brighter, one in every third of the overhead lights were lit. Roger walked around the curve to where he could see the rest of the floor. The drop off was now to his left and the doctor's offices was on the right. Thankfully there were no dark figures in the waiting room, and they were not jumping over the edge to commit suicide, if suicide was possible for these beings. 

Twenty feet in front of Roger was a ghost man pushing a vacuum back and forth. These ghosts were more like you would see in a children’s movie, they were foggy and wispy. He was dressed in a striped shirt, one group of strips were white the other just looked smokey like the rest of him. Roger assumed it was red. Roger was feeling better so he took a tentative step. When nothing happened he took another, again nothing happened. Roger looked over to Dr. Tippetts office. a ghost nurse was leading a ghost patient, both were women and both looked like they were dressed from the sixties. Other patients waited patiently, Roger walked. This floor seemed like it would be easy but he hoped that he didn’t jinx himself. 

He just might be able to hold his sanity for just a little bit longer. The reception windows were open and everything seemed to be running just like it would have been back in its hay day. Not a single ghost paid him any attention, that was the best news that Roger got all night. Roger walked past the spirit janitor, the familiar smell of pine cleaning product took Roger back to his childhood for a split second. The misty being’s mist shifted and swirled from the breeze Roger’s movement created.

“Come to me Roger,” a whispery voice said from nowhere and everywhere, “Be strong and come to me.”

    “Who are you?” Roger asked and still none of the beings even looked his way. Roger guest all the ghosts on this floor were residual, or far more unlikely Roger was walking through a hospital for the afterlife. 

“I’m a man of many names and even more faces,” Roger heard the laugh hiding just behind his voice. “I’m a man who has traveled far and studied humans for an amount of time beyond your comprehension.” Roger thought the voice was vaguely familiar, like when you hear a distant cousin’s voice after a few years. Halfway down the hall Roger saw the wheelchair from the floor above sitting in the middle of the walkway. Luckily it was still unoccupied, Roger had no doubt that’s where the voice was coming from. 

Roger’s confidence slipped away. He never realized how intimidating an empty chair could be. There was the same almost shimmer of a person. Roger stood still and watched the chair hoping the occupant would reveal his or herself. Roger looked back the way he had come, there was nowhere to go that way. He wanted to know if he recognized the face and not just the voice. He began walking tentatively, when Roger got twenty feet from the chair he stopped and looked hoping he would see something but also hoping not to see anything. A man slowly took form in the chair. It freaked Roger the hell out. Dr. Everett sat looking back at Roger looking not a day older than the day Roger left . 

“Well hello Shirley,” Dr. Everett said smiling, He had always found himself funny. “Roger, it's been a long time.” Roger couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “What’s wrong Roger? You looked like someone walked over your mom’s grave.” Dr. Everett laughed again, “How have you been son?”

“Not so good,” Roger answered, “Things have been rough since that day. I haven’t really been okay since.”

“I’ve been watching you from a distance and that’s what I have been seeing also,” Dr. Everett said. ”That’s not what your mom wanted for you son, neither did your dad. We all saw so much potential in you and now you’re wasting away. It’s very sad to watch.” Roger thought Dr. Everett was probably right, but it was even harder to live. “That’s why we brought you here Roger. Christine, Kelly, and myself can not watch you waste away anymore. We were hoping it would pass as you got over the death of your parents. But you’re done now. You have a girlfriend and twins on the way.”

Roger broke down, “I know but I don’t know what to do.” Roger was crying into his hands. His vision flashed white when something struck him in the head. “What the hell was that?”

Dr. Everett had an intense look on his face, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. That’s why you are in the trouble that you’re in, because you’re a baby.” Roger was stunned. “Your dad would be so disappointed, your mom would be rolling over in her grave. None of us can believe what you’ve become.”

“I can’t believe what I’ve become,” Roger still had tears running down his face but he was not crying anymore. “You don’t know what it’s like to be me. I can’t take this life, I’ve never been able to take it.”

“And if that’s your attitude then you’ll never be able to take it,” Dr. Everett was very irritated at Roger. “So you’re just gonna give up?” Roger looked over the edge and thought about jumping. “I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” Dr. Everett sounded amused now. “That would take you straight back to the morgue, and I saw how much you liked the basement. You were always scared of the B floor, most sane people were. There have always been so horrible things in that place.”

Dr. Everett was right, everybody he ever knew that went to that basement hated it. There were things scurrying around just outside of reality. Dr. Everett laughed, the lights flickered along with it. The hellhound was barking and snarling viciously. It was much closer now, Roger wasn’t looking forward to running to whatever dog sounded like that. 

“What am I going to do with you Roger,” Dr. Everett sounded as genuine as he had been for Roger’s whole life. “I can’t let you waste away, but if I leave you on your own you will waste your life. You’ve wasted enough already. I promised your dad that I would take care of you. So far I have failed you Roger, but not anymore. I promise you that after tonight, you’ll be stronger than you have ever been. Maybe even stronger than your dad. So this is what we’re going to do. You’re going to become the man you’re meant to be.”

“What are you talking about?” Roger asked, “I’m not sure what you want from me.” 

“From this Roger?” Dr. Everett raised his eyebrows, “This Roger has nothing to offer anyone, this Roger is a pathetic waste of person. But the Roger that you could be, I want that Roger. I do need you to prove yourself. Do you remember where the psych ward is?’ Roger nodded, “If you have what it takes, meet me there. If not, good luck becoming something;’s dinner, or even worse a prisoner of my funhouse.” Dr. Everett began laughing again, again the lights flickered in tune with the laugh. “As a matter of fact I will show you exactly what I want from you. Felix,” Roger wondered who Dr. Everett was talking to. “I know you’re lurking around here somewhere. If you kill this young man then I will set you free.”

“What the hell?” Roger was nervous and confused. “Who the hell is Felix?” All the lights went out leaving the floor shrouded in darkness and silence. 

Nothing happened for a long minute then a church bell rang loudly through all the speakers in the ceiling. They were once you for announcements and now the speakers were used to cause terror. As the last gong faded away a fresh ring filled the hospital. It repeated seven times followed by complete silence. After another long moment of silence the lights began to strobe slowly and all the doors opened when the lights turned on and slammed when they went off. Roger got moving towards the exit sign down the other half of this corridor. He got another quarter of the way there when he heard the scream of a lunatic. He guessed it was Felix and if it was, Roger had no desire to meet the man. Roger ran as fast as he could towards the exit.

The lights still strobe and he could hear footsteps closing in behind him. Roger tried to run faster but unfortunately for him he was just not that fast. Something brushed its finger against his flapping shirt. Roger screamed and was embarrassed that he did. He made a decision, he stopped suddenly, turned a little sideways, then planted his shoulder in the man’s chest. Felix lost all his breath and fell hard to the floor. 

“Please man,” Roger said to the skinny man laying on the floor trying to breathe again, “Let’s work together and get out of here. I know Dr. Everett, I will be able to reason with him.” Roger was talking like the man was still a doctor and didn’t just appear then disappear right in front of him. “Just come with me man, please.”

The man, if you could call him that, was pale and his skinny body was only partially covered by tattered clothes. Roger could see his ribs like he was a starving dog, this man was pitiful. His hair was dark, greasy, and stringing everywhere. What used to be Felix’s pants now had different length legs, one just above the knee the other halfway down his shin. His shirt was probably once white but now looked the color of old dishwater and he smelled worse than decay. There is no way this man could kill Roger. Dr. Everett surely knew that. Dr. Everett wanted Roger to kill this man for some reason. Dr. Everett was really not the person that Roger remembered, well maybe he was on the day Roger’s mom died. Roger remembered his slightly wicked smile. 

“We can’t leave,” Felix answered, after he caught his breath. “I’ve been everywhere in this damn place and there is no escape. The only way out is if he lets us out. The only way he’ll let me out is if I kill you.” The man looked at Roger with beaten eyes, “I have to try.” The man got quickly to his feet and charged Roger.

Roger didn’t want to fight so he ran, he could feel and hear Felix right on his heels. Felix jumped on Roger’s back and they both tumbled to the floor with Felix landing on top. Felix was weak and Roger tossed him off pretty easily then got back to his feet. Felix grabbed his right foot and Roger fell again. Felix jumped on Roger’s back then elbowed Roger in the back of the head. That pissed Roger off. He stood with the paper light Felix still on his back then flipped him over Roger’s shoulder to the ground then without thinking kicked the man. Luckily for Felix it was just in the leg. Roger ran the rest of the way to the stairwell with Felix hobbling after him. 

Roger held the door shut. Felix was nowhere near strong enough to open the door but what was the point. Eventually Roger would have to let go, he had no desire to stay in this stairwell any longer than he had to. He let go of the door then darted down the stairs, Felix was fast. When Roger reached the platform then turned back towards the third floor door Felix was already on top of him. They both tumbled down the stairs, Roger landed way too close to the blackhole of lost souls. Roger got to his feet and Felix punched him in the face, his narrow ass hit harder than he should’ve been able to. Roger stumbled back into the doorway for the third floor. He tried to open the door but Felix grabbed his hand. Roger pushed Felix away but caught him by his shirt before the man stumbled into the abyss.

“Please man,” Roger said, “You don’t have to do this.” Felix dug his jagged fingernails into Roger’s arm hard enough to draw blood. Roger screamed and threw Felix to the stairs leading back to the fourth floor. “For fucks sakes man stop. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I have two choices,” Felix had tears in his eyes, “Either you kill me and I get out of this place or I kill you and get out of this place. This is happening so kill or be killed.” Felix was on his feet and on Roger in a flash.

He cracked Roger in the forehead with a hard headbutt that hurt them both. Roger stumbled into the door and Felix fell next to the swirling blackness. Hands reached out and pawed at Felix. When Roger opened his eyes Felix had a shadow hand on both legs and was dragging him slowly into the blackness. Roger dropped to his knees and grabbed Felix’s hand, but Felix shook it away. He seemed to be embracing his fate but Roger had to save him if he could. Felix just needed to get out of this place. Judging by the look of him he had been here for far too long.

Roger grabbed Felix by his forearm and began to pull, Felix was up to his knees in blackness. Roger had no traction on the floor so he grabbed the handrail leading up to the fourth floor. For a moment he was winning. Felix was coming out of the blackness but he was fighting against Roger.

“Stop man,” Roger said, “Just let me get you out of here.” There was some fight left in the man’s eyes but not enough.

Roger’s grip started slipping off the handrail, and Felix began to claw his arm again. Roger didn’t want to but he may have to let this man go. If Roger were to die, he was not going to spend eternity swirling around in the blackhole. Felix was now in the pit up to his hips and Roger was barely holding on by his fingertips. He made the terrible decision to let go. He watched in horror as more hands grabbed Felix and pulled him into the blackness. It was a very slow process like watching someone sink in quicksand. Roger expected to see pain or terror on Felix’s face but he actually looked relieved. Just before his head sunk in, Roger swore the man was smiling. 

  Roger sat on the stairs staring into the blackness as Felix sunk out of sight. Maybe he was right and Roger had no chance of getting out of here either. He thought about jumping in the pit also, but who would take care of Sam and the twins. The door to the fourth floor opened and the familiar sound of the demon chant descended the stairs to Roger’s ears. It dug its nails into the floor then it dragged its body into the stairwell. Roger got to his feet and ran in the entrance to the third floor.

This floor was basically normal to start, it was as bright as floor four but so far there were no apparitions. The piano played softly, Roger loved piano music. His grandma used to play the piano and so did his mom, when they played together it was magical. Roger’s mind floated from the hospital back in time to his childhood. 

Roger was sitting in his grandmother’s front room, she lived all the way in Helper Utah. Roger only got to see her a handful of times each year. He never really got to visit in the winter. To get to her house him and his mom would have to drive a canyon that cut through the Wasatch Mountains. This was the first visit since early October so Roger was very excited to be here. In his mind, he could see Lois and her mother sitting on the piano bench playing and smiling. Roger loved both of those women. Usually while they played Roger was on the floor with his toy cars and action figures wandering away in his imagination. The piano playing really seemed to help Roger create worlds in his mind. 

He was rolling his cars around on the floor, Roger felt fully emerged in the memory. Absently, he hoped that nothing walked up on him while he was zoned out. He could smell the coffee mixed with the aroma of countless house plants. He felt the warm sun beaming through the window on his young white skin. Tears formed and spilled down his cheeks then dripped on his shirt creating dark wet dots. The memory was so vivid that Roger didn’t even notice. His mom fumbled the melody and both women laughed. Roger chuckled to himself but the young boy didn’t even realize that he did it. The two women began to play again but this time it was slower. It was the same song but it was like time slowed down making the music slow with it. 

The memory went yellowish and fuzzy. It was as if Roger were watching this memory filmed through the same lens that all the “Dust Bowl” pics he had ever seen. Like looking into The Great Depression. Young Roger’s heart began to pound and so did the old Roger’s. Everything seemed to be focusing in on the young boy. First his mother and grandmother then whatever ghosts haunted his Grandma’s house. Even the air and the house itself seemed to only have eyes for young Roger. The boy began to shake and cry, Roger’s heart broke for his younger self. He must have been so terrified in the memory. Now the two women began to bang on the keys but time still slowed so the piano music was extremely menacing. 

The older Roger tried to leave the memory but something seemed to be holding him there. Maybe there was something useful in the vision that he needed to see. Roger thought that this was to torture him and that’s it. Somehow the bully that tormented his childhood walked into the TV room. He walked straight to young Roger and screamed in the kid's face. The scream echoed through the halls of the demented hospital, in his mind it was the neighborhood houses. The bully’s face changed to the face of the teacher who used to take him in the closet for some alone time. He kissed Roger on the cheek. Both young and old Roger screamed. The feeling of being a scared little boy washed over him. Older Roger tried to snap himself out of the memory that was quickly turning into a nightmare. 

The boy looked like he had no idea what to do but how could he, the boy was at the most six years old. The boy started to cry. Roger wanted to shatter the invisible barrier between reality and this awful memory, the boy needed his help. Now the whole dream was dark like someone put a dark lampshade over his mind’s eye. His teacher disappeared in an explosion of black smoke and now his mom and grandma stood over the little boy. He never heard either of those two lovely women laugh like that. They sounded evil, like witches that would dice and boil Roger in a pot with some carrots and celery. Roger saw witches in his cartoons do that sometimes. The two women leaned down to hug Roger but instead of their normal warm hugs. This hug enveloped him in darkness, both the young and the old Roger screamed again. The scream echoed through the hospital and the darkness of his memory. 

In the darkness Roger could hear chattering voices like people talking around a corner. He was mistaken. They weren’t talking,they were singing something soft that terrified both Rogers. They sounded like a choir of angels, it would have been a beautiful sound had it not been for his surroundings. He thought that it was more likely a demon choir not angels. Angels could not survive in a place housing this much evil. The singing stopped. It was so quiet that Roger could hear his ears ringing. The silence was broken by the sound of girls laughing, two of them. Roger didn’t know how he knew but he did. He also knew that their names were Jenna and Jemma from the small town of Torrey. Both the young and the old Roger could almost see their scary faces in their minds. The girls let out a loud shriek. After it echoed away into the darkness everything returned to the deafening silence.

The darkness swirled around the little boy in the dream and the man in reality. Laughs echoed as gray shapes appeared in the darkness. The little boy's heart pounded in the grown man’s chest. The boy jumped up and ran towards who knows what in the darkness. The things chasing him sounded like hyenas closing in on prey. They yipped and snarled as they closed in. The boy Roger got scared so he stopped and just sat on the ground with his arms over his head crying. The shapes circled him. They stopped yipping and now just growled low in their throats. The little boy couldn’t see them but the grown man could. He cried out for his boy self to run but the boy didn’t hear or just ignored Roger. The poor kid must be terrified. 

After a long moment of nothing, the boy Roger must have found a fresh set of guts or maybe he used the will of the older Roger watching. The boy got to his feet and took off running again. The demons gave chase again yipping like wild hyenas, they even seemed to have a similar laugh. They were close enough that Roger could feel the hot breathe on his neck. 

“STOP!” Roger’s mom screamed and both Roger’s did. Just like that the memory was gone. Roger was fully back in the hospital. The dream was gone but the piano still played.

Roger was standing on the edge of the collapsed floor looking down at the level below him. It was a good thing that his mom, or whoever, screamed at him to stop. Roger would have been laying on the second floor with a couple broken legs at the very least. This is the last place in the world that Roger wanted to be immobile. But now that he was really looking, that floor was different. The floor below him was black, and it seemed to be flowing like a slow moving river. Roger really hoped that there would be a way around that. He heard a squeak to his right. He looked to see the wheelchair looking at him from the walkway that would lead to the surgery ward. Roger didn’t want to go that way but he didn’t think he had a choice. He looked to his left, the doctor’s office was closed up like a store in the mall, a roll up black door blocked the way. 

The two note whistle filled the air, Roger was quickly learning to hate that sound. He turned around to see if the way he had come had any options. The floor behind him somehow collapsed to the level  below.  Roger had no other choice. When he looked again to the walkway the wheelchair was gone and the door was wide open. A knee high mist swirled in the hallway but none penetrated the threshold. Reluctantly Roger crossed the walkway into the mist. The door slammed behind him.

The light was strange in this hallway, it was not strobing but it was moving. It made this hall even more scary. He looked up and the ceiling was much higher than he remembered, and even high than it should be. Lights hung from chains about every fifteen feet or so. There were no light covers, just a rusty chain and a light bulb. They were spinning slowly like a ceiling set to the lowest speed. The mist was knee high and now the demon chant from that crawling wretch was coming from somewhere. Roger figured he better head the same way that he was in the main corridor so he turned right and moved quickly. He heard its nails scratch the floor then drag its body. He could also hear soft footfalls from a headless girl that he didn’t want to think about. 

Roger moved at a walk that was just a step slower than power walking. Double doors approached, Roger prayed they were unlocked. For the first time tonight Roger’s prayer was answered. The door opened and Roger looked back to see the headless girl looking at him with eyes in the head being held in her right arm. Roger turned to run. Something whizzed in the air behind him. A large round object struck him directly in the center of his back and knocked him to the floor. The demon chant was louder than ever. The nails scratched the floor then the body drug. Roger was frozen in fear. The nails scratched the floor then the body drug again.

The distorted face of the demon escaped the mask of fog looking directly into Roger’s face. Roger screamed and the demon shrieked. Roger turned his head to the left only to see the head from the girl looking him directly in the eyes. Something that felt like a large snake plopped itself on the back of Roger’s neck. Roger pulled away from the monster but it was his arm looped around Roger’s neck. When Roger pulled back he pulled the demon in the same direction. Its face was even more hideous up close. It had red sores sploching sporadically over his skin. It had dead eyes that were as black as a heart of the devil. The thing pulled Roger to it, it had very strong arms. Roger fought back but he pulled the demon with him. Roger tried to roll away but he rolled his neck into the headless girl who bit him hard with gnarled teeth. It drew blood and burned like a poisonous bite. Roger pulled away but the demon was now only inches from his face drooling sticky ooze from its rotting mouth. 

He could now feel that the thing had got all the way to the elbow around his neck. Roger was screaming and fighting to break free. Roger could now hear footsteps running towards the chaos going on in his face. It had to be the body of the head laying on the floor next to him snarling like a wild dog. The girl’s body stepped on Roger’s leg then tumbled up his back, he felt like he was in a traffic jam. Fortunately for Roger her momentum tumbled her over the crawling demon breaking Roger free. Roger got to his feet and began to run. From behind him came the snarls of a rabid dog. Roger looked over his shoulder to see a dalmatian but a dalmatian with the build of a pitbull and the height of a great dane. Roger was in some serious trouble.

He ran and could hear the dog nails scratching on the floor behind him. Roger had to find a way out of here. He knew from growing up around the hospital that there would be one more walkway that Roger could hopefully use. He turned up his speed as much as he could but obviously the dog was much faster. Roger could see the door coming up and could feel the dog closing in fast. Hopefully this was the dog he had been hearing. There is know way that he would be able to stand another of these dogs. Roger made it to the door through the window Roger could see Dr. Everett. The crazy asshole was holding the door shut preventing Roger’s escape. This was the only way. 

He grabbed the door and yanked. The hellhound was closing in fast. Roger yanked on the door and Dr. Everett laughed from the other side.

“Let me out,” Roger pleaded, “This thing is gonna tear me apart. Please open the door, Im beggin ya.” 

Surprisingly the man let the door go, making Roger crash through it to the floor. He got back to his feet and slammed the door just in time. The monster sized dog snarled and bit at the door. Roger thought that door wouldn’t be able to hold that thing back. Roger got to his feet. He needed to put some distance between himself and that door. He came out further away from the exit than he would have thought. The dog banged on the door and almost broke the hinges. Roger moved towards the door only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw a toddler, maybe four or five years old blocking his escape.

A normal toddler wouldn’t have been a problem but this one looked like Satan was its father and Nemesis was their mother. This baby was not ok. Purple eyes looked at Roger and were full of hate and evil. It had whitish skin with the faintest hint of yellow like a jaundice baby. Its teeth were sharpened to a point and stained with blood, probably from the rat laying dead at the toddler’s feet. In its tiny hand was a scalpel. Roger was frozen with this kid blocking his way and that damn dog blocking his retreat. What he should do was obvious, there was a far better chance of getting passed the toddler 

Roger took a step towards the toddler. It bit down on the scalpel and dropped to all fours, like a toddler sized beetle. Roger hated this damn hospital and everyone in it. Except for Lois of course, he hoped it was a trick of the hospital and that his mom was not really stuck here. Roger took another step, the toddler’s eyes widened. It looked horrifying smiling around the scalpel. Roger sprinted diagonally to the right and the toddler moved to cut him off. Just as the two were about to collide Roger jumped as high as he could. 

He cleared the baby but came down crooked so he couldn’t keep his balance. Roger was on the floor and the kid was on his back in a flash. It was slashing its knife wildly. Luckily it only nicked  and scratched his skin. Roger got to his feet and the baby held on tight. Roger grabbed it by the head and flipped the kid over his shoulder to the ground. It slashed the scalpel as it was flung by Roger’s face and opened up a gash on his cheek. Roger didn’t notice the gash or the warm blood streaming down his cheek. Roger ran. He was happy that he was faster than the baby now chasing him on all fours. 

Roger made it to the stairwell and watched through the window for a minute while the baby first tried to twist the handle, when that was unsuccessful it settled for slashing the scalpel on the wood of the door. Roger didn’t linger. He quickly descended the stairs but stopped on the first landing that led to the second floor. Next to the second floor door stood a tall figure wearing a black hood and had glowing green eyes. Somehow this one did not seem threatening. Then it walked through the door without opening it. Roger was alone in the stairwell wondering what to do. Of course the way to the first floor was blocked by the soul black hole. There was nothing else to do. Roger descended the remaining stairs then entered the second floor. 

 Roger was not excited to see the flowing darkness covering the floor of this entire corridor. There were no walkways on the side or no doctor offices. This floor had tall white walls and a white ceiling. Somehow the walls and ceiling were emitting light. There was not a single light in the ceiling, only the glow from the white paint. The light was not yellow and grimey like the previous floor, this light was white and healing. The floor was black and menacing. It flowed in the opposite way he would walk and disappeared to who knows where. There was a slight gap from the black floor and the white tile floor allowing the blackness to flow under. Roger examined the walls for any other options. He found none. Something pushed him from behind. When Roger turned around there was no longer space between him and the wall. It pushed again, pushing Roger close to the black river. 

Roger had no choice but he was still not able to take that crucial first step. The wall pushed again and his toes were over the blackness. A finger reached from the darkness over the end of his shoe. Roger tried to pull back, the wall was solid and did not give an inch. The wall pushed a little harder and now half his foot was over the blackness. Roger looked down, the blackness was not completely black. The things with the red eyes were darker than the river. A whole hand emerged from the almost blackness and wrapped around Roger’s foot, again he tried to pull back but the wall pushed him further forward. He decided there was no time like the present. 

Roger took his first step. He expected to sink and he did a little but only about half of the soul of his shoe. He watched his foot, there were more human-ish shapes than he originally thought. They took up more of the floor than the dark liquid, if this were actually liquid. Roger had no clue what element it was. The wall pushed again. Now both feet were soul deep in the darkness. He took another step and he sank a little more. Roger froze but he seemed to sink faster when he didn’t move. He tried to run but Roger sank faster the quicker he moved. It looked like slow and steady was the way to go. The only good thing he could see was that there would be a place to rest where the floor above collapsed. 

He took a step and a hand reached up his shin, it was as cold as an icicle in the middle of nowhere Alaska. Roger tried to yank his leg out but it seemed the dark was similar to a spiderweb, he could pull his foot up a little but the elasticity of the substance only allowed half his foot out of the blackness. The bodies of whatever they were slowly flowed past, about half of them pawed at Roger weakly. Roger continued to walk slowly, his foot sinking just a little more with each step. Unfortunately for Roger one that still had some vigor flowed by. It wrapped around his shin, which was now fully submerged. It pulled and Roger was surprised by its strength. 

The thing pulled Roger in all the way to his knee. Roger fought back but now his left foot was sinking much faster. The thing was slowly passing Roger but still held tight. It was strong enough that Roger was starting to twist at the hip. Roger pulled with everything he had. His leg broke free making Roger lunge forward. He almost made the mistake of reaching his hands out to catch himself from falling. If his hands would have touched that blackness it would have been over for the young man. He would have not been able to crawl all the way to the island of collapsed floor. Roger stood. A black hand reached out of the slightly less black darkness all the way to his knee. The coldness shivered Roger all the way to the bone, like being touched by an ice king. Roger decided that he could afford to move a little faster, even though he would sink a little faster. 

His legs were already burning, again he wished he was in better shape. He was all the way to his thighs now but luckily he was only ten feet from the first island. Roger was very happy to see that there were two of them. A hand reached out and grabbed the waist of Roger’s pants. This was another of the strong shapes, it pulled Roger into the darkness all the way his crotch before Roger was able to break free. He fought the current and the grabbing hands. The island was similar to a beach shoreline, the debris had a slight incline making it easier to walk out of the sticky dark river. Roger sat down on a large hunk of floor. His lungs were weezing as he breathed out in short hard bursts. He was also sick to his stomach like the few times that he went to the gym. Roger breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. Rapidly at first but he was able to slow it to normal after only a couple minutes. 

Roger pulled out his cigarette pack. He pulled out a full joint and smoked the entire thing. Roger was much more calm, the weed did its job. In this place he knew it wouldn’t last long. The demon chant started but since Roger couldn’t see it he decided to smoke a cigarette also. It slowly got louder. Small crumbs fell on his head. He looked up to see the face of the crawling demon looking down at him from the gap in the floor. He wasn’t too worried. How would that thing even get down here? The thing grabbed the side and awkwardly moved until it was hanging like someone trying to do a pull up. Roger couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He watched, it was like slow motion, as the thing first let go then fell towards Roger. 

Thankfully for Roger it somehow missed the island and landed in the black river. Roger laughed at the thing. “It serves you right asshole,” Roger snarled at the thing.

Roger saw something in the wretch’s eyes that he didn’t notice but had been there the whole time. The thing was one of the most sad creatures Roger had ever seen. It tried to crawl out. Despite its strong arms the thing could not get out of the sticky blackness. Hands reached out and grabbed the thing. It struggled but the more it did the faster it sank. Now Roger saw a new emotion in the thing’s eyes. They were terrified. Its legs were gone and the torso was quickly following. It let out a pathetic sound that was surely a cry of fear. Roger couldn’t believe he was going to do what he was going to do but he was not going to let this place change him. Roger was a good person, he regretted what happened with Felix. He would not let that happen again if it could be avoided. 

He dropped to his belly hurting his ribs and knocking all the air from his lungs. The thing was chest deep when Roger reached out over the blackness and grabbed the wretch’s hand. The thing looked, first surprised then somehow that ugly face looked grateful.  It wrapped its hands around Roger’s forearm and allowed Roger to try to rescue it. The blackness continued pulling the wretch under, Roger pulled even harder until he shook with effort. The thing almost smiled when it felt its direction reverse. Roger was winning the tug of war. After only thirty seconds that felt like twenty minutes the thing lay next Roger on the collapsed floor. It was no longer chanting but it did appear to be crying. 

“I’ll help you if I can,” Roger promised and he meant it sincerely. He would help this thing in any way he could, “Just please stop trying to eat me.” Roger could almost hear the wretch’s agreement in his mind. 

Roger sat on the island of collapsed floor next to the wretch that had been chasing him all night. Both he and the wretch were breathing hard. Roger could see in its eyes how grateful the thing was for Roger’s help. To his surprise he saw a tear run down the things cheek. This thing wasn’t a monster, this thing is in the exact same situation as Roger. It was scared and probably in a horrible amount of pain, judging by the condition of the thing. Roger reached down and patted the thing on its boney shoulder. He couldn’t believe that this nightmare creature was just a terrified, probably once young man not much different than Roger. 

Roger looked towards the exit hoping that some other option made itself known. It was still just white walls and a white ceiling with no door. He looked back the way he had come but that way was no good either. Roger heard Dr. Everett’s two note whistle he hated that sound. When he turned back the way he had been heading, Dr. Everett was sitting in his wheelchair on the other island. 

“Hey there Roger,” Dr. Everett was smiling, “It looks like you made a new friend. I can’t believe you saved that pathetic thing, Hunter is worthless. But the question is now what do you do with it?” Roger had thought of that but hadn’t come up with an answer to the question. “Just throw it into the darkness and end his suffering.”

“You don’t get to change who I am,” Roger felt fresh courage, “You’re in fuckin trouble Dr. Everett.” Roger stared daggers through the doctor. He blinked and the doctor was gone. “Fuckin pussy.” Roger said to the thing on the ground not even knowing if the thing understood him. Roger looked down at the wretch again, “What the hell am I going to do with you?”

The thing didn’t answer but he still looked more than grateful. The face that Roger first thought was angry and evil was actually sad and full of pain. Both had caught their breath but the thing still sounded like it had gravel in his lungs. “You are pretty fucked up aren’t you friend,” Roger just felt bad for the thing. “If I put you on my back you gotta keep your teeth to yourself.” The thing just looked at him, “Deal?” Of course the thing didn’t answer but Roger did think he was safe.

Roger bent awkwardly to put the wretch on his back, the thing was as light as a feather. However Roger was very worried about the extra weight. It was only logical that he would sink quicker. Roger took a tentative step off the island onto the blackness. He didn’t seem to be sinking any faster. Roger took a step then another. Roger refused to look down into the dark river despite the hands pulling at his legs and more pulling at the wretch. That was definitely going to pose a problem. The added weight was making it hard enough, now he was having to tug of war with the flimsy body. Roger grabbed both wrists in one hand and wrapped them around his neck like a tie. That would make it much more difficult for the things to pull it free. Roger trudged through the blackness until he reached the second island. He set the thing down and breathed hard for a good two minutes until he caught his breath. 

A scream came from above and when Roger looked up he saw the headless girl readying herself to fall from the upper floor. “No!” Roger wouldn’t be able to carry them both. “Please just stay there,” The girl stopped moving and turned her neck towards Roger despite her being without a head. “Your friend will be there in a minute.” The thing craned his head to look up at the girl. They seemed to share a moment, almost like telepathy. She climbed back up and out of sight. “Alright man, Are you ready?” Again the thing didn’t answer.

Roger didn’t have much further to go. He decided that the piggy back ride hadn’t worked well so he tossed the almost weightless wretch over his shoulder. He took a step then another then another. Roger was halfway between the island and the exit when the things under the dark got very aggressive. They pulled at his legs from the ankle all the way to his waist. Roger walked and fought them off as best he could but the things were strong. He was already halfway up the thigh and getting yanked down fast. Roger looked at the last hundred feet but he was now waist high in the river. Roger was breathing hard and the thing was breathing hard rough breaths in Roger’s ear. 

Roger tried to run but the blackness was thick and his legs could not move any faster than a slow walk. He was up to his belly button and the wretch was ankle deep by Roger’s back. Roger paused for a few moments to adjust his passenger’s position. He now carried the thing across his shoulder, its head on his left shoulder with its limp legs and feet were right of his neck. Roger fought through the thickness of the river like a skunk ape through a swamp. Roger was chest deep with twenty feet of the black river remaining. He was beginning to think he wasn’t going to make it. However if he did get pulled under it would be while he was walking towards the exit. Ten feet left and Roger was up to his shoulders. The wretch was squirming and squealing softly at the icy touch of the river people's hands. Five feet and he was up to his chin, at two feet his mouth was in the blackness. He  had hands pulling him literally from head to toe. 

The door opened. The headless girl stepped through and dropped to her knees, Roger saw her head on the floor in the stairwell. She grabbed the wretch and pulled him off of Roger. She pulled it through the door even though it was fighting to help Roger. The door shut behind them and Roger was alone sinking into an abyss. Hands pulled his head down and down until Roger was completely emerged and held his breath. Roger tried to swim his arms back to the surface with no luck. His mind was fading into the cold blackness. Just before he inhaled the sticky blackness a hand grabbed Roger by the hair and another by the chin. It pulled hard making Roger scream out his last bit of breath. His head was out then shoulders. Thankfully it was not long before Roger was out of the blackness. 

Roger looked up thankfully to see the same green eyed wraith from the previous stairwell standing over him. It walked through the door still pulling Roger who smacked his head on the wood. That thing could walk through the wall but Roger could not. He got to his feet and wasted no time getting into the stairwell. The wraith was gone without a trace. Roger sat on the top step leading down to the first floor breathing hard and clutching his chest. After some minutes Roger was ready to move on, but he didn’t look excited. He descended the stairs. He didn’t see any of his three new friends. Roger inhaled deeply then stepped through the door. The behavioral health ward, or “psych” ward as most called it, was not far. Roger fully intended to get there. 

Roger liked this floor least of all so far, well that is except for floor B and the morgue. The walls were dark cherry wood which absorbed most of what little light shined from the overhead lights. Dark wooden, windowless, doors lined the hallway every tenish feet on both sides. At the end of the hallway was glass doors that Roger recognized. He got chills, Roger hated this corridor back in the days when there were actually people populating this place. It always felt like the walls were watching your every move. 

Roger took a step, every door in the hallway opened. He took another and all the doors slammed hard. The noise echoed away to god knows where. He could already tell what was going on. He took a step and the doors opened, just as he had expected. He took another and the doors slammed just as loud as before. Roger sped up to a fast walk. As much as he didn’t want to make that much noise, he really had no choice. The doors opened then slammed shut with every step, they were flapping like birds wings and even created a breeze. The glass door at the end of the hallway seemed to be moving away as fast as Roger was moving forward. He hoped this wasn’t an exitless hallway. He stopped and looked back the way he had come. That way was a black as the deepest depths of the ocean. 

He looked at the cherry wood. He jumped back a step when he saw his mother’s face looking back at him. Roger’s eyes filled with tears. A ghostly hand reached out from the wall that Roger also recognized it to be his mother’s hand. Roger reached out to her, in the back of his mind he knew that it was a bad idea. But he could really use his mom’s touch right now. It had been so long since she was able to comfort him. Her touch was icy and her reaction was immediate. She grabbed him and when she did her face transformed from his mother’s sweet face into the face of a terrible witch. It pulled Roger with more strength than he would have thought possible. He dug his feet into the carpet and pulled back as hard as he could. She got his hand all the way inside the wall. It was as cold as a winter night in the northeast. Roger was panicking and trying to yank his hand back like someone trying to start a lawnmower. 

Finally he was able to break free but the force made him stumble backwards into the wall behind him. Three cold hands grab him as soon as his back hit the wall. One around his right ankle, one on his left wrist, and the last grabbed a handful of hair. He could feel the wall changing to a gaseous state and feel himself being pulled backward inside. Roger was fighting to get away but these hands were as strong as the first. The hand in his hair yanked back and Roger’s head was inside the wall. It was almost instant frostbite all over his face. It was like being in a dark dimension. Smokey hands and faces swam through the dark red tinted fog. Everything seemed to be in slow motion and the voices he could hear sounded like his head was under water. Roger couldn’t breath or didn’t dare to, he wasn’t entirely sure which. 

He felt a chunk of hair tear loose from his head allowing his head outside the wall. Roger took a deep breath and kicked his leg hard and fast. It broke free, he twisted his arm and his wrist broke free. Roger moved away from both walls, hands reached for him but none could get a hold of him. Roger could see the distorted faces of souls wanting him to join them in their prison. Roger wasn’t going to let that happen. He ran down the hall, doors opening and slamming the whole way. Roger barely heard it. He stepped on the black rubber pad and thankfully the automatic glass doors opened. Now Roger was in the hall of doctors, that’s what his mom had always called it. 

Doctor’s portraits lined both sides of this hallway. On his left was a painting of a walrus looking man. He was fat with a thick mustache above and to both sides of his lips all the way down to his chin. The same mustache his dad wore when he was alive. He was the first director of the hospital. To his right was a photograph of Dr. Everett smiling a perfectly straight smile. His teeth were amazingly white. The ladies must have loved this rich blonde man. It felt like both men looked at Roger as intently as he was looking at them. Roger moved down the hall, the pictures on the right got older as the pictures on the left got newer. These were all the hospital directors that have ever been in this hospital. The walrus man was the first and Dr. Everett was the last. The pictures ran on the left oldest to newest and on the right from newest to oldest. Roger could feel every single eyeball from every single doctor watching him.

Thankfully Roger reached the end of the hall and passed the last two pictures. The hall was blocked by a wall that Roger knew hadn’t been there before forcing him to enter the chapel. He opened the door to the most horrid smell Roger had ever smelled. He shut the door and looked for any other options but he saw none. He pulled his shirt over his nose and opened the chapel door again. It looked like the inside of nearly every church Roger had ever been in. There were long dead people sitting in the pews looking towards the stage where the priest or preacher would speak. Behind the podium hanging from the rafters were the bodies of what must have been considered sinners. Roger looked closer at the art and carvings in the wood as he walked deeper into the chapel. 

They were not angel-like or positive people. It seemed like the kind of things that lived behind the black gate. The bodies all looked somewhat fresh like whatever happened here had only happened a few months ago. Roger looked for an exit which he spotted to the left of the stage. Roger coughed, the air erupted with the sound of wings as the room filled with sparrows. There must have been hundreds of the little birds. They engulfed  Roger who was swinging his arms trying to keep the birds away. All while ducking away from the birds he saw were going to dive down on him. Roger crouch ran to the door and slammed it behind him. A hall ran to the left in the darkness, that would lead to the emergency room. That was away from the behavioral health ward. He would have to go right towards the kitchen. 

Roger turned right. The hall was white with no doors or windows. However the hallway was full of whispering voices from the mouths of invisible people. Roger rushed and turned right at the end of the hall. The voices were replaced by the sounds of chains rattling and banging against a wall. Roger was in a wide hallway, this is where the cafeteria would be. If Roger could get there he might just be ok. If you walked through the cafeteria the psych ward was just west of the room. With each step towards the cafeteria the snarls and growls from some wild beast got louder. So did the sounds of rattling chains. Roger passed the waterfall cafe on his right and to his left should have been windows to the parking lot but instead it was a white wall. 

Roger reached the cafeteria doors, whatever was chained up and growling was behind this door. His first thought was a crazed dog chained to the floor but the snarls did not sound like a K-9. Roger thought about going straight, if he turned right at the end of this hallway then right again the door he was looking for would be about halfway down the second hall. Roger decided to be brave and open the door. The room was just as he remembered from all the Saturday morning breakfasts with mom and dad. There were at least thirty tables in the large room each surrounded by eight chairs. Roger’s heart dropped when he saw the clown chained to the far wall. He was at least seven feet tall and as skinny as slenderman. The clown locked eyes with Roger. He thought he saw that clown in an ad for a circus or carnival but he wasn’t for sure about it. The clown yanked hard on the chains and snarled like a rabid wolf. 

Roger slammed the door and ran down the hallway. At the end of the hall was a lounge area with comfortable chairs and antique hospital equipment under the cover of protective glass. Roger ignored it all as well as the bronze of Dr. Everett. He made it to the hall he needed but it was blocked off by the collapsed ceiling. Roger thought about turning back, there was another hall ahead but that one was almost as creepy as the B floor. That way was a nursery and a preschool for the children of hospital employees. He didn’t want to think about what might be that way. Roger looked back towards the sound of rattling chains, He took a step that way when he heard the distinct sound of chains snapping. 

“Fuck off,” Roger was sick of everything that could go wrong going wrong. “That’s some bullshit.”

It was to the preschool then. Roger heard the cafeteria door open so he began to run. He wanted nothing to do with that insane clown. He ran and turned right at the preschool hallway then made his way down it quickly. He did not look in any of the windows, he didn’t want to know what was in there. If Roger made it to the end of this hallway the hall he was looking for was only about fifty feet away. He was three quarters of the way to the end of the hall when he heard the preschool door open. Roger stopped and looked behind him. The moves felt completely involuntary, he didn’t want to know what was coming for him. 

It was the same toddler that he had run into before. It was holding the same knife and smiling the same blood stained smile. Roger tried to turn but his feet felt like they were cemented to the floor. The toddler charged screaming a high pitch that only small children seem to be able to reach. Roger broke the paralysis and ran towards the end of the hallway. Roger got to the end then turned right. He saw the hallway that he needed but further away he saw the crazed clown. Behind him was the demon child. Roger made a break for it. He made it to the hall before the clown and turned right towards the behavioral ward. The door was at the end of the long hallway, that’s not where it had been before but there was no time to reflect on it. He was a quarter of the way there when he looked over his shoulder. Both the clown and the toddler turned the corner from opposite sides. 

When he looked ahead Dr. Everett was sitting in front of the door smiling a wide smile. Roger could feel the two behind him closing in. Roger dug deep and ran faster. This time when he looked back the clown had the baby cradled in its arms and was only about twenty feet behind him. When he turned forward the door was further away than it had been. Dr. Everett was now laughing a hardy laugh and clapping his hands like an excited child. Roger hated that man. The footsteps behind him stopped. Roger looked over his shoulder to see the clown had thrown the baby at him. He didn’t have time to react before the toddler crashed hard into his back. Roger almost fell forward but was able to keep his feet.

The baby dug sharp claws into Roger’s back and buried sharp teeth deep in Roger’s muscles. Roger screamed and Dr. Everett laughed harder but Roger continued to run as fast as he could. He looked behind him and now the clown was close also. Roger reached over his shoulder trying to find the head of the child. When he located it Roger palmed it like a basketball and pulled hard. He felt the nails dragged through the skin like he had a cat on his back. Roger cried out in pain. He looked back directly into the face of the demon baby looking over his shoulder. Beyond the child’s head Roger saw the clown dive like a safety trying to save a touchdown. Roger felt the hand wrap around his ankle. He tumbled hard to the ground. 

The toddler resumed tearing at Roger’s back as the clown pulled Roger towards it. Dr. Everett’s laugh over powered all other sounds, it echoed through the hall and probably the whole hospital. The clown bit Roger’s ankle and the toddler buried its teeth into Roger’s neck.He tried to stand but the clown had a good hold of his leg and the baby felt as heavy as a fat raccoon that ate a bowling ball. Roger was screaming in pain. He kicked the clown in the shoulder with his other foot but it had little to no effect. Roger fought against the darkness trying to take over his mind. He would lose consciousness at any time. He didn’t want to do that. He tried again to do a pushup but was still unsuccessful. The clown bit deep into his calf and Roger screamed himself into darkness. 

Roger blinked his eyes open and looked into the smiling face of Dr. Everett. “You’re awake my friend,” Dr. Everett said, “I didn’t know if we would be able to bring you back. You lost a lot of blood. But here you are alive, I couldn’t be more proud. I know I know you didn’t make it all the way to the psych ward but you got closer than anyone ever before you.” Dr. Everett patted Roger on the shoulder.

Roger tried to sit up but he was numb from the top of his head all the way to the balls of his feet. However he was able to move his head. To his right was the giant skinny clown, Roger looked away from him immediately. Roger heard a mechanical noise and the back of his chair started raising him to a sitting position. Roger fought with every muscle to get away when he saw what was to his left. Sam was strapped to a bed with her legs up in the birthing position. 

“What the fuck are you doing to her?” Roger still couldn’t move but he could feel the hot blood coursing through his veins. “You better fuckin let her go man. I’m not playin.” 

“And what are you going to do exactly?” Dr. Everett asked, “You can’t even wiggle your big toe. Anyway we are giving her a C-section and stealing your twins.” Again Roger fought with all his strength but still couldn’t move. “As for her, we really don’t care what happens to her, she is meaningless to us. We just want you and those babies. Here this will relax you.” Dr. Everett poked him with a needle and every muscle Roger had went limp, he couldn’t even speak. “Now watch.”

The Dr. moved Roger’s head while he performed a C-section on his girlfriend. She never moved and Roger couldn’t even tell if she was alive. The procedure seemed to go smoothly and the babies were carted off in portable bassinets. Dr. Everett sewed Sam up sloppily then she was wheeled away by the same monsters wearing scrubs. 

“Now as for you Roger,” Dr. Everett said, “You will be shipped off to a place called Asylum 77. We both know you should have been there long before you were able to produce offspring. What kind of father could you have been?” Roger wanted to argue but still couldn’t move and if he were being honest, Dr. Everett was probably right. “Your babies are now my babies. I will raise them to be something that you never could. I even have names for them. Araylee for the girl and Arayen for the boy.” Dr. Everett was probably right also about him be better for Roger’s children. Roger hated himself inside. Maybe he should just let whatever was going to happen just happen. 

Two men stepped next to Dr. Everett, one was built like a brick wall and the other was wearing a hooded black cloak and a seventies style goalie mask. “I know you probably hate me for this but believe me Roger, you will be much better off.” Dr. Everett walked out of the door followed by the clown who shut the door behind him.

“Hey buddy,” The one wearing the skull mask said. “This is Tank and I’m Nat. We’re gonna take care of you for a while.” Nat pulled out a syringe and stuck Roger with it. Less than ten seconds later Roger’s mind was floating through blackness.