Cleo licked her lips as she looked at the man tied to the chair, blindfolded and gagged. Her henchmen had done well as usual. The familiarity of excitement arose again in her stomach, the familiar hunger that never seemed to be sated. Her cat-like hazel eyes gleamed as she slowly approached the man, her black stilettos clicking on the white tile floor. She had met many men here, all tied and all hearts pounding loudly for her to hear. Oh, how she loved to hear as their hearts faded when she played with them till it stilled and their bodies started going cold quickly. This white room held many memories for her, all of them ending with blood circling down the drain just under the chair where the man was. She could never remember what transpired when she let her senses go but she knew that these men would never be seen again. Though her life hadn’t always been like this. Her life was boring and dull compared to now. It all started two years ago when her boyfriend thought it would be fun to check out a mental asylum that was shut down many years ago due to patients rioting and killing the doctors before burning themselves to death.
“Eddie, I don’t want to go in. It’s too scary.” Cleo said, holding her jacket closer. It was a chilly September night and her boyfriend had dragged her out of her warm home for their four-week anniversary of dating to go a massive place that is near a forest which enclosed around the small town of Winchester, Kansas. “Oh, come on Clo,” her most hated nickname from him. “it’ll be fun and adventurous.” The red curly head male said as he pulled out a chain cutter, from the backpack that rested on her back, and cut the lock from the gate that surrounded the half-burned asylum which easily snapped before falling to the ground with a soft clunk. Cleo had been put in charge of holding the backpack and the flashlight that was on and shining on the gate though it trembled from her shivering. She only wore a tank top, pajama pants, simple flats and the thin jacket over her shoulders. “My mom used to work here and she says it’s dangerous.” She said as Eddie pushed open the gates that creaked from not being open till now. It gave her a creepy feeling. “And like a goody-two-shoes, you listened to her.” He replied as he took her wrist and escorted her inside.
The building was just like her mother said it was. The first floor had the reception desk, patient files in large steel filing cabinets, a waiting room and a door that hid stairs leading up to the top floors along with the basements where the “cure” treatments took place. There were only a few burn marks that looked like outlines of people which made her shudder in horror. “Eddie, please. I don’t want to stay here.” She said as she aimed the light at her boyfriend who seemed to like the idea of being somewhere forbidden though was annoyed by her scaredness. He was the bad boy in town and she happened to fall in love with him even though he did crazy s**t like this. “Oh shut the f**k up and stay here.” He huffed in annoyance as he took the flashlight from her and headed to the stairs “You’re such a scaredy b***h.” He said as he quickly went through the door and up the stairs to explore the hospital by himself. The brown-haired woman whimpered as she squinted into the darkness and rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself up. Sure she was a bit bigger than most girls but that didn’t mean she didn’t get cold.
The moon soon peeked through the dirty windows and filled the room with enough light to illuminate the lobby so Cleo could see but just barely. “Cleo…” A voice called out which made her freeze in place, her heart pounding in her chest out of fear. It wasn’t Eddie. He had a bit of a gruff voice but this was a raspy female voice. “H-hello?” She called but no one answered her. Slowly she made her way to the room with the stairs only to smell something was burning, like meat that had been left on the grill too long but this smell was much worse. It made her gag since she had been a vegetarian since she was five and she hadn’t had meat since. Quickly she covered her nose as she looked around for the source but couldn’t seem to find it in the dark lobby room. “Eddie! This isn’t funny! I’m leaving!” She called as she made her way to the lobby doors since she wanted to leave only to discover that the doors were locked. They had just been unlocked a moment ago. “S**t.” She said as she fumbled in search to find her cellphone only to find that it wasn’t in her pant pockets or her jacket pockets.
“Cleo…” The voice said louder, right behind her with the smell overpowering the eighteen-year-old again.Cleo’s breath picked up till a raspy breathing behind her seemed to deafen her own breathing. It was raspy, labored and right behind her. Chills ran up her body as her blood ran cold “E-Ed?” She whimpered quietly since she dared not to turn around to face what was behind her. “No…” There was a wheeze before the voice continued “I am one of the patients here…” Which made the woman in her pajamas lose all color in her cheeks, turning pale as her heart picked up till adrenaline rushed through her body. She had never seen a ghost before much less heard one so this was both terrifying and exciting. “T-The asylum burned down years ago. T-There’s no reason for you to stay here anymore.” This produced a wheezing chuckle from behind her that sounded like someone had a really bad strep throat trying to laugh. “Oh, I know. But I’m looking for particular people that didn’t show up when things got bad.” The voice said with disgust like the spirit didn’t like the fact that they had died. That was the last thing Cloe remembered before passing out on the hard aluminum floor.