Searching For A Home

Chapter 3

Wono, Alex, Torta, Delvis and Joe were walking through the second floor of the asylum when one of them stopped.

"Did anyone else hear that?" asked Torta.

"What did you hear?" asked Joe.

"I'm not sure. It sounded like it could have been a door opening."

"You think it was a ghost?"

"No, there's gargoyles in here, remember," joked Alex.

"It's probably the security guard," said Delvis. "We need to be very careful or we're going to get caught."

"I think Delvis is right," said Wono. "The security guard probably entered the asylum. We should go to one of the higher floors."

"We should leave, not go higher upstairs."

"If we try to leave right now, we're probably going to get caught. We should go higher up and hide out until the guard goes back outside."

"I think Wono is right," said Alex. "Plus, we can't leave now. We just got here."

Delvis put a hand to the back of the head. "I don't know why I agreed to this. You guys are going to get me arrested."

"Come on then," said Wono. "Let's get away from here." Wono led the way while the others followed.

"What exactly makes this place haunted by the way?" asked Joe.

"You mean other than being an abandoned asylum," said Alex.

"Yeah, I mean Wono did mention this place had gargoyles. What's the story with that?"

"He was clearly joking."

"I wasn't," said Wono as they entered the fifth floor.

"Excuse me?"

"This asylum does have gargoyles haunting it."

"How so?"

Wono walked around the group, putting his back to the door that led to the stairwell. He made sure that he was able to hear if anyone tried to come up the stairs. "Oh, so now you want to learn about the legend."

"Of course there's a legend," said Delvis, crossing his arms.

"Alright then, here is how the legend goes. A long time ago, the patients and the staff in this asylum were put under a curse. No one knows who cursed them but cursed they were. It happened suddenly after a stormy night because everything nasty happens on a stormy night. Everyone who was inside this asylum didn't wake up the next day. Instead, everyone had turned into stone. About three hundred patients and staff were turned into gargoyles."

"It sounds like they were turned into statues, not gargoyles," said Joe, causing everyone to look at him. "Gargoyles have wings. They're not just stone figures."

Wono sprouted wings, causing everyone to turn in horror. "Oh, we have wings," he said as he took a step towards them. "The way the curse works, if you're stuck inside the asylum when the sun comes up, you will also become a gargoyle and I've been looking for some new companions."

****

Celi and Papo were walking through the halls of the first floor when they heard something in the distance. "Was that a scream?" asked Papo.

"I think so," said Celi as she took a couple of steps forward. "Any idea where it came from?"

"None," said Papo as he pulled his cellphone out. "I'm going to call the police."