Killer

Chapter 37: No More Secrets

Anton's Psycaritic Hosptial was located on a desolate stretch of road on the outskirts of Detriot, between a rundown family home and a board-up, small grocery store. The old sign looked torn and had several letters on it, making up its name. A chain-link fence surrounded the abandoned property.

It was late in the evening when Tre and I decided to come here, but not without doing our own research back at our motel about what we would get ourselves into. We searched on Google to learn where the hospital was and what the place used to be. We even typed Jace's name to see what we could come across, but there was nothing important tied to his name. I had to find the address that was online to make sure we were at the correct site, and it turned out we were.

I had a doubt in my mind that we wouldn't find too much about Jace in an old building that looked like it was ready to be demolished. But it had to be worth trying to see what Tre and I could pull through on our search. Like a crazed dream that faded from someone else's memory upon awakening. The truth about him was just out of my reach.

Tre parked his red Nissian in the punched-earth lot behind the building. The long, unkempt grass poked out, shuttered and deadly silent, branced off into the darkness in all different directions. The surroundings looked so scary since no one else was here at this hour. I was convinced that the ghosts of past patients were floating around us.

"Are you ready for this?" Tre asked in a low voice, handing me a flashlight he brought from Target on the way here.

"I don't know," I admitted. I took a deep breath to fill up my chest, preventing myself from freaking out. "Let's just get this over with."

We headed down a path toward the back door of the building. Tre led the way and held my hand. Our flashlights lit up the windows that reflected our shadows, making them appear misshaped and creepy from the ground up. My footsteps echoed in stillness. Farther into the property, I could've thought I heard an animal or... a person strangely howling.

Tre pulled the knob to the door as it bulged us from opening. The easy route was out of the equation. "Shit," he whispered.

"Let's try the window," I suggested.

Tre nodded and shone the light at the nearest window for us to see that it was not boarded up but bound shut. Out of the luckiest of the stars, I spotted a rusty crowbar that lay deep in the grass. I couldn't help but grin widely at the thought that whoever tried to break into an old alysum had probably abandoned it. Tre grabbed the crowbar since I was shining my light on it, using it to forcefully lift the ledge on the window. It revealed a small slot straight inside that someone very petite would probably go through.

Tre whispered. "You think you could get in?"

I hesitated. "I am not sure, but it doesn't hurt to try."

Anton's Psychatirc Hosptial, unlike all the other buildings we saw in Detriot so far, left a sinister impression. I could easily feel the chill in my bones. Tre pointed the flashlight at the opening for me to squeeze myself through the narrow space so that I could try to unlock the door from the inside out. Tre grabbed my elbow.

"Pause," he said, handing me a pair of black knit gloves, which no doubt were probably his. "So that we don't leave a trace behind."

"Good looks," I pulled the gloves over my fingers that I didn't realize were cold in the night air.

I then tried to wedge my chubby body through the window. It wasn't a perfect fit, and with a few painful groans, I managed to break myself free from the outside, clumsily dropping my flashlight on the floor. It made a loud thud inside the empty building.

The inside of the psychiatric hospital was completely dark. I groped my hands over the floor for the flashlight to find the door, which I did by grabbing the handle. I latched the lock free and sharply pushed open the door for Tre, who came right in. We both pointed our flashlights around the space we were in to find the light switch that could flicker everything to life, but there was none we saw. That meant we had to rely on our only source of light. The building was large enough to be considered for restoration as an apartment complex. It was almost vacant and completely forgotten.