Unleashing Demons | D.D. Bk. 1 | ✔️

Chapter 17: The Investigation

Once I joined the others, I can't help a shiver of foreboding travel down my spine. Even from where we stood at the entrance way, you could feel the unnatural energy encompassing the decrepit hospital-pulsating through your skin, moving deeper into your core. My senses heighten to the point where I doubt myself if I really am experiencing something paranormal or my mind just playing tricks. What more once we set foot inside?

Gideon, having sensed my trepidation, envelops my hand with his own and offers a reassuring squeeze. "If you feel everything's too much to handle, just say so and we'll stop, okay? No pressure."

I gaze back at his captivating eyes, reflecting the sincerity to his words. How could he be so cold only moments before? Surely this is the side of the coin which I'm most comfortable with. The strong apprehension within me somewhat lifted and I finally feel at ease. I merely nodded at him in response before he notices me gawking longer than necessary.

He releases his hold, and almost immediately my hand yearns for the warmness of his touch. Instead, I reach up to caress the amethyst stone that hung around my neck. I expect it to be cool, but it's warm beneath my fingers-as though emitting its own source of heat.

"And now for the main event." Vaughn muttered as he grips both of the brass doorknobs. I clutch the pendant tighter, bracing myself for whatever waits for us beyond these doors. Since this is my first time investigating a haunted location, I don't know what to expect. But there's only one way to find out.

The double doors swung open with an eerie creak, echoing into the dark depths of the interior. Promptly a cool breeze greeted us, stroking faintly at my cheeks. But it isn't one that gives a comforting reassurance, but rather a whispering call of those who are trapped within this sealed crypt-serving as a tomb for the hundreds of patients and victims that died here.

Gideon and Vaughn immediately raise their torches, the beams barely making it halfway into the shadowy abyss, absorbing any illumination that could reveal what lay ahead. I followed suit, my borrowed penlight scarcely having effect on contributing. With Gideon in lead, we crept almost quietly into its threshold, as though disrupting the stillness would provoke an unknown presence within this pitch-black pit.

I exhale a deep breath as we trudge deeper. So far so good. What I've felt from the outside had the same level of energy as the inside; just a continuous flow. I swerve my light around, attempting to distinguish the layout of the first floor. Our beams finally reached a cherry wood reception counter. With a closer inspection, its smooth surface was covered with a thick layer of dust and other bits of debris which I guess fell from the ceiling. The work station separates two arched doorways located at each side. The tarnished plaque that hung above the left opening indicates 'L Wing' where the offices of the resident doctors are located and to my right, the 'R Wing' where the medical examination rooms were. Gideon confidently steers us to that direction.

Before we go through that corridor, I let my penlight explore further. At my right, the small beam made contact with few pieces of furniture; rusty, waiting benches that were placed against the walls and huge decorative pots-where I knew beautiful plants once grew-sat at the corners. It was a lounge area. Its huge windows were boarded-up from the outside, condemned to never see the light of day. There was also a coffee table at the center of the open area, with several magazines and newspapers from those times, scattered on top. All of these were left untouched as this building closed its doors all those years.

"There should be a door at the end of this hallway." I heard Gideon whispered, but in this deafening silence, just audible enough as a normal tone.

As I'm about to follow the two men, a tangible force struck me, almost solid to be considered a gush of wind. It was like passing through a firm wall, the sensation leaving me breathless. As it subsided, I felt the subtle shift of the environment before seeing it with my own eyes.