Your Worst Fears

Chapter 14: Fear

Nick

Before I left the hospital, Dr. Wellington had asked what all Amber had said, and I lied and told her nothing. I started to tell her the truth, that Amber wasn't crazy and that I thought a dead psycho, or something more sinister, had spoken to me through her, but decided against it, since they'd have probably put me in a bed next to her. I couldn't help her at all if everyone thought I was crazy, too, so I lied.

As soon as I got home, I started trying to figure out how to get more information on Eleanor, thinking that might be the key. I remembered seeing files laying around the asylum when we were there, so maybe some of hers had been left or put into storage somewhere. I decided to call Andrew, the owner of the asylum, to see if he knew anything. He was an older, laid back kind of man, so I figured if he did know something he'd be willing to help.

"Hey, Mr. Redden, this is Nick Bradley. Our team investigated at the asylum a month or so ago and I was wondering if you happened to have any old patient files from when the asylum was in operation."

He was quiet, and I thought he'd hung up, until he cleared his throat. "Yes, as a matter of fact, there were files left in a storage room when I purchased the hospital. Actually, there was a lot of things left in that place. It was like everyone just up and left, leaving everything behind."

"That's strange," I admitted.

"It was. So when I bought the place, I moved everything—files and old x-rays, things like that—to a closet on the main floor where they used to store all the linens. I keep it locked, but if you'd like to look at some of them, I could let you in."

"That would be awesome, Mr. Redden."

"Please, call me Andrew. And you can't take anything out, but you can go through it there. I don't have anything scheduled for Mondays or Tuesdays if you wanna come up one of those days."

"Sure, that would be great. We can come Monday, if that'll be good for you."

"Yeah, yeah, that'll work. I'll turn the key box code to 1-2-3-4 that morning so you can get in."

I had a plan, but wanted to check out the files, first, and see what I could find out before I put that plan into action. After seeing Amber, I knew that her life hung in the balance, so I didn't want to do anything to make it worse on her or drag this out longer than necessary.

When I hung up with Andrew, I set up a meeting with the team so I could fill them in on everything that had happened and what I was going to do, as well as what was going on with Amber. Everyone, except for Erik, was shocked when I told them. They were even more shocked when I told them my plan.

"But do you think that will work?" Alex asked. "Or that our team can handle it if it does?"

"What other option do we have? You should see her." I tried not to think about it. "We have to help her, and this is the only way I know how."

"Are you sure, though, about Amber?" Erik asked.

After everything that happened at my house, I thought he doubted her, and his question proved it. "Sure about what, exactly?"

"That she's... that she's...." He leaned against the back of his seat and crossed his arms, lowering his voice. "That she's not actually crazy. I mean, think back to your house, when your helmet fell and she swore it was that ghost lady." He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the table. "All I saw was an empty closet."

"Okay, I want you to think back to the asylum. Was everything we all experienced there also just in our heads? The dreams we all had after leaving that place? Are we all crazy?"