Chapter Sixteen

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Once the picture was taken, Effie was rushed up the stairs and into a room on her right. When she walked into the room, she stopped and gasped. It was the same exact room from her dream.

How? she whimpers.

Miss Murphey pushes on her back and Effie stumbles deeper in the room. Miss Murphey then sets her luggage down and turns on several lamps. She then turns to Effie with a steel expression. "This will be your home for the rest of you visit. You are to stay in this room unless you are told to come out. If one of us find you out of your room, punishments will be established."

"W-what are the punishments?" Effie asked afraid.

The smile Miss Murphey gives her sends chills down Effie's back. "Break the rules and you'll find out." She then pointed to a book that was placed on the bed. "There's the full list of rules. I suggest you memorize them and try your hardest not to break them." She turned to leave and when she had her hand on the doorknob, she turned back to Effie and smiled. "Have a pleasant stay." The door shut behind her and Effie sunk to the ground and leaned against the bed.

She reached up and grabbed the book and opened it to the first page. The print was tiny and numbers lined the page yellowing pages. As she read through the rules, she thought that they were ridiculous. Every rule required her staying in her room until told otherwise.

This is going to be more of a jail than a place for help.

She closed the book and leaned her head back against the bed. She closed her eyes and wished to go home. How can this happen to her? Why is this happening to her?

I just hope that Mum and Papa come and get me as fast as they could, she thought to herself.

She felt a presence in the room with her. She kept her eyes closed and said aloud, "What do you want Patricia?"

"My name's not Patricia," a wispy voice spoke.

Effie opened her eyes to see the apparition that's been following her around the whole day. "Who are you?"

The apparition sighed before answering. "They called me Linsey Edgar. I was a resident of this asylum." She hovered over to where Effie sat and kneeled down beside her. "I will warn you that this place is not for the happy. It is not for the cheerful. You will experience excruciating pain. They might have seemed nice before, but they were trained to fool adults."

Effie stared at Linsey's scarred face. "I've heard everything you've said from another spirit. I believe you, but I don't want to."

Linsey shook her head. "Trust me. I didn't want to believe anything the other patients here told me. I was naive. Please, just for your minds sake. Believe what I say to you." She stood up to leave before Effie stopped her.

"Why are you telling me of these things if I already know?"

"Because, you're strong headed. You don't want to believe what other people tell you." She paused for a moment. "That's why you didn't listen to Patricia."

Effie's mouth dropped open. "How do you know about Patricia?"

Linsey looked down at her from her stance. "I was here when Patricia was admitted. I noticed something different about her, but she would never tell me. We shared rooms you see, and I could always hear her cry herself to sleep every night. She talked in her sleep loudly. I was older and I felt responsible for her when her parents dropped her off. I tried to help her through the pain, but nothing would help. She was already in so much distress that nothing could be done. The damage was made and it was too deep." She turned her head away and sighed. "She died after two years in the wretched hole. I should say more like murdered."

Effie looked down at her feet. She didn't realize how long Patricia was here. Patricia talked a lot about her pain when she was trying to warn Effie, but never had she talked about how long she stayed here. "What did you do when she died?" she asked in a soft tone.

"I killed myself."

Effie looked up at her quickly like she was insane.

Linsey shook her head. "Don't look at me like that. I was going to die here anyway. Everyone does. They either die by their own hands or by the hands of the demons that work here. No one has ever come out of this place alive." She then turned away from Effie. "Good luck, Effie. I'll see you soon." She walked through the door and disappeared.

Effie hugged her knees and placed her head down on them. She began to feel even more afraid than before. What's going to happen to her?

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