Haunted {Calum // 5SOS au}

{ seven }

"Michael!" Calum exclaimed, all the care they'd taken to be quiet forgotten now that he was reunited with his best friend. Finally getting over the surprise and shock, he pulled his friend into a tight embrace.

"You're back!" Riley chimed in and wrapped her arms around the two boys in front of her.

Michael laughed quietly, glad to be seeing familiar faces. The time he'd spent wandering on his own seemed to have lasted an eternity.

"You sure were loud in there," Michael said as they let go of him.

"Oh you're one to talk," Riley said with a small laugh.

"Did you know it was him?" Calum asked, turning to face her.

Riley shook her head and explained she had figured it was someone trying to escape, as it sounded like they were looking for something important, like a key or protection.

Michael nodded as she spoke about protection. "That's exactly what I was looking for, but all the drawers are locked and there's nothing here except for that vase." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. There was a glass vase sitting on top of the marble desk. "I suppose we could smash it and use the fragments as knives."

"Couldn't you have been more quiet?" Riley asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest like she was judging him for it in a way.

"We're not actually keeping our voices down now either, are we?" Michael retorted audaciously.

He was right. They had to be more careful from now on or they would definitely get caught. They also knew they had to get out of there. An office like the one they were in would never be unattended for long.

"We have to go," Riley said, making sure her voice was just above a whisper.

"Where?" Michael asked, matching his tone with hers.

"Do you know where we are?" Calum asked his best friend, hoping he'd have more answers than they did.

"I'm guessing this is some fancy director's office by the looks of it. Wooden floor, nice wallpaper, expensive looking decorations... Have you been out there yet?" Michael said, talking about the other parts of the asylum. "It's all white tiles, and sadness. Nothing like this."

"Yeah, but I mean in general," Calum said, the impatience clear in his voice. "Where are we? What's going on?"

Michael shrugged, but both Calum and Riley could tell there was more that he wasn't telling them.

"Come on, Michael. If we want to get out of here, we gotta know where we are first."

"I don't know!" He said, a little louder than he'd intended to. "I don't know," he repeated, but kept his voice down this time. It was more than obvious that he was frustrated. He really didn't know what was happening, and it clearly bothered him.

He took a deep breath and told them what had happened to him. He had seen a ghost, just like Calum and Riley had. He'd followed it, and that was when he got separated from the group. The ghost disappeared into a room and as Michael was looking into it, he witnessed a doctor performing a lobotomy on a patient. He knew it was just a vision, but as the patient locked eyes with him, his surroundings changed and he found himself staring through the glass of a locked door. They were still doing the lobotomy inside the room, but it looked more real than it had before.

"I haven't been able to figure out what exactly is going on yet." Michael concluded his story. "But remember, they used to say this place was haunted? I think they were right."

"No shit, Sherlock" Riley hissed. She didn't mean to sound as annoyed as she did, but it was more than obvious that paranormal activity had taken place. Either that or someone set up a very believable hidden camera prank.