Haunted {Calum // 5SOS au}

{ eleven }

Walking through the dungeon of horrors was worse than anything they had ever encountered, not even their most awful nightmares came close to what they were experiencing now.

The deafening screams of agony had started to penetrate to the essence of their being. Riley had resorted to covering her ears in a desperate attempt to shut them out. Calum had his arm wrapped around her waist to make sure she stayed close to him, now that he wasn't able to hold her hand.

Michael looked pained as he followed close behind. When he had arrived at the abandoned asylum, his mission had been to discover the paranormal, but now he wished he never had. This was too much, even for him. He had read about the doctors' experiments and torments, and was fascinated by it, but now that he saw them happening with his own eyes, he was repulsed and never wanted to think about them again. Even though he knew that was something that wouldn't be happening in the near future.

All three of them wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back upstairs, but they were determined to find the key.

Another thing that kept them going was the lack of staff walking around. They were all too busy torturing their patients to even care about was happening in the corridors. This gave the trio an advantage, although they couldn't quite figure out how to use it if they had no idea what they were looking for, or where to find it.

As they continued on, they expected to see a lobotomy being performed, but what they encountered was something far worse.

The long corridor ended at a T junction. Looking to their left they could see a room at the far end, a light coming from inside. To their right was another passageway that could lead anywhere. Michael's bet was on the Death Tunnel. He couldn't imagine many of the patients down there would make it out alive. It made the most sense.

"The key could be on either side," Calum said, looking at Michael before locking eyes with Riley. "What do you think?"

Riley shrugged. She didn't want to be the one to make the decision and for it to turn out as the wrong one.

"Michael?" Calum asked and looked back at his friend. "Light or darkness?"

"In our situation, neither sounds good." He replied, studying both sides once more before picking one. "Let's see who's in there."

Calum and Riley followed his gaze to the left. The light seemed inviting, but it also meant there was someone in the room. Potentially a doctor who couldn't wait to meet his visitors, and make them his next patients.

"Alright, let's go." Calum said and turned left, the others following his footsteps.

The door stood slightly ajar and Calum didn't trust it at all, but ignored his instincts and pushed it open. Holding his breath, he peeked his head around it and sighed in relief when he wasn't faced with the murderous face of an evil doctor. Instead he had found another staircase, spiralling down into a black hole.

Michael pushed past him and looked down, scratching the back of his head as he racked his brains to think of what might be waiting for them below.

"What do you think?" Calum asked quietly, not sure if anyone downstairs could listen in on them.

"It could be the actual cellar," Michael replied in a low voice, tilting his head sideways to face him. "The one those patients talked about."

Riley nodded as that was her first assumption, too. They all took deep breaths before walking down the stairs, mentally preparing themselves. However, no amount of preparation would ready them for what they were about to face.