Readers vote on where this story goes next! Welcome to Briarwich. A sleepy coastal town with a dark history. You are Morgan, a college student on a boating trip with your four best friends. When you and your friends become stranded in Briarwich, you...
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Briarwich Hospital
Is it a coincidence that the town seems even more abandoned the closer it is to sunset? As the shadows cast by the tightly packed buildings grown long, and the light begins to fade, so do the distant echoes of gunshots. With the darkness comes a growing sense of dread. It might just be your paranoia playing tricks with your mind, but you could swear you see figures watching you from dark corners. They disappear the second you turn your head to look, making you wonder if you are going as mad as everyone else in this town.
There are no murder-crazed villagers to avoid during your next foray into the town, but you move cautiously all the same. A hush has fallen over the streets, making every inconsequential sound seem thunderous.
Weeds from the overgrown garden out in front of a wide two storey building have grown so tall and abundant that you almost miss the faded lettering which reads HOSPITAL. You step forward and brush aside the tall grass with the back of your hand – their coarse edges biting into your soft skin. Wrapped around the two stout wooden posts holding the sign are vines bristling with thorns like thousands of tiny teeth.
Natalie catches your eye and shares the same look of apprehension you imagine you are showing.
Malcom steps in to inspect the sign, "What is it? Are we in the right place? I never would have guessed this was a hospital."
Indeed, the sprawling building locked up tight behind the wrought iron fence does not look at all like what you would expect of a place of healing. You would say it reminds you more of a morgue, but even funeral homes make a token attempt to hide the fact that it is a holding facility for corpses. Briarwich Hospital has more in common with the sheriff's station. It looks as if someone picked up a cinderblock and painted barred windows on the front to make the outside look more like a building.
Simon prods the front gate which swings inward with the groan of rusted metal, "Looks like someone has already been here. Someone went to town on the chain with a rock."
The discarded remains of a chain and lock lay discarded on the ground. Judging by the lack of rust, they are about the only part of the hospital which has been maintained.
Natalie skirts around the chain like it is a snake which might strike out and bite her, "Why would someone want to chain the front gate shut in the first place? Seems like you would want the hospital to be easily accessible in case of an – oh I don't know – emergency of some kind?"
"I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that this place is about as helpful in an emergency as the sheriff's station," Malcom scratches at his chin the way he always does when he is feeling ill at ease. He seems to be regretting his decision to back you up when you decided to search near the hospital.
"We've come this far," you state with false resolve. You want to run away as much as any of them, but you can't justify turning back now. "I'm going to peek inside. If you guys are too scared, you can stay here and keep watch."
