“You ready?” Jeff asked after doing a final sweep to make sure they had gotten all their belongings.
Linda nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Jeff kissed her on the forehead and went to get in the rental truck. Before Linda got in the car, she looked back at the massive building. Again, she wished it could be different. But all the wishing in the world wasn’t going to change anything. The ghosts didn’t want them there and they were going to respect that fact. They hadn’t been respected in the last days of their life, but Linda wasn’t going to be the person to disrespect them after death.
A flutter from the ragged curtain in the west wing’s third floor window caught Linda’s attention. Glancing up at it, she saw a nurse standing in the window. Not the creepy nurse but the woman she had seen in the west wing sobbing. For a second, the two women stared at one another. But in a breath, the woman vanished. Linda could have sworn that as she did, she waved.
Perhaps, it wasn’t that the woman didn’t want Linda and Jeff here, but was instead trying to keep them safe. There was no telling what kind of manner the patients suffered in death. The idea of the nurse wanting to protect them from that made sense, and for that Linda was grateful. The woman may have not been able to save people from what had happened when she was alive, but she wasn’t giving up the fight in death.
Linda smiled. She admired the woman in a way. Linda was sure there were other spirits haunting the hospital. She had heard many different sounds of cries, laughter, and whispers. However, Linda now believed the woman was the one who tried to keep things in order.
Sebastian barked and wagged his tail as he waited for Linda to get it in gear. She patted the dog on the head and laughed. She knew they were going to be okay.
She pulled up beside Jeff. “Honey, I have one stop to make. Can you follow me there? I think it’ll bring closure for us both.”
***
As they went through the old newspapers at the library, Linda’s heart raced. She needed to find anything, something, on Hilltop Sanatorium. Several articles jumped out at her.
She looked at Jeff with wide eyes. As they spent the next hour reading about the hospital, they both realized in horror how much their lives had been in danger.
Linda gasped as she saw the pictures of the evil nurse and the doctor in the dirty lab coat. She cried when she read about the unnecessary deaths that had occurred due to the abhorrent experiments that had taken place.
“Oh, Jeff, they used those poor people as guinea pigs! Treated them like worthless animals.” Her heart broke for all of the souls that were lost to the evil that permeated the walls of the hospital.
She silently prayed for everyone that had been betrayed by the doctors and nurses who they were supposed to trust.
It was when she was reading the last article that chills ran down Linda’s spine. There was a picture of a nurse who Linda recognized. It was the woman who was sobbing in the west wing. Margaret Fisher.
Margaret had tried to tell the hospital superiors of the treatments that didn’t make sense to her but no one had listened. It was only a few weeks later that a doctor diagnosed Margaret with tuberculosis. Despite Margaret’s protests that she was fine, she was taken against her will for treatments that cost her her life.
Linda learned that Margaret’s parents had received one letter from Margaret before her death, begging them for help. But the form letter came soon after, and they hadn’t had a chance to contact her. It was one of Margaret’s nurse friends who had told them the experiments that were going on at the hospital. Soon, she too, had died of tuberculosis.
“Honey, we better get going. We don’t want to leave Sebastian in the car too much longer. I think we know all we need to. The place is evil.”
Linda stood up and gave Jeff a hug. “I think we do, too. Come on, let’s get out of here! I’m excited for our next adventure.”
Chapter Nine
6 months later
Linda handed Jeff the paper. “She sold it.”
Jeff took the newspaper in surprise. “She did?” he exclaimed.
“Yep.” Linda settled down on the futon and Sebastian came to join her. “Looks like they are going to remodel it into a nursing home.”
Jeff’s eyes widened. “Those poor people.”
“I know,” Linda agreed. “Even if they tell someone what they’re seeing, they’ll just brush them off and say they’re seeing things. It’s the perfect cover.”
“Melissa should be pleased,” Jeff remarked.
Linda chuckled. Melissa probably was pleased. The turnover happened faster than either Jeff or Linda thought it would. Melissa had acted as if she would never sell the property again. Of course, Linda would have thought the same considering the hospital had been on the market for fifteen years before, with no interest shown toward the property until Jeff and Linda had approached her. They both had been scared it would take just as long to get the property sold again, meaning they would have to wait for their money for a long time. At this rate, they should have their check come next week.
“Do you think she told them about the west wing?” Linda asked.
“Oh, I’m sure she didn’t. After we found out, we had moved out in less than three days. She wouldn’t want the same to happen with them, I’m sure.”
“That’s true, but we had a little more push.” She patted Sebastian on the head. “Our poor puppy was being tortured.”
“Yes, the poor guy,” Jeff chuckled. “And his life has never been the same since.” Jeff patted Sebastian on the head and sat down next to Linda. “You poor pampered pup.”
Linda laughed and took the paper back from Jeff. “You know, I can’t help but wonder if she didn’t open up to us the way she did because of alternative motives.”
“What do you mean?” Jeff asked.
“Well, she kept the hospital’s secrets up until we called about the gate. Then she became a flood of information. You don’t think… I don’t, that she was trying to push us out of the house?” This had been something nagging at Linda since Melissa had a meeting with them in the lounge so many months ago.
“Does it really matter? After what I saw, and everything you finally told me, we needed to leave that place behind, fast. Nothing was stopping me,” he teased. Linda understood what he meant. She still had nightmares about nurses standing over her, but being unable to move. Jeff had mentioned going to the doctor, but Linda wasn’t ready for that. She was clean and healthy. She hadn’t been sick, not once, since they had left the Hilltop Estate. She wasn’t ready to go running to the doctor for solution pills. She would learn to deal with them on her own.
“I guess,” she said and shrugged. “I’m just curious.”
“Feel blessed,” Jeff replied and kissed her on the head as she looked down at the paper in her lap.
The picture on the front was a sign for a new beginning. Melissa shook the hand of the man standing next to her in a pristine three-piece suit. Linda debated with herself if she should reach out and tell the new owner about what really lurked inside the hospital, specifically in the west wing.
But when Linda looked up at the window in the left hand corner, she smiled. She was sure the new owners would find out eventually. Standing in the window was a nurse clad in white. And she was staring down at the two in the front lawn.