He grabbed at the camera, which still hung from his wrist, but lost precious seconds as it slid from his grip, his fingers trembling and slick with his own blood. Finally, he clutched the camera’s metal casing and held the device out before him. “Stand back,” he said. He pressed the shutter button, and cold light burst inside the small room. When the afterimage of the flash died down, the room seemed darker still. Even if he had seen the details of the doorknob, he wouldn’t have been able to figure it out now. “Useless,” he whispered.
“Not useless,” said Bree. “Turn on the view screen. It’s got to give off a bit of light.”
Licking his lip, tasting the coppery liquid there, Neil blindly pressed a couple buttons. The screen on the back of the camera glowed blue. He held it up to the doorknob. It appeared plain, round, silver. If there was a lock at all, it was on the outside. “What the heck! How are we supposed to —”
Someone shushed him.
But it wasn’t Bree.
Wide-eyed, he and his sister stared at each other, their faces lit by the camera from below. Slowly, they turned. At the other side of the room, near the window, a dark shape stood completely still. It looked like one of their own shadows. Neil knew this was impossible. The camera’s light was between them and the shape. Their shadows should have been cast on the door behind them. Shaking, unable to speak, Neil held up the camera, trying to see who was there.
The figure shifted forward. In the dim light, Neil made out some faint details. Long dark hair. Clothed in a light dress, possibly a uniform.
Neil tried to scream, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t blink. Even his bloody nose felt as if it had stopped flowing.
Then, just like the flashlight, the camera died.
SOMETHING SHOVED NEIL AND BREE FORWARD. The floor tilted. The darkness spiraled. They were falling. Spinning.
But no …
The door had merely opened with a swift jolt, knocking into them, sending them off balance. Neil took a step and caught himself.
“What are you guys doing in here?” Wesley’s voice came from the hallway. A sliver of dim light broke the curtain of shadow.
Without thinking, Neil yanked the door the rest of the way open. He grabbed his sister’s arm and together they leapt out of the room. “Run!” he called to Wesley, who stood momentarily stunned behind them before springing forward. The trio sprinted toward the bend in the corridor, where daylight greeted them like a parent waiting with open arms. They raced toward the stairs. Neil did not look back.
Memories of the Nurse Janet story flickered through his head, like old film from a loud projector, and all he could think of now was her strong hand reaching for his collar. At any moment, he would be caught, choked. As his lower body continued to race forward, his feet would flip upward. He’d fall flat on his back, looking at the ceiling as her pale face came closer and closer, glaring down at him as she —
“Watch out!” Bree grabbed Neil’s arm just as he was about to topple headfirst off the top stair. He swung out and clasped the railing, pinning himself against the wall.
Rattled as he was, Neil managed to peer back into the darkness at the corridor’s bend. His heart galloped; his lungs burned. His eyes scanned the distance for any movement, anything at all. But nothing was there … nothing he could see anyway. “Can we not stop here, please?” he said.
“Are you okay?” said Wesley, following Neil and Bree briskly down the stairs. “You’re bleeding, Neil.”
“I ran into the door back in that room.”
“I heard you guys shouting. Did you see something?”
At the bottom of the stairs, Neil finally found his breath. The sunlight had sunk to a position where it hit the lake and reflected golden light all around the common room.
“I don’t know what we saw,” Bree said. “Where’s your brother?”
“I’m here.” Eric came through a doorway on the other side of the cake table. He was holding what looked like a brown file folder. “I found an office. You would not believe the things they left behind in this place.” When he saw the state of the trio, his eyes grew wide. “What happened?”
“Don’t ask,” said Neil. “We’re leaving.”
“Really?” said Eric. “But it looks like things are starting to get good.”
“You’ve been down here for a while?” Bree asked with a scowl.
Eric nodded slowly, wearing an almost obnoxious expression that said, What’s your problem?
“Someone is upstairs,” said Bree, “in one of the bedrooms. She tried to lock me and Neil inside.”
“Nurse Janet,” said Wesley unsurely.
“No way,” said Eric, starting past them toward the staircase. Wesley grabbed his arm. Eric flung him away. “I wanna check it out for myself.” He paused, and then added, “I can’t wait to tell the band about this.”
“They kicked you out!” Wesley shouted.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Eric yanked the mesh door open and climbed the steps two at a time. He disappeared into the opening at the ceiling.
Bree shook her head. “Forget him. I’m not spending another minute in this place.”
Wesley blinked. “We can’t leave him up there.”
“Why not?” said Bree. “He’s happy to leave us down here.” Her cheeks flushed red. Neil could see that all the charm she’d collected from Eric earlier had evaporated. No one messed with Bree, Neil knew. Eric would learn. “You can stay, Wesley, but I’m taking Neil with me.”
Neil sighed. “But —”
Wesley held up his hand. “You’re right.” Listening to the silence from upstairs, he added, “He can be a real jerk sometimes.” He called out, “Meet us outside, Eric!”
They didn’t receive an answer.
The three headed back through the door of the youth ward into the long hallway, running in the direction of the crumbling gymnasium — at least, that’s where they thought they were headed. Even though Neil had marked every turn they’d made, after what had happened in room 13, his sense of direction was now screwed up — not good, since they were heading into some very dark places without a working flashlight.
“Which way?” asked Bree at an intersection of two hallways that looked exactly like the last one they’d come to.
“Maybe there’s a sign like before,” said Wesley, peeking around a corner.
“But don’t we have to go down some stairs eventually?” Neil asked. In fact, through an open doorway up ahead, there was a stairwell. The group crept forward. The passage led down into complete darkness. “Is this the one we came up?”
“I think so,” said Wesley.
“There’s got to be another way out,” said Bree. “One that doesn’t involve us wandering around a pitch-black maze. What if we just keep going straight ahead on this floor instead?”
“We could try that,” said Wesley. “I mean, it’s not like we’re trapped in here or anything.”
“You’re right,” Neil answered quickly. The memory of the blindness he’d experienced upstairs swept through him. He knew he’d have nightmares tonight. Best to remain logical, levelheaded. Like Alexi and Mark. He stepped back from the stairwell and nodded down the corridor. “Let’s try this way. At the very least, if we come to a window, we can climb out. It shouldn’t be too far of a drop.”