Robert woke up in a hospital bed with a fussing mother and a father who held a smug look of “I told you so.” This wasn’t going to go over well; it was a victory for his dad for sure. Yet even as he lay there listening to his parents talk and feeling sorry for himself, he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened. He had been scared by his vision, yet also fascinated by it at the same time. He heard the doctor come in and perked up his ears to hear what his take on the matter was.
“Mr. and Mrs. Drake, your son will be fine. It appears he fell into some sort of trance, almost like a seizure. More than likely it came on from a panic attack, I must admit myself I always found the story of Trent Frennur and that prison tour a little much for younger kids. Do you have a history of any seizures in the family? No, well I will write up a report for your doctor back home and I would recommend you schedule a visit to talk it over with him. More than likely no course of action will take place at this time since it is a one time occurrence with no past history, but they may want to keep an eye on him none the same. Ah and it looks like our patient is awake, how are you doing?”
Robert gave the man a small smile and braced himself for his mothers fussing and his dad’s hints at victory, and a little taunting from his older brother if he wasn’t mistaken.
“Hey Robert, are you doing okay? Your dad and I were worried about you, you just kind of blanked out and fell over, you kept muttering things, and we felt so helpless.”
“One down,” Robert thought.
“Yeah, the tour guide was quick to get the paramedics called when you didn’t come to, but it still took a good hour for them to get there, being so far away and up in the mountains. We were worried, but I knew a tough guy like you could pull through.”
“Two, subtle yes, but there was an air to his voice.”
“Hey Robert, that was quite a show you put on. The paramedics said a bunch of words and stuff when they arrived, it pretty much boiled down to you fainting because you got scared.”
“…and the final, with a little icing on the cake from mom.”
“Ryan! That’s enough; you weren’t exactly laughing when he never came to, were you?”
Ryan began to blush and shifted awkwardly and then finally spoke. “No, I’m sorry…er, Robert.” Ryan changed the subject quickly. “By the way you missed the question and answer session. There was some interesting stuff there. Someone finally asked why the prison was even built by Gatchet, suggesting maybe he was crazy or something. The tour guide said that Gatchet made his career by catching Frennur. Before that he was really a ‘nobody’, in fact he wasn’t even FBI at the time. He was a Chicago cop in 1980 when Frennur brutally tortured and murdered the Chicago head of police and his family. Gatchet was close to the family, so he made it his goal to track Trent down. He uncovered some big clues and the FBI brought him on. In this particular case he showed a keen understanding of the murderer. He spent the next two years studying Trent, getting to know who he was, starting to inch closer until he finally got ahead of him and got him before he could commit what would have been his final act, an attempt on some highly decorated, retired Navy Seal. Frennur apparently liked to crack tough nuts. So after catching him Gatchet convinced the FBI to open the prison so he could delve further into Frennur’s mind and try and figure out what makes him and other murders think the way they do, whatever that is. After two years of running the place Gatchet kind of became depressed and was committed to a mental ward where he still resides. The FBI kept the place going for another year, despite rumors of cruelty being done to the prisoners, because they seemed to be on the brink of understanding something. After the end of that year the FBI couldn’t keep the rumors from the media and decided to close down the place. One of the guards was apparently wearing down, you know, the guy at the desk, and showing signs of insanity. So in November of 1985 they brought in a helicopter to bring out the guards and prisoners, right in the middle of a blizzard too. During the flight the crazy guard seemed to put up a little scurry and they opened the door to let some air in, and during the struggle it seemed the guard released Frennur who then grabbed the cop and leapt for the open door. Being fifty feet up in a blizzard with very little visibility they figured the worst. They came back when the storm passed and couldn’t find a trace. Even when the snow melted in spring they looked for clues and found nothing. After years of no rumors or murders they eventually closed the case.”
Robert also got to hear about the old tree trunk. It was a large tree that toppled decades ago leaving a large gnarled trunk with a plethora of holes in it. When the wind swept over the trunk (as it did quite often up in the mountains), it make an eerie howling, and rumor had it if you listened close to one of the holes during this wail, you could hear the muttering of Trent Frennur, as if his ghost was unwilling to release his hold on the mountain and surrounding villages. Robert did enjoy this story in particular and was sad he had missed it, but he was ready to end this talk and move on. He hadn’t told his family what he had seen in that hallway and he didn’t ever plan on it; that was something he would hold onto for years, when its knowledge could no longer be held against him. So with the bluntness of his father and softness of his mother Robert finally said:“I appreciate you all telling me what I missed, but I would rather not talk about the Museum anymore. What’s next on our little vacation?”
Robert’s dad, in a more serious voice now that the spoils of war were over, spoke first: “well, seeing as you are getting out of here in an hour, I thought we could go grab a bite to eat and go see a movie. We will probably head home tomorrow seeing as Mom keeps telling me the county prison is out of the question now.”
Robert smiled and finally relaxed, things hadn’t gone so bad after all and he couldn’t hold anything against his family anyway. “Sounds good dad…oh and thanks mom.”