Abram’s phone rang over and over the next morning, all of the calls coming from Alex, as he had expected. When he sent the calls to voicemail and Alex texted that he wanted to talk, Abram let out a sigh. He had once loved Alex and he still cared for him a lot, but it was a lot for him to come to terms with. He had never thought about his unresolved feelings for Lissa upon learning that she was Alex. Abram just wanted to push it out of his mind for the time being. So when Mercer texted him about meeting up at the gym the next morning, Abram concocted a story about needing to work out to his parents and leapt at the invitation when his parents agreed as long as he was home before dark.
After they were sweaty and the slightest bit sore, Mercer and Abram hit a nearby coffee shop for some carbs and caffeine to reward themselves.
“You were going strong today,” Abram laughed as they sat at an outside table to bask in the warmth of the vibrant sunny day. “Kirby’s sure gonna love the work you did on your biceps.”
Mercer laughed too as he sat the bag with their everything bagels down on the table, Abram taking one with earnest. “Maybe if I get a second date, she’ll be able to appreciate my work out today.”
Smiling, Abram swallowed a generous bite of bagel before speaking. “Speaking of, how’d the first date go?”
“Pretty good,” Mercer said between sips of his caramel Frappuccino. “I really like her. I told her a little bit about us before I could ask too much about her though.”
Abram sighed. “Yeah, the car warning cut it short.”
“Now do you believe me that someone saw us?” When Abram just sipped his white mocha frapp, he continued. “Whoever wrote the messages on our cars, they’re not the same person who sent Willa that picture.”
“No, I don’t think so either.” Abram concurred. “I mean, signing the picture? I believe Straton, I think Sumner sent that to my house so Willa would find it.” he paused. “Maybe we should listen to whoever wrote the car messages and stop looking for Sumner.”
Mercer scoffed. “You want to start confessing too? Abe, we’re so close. Straton’s confession only helped the Sumner hunt."
“How’s that?”
“I looked it up this morning.” Mercer nodded. “Heartmyth is only about fifteen miles from the Armor Falls county line, which is only about another five miles from Arclan.”
“And what, Sumner took the rest of the night to walk there? That’s like a two hour walk.”
“One hour and thirtyseven minutes,” Abram looked surprised, a sentiment Mercer just brushed aside. “I checked. Sumner could have walked, or biked, or even stolen a car to get there. My point is, it's not that far for him to get to and hide out there. If Sumner is still watching, especially to make sure Straton is suffering, we need to go while he's distracted, while he thinks we’re too focused on Straton’s connection to him.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Abram sighed, shoveling in more of his bagel when his phone chimed again. He pulled it out of his basketball shorts, seeing the recipient and sighed. “Relentless.”
Mercer tried to scarf down the rest of his own bagel. “Who’s that?”
“Alex,” he answered with a heavy sigh. “I’m about to turn my phone off.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“He kissed me last night.”
Mercer stopped chewing his food, talking around his food at the bombshell, slightly muffling his words. “I’m sorry, kissed?”
“He said he still loves me and that we could try to be...us again.”
“Wow.” Mercer said. “I didn’t expect that.”
“Neither did I,” Abram admitted. “I don’t even know what to say to him.”
“Well you better patch things up with him before tonight.” Mercer finished the last of his coffee. “Just be honest with him. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“Anyway,” Abram deflected easily. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about it anymore. “We need to figure out who’s messing with us.”
“I think finding Sumner is more important right now.” Mercer stated. “Don’t get me wrong, if someone knows about that night, we need to find out who it is, but I think time is on our side right now and we need to break into Arclan while we still can.” Abram’s phone rang again, causing Mercer to smile. “But first things first, you need to talk to Alex.”
Sighing in defeat, Abram caved. “You’re right.” he quickly texted Alex back in a blur of typing. “Can you drop me off somewhere?”
When there was a knock on her bedroom door, she didn’t even move. She barely even heard the repetitive tapping. Everything seemed either numb or foggy to her anymore. A knock hardly registered in her mind as important.
“Faith, it’s Willa.”
Faith turned her head, but didn’t rush to open the door. “My dad let you in?”
“He’s the one who called me over. Just let me in.”
A sigh lazily left Faith’s lips. “It’s open.”
The door creaked open, and Willa effortlessly strode in, closing the door quietly behind her. She made her way over to the window seat where Faith resided. Willa sat on the bed across from her.
“Your dad said you haven’t left your room since everyone got back from the police station,” Willa shifted uneasily. “And that you won’t let anyone in. Not even Alex.”
“They don’t understand.”
“You let me in.”
“You knew Straton, a little bit at least. You tried to help me.” Faith’s earlier tears resurfaced. “How did I not know, Willa?”
“He didn’t tell anyone, Faith.”
“But he told me he didn’t know Sumner at all. He lied to me and I have no idea why.”
Willa looked at her with elevated eyebrows. “Alex didn’t tell you anything?”
Her tears stopped instantly. “Why would he know anything about why Straton lied?”
“He didn’t give me details,” Willa’s voice wobbled, unsure if she should tell her. Ultimately, she decided that she would want Faith to tell her if the roles were reversed. “But Abe did tell me that Dagger let them watch Straton’s interrogation.”
Faith was up on her feet in a flash, running past Willa and sprinting down the hall and bursting through her brother’s room, not caring about the startled look on his face as he was pulling a shirt over his head.
“Have you heard about knocking?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you got to watch Dagger question Straton?”
His face crinkled in sarcasm. “Because it’s confidential information?”
“Bullshit.” Faith snarled.
“Why would I tell you something that’s just going to drive you crazy?” Alex went to reach for her but she lurched backwards before he could make contact. “Faith, I didn’t tell you because it’s not like I can recite Straton’s confession for you.”
“You have to tell me something,” she pleaded. “I have to know whether or not I wasted three months trusting someone who’s been helping Sumner.”
Her brother breathed deeply, grabbing her hands. “I can’t tell you what he said,” When she huffed and rolled her eyes, he stared at her sternly. “But, I will tell you that what Straton did say, I believe him.”
Her eyes widened liked biscuits in an oven. “You do?”
“Yes.” he said, giving her a small smile. “I do. I think we all do.”
“So…I should talk to him?”
Alex smiled again. “Yeah, maybe you should.”
She pulled her brother into a rapid embrace, holding him close to her for a minute. “Thank you, Alex. Thank you.”
“You can thank me by driving me to meet Abe?” Alex hoped, ending his statement in an inquisitive tone.
“How are both of us going to get pass Dad?” Faith scoffed.
“Say you need to work on Yearbook stuff at the library with Willa since she came over,” Alex told her. “I’m gonna tell him I’m trying out for basketball and need to practice.”
“Is that true?”
“
I was thinking about practicing for a possible tryout, but I have to see Abe regardless.”
“And I really need to talk to Straton. If where your meeting Abe is on the way, I’ll take you but—”
“I’ll take you.” Willa piped up, stepping into Alex’s room. “I have a couple of errands to run for my mom anyway.”
“Perfect,” Faith smiled weakly. “As long as we make sure Dad doesn’t see us going in the wrong vehicles.”
The three of them headed downstairs together, perfectly aligning their excuses for their various reasons to be bending the rules of the lockdown.
“Thanks for the ride.”
Alex got out of Willa’s car and instantly was hit with memories as he took in the beautiful scene around him. Abram had texted him and told him to meet at the park toward the edge of town, at the place where they had gone to after their first date. Alex walked over to their spot, which was tucked away from the rest of the busyness of the park. There was a wooden bridge that overlooked a small creek shore that turned into the river on one side and on the other side there were three drainage holes that the river sifted into, all while the bridge was secluded and surrounded by trees, giving them the privacy they so desperately needed for their much sought after conversation.
The setting brought a smile to Alex’s face, especially when he saw Abram leaning against the bridge, looking down toward the makeshift shore below them, staring at his rough hands, turning them over and over.
“Hey,” Alex bellowed as he approached, watching Abram look up from his hands and laying his crisp blue eyes on him.
Abram held up a cup from the froyo place they had stopped at just before heading to the park for an evening stroll after their first date, furthering Alex’s grin. “I got you a mango pineapple smoothie with a splash of chocolate.”
“My favorite,” he laughed. “You remembered.”
“Of course I did.”
Grabbing the smoothie and taking a huge gulp, Alex leaned against the bridge next to Abram, staring over at him.
“So why’d you want to meet here?”
Abram shrugged. “This place means a lot to both of us. I figured it’d be the most comfortable place for us to talk.”
Sighing, Alex decided to just jump right into their inevitable back and forth. “Listen, I’m sorry about last night. I was just overwhelmed with Straton’s questioning and I let my emotions get the best of me.”
Alex heard Abram let out a deep breath. “Are you apologizing for the kiss or for telling me that you’re still in love with me?”
“Abe,” Alex exhaled. “I’m sorry for letting myself get caught up in my feelings.” He stared into Abram’s eyes as he continued. “I apologize for kissing you without warning but I’m not going to say I’m sorry for letting you know how I feel, how I still feel.”
He reached for Abram’s hand, but Abram shot away from the railing of the bridge and stomped to the other side of it, nostrils flaring as Alex turned to face him, leaning against the structure for support.
“Abe?”
“You have no idea how hard this is for me.” He began pacing, walking in front of Alex hurriedly. “Ever since you kissed me, there’s been this storm of memories and waves of nostalgia crashing down inside my head that don’t mean anything because we aren’t a we anymore.”
“I may be Alex now but—”
“But you’re not Lissa!”
Alex looked away from Abram unexpectedly, unable to look at him. After a minute of silence, Alex saw that tears dared to spill from the brim of Abram’s eyes. He kept pacing before him, trying to keep his thoughts in check.
“Just like you said, you’re Alex now.” Abram nodded, going off his earlier outburst. “I just...I don’t know how to feel anything for Alex when I’m still in love with Lissa.”
“Then why have you waited?” Alex felt his own tears threatening to explode from behind his eyelids. “Why have you been acting like things have been fine between us?”
“Because it was easier for me to deal with your transition and have you back in my life if I separated who you are with who you used to be.” Abram sighed. “Your kiss makes it impossible for me to do that again.”
Alex stopped leaning against the bridge, pushing himself forward. “I am still the exact same person I’ve always been. Some things have changed, I’m not denying that. But my personality, my memories…” Alex moved closer to Abram, whom stopped pacing and stood in front of him, but Alex still kept his distance. “Abram, that person that you fell in love with, that person who kissed you for the first time at this very spot, is right in front of you.”
He thought that Abram looked as though he was softening, almost calm about the words that he had just spoken. But when he went for his hand again, his skin barely skimming his tanned flesh, Abram stepped back, leaving Alex with a somber longing.
“I’m sorry.” he shook his head vigorously. “I’m not...I’m straight, Alex.”
“Is that what this is about?”
“It’s not just that,” he sighed. “My point is, is that I’m still in love with a girl that no longer exists.”
“Abram.”
“I loved you, Alex. A part of me always will, but I’m not...I’m in love with a fading memory.” he sniffed to keep his tears from leaving his eyes. “It’s like I’m in love with a shadow.”
“But—”
“No.” Abram said sternly, shaking his head even harder than he had earlier. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Silence slithered around them once again, like a quiet snake hissing at their ankles as Alex felt tears finally bubbling over and staining his cheeks. Abram sniffed again and coughed to clear his throat.
“I’ll, uh, call Ben and tell him to come and pick me up.”
“What about tonight?” Alex’s voice trembled with vulnerability. “What about after tonight? What’s going to happen to us?”
“Tonight will go as planned,” he stated. “After that, I don’t know.”
“We’ve always been friends first, Abe.” Alex’s crying was flowing strong now, unable to be restricted. “I don’t want to lose my best friend.”
“Well I didn’t want to lose my girlfriend.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Wake up, Alex!” Abram screamed. “Life isn’t fair. It wasn’t fair when we were almost killed by our friend, it wasn’t fair when I couldn’t cope and was carted off to not just one but two mental institutions while the rest of you were able keep it together. None of this is fair, but it’s how it is.” Abram couldn’t hold back anymore, sobs swallowing him up, tears consuming him entirely. “The fact that I went to an asylum and six months later I’m back to my normal self is nothing less of a miracle. And I come back to this.” he gestured around them, halting his tears. “That, this, isn’t fair. But this is our lives now. Do yourself a favor and find a way to deal with it.”
Abram was already walking away as his words loitered amongst the breeze, leaving Alex alone at their special spot to contemplate how life was going to be different after what he felt was the loss of his best friend.
Across town at Westbrooke Central Park, Mercer and Bridge were lazily shooting hoops, just enjoying their Saturday before curfew went into effect, glad that their parents and guardians were being a little lax on the rules this weekend.
“Wait, so Alex kissed Abe last night?”
Mercer sank a perfect hook shot with a satisfying swish, nodding with a sigh.
“Apparently. Abe was pretty confused by it.”
“Can’t say I blame him. I mean, he went from kissing his girlfriend to getting a kiss from his exboyfriend. It’s sort of different.”
“But Alex hasn’t changed. He’s still the same person we’ve been friends with for years.”
“Still, for someone as straight laced as Abe, it’s got to be hard to wrap his head around.”
“Abe’s not closeminded though,” Mercer passed the ball to Bridge, who quickly did a layup. “It’s not like he’d
not give it a chance if he felt the same. He’s just confused. All I’m saying is so much has happened to all of our lives and maybe he just needs time.”
Bridge passed Mercer the ball. “This is nice though, right? Dealing with drama involving our best friends’ love lives instead of confessions involving criminals?”
Dribbling the basketball, Mercer laughed. “True, I guess.” Taking another shot and missing, Mercer scoffed, causing Bridge to run and retrieve the ball. “I just hope they work something out.”
“I hope you’re going to make time to improve your shot.” Bridge laughed. “You’re rusty.”
Laughing lightly, he ran over and stole the ball and went to shoot a layup, but once again he missed the shot.
“Okay, maybe a little rusty.” Mercer said.
“Lotta rusty.”
“Give me a break. I’m not going to be on a team like you, B.”
“But he’s right, you’re rusty.”
Kirby appeared then, leaning against the fence as she smiled at the pair, walking up to them. “I got your text.”
Mercer rolled his eyes sarcastically. “How would you know if I was rusty?”
She opened up her hands, silently asking for the ball as Mercer passed it to her. Kirby dribbled her way over to the threepoint line and took the shot, slamming the ball through the net easily.
“Are you kidding me?” Mercer said, shocked.
“Nice shot, Wheaton.” Bridge laughed.
“How long have you played?”
“I have a lot of secrets I haven’t told you yet,” she smiled as Bridge went to get the ball. “You’ll just have to wait to find out what they are.” Kirby closed the space between her and the pair. “In other news, here.”
Kirby reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out her mother’s badge from Arclan, putting it into Mercer’s hand roughly. Bridge came closer, watching as Mercer slid it into his own pocket.
“Thank you for this, Kirby.” Bridge told her. “Hopefully we can end this tonight.”
She smiled feebly. “Just...be careful. I really hate the idea of you guys doing this alone.”
“We’ve got each other’s backs.” Mercer reassured her. “Tonight will be fine.” Then, he smirked. “When am I gonna find out all these secrets you’re withholding, by the way?”
Kirby scrunched up her face in thought. “Maybe when you ask me out on that second date.”
Sauntering off and leaving them both laughing, Kirby smiled as both Mercer and Bridge’s cell phones began to blare loudly while Kirby disappeared, both of them looking confused at the dual calls.
“That’s weird.”
Bridge agreed as he checked his caller ID, glancing back at Mercer. “It’s Alex.”
He gestured toward his own phone. “Abe.”
They both answered, only to be assaulted by Abram and Alex’s heated rambling, both friends’ ears already hurting as their confusion spread as quickly as butter on toast.
“Abe, calm down.”
“What happened?”
Trying to listen, they waited for the full explanation, one that was overcome by Alex and Abram’s rushed stories that lacked the proper details.
“Where are you?”
“Tell me where you’re at, Alex.”
“Be right there.” They said in unison, ending their calls abruptly and facing each other, Bridge’s eyes bulging with concern.
“What the hell just happened?”
Mercer brought his Jeep to a stop, not worrying about if his dads found out that he was hoping to finally bring Sumner behind bars by sneaking out. Abram was in the vehicle with him, riding silently in the passenger’s seat, looking out the window wordlessly.
“Abe.”
He didn’t respond, instead deciding to keep looking out the window at the dark night circling them like the sleuthing shadows they had crafted themselves into.
With more gusto, he said, “Abe.”
Moving slightly, he glanced at the clock on Mercer’s dash. “It’s ten thirty. Where are they?”
Sighing to himself, Mercer flashed his high beams once. “They’re probably already here. The lights are the signal.” He looked over at Abram, worry collecting in the bowls of his pores. “Are you sure you can still do this? Earlier you were pretty shaken up and—”
“Thanks, but I’m fine, Mercer.” Abram sighed. “Alex and I just have a lot to work through after this.”
Bridge and Alex appeared from behind some trees, surveying the street as they headed over to Mercer’s jeep parked just outside of Westbrooke Central Park. They hustled into the Jeep as quickly as they could, and Mercer wasted no time in flooring the gas so they could make it to Arclan Asylum.
“Everyone ready?” Mercer prompted, trying to turn the silence around them into actual conversation.
“Not that we have a choice, but yeah.” Bridge stated. “Let’s bust Sumner’s ass.”
“What’s the plan? Where are we even trying to find this underground area?” Alex asked.
“It’s an old building. Maybe we should Google the blueprints.” Mercer mentioned.
“I already did.” Bridge said, sighing at his phone as he scrolled through the blueprints he had saved from his previous image search. “Nothing that would help us.”
“We don’t need the blueprints.” Abram scoffed. “The kitchen was the last thing built. We should start there.” When he felt the lingering glares from his friends, he rolled his eyes. “Just trust me.”
Taking his word for it since he was the only one of them that had actually lived behind the walls, Mercer kept driving until they were quietly approaching the parking lot of Arclan Asylum. Mercer parked his Jeep as rapidly as he could and turned around to see the apprehensive looks on their faces.
“Here goes nothing, right?”
As fast as they could muster, they all got out of the car after agreeing with Mercer, piling out of the Jeep and silently staying near the tree line surrounding the familiar white building, trying to stay out of sight to remain as undetected as possible.
“No one’s outside,” Alex whispered. “That’s good.”
“What’s good is we’re going through the kitchen to start.” Abram added. “Kitchen staff obviously isn’t here to catch us.”
All too suddenly, they were quickly coming up on the back door that led to the kitchen that they remembered a little too well.
“Mercer.”
He stepped up at Abram’s request, standing next to the keypad and retrieving the badge from his pocket and quickly swiped it against the keypad’s readable crevice. The keypad flashed green and the door clicked like a mechanical metronome. Abram pulled on the door as it opened with newfound ease.
“We’re in.”
Stealth intact, the friends entered the building as they found themselves back inside of the asylum and inside the kitchen.
“What first?” Bridge pondered out loud.
“Check on loose tiles, the closet, anything.” Abram said, finding a doorway that led to a pantry. “It’s got to be here somewhere.”
He explored the pantry while the rest of them started to venture towards the other parts of the huge steel studded and sleek kitchen, including the closet, but they all met back in the hull of the room with no leads as to where Arclan’s underground passage resided.
“You’re sure it would be here?” Mercer said, looking to Abram.
“Maybe it’s in a different part of the asylum.” Alex commented.
“If it would be anywhere, this would make the most sense. I’m positive.” he shook his head.
Abram went back over to the closet, just curious to see for himself. When he opened up the door to the closet, all he saw was a generic box of a room. Jackets were hung up alongside apron’s and a box of gloves sat on a shelf above the clothes rod.
“We already checked. Nothing under the rug either.” Alex told him as Abram’s eyes fell on an ugly zebra shaded tribal rug on the floor of the closet.
Still not co
nvinced, he traced his hands along the wall, hunting for anything when his hands caught on the wall and it slid a little out of the way. On the edge of uncovering something, Abram kept sliding his hands over until he felt a latch, flipping it fiercely as the entire left side of the wall disappeared on its hidden slideable track against the wall to reveal a concrete set of steps that went down into the darkness, allowing them to wonder where it led.
“Seriously?” Bridge expelled a large breath.
“Remember what Sumner said?” Abram scoffed.
Alex answered with a breezy smirk. “Arclan Shadows wasn’t into subtlety.”
Suddenly, there was a shuffling coming from somewhere outside the kitchen.
“Someone’s coming.” Mercer whispered hurriedly as everyone gathered into the closet.
The opaque noises turned into voices rather rapidly. “I’m telling you, I’ve looked everywhere for my badge. I can’t find wherever lost it.”
“It must be somewhere, Athena.” A second voice countered. “We’ll check the kitchen again.”
Abram cursed under his breath. “Toss the badge and close the closet door.”
“What? But—”
“Mercer, now!”
He threw the badge, letting it skid across the kitchen floor to reside just under an oven, barely visible but still able to be seen. In a swift blur of movement, Mercer shut the closet door and they all stood in the closet and waited.
Athena and her coworker entered the kitchen, keeping their voices just loud enough to where they could make out the nurses’ dialogue.
“I just…wait! Lavender, I found it!” Their shoes squeaked loudly against the linoleum as Athena found her badge. “I can’t believe it was here the whole time.”
“It must have fallen off when you came to get Mr. Marin’s dinner.” Lavender said. “Come on, we should go get ready to leave.”
Laughing, Athena agreed as they left the kitchen, their voices fading into the distance until the only thing they could hear was the sound of their own breathing inside of the closet.
“Too close.” Bridge breathed out roughly.
“We should hurry.” Mercer gestured toward the gaping opening in the wall and the stairs that descended into the unknown. “Let’s finish this.”
With Abram leading them and Mercer bringing up the back of the line, they started down the stairs with slow and steady steps.
“This is insane,” Alex blurted out. “Which I realize is redundant seeing as we’re in an insane asylum but—”
“Alex, enough. We’re doing this so either get in line or get out.”
“Abe—”
“I think,” Bridge intervened, trying to swirl the tension, his tone a fork in the former flames’ romantic spaghetti. “He means maybe it's time to call Dagger. Which may not be a bad idea.”
“We have no proof yet. Just a secret passage that we don’t know what it contains.” Mercer explained.
Once they finished descending the stairs, Abram pulled out his phone and turned on his flashlight function, which his friends were quick to mimic.
“Why would Sumner’s grandfather even want this built? Why would he want to connect Shadows Manor and the asylum?”
“Who knows, to escape work, to escape home. It doesn’t matter why it’s here, only that it is.” Abram answered Bridge’s question.
“Why does anyone with the last name Shadows do anything?” Alex added, a question that all of them had heard in their heads ever since Sumner had entered their lives. “Wait, look up there.”
Alex took to leading the group as he shined his phone’s flashlight on their problem of the night. The light illuminated the start of a passageway, which split into two, leading down two presumably different locations.
“This just keeps getting better.” Bridge huffed.
“Damn it.” Abram swore. “There’s no guarantee that we have enough time to search both paths before our parents find out or something worse.”
“We can if we split up.” Mercer suggested.
“That’s what people say in horror films right before the antagonist chops them up into tiny minuscule pieces and hides all evidence under the floorboards.” Alex panicked.
“But shouldn’t we know where both of them go? We need to know absolutely everything that’s going on down here.”
“Bridge—”
“And we’ll take the left passage. Sound good?”
Mercer grabbed Bridge’s hand and dragged him down the left passage before Abram or Alex could tell them how bad of an idea it was to split up, leaving them to look at each other awkwardly.
After a deep chasm of a breath, Alex cracked his knuckles, a clear sign that he was a bundle of nerves.
“We should get a move on.”
Alex started down the right passage, Abram sighed and started after him.
“Alex, I’m sorry about earlier.” he called up to him.
“We don’t have to talk about it, Abram.”
“Since when did you start calling me Abram?”
“Since you decided to so eloquently reiterate that we aren’t Lex and Abe anymore. We’re just Abram and Alex now, remember?”
Abram stopped walking as Alex went on, continuing down the passage while Abram took in his words and dwelled on their subtext.
Back over in the left passage, Bridge was still laughing at how fast Mercer had leapt at the opportunity to make Abram and Alex investigate one of the passages together.
“Totally hilarious, Merce. I love you for that.”
Mercer laughed too as they made their way down the passage.
“They’re gonna have to face each other eventually. What better way than during a crisis?”
“This is weird, right? Two passages? We never expected something like this.”
“I guess Arclan Shadows had more secrets than we thought.”
Their walk was cut short when their lights fell on a door that completely ended the passage up ahead.
“Well this is something.” Bridge said as they came up to the blood red painted door.
They stood outside the door, gauging each other’s expressions before Mercer cleared his throat.
“Bridge, there’s no way of knowing what’s behind this door. Sumner could be two feet from us.”
“The only way we’ll know is if we open it.” Bridge nodded. “So let’s just rip this bandaid off.”
“And hope we won’t need any bandaids after we open this door.” Mercer sighed. “Alright, on three.”
Bridge grabbed the doorknob confidently. “One.”
“Two.”
“Three.”
He threw the door open, both of them holding up their phones like they were weapons, the door banging against something within the room as they stood still. For a moment, they both expected for Sumner to come running out at them. But nothing happened beside the door creaking back towards them.
Mercer gave him a nod and Bridge slowly shined his light inside as he and Mercer entered what looked like a small room. As they shed their lights, they found a light switch and quickly flipped it. The room was like a lone bedroom and bathroom combination, complete with a twinsized mattress lying on the floor and desk in the corner, the tiny bathroom tucked into the other side of the room.
“Holy…” Bridge couldn’t finish his sentence as they took in the room.
The bed was messy, no frame or even a set of bed springs to support it. Empty soda cans and junk food wrappers and bags lined the floor, trash gathering on the carpet. Clothes were piling up in the open closet, the rod and clothes hangers going unused. And the desk was rife with papers scattered all over its surface.
Both of them stepped further into the room, trying to take in all that assaulted them. Mercer went over to the pile of food sitting in a corner on top of a small table, seeing that there was a bag of food from a nearby burger joint. Searching the bag, Mercer found the receipt pinned to the side and scoffed, uneasy at its contents.
“This food is recent,
” Mercer gawked. “This was bought today.”
Bridge would have responded, but he was scouring the desk riddled with papers for answers, but only starting skimming the beginning of what looked to be a mass of psychosis induced babble.
“Mercer,” Bridge caught his friends’ blue eyes with his own brown ones. “I think we found where Sumner’s been hiding.”
Just then, interrupting Mercer’s response, was a loud earsplitting scream from somewhere within their location.
“Was that a girl’s scream?”
Mercer ignored Bridge’s inquiry as he felt fear consuming his every emotion. “Kirby.”
He went running out of the room without regarding Bridge in the slightest. Thinking quickly, Bridge grabbed the closest papers on the desk that his fingertips could clutch as he pulled out his phone and quickly dialed Dagger’s number, running out of the room and down the hall after Mercer.
“Mercer!” Bridge heard the screamer bellow loudly again.
He heard Dagger answer the phone as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him.
“This is Detective Dagger.”
“It’s Bridge Mathison,” he heaved while he ran sloppily, his footsteps echoing around him. “Get to Arclan. We’ve found where Sumner’s been hiding.”
In the right passage, Abram and Alex were finally seeing something besides just slate flooring.
“Hey, I found something.”
Abram ran up to see what Alex was seeing, which happened to be a bike leaning against a wall.
“Really?” he exhausted sarcastically.
“Do you remember how far it was from Shadows Manor to Arclan?”
Abram nodded. “About half a mile.”
“Hop on, I’ll steer.”
“And if this doesn’t end at Shadows Manor and Sumner is waiting to kill us at the end?”
“We have to know where this ends. This path is all at a downhill slant. It’ll take three minutes, tops.”
Inhaling harshly, Abram watched as Alex mounted the bike and prepared to head down the path. All too reluctantly given their current state of communication, he climbed onto the back of the bicycle, barely sitting on the bike seat as Alex kicked off and started off toward their hopeful destination of Shadows Manor.
The downhill slope helped them achieve great time. They were beginning to think the path would keep going on when they saw that the path was not only coming to an end but also narrowing.
“Alex, stop.”
The brakes screeched as they came to a stop, Abram jumping off the bicycle and went towards the end of the passage. Alex followed his actions, throwing the bike down roughly. Shining their phones precisely, the light uncovered what looked like a small door.
“This is it.” Abram pronounced, looking back at Alex. “If this door opens up into Shadows Manor, we were right.”
“Do you think his parents have been helping him?”
Abram nodded. “Maybe. Opening this door might answer that.”
Alex joined Abram at the door, taking in a deep breath. “Open it.”
In a blur of action, Abram pulled at the door, but when it opened they were met with visible darkness.
“What the hell?”
Alex’s eyes widened as a thought struck him like a bolt of lightning. “The refrigerator.”
“What?”
“Help me push.”
He pressed against the mass, straining with the object as he tried to move it. Abram shoved hard against the obstruction, struggling to get it out of the way. Finally, they managed to move it just enough to see into the room, moonlight coming in from a nearby window.
“Oh God.” Abram gasped.
They stepped into the room through the small opening they made, realizing that their earlier suspicions were correct.
“Sumner’s room.”
There was a faint but unmistakable sound of someone screaming somewhere down the passage. They shared a quick glance of horror before they left Shadows Manor and went back into the underground passage.
Alex gestured toward their earlier transportation. “What about the bike? The uphill slant is going to take longer.”
“Leave it, come on!”
Abram started running, with Alex close behind him, running to an unknown scream caused by an unknown source.
Kirby was lurking around outside Arclan Asylum, mere minutes before her mother was supposed to get off work. She hadn’t originally intended to sneak over to the asylum, but she couldn’t just go to sleep while her friends possibly faced Sumner.
She was lurking near the front entrance of the building, hoping she could catch the door as someone was leaving. But when she saw them coming from around the back of the building, Kirby had to hide in the bushes to keep from being seen. She watched as her mother and her coworkers got into their respective vehicles.
Kirby swore into the wind. She had no idea how she was going to get into the building now. She was ready to pull out her phone and try and call Mercer when she saw someone standing in the trees watching the employees vacate the parking lot.
Squinting, she tried to make out the figure as the last person left the parking lot, but the shadows of the night draped them perfectly from her vision. As the last person’s car lights faded from view, the dark shadow strode to the back of the building. Against all the warning signs and alarms ringing inside of her head, Kirby got out of the bushes and started to follow them beyond all the logic that told her to run back home.
Keeping close to the building, Kirby kept her distance from the allblack attired stranger. Once they got to the back door that the employees had left out of, she watched as the anonymous figure swiped a badge and flung open the back door wide, practically running into the asylum with heavy interest.
She ran up to the door just as it closed, crushing her hand slightly. Wincing, Kirby pried open the door and quickly got inside. She realized that she was in the kitchen of the asylum, seeing a couple wayward overnight nurses wandering in the halls, luckily not paying attention to her standing in the middle of the kitchen.
Snapping back to the situation, Kirby saw that the kitchen closet was wide open. Investigating, she took in the view of a secret staircase embedded behind a wall. Racing down the stairs, she had no idea where she was going to end up once she reached the end of the stairs. But when her feet found the bottom of the stairs, all she saw was black. Fumbling with her phone, she turned on her phone’s flashlight and screamed a hefty shrill of a yell when she illuminated the space around her and the dark figure was suddenly staring into her eyes.
It was Sumner.
“Well if it isn’t my paparazzo,” he smiled at her devilishly.
She was speechless. Even more speechless when Sumner grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her hard against the cement wall, pain shooting up and down her back like a sputtering firework of agony. A scream elicited from her, operating on fear alone.
“You weren’t supposed to be here.” he growled, coming over to her quickly.
“Mercer!” she screamed as loud as she could, getting to her feet only to have Sumner push her back down harshly.
“You’re ruining everything!”
Kirby heard footsteps as Sumner lifted his leg, assumingly to kick her when he was tackled and sent skidding down on the ground, seeing that Sumner was taken down by Mercer.
Bridge came running over to her immediately. “Are you okay?” he offered her a hand, one she took eagerly as she gave him a nod.
Mercer and Sumner wrestled on the floor as they exchanged punches. But then Sumner kicked Mercer off of him, far enough to allow him to reveal a small pistol that he had been concealing inside of his jacket.
“No!” Kirby shrieked, moving to Mercer but Bridge held on to her tight enough so she wouldn’t be threatening her life even more.
Slowly, Mercer got to his feet as he stared down at Sumner and his shiny gun, the barrel staring him down like dark dangerous eyes filled with lead and lacerations.
“Sumner—”
“Shut up!”
They all remained silent as sirens sounded from outside Arclan. The police wails drowned out the sound of Abram and Alex running from their passage as they saw a gun wielding Sumner, who was clearly startled by their sudden appearance.
“This isn’t how tonight was supposed to go!” Sumner shouted, pointing the gun at each of them.
“Come to finish us off?” Abram berated.
“Shut up.”
“Sumner, don’t—” Alex started but was cut off by another howl from Sumner.
“Shut up!”
“You psycho son of a bitch, put the gun do—”
Abram would have finished his squall, but he was restricted by the sound of a gunshot, one of them falling to the floor unexpectedly with a loud deafening thud.
10
ECHOES