The Last Dainv-Chapter 94

The Last Dainv-Chapter 94

Bright street lamps made the dark even darker in Scarborough Town Centre's kiss and ride area. Wind bit through his hoodie, a new gray hoodie he nabbed from the nearest Red Cross. The wound across his chest didn't hurt as much as having to go on this ghost hunt he didn't sign up for.
Seriously! A ghost hunt?! There're better things he could do right now. Go hunting dust dealers. Second times the charm. But no. Andrew said he wouldn't take no for an answer. Can't let a friend down now, can you, Gale?
A bus pulled up with a hiss, making Gale jump backwards, left hand already in pocket.
Just a bus. No need to get scared.
The bus doors opened with another hiss and Mia stepped off. Her hair tied into a neat ponytail. She waved and walked towards him.
"Well, you look like crap," she said.
Gale nodded. The only one who's going to look like crap is a ghost… once he gets something he can beat up a ghost with.
"Did Andrew drag you into this ghost hunt nonsense too?" She crossed her arms. "I'm only here to prove these idiots wrong."
Before Gale could answer, another bus stopped and hissed open. Jacob stepped through, wearing a thick black hoodie. His eyes scanned around the station until he spotted them.
"Andrew here yet?" Jacob asked as he moved closer. "Can we go home yet? I've got a bad feeling about this, for real though."
"Shut up. We haven't even gone anywhere yet," Mia said.
"Ghosts, man." Jacob shuddered. "They're real. My cousin's friend saw one in his basement. Touched his shoulder and everything."
"What'd it feel like?" Gale muttered.
"Like cold. Real cold. Bone chilling cold. Very cold. Creepy cold," Jacob said.
A chill went up Gale's spine that was definitely not from the cold evening. The school's ghost also gave him the same feeling, a bone chilling very creepy cold.
Mia rolled her eyes. "Your cousin's friend was high."
"No way! He doesn't do drugs."
"Then he was drunk. Or sleepwalking. Or experiencing sleep paralysis. Or lying," Mia said firmly. "Pick one."
"You think you know everything because you read some science books?"
"I know ghosts don't exist because there's zero empirical evidence supporting their existence," Mia rolled her eyes again. "Show me one peer-reviewed study that proves ghosts are real."
"Not everything needs a study!" Jacob's voice cracked. "Some things you just know!"
Gale's head snapped to a woman who wore a puffy red jacket that just walked by. Instincts kicked in as he backpedalled, crashing into Jacob behind him. Both of them fell onto the floor.
"Ow!" Jacob shouted. "It's a ghost, isn't it! Run, Gale, run!"
Gale tried to climb over Jacob's body, failing as his Jacob also flailed about.
Mia snapped her fingers, snapping both of them out. "GUYS, there's no ghost."
Both of them calmed down. Gale looked around, seeing nothing of threat. The red jacket girl was also looking at both of them on the ground while drinking a cup with brown milk and black ball things.
Mia helped Gale and Jacob up from the floor with a slight grunt.
"Thanks, hahaha," Jacob said. "That definitely wasn't a ghost."
"What's wrong with you?" Mia asked Gale.
"Nothing. Definitely nothing," Gale said. Definitely not afraid of ghosts. Afraid of nothing he can hit with a sword.
"Not you too." Mia shook her head, groaning.
A rusty car pulled up to the curb. Its exhaust rattled around and scraped against the road. The driver's window rolled down, revealing Andrew in the driver's seat.
"Ghost hunters! It's time for adventure!"
Jacob hesitated. "Man, I don't know about this... Man…"
"Get in, you coward." Mia pushed him toward the car. "We're going to debunk this whole thing in under an hour."
Gale opened the back door and slid in beside Jacob. The car smelled like ketchup coated by an air freshener that hung on the rear-view mirror.
Andrew turned in his seat. "Everyone ready to see some ghosts? Or maybe a monster?"
"There won't be any," Mia said, buckling her seatbelt. "Because ghosts aren't real."
"Oh, they're real all right," Andrew said, pulling away from the curb. "Just ask anyone who's worked late at the learning centre."
Mia snorted. "Like who?"
"Like Mr. Peters, the night janitor." Andrew drove through the parking lot. "He quit last month after seeing a woman floating down the hallway on the third floor."
"Floating?" Jacob squeaked.
"Yeah, man. Just drifting along with her feet not touching the ground." Andrew made a gliding motion with his hand. "And get this. When he called out to her, she turned around and had no face."
Jacob whimpered like a dog. At least Gale wasn't the only one that didn't want to be here.
"A janitor who probably drinks on the job," Mia said. "Great source."
"What about Ms. Jackson?" Andrew replied. "She's as straight-edge as they come, and even she admits something weird happens in that building after dark."
"What did she see?" Gale asked, despite already knowing. Ms. Jackson was also in the learning centre late at night for her night classes.
"Desks rattling up and down. Lights turning on and off. Cold spots on the second floor. And then there's the emergency red lights that come on when they shouldn't." Andrew blew through his nose. "Classic ghost stuff."
"Classic confirmation bias," Mia said. "Old buildings make noises. Wiring goes bad. Drafts come through windows."
"What about the security guard who disappeared a couple weeks back?" Andrew asked. "They never found him."
"What security guard?" Gale asked.
"Some guy named Robbie. Worked the night shift. Called in a disturbance on the second floor, then radio silence." Andrew merged onto the highway. "Police found his flashlight and his hat, but no Robbie."
"He probably quit and didn't tell anyone," Mia said.
"Without picking up his last paycheck?" Andrew said. "No way."
The ghost that night was carrying something in uniform. That man was probably the security guard that Andrew was talking about. Ghosts are real. Spectral entities are ghosts. Guide's definitely wrong.
"You okay, man?" Jacob nudged him. "You look like you've seen a..."
"Don't say it," Mia snapped her fingers.
"...ghost," Jacob finished with a nervous laugh.
"I'm fine," Gale forced a smile.
The highway stretched ahead. Headlights cut through the dark. Signs for Pickering passed by. Gale's leg started shaking.
"So this asylum," Gale said. "What's the story there?"
Andrew's tone brightened. "Lakeridge Mental Health Facility. Closed down in the 1980s after a bunch of patients died in a fire."
"Of course there was a fire," Mia mumbled.
"The official story says it was electrical, but people who worked there said it was started by a patient named Mary Gallard." Andrew's voice dropped. "They say she killed herself and twelve other patients."
"And now she haunts the place?" Jacob asked.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; any sightings.
"Supposedly." Andrew nodded. "People seeing her in the windows. Hear screaming at night."
"Trespassers and local teenagers making up stories," Mia said.
"My buddy Rick went there last year. Caught an EVP on his phone," Andrew said.
"Electronic voice phenomena are just radio interference," Mia said. "Or the recorder picking up sounds the human ear can't detect naturally."
"It said 'help me' clear as day!" Andrew said.
"Pareidolia. Your brain finds patterns in random noise."
They exited the highway, driving through the main road then onto an unlit road. Trees lined both sides. Branches hung over the pavement.
"Turn here," Andrew said, slowing down at a break in the trees. "Dirt road. No signs. Perfect setup, right?"
The car bounced down the rutted path. Headlights swung across the trees. Through gaps, Gale saw the large shape of a building up ahead. No lights at all.
"Should we really be doing this?" Jacob asked. "What if there's security? Or, you know..."
"Ghosts?" Mia said.
"I was gonna say 'homeless people' or 'drug dealers,'" Jacob said. "At least those are better than ghosts."
"There's nothing out here," Andrew said. "Place has been abandoned for decades."
The trees opened to a clearing. Andrew killed the headlights. The car rolled to a stop.
"Why'd you turn the lights off?" Jacob whispered.
"So security doesn't see us if there are some, duh." Andrew reached into the glove compartment and pulled out four flashlights. "One for each of us. Jacob."
Gale's eyes adjusted to the dark. A massive three-story building stood ahead with partly boarded windows and crumbling concrete. Ivy grew up the walls. Entrance door swayed open.
"Lakeridge Mental Health Facility," Andrew announced. "Home to the insane weirdos from 1923 to 1987."
Jacob swallowed loudly. "Maybe I should stay in the car, just in case, you know?"
"Nah bro," Andrew said. "We stick together."
They climbed out of the car. Andrew immediately went to the trunk and picked up a couple of items from a backpack.
"Jacob, Gale. Choose. Thermometer or EMF reader."
Mia came back and scooped up the EMF reader. "Seriously? Electromagnetic fields could be everywhere."
"You took it. You keep it. Turn it on once we get inside," Andrew said. "Jacob, take the thermometer."
"Won't we feel the cold anyways?" Jacob took it, faking a laugh. "It's gotta be below 0 for it to be a ghost.”
"It's almost winter," Mia said.
Gale clicked on his flashlight and he swept it across the building. Graffiti covered the lower walls. One large sign said: "MARY STILL WALKS HERE. RUN!"
"Riiight. This is going to be a borefest," Mia said, putting one arm on her hip.
"Let's just go in and get this over with," Gale grumbled. As long as it wasn't a spectral entity, he'd be fine. He could take it. He faced much worse horrors.
Wind blew through the empty windows, creating a howling sound. Gale's flashlight flicked to the source of the noise immediately.
"Just the wind," Mia sighed.
No. Definitely he can't do this. He could just run right now and be done with it. Who's he kidding? Repeating 'I could take it' in his head wasn't going to do anything!
"I know that," Gale said, but the tremor in his hand made his flashlight beam tremble, betraying his words.
"Come on." Andrew led the way. "They say the most active area is the east wing. That's where the fire started."
The front doors stood open. Beyond them, darkness. Gale stopped at the threshold. Goosebumps pricked all over his body.
They stepped through the door. Their flashlight showed the entrance hall, painted a pale green, and a partly collapsed ceiling. A couple of wheelchairs, one tipped over. A reception desk that sat against the side wall. Drawers opened, papers gone. The smell hit them as soon as they entered, mold, rot, chemicals, and rats.
"Smells like shit in here," Jacob whispered.
"No shit, it's an abandoned building," Mia said.
A long corridor stretched ahead, doors on both sides. Patient wards and offices, now empty and dark. Water dripped down the walls.
"Check this out," Andrew said, shining his light on the wall. There were names scratched onto the wallpaper. Dozens of them. Some were erased by scratches, and some were crossed out instead. Some were circled, and on them was written, "stupid bitch you're next."
"Former patients?" Gale asked.
"Mary Gallard," Andrew read. Her name was etched much deeper than the rest of the former patients. "Our friendly neighbourhood ghost."
Mia stepped closer to the wall. "This doesn't look that old. Someone did this recently."
A crash echoed from somewhere in the building followed by complete silence.
Jacob grabbed Gale's arm. "What was that?"
"Probably just something falling," Mia said in a calm manner despite her flashlight trembling.
Andrew was already moving, not waiting for the rest. "Come on, keep up."
"Andrew! Are you crazy?!" Jacob screamed in a whisper. "This is exactly how people die in horror movies! All of them!"
But Andrew had already turned the corner, and the light of his flashlight was slowly disappearing by the second. Mia followed with a dismissive shake of her head.
Jacob looked at Gale, holding his arms. "We're not really going after them, are we?"
Gale shook his head and followed towards Andrew. They hurried, stepping faster to catch up to the others. Then, the corridor opened into a large room with what looked like a lounge. Old couches with leather eaten up by insects, springs poking through the holes. A TV stood in one corner, its monitor shattered.
Another crash echoed, closer this time, and something rolled across the floor.
"Hello!" Andrew called out. "Anybody there?"
"Don't call out to it!" Jacob's voice cracked from whining.
"To what? The ghost?" Mia asked, faking her smile. "Or the very real person who's probably also exploring this dump?"
Gale spread out the tendrils of Breath of the Void towards the noise. It fed him all the locations of the insects that were in the way. However, there was nothing there.
Oh, shit.
Andrew pointed to a sign above the doorway that read: "EAST WING."
"Mary's ward. That's where we want to go," Andrew whispered excitedly.
"No, that's exactly where we don't want to go. Nope. Definitely, definitely not," Jacob whimpered.
Andrew continued leading, Gale close behind Mia and then lastly Jacob. As they walked through the corridor, doors left open on both sides. Broken beakers and metal trays laid all over the floor. A cart toppled over blocked the path.
Pointing the flashlight down the corridor, needles caught the light.
"Careful, don't step on the needles. This is where they did the treatments," Andrew said. "Electroshock. Ice baths. Lobotomies."
The group carefully walked over the cart. Glass crunched under their shoes.
"Great. I just got these sneakers," Mia said.
"Mary Gallard, Mary Gallard, we mean no harm," Andrew called out, his voice echoing. "We just want to communicate. If you are here with us, give us a sign. Any sign."
"Shut up, why are you saying that!" Mia said in a low voice.
Jacob stayed close behind Gale. "Why are we even here? Let's go back to the car where it's safe and sound and away from monsters. Guys? What do you think?"
Their flashlights swept across the walls, revealing peeling paint and water stains that looked like faces in the dim light, each one making Jacob jump.
Andrew stopped suddenly, his beam fixed on something ahead.
"Hey, look at that ahead." He pointed to a heavy metal door set into the wall. "That's weird."
"What's weird about a door?" Mia asked.
"I memorized the floor plans before we came. This door shouldn't be here." Andrew stepped closer, examining it. "We're still on the first floor. There shouldn't be anything but patient rooms and offices in this section."
Gale moved forward, studying the door. Unlike the others they'd passed, this one was intact. No rust on its hinges. No graffiti marking its surface. As if this door had remained intact through time.
"Maybe the plans you saw were wrong," Jacob said. "Can we please go now?"
"No way. This is exactly the kind of thing we're looking for. I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to be here." Andrew reached for the handle. "We're going in, baby."
The door opened. No creaking hinges.
Andrew stepped through first, flashlight leading the way. Mia followed, then Jacob. Gale hesitated but went through anyway, immediately feeling the sudden temperature drop. EMF reader in Mia's hand started blaring at a level 4. Each one had their breaths clouding in front of their faces, proving it was below 0 degrees.
Breath of the Void felt a small signature, closer to a mundane than an awakened, but it was there; similar to what he felt from the ghost at the learning centre.
"Holy shit," Mia whispered. She moved closer to Andrew, holding onto his arms. "It's freezing in here."
"Cold spots are signs of ghosts, at least a couple types of ghost,"ghosts," Andrew said, "Like either a demon, hantu, jinn, onryo, mimic, yurei… the list goes on, but you guys get what I mean."
"No, we
don't
get what you mean," Mia whispered harshly. "This is probably just a spot in the inner building where it doesn't get much sunlight, so it doesn't get heat during the daytime."
Even Mia's voice sounded like she no longer believed what she said. Gale’s skin pricked harder with goosebumps. This place was bad news. Something was definitely in here with them, emanating a pure feeling of run away.
"Man, I don't like this…" Jacob held onto Gale's hand.
Gale shook his hands off. Couldn't get caught lacking if he couldn't be mobile. Any sight of a ghost, he'd dip right out. Probably... not believing his own thoughts as he glanced at the others.
"Sorry," Jacob whispered. "You were just the closest one."
The room held none of the similarities of the rooms they passed by. Plain walls, no windows. Empty except for a metal table at the centre. No visible source for the unnatural coldness of the room.
An object dropped onto the floor from their left, at least that's what it sounded like. Something metal. All four flashlights snapped toward the noise.
"Over there," Andrew said, already moving. "Come on."
"Andrew, wait," Mia called, following close behind him.
The doorway led to another room. Their flashlights shined through the darkness and caught on to something.
"What the hell?" Andrew said, shocked.
Gale saw it too. A figure stood motionless against the wall. A too tall figure. At least seven feet. Its head nearly touched the ceiling. Limbs stretched too long and thin to be human. Its fingers on its hands looked more like needles, and its skin pale and waxy under the flashlight.
"Hello?" Andrew called, voice shaking badly. "Is someone there?"
The figure turned. Where its eyes were supposed to be had sunken black holes instead, even though the flashlight shined into it. Its mouth was wide open, revealing rows of shark-like triangular teeth.
Mia screamed at the top of her lungs. She backed away. As soon as she bumped into Andrew, she sprinted for the exit.
For a split second, Andrew stood frozen, eyes examining the creature. But then, he immediately turned and ran away to the direction Mia went to.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Jacob whimpered, tripping over his own feet before standing back up and bolting out.
Gale remained. The thing hadn't moved yet. It watched him with those empty eye sockets, head tilting slightly like a curious dog. It was physical, and that was enough for him to not be afraid.
Analyze
.
[Skin Walker]
[Type: Terrestrial Entity]
[Stage: Awakened]
[Age: 81]
[Description: It eats other living beings to gain its skin.]
[Special ability: Disguise]

Chapter 94