Insanity Night

I was suddenly jolted awake. The room was dim, the only light being what appeared to be the evening sun shining through a crack in the wood of the boarded-up windows beside me. Other than that minute ray of dim light, the room was completely dark. I was lying in an old and rusty hospital bed, and I had a terrible headache. The room I was in had a slight metallic smell to it.

"Where am I?" I asked no one in particular. Never mind that, there was nobody else in the room besides me anyway. I looked into where the light was shining, and the air seemed heavy with dust. I stood up, held my arms out, and walked forward. I made my way over to what seemed like a counter and rubbed my hand over it, looking for something, anything, that would help me find out where I was or how I got here. My hand brushed over something rectangular, with a cylindrical tube poking out of the front of it.

It was exactly what I had hoped it was. "An infrared camera? Imagine my luck!" Well, I wasn't really lucky, considering my current situation. I switched it on, having previous experience with this type of camera. At that moment, something in my brain clicked and I remembered everything.

My name is James, and I tour America searching for abandoned or rumored-to-be-haunted places to photograph. I remembered most of my previous trips, yet I couldn't remember where I was now. All I remembered was taking a few photos of this place and then waking up in this room.

After the infrared camera powered up, everything in the room was instantly visible through the camera screen.Who or whatever put me there obviously stripped me of any personal possessions I may have had, as there were a couple dollars and some photos I had already taken of this place on the counter. The battery on my camera was nearly full, so that was one thing I didn't have to worry about. I gazed into the display screen of the camera, facing the counter. There was a clipboard on the desk with a piece of paper on it. There were words on it, which read,

"Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital."

That's where I was. I remember now. I was doing a tour of New Jersey and I ended up here. I turned and looked around at the walls through the infrared camera. Oh God, what I saw next was forever etched into the stone that is my mind. Covering the walls was blood. Nearly every square inch of them was splattered with the red-black substance. That seemingly explained the odd metallic smell from when I first awoke. I immediately dropped to my knees, resisting the urge to vomit. Still holding the camera, I snapped a photo of the gruesome scene.

I recovered after about five minutes, standing back up and using the camera as my eyes. I tried my best to avoid looking at the walls. By this time, the sun outside had already set and the inside of the building was completely dark. The infrared vision was necessary for navigation. I turned to face the door, using the camera to locate the knob. I was taken aback by a message in all capital letters written poorly on the door in spray paint.

"TONIGHT MAY BE YOUR LAST."

After I read the message, I captured a picture of it. I was scared beyond belief. I wouldn't have opened the door if it weren't for my fear of what would happen if I stayed back, portrayed by the terrifying scene behind me. As I turned the knob, a sense of dread flooded over me. It's like that feeling where you expect something bad to happen and you have your mind ready for it, but it doesn't happen, so you relax, and then POOF - it happens. As I pushed open the door slowly with a silence-piercing creak, I had that feeling. Even though nothing actually happened, I was still freaked out.

The hallway was equally as dark as the room I was just in, if not, darker. I looked down the corridor with the camera and was absolutely mortified by what I saw.

Dead bodies. Dozens of dead bodies. Lined up and down the hallway against the wall, all of which were mutilated beyond recognition. Many had limbs, bones, and organs missing. Most of the meat on the mutilated bodies had been torn off, and the bodies were covered in several lacerations and bite marks. And the smell, that petrifying smell. It consisted of the metallic odor of the blood in the room and rotting flesh. The room's blood was enough to handle, but this - this was too far. I heaved until there was nothing left but sour-tasting bile.

I regained any courage I may have had and proceeded to half-stumble, half-walk down the dark corridor. I passed many rooms, some of which had the original barred-window doors, while most didn't even have a door. As I was examining some of the barred doors, I heard shuffling footsteps coming from the left turn up ahead in the hall. I wanted to know who or what it was, so I shouted, "Hello!?" The footsteps immediately stopped, and on the screen, I saw a figure peek its head around the corner. It stayed there for about ten seconds. Ten seconds I could've used for preparation of what was going to happen next. Ten seconds I could've used to run. Instead, I stood in the dead silence, staring at the figure's head. I could see glare off of the eyes of him. It appeared that he had no iris or pupil, just whiteness. The second I noticed this, he lunged around the corner and sprinted towards me. I turned around and bolted as fast as I could down the dark hall, snapping pictures behind me and using the camera to catch a glimpse of what turns to take.

Considering I had no prior knowledge of this hospital, I was just making random turns in the building. No matter what, I still heard the footsteps close behind. I tripped over a dismembered leg and was thrown forward by the force I hit it with. I was lying on the floor in a daze, and I had lost the camera. He jumped on top of me and started strangling me fiercely. Gasping for air, I flung my fists around hoping to land a shot to his head. Fortunately, I managed to land a blow directly to his right temple. He laid off of me, temporarily stunned by the jab. I recovered and stood up, desperately searching for the camera. I eventually found the light through the heavy darkness of the corridor. I snatched it and sprinted to the nearest barred-window door room I could find. I entered the room and shut and locked the door quickly.

After nearly a minute, whatever had chased me's footsteps ran past the door. He was still trying to find me. I was glad that he didn't try to open the door to the room I was in. Boredom struck. Hiding out in the room and doing nothing wasn't exactly fun, but neither was being chased by a cannibalistic freak who was trying to kill me.

I eventually found something to do. Remembering the photos I took while running away from him, I decided to check them out and see if I could actually get a clear view of his face or body. I got both. My suspicions from earlier were true, he did only have white eyes with no pupil or iris. He was wearing the clothes of a patient that would be admitted to the hospital. He was quite physically fit, which evidently explained my struggle with him. I snapped about five or six pictures of just him while I was running. I eventually got done examining the images on the camera and decided to explore this room.

I don't know how I hadn't seen it before. I stood up and looked to my left. Lying on another old and rusty hospital bed was the body of a female. She looked to be about in her 20s. Judging by the paleness of her corpse, she had been dead for a while. Curious, I turned my attention to the counter to see what was there. To my expectations, there was an infrared camera just like mine there. My suspicions were confirmed. The cannibals that live here wait until night photographers or ghost hunters come into the building after dark, kill us, and then leave our bodies in a room until they're ready to eat us. After they eat us, they leave our mangled corpses outside in the halls. I must've survived whatever they did to me, or else I obviously wouldn't have been there.

My plan of escape was to wait there until morning when I could see, exit the room, and try to find my way out of the building. I was getting ready to sit down when there was the sound of the locked doorknob attempting to open. I stayed as quiet as possible, not even breathing. He started to bash the door as hard as he could with his fists. When he saw that that wasn't working, he ripped an old fire extinguisher off the wall opposite the door and attempted to break the glass the door. While he retrieved the extinguisher, I found the opportunity to hide in the closet of that room. He eventually shattered the glass on the door, reached through the bars, and unlocked the door. He threw it open, angrily grunting with effort.

I couldn't really tell what was going on, considering that I was behind a door. From what I could tell, he snatched the girl and left. I waited in the closet another three or so minutes to be safe. However, just as I was about to turn the knob to the closet door and open it, I heard footsteps return into the room. This time, they were trudging toward me. I looked around in the closet with the camera, trying to find something, anything to fend off my attacker. There was a large piece of a brick on a back shelf. Perfect, I thought to myself as I reached for the blunt object. As I had just gotten a grip on the rock, he opened the door behind me.

He lunged at me, going for the throat yet again. The second he grabbed me, I bashed him across the head with the brick. He recoiled, tripping on his foot and falling backwards onto the ground. I leaped over him and sprinted out of the room, camera and brick in hand. The smallest sliver of morning sun was breaking through the windows in the hall, so the camera was only partially useful. I just held it in case I needed to take another picture of my pursuer.

The footsteps were growing nearer as I got more and more out of breath. Tiredness had taken over and I wasn't exactly running as speedy as I was a couple of hours ago. I eventually had to stop and lean against a wall, exhausted. I had one last burst of energy as I headed for the main exit. It didn't last. I stopped about ten feet from the exit and snapped one final close-up of my attacker's face before I was defeated. OMGitsGhastly