Ghostly Asylum Read online

  “I’m okay.”

  Jared almost collapsed with relief when he heard her voice, taking a moment to collect himself before speaking. “What happened?”

  “I’m not sure.” Harper’s voice sounded small, as if it was coming from very far away. “I felt some wind, but it didn’t seem to be coming through the open windows. They’re too high up for that. Then the door slammed shut.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “We’re trying to get the door open, but we’re going to need some tools,” Steve supplied. “You need to hold on for a few minutes. You’re not going to fall apart, are you?”

  “I think I’ll survive,” Harper said dryly, and Jared almost smiled because he could picture the dirty look on her face.

  “Stay close to the door, Heart,” Jared ordered. “Don’t go wandering around.”

  “There’s nothing in here,” Harper argued. “I won’t go far but … I’m going to look.”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  “Just for a second.”

  “Son of a … .” Jared mimed strangling an invisible person – much to Steve’s amusement – and scowled. “Sometimes I think she’s trying to kill me.”

  “She’s a woman,” Steve said pragmatically. “They all feel like that.”

  “No, she’s special.”

  Steve pursed his lips, amused. “I never would’ve guessed that you think she’s special. I guess those hearts floating around your head whenever you look at her are just a figment of my imagination, huh?”

  “Get this door open,” Jared barked, refusing to be drawn into an argument. “I’m going outside and working my way around the building from there. I might be able to break out one of the windows.”

  “Um, I’m not okay with that,” Michael said. “We promised not to do any damage. We signed a contract.”

  “The entire building is damaged,” Jared pointed out. “How will they know what we did and what was already done?”

  “He has a point,” Steve said. “Don’t go alone, though.”

  Jared rolled his eyes. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

  “It’s your rule,” Steve reminded him. “I thought it was ridiculous when you insisted on it but … don’t go alone.”

  Jared made an odd whimpering sound in the back of his throat before turning his attention to Shawn. “Do you want to come with me?”

  Shawn nodded without hesitation. “Absolutely.” He stopped long enough to place a hand on Zander’s arm. “Stay with Eric and Molly.”

  Zander nodded, distracted. “Get her. I’ll be here if we manage to get the door open before you do.”

  Jared nodded, understanding. “Thanks. We won’t be gone long.”

  HARPER DID HER best to ignore the voices on the other side of the door. She knew Jared was probably close to a stroke, but there was nothing she could do about it at present so she pushed it out of her mind.

  She utilized small steps as she explored the room. It was huge – running the entire length of the east side of the structure – but it only appeared to have one door.

  “That’s odd,” Harper murmured, slowly tracking her flashlight over the wall to make sure she didn’t miss an exit. The doorframe was wide, which was typical of the time period’s designers, but a room this size could’ve easily housed a hundred patients at a time. Harper very much doubted it ever did, but the lack of emergency exits was curious.

  A hint of movement near the ceiling caught Harper’s attention, but when she pointed her light in that direction the only thing she found was spider webs … and what looked to be mildew.

  “I’m guessing the maids have been busy.”

  Harper continued her trek, keeping one ear on the door should it open, but the bulk of her attention on the furnishings. Odd lumps of fabric – what looked to have been couches at one time – littered the walls. The fabric was filthy and damp, although Harper couldn’t find a source for the water.

  “Maybe it leaks when it rains.”

  Harper felt silly talking to herself, but hearing something – anything really – was better than letting her fear take hold. She shuffled to the center of the room, pointing the light at the walls and discarded items as she turned in a circle. Once. Twice. It was almost mesmerizing.

  “It’s as if one day this place was fully functional and the next it wasn’t,” she mused, shaking her head. “When it closed, it must’ve happened fast.”

  “It did.”

  Harper gasped at the new voice, swiveling quickly. She almost lost hold of the flashlight but barely managed to hang on, and by the time she grappled with it and focused on the ethereal being floating a few feet away, she felt like an idiot. Had the ghost been aggressive, Harper could’ve been seriously hurt in the time it took her to collect her wits. Thankfully for Harper, the ghostly woman watching her with unveiled interest didn’t look to be dangerous.

  “Sorry. You took me by surprise.” Harper forced a smile. “Do you live here?”

  The woman nodded, her lips curving. She was pretty, in a sickly sort of way, of course. She looked a bit malnourished and as if she didn’t get enough vitamin D when she was alive. She wore a tattered nightgown, the fabric fraying at the bottom hem and arms, and an unreadable expression. She appeared relatively friendly, though, which Harper thought was probably a good thing given the situation.

  “I do.”

  “How … um … long have you lived here?”

  The woman’s smile was kind. “Longer, I would guess, then you’ve been alive.”

  Harper remembered her manners quickly, internally chastising herself for forgetting the first thing she learned when dealing with ghosts. “I’m Harper Harlow. I’m from Whisper Cove. It’s down the road a bit … er, lake, a bit. Do you know where you are?”

  “The Ludington Asylum.”

  “Right.”

  “I also know where Whisper Cove is.” The woman floated a bit to her right, her eyes never leaving Harper’s face. “You wear trousers.”

  It took Harper a moment to realize what the woman was saying. In her time, whenever that was, women mostly wore dresses and skirts. Pants were something men wore. And jeans? They were something no one wore in public unless it couldn’t be helped. “Yeah. I like blue jeans. They’re not as frowned upon in polite circles these days.”

  “Ah.” The woman’s smile was enigmatic. “I haven’t been invited to any polite circles in quite some time.”

  “I bet.” Harper wrinkled her nose as she considered sitting on a wooden chair, the creaking as she attempted to move it making her think better of the idea. “Who are you?”

  “My name is Anna Pritchard.” The ghost returned to hover in front of Harper. “I was a guest of this fine establishment for several years.”

  “It looks as if you never left.”

  “Nor will I ever.”

  “No, I guess not.” The woman’s quiet strength and calm unnerved Harper. “May I ask why you were sent here?”

  “Seduction and disappointment.”

  Harper was sure she misheard the woman. “I’m sorry?”

  “Seduction and disappointment,” Anna repeated. “I got pregnant out of wedlock and my parents sent me here.”

  Harper barely managed to swallow her revulsion. In her head, she knew things like that happened. It seemed so out there given today’s society, though, that she couldn’t stop herself from being furious on Anna’s behalf.

  “You got pregnant so they sent you here?”

  Anna nodded. “I worked at a restaurant after leaving high school. I was expected to find a husband, and fast, because my virtue was waning and I didn’t have a lot of time.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Seventeen.”

  Harper had trouble reconciling the number with the weary-looking woman in front of her. “How long were you here?”

  “Five years.”

  Harper was positively apoplectic. “But … how is that possible?�
�

  “I had an affair with the diner owner,” Anna explained. “He seemed nice and attentive. He said his marriage was over. He owned a business so I thought he was a good catch.”

  “Let me guess, you got pregnant and he didn’t want to leave his wife. Am I close?”

  “It turns out that his marriage wasn’t in nearly the dire straits he pretended,” Anna replied. “It also turns out that he didn’t own the diner. His father-in-law did and let him run it and keep the profits. He only married his wife in the first place because his father-in-law promised him the diner in exchange for the proposal.”

  “Of course.” Harper made a face. “So you turned up pregnant and told your parents?”

  “I did,” Anna confirmed, bobbing her head. “I thought they would force Gerard – that was his name, by the way, Gerard Hicks – into leaving his wife and marrying me. I wasn’t aware of the situation until it was too late.”

  “What year was this?”

  “It was 1949.”

  Harper did the math in her head, straining for memories from her high school history class. That sounded about right for the times. “So you got blamed even though he was an older predator and sent here? Why did they make you stay so long?”

  Anna chuckled, the sound low and harsh. “Because I wasn’t cured of my affliction.”

  “But … .”

  “I gave birth to a son about five months after I arrived,” Anna explained. “It was … in the basement.” The way she said the words caused Harper’s stomach to flip. She knew the basement would be awful, but she was starting to wonder exactly how awful.

  “What happened to the baby?”

  “He went to live with his father.”

  Now, in addition to being confused, Harper was angry. “So he got you pregnant, managed to get you locked up, and still claimed the baby?”

  “That’s my understanding, although they didn’t tell me much,” Anna answered. “Once I gave birth I was expected to forget what happened. I asked to see him, hold him. He was mine, after all. They never let me.

  “I gave birth, heard him cry, and then they whisked him away,” she continued. “He was given to his father and Gerard raised him with his wife. That’s all I know.”

  Harper was understandably dubious about the story given the Ludington Asylum’s checkered history, but she didn’t voice her initial worry. That would make Anna’s plight more unbearable. Deep down, Harper had a feeling the woman already wondered whether or not the baby ever the left the island.

  “What about your parents?” Harper asked, turning the conversation to something more secure. “Why did they allow you to be sent here?”

  “It was my father’s idea. He was friends with Gerard and very upset when he heard I seduced the man.”

  “Seduced him? You were a teenager.”

  “Nevertheless, my father believed his friend,” Anna supplied. “Initially I was only supposed to be sent here until I gave birth. My mother concocted a story about me visiting a sick aunt in Iowa. It was supposed to be a brief visit.”

  “They didn’t come for you after the birth?”

  “I never saw them again after the transport team arrived to take me,” Anna replied. “I was going to run, you see. I was going to take the baby and raise him on my own. Of course, I had no idea how I was going to do it. I had a vague notion of freedom. It obviously never happened.”

  “So they sent a transport team?” Harper struggled to picture the scenario. “What, two men in white coats with a straightjacket?” It was her lame attempt at a joke – informed by watching hours upon hours of bad horror movies with Zander – but Anna’s pitiful nod caused Harper’s heart to seize up. “Seriously?”

  “My mother let them in and then excused herself to have a drink in the salon,” Anna said. “My father watched from the hallway as they wrestled me down, locked me up, and then dragged me out. They never came to see me even once after I left their house.”

  “But … they must have sent letters.” Harper had a difficult relationship with her parents – especially her mother – but she couldn’t imagine either one of them simply abandoning her under any circumstances.

  “Mail only came to the island once a month and none of it was ever for me.”

  The isolation must have been terrible, Harper thought. Anna was a young woman who did nothing wrong and yet she was terrorized for the choices of an older, predatory man. If Gerard Hicks was still alive she would’ve swam from the island to Whisper Cove to make him pay right about now.

  “So you had the baby and they took him away.” Harper swallowed hard. “Didn’t you ask them why they weren’t releasing you?”

  “Of course, but Nurse Winstead was in charge of my wing and she didn’t like questions,” Anna explained. “In fact, if she thought you asked too many questions, she would … punish you.”

  Harper wanted to ask how, but it seemed invasive. “So you stayed another four and a half years after that? I don’t understand. Did you somehow slip through the cracks? How come you couldn’t check yourself out?”

  Anna snorted, genuinely amused. “My father had control of my fate until I had a husband to overrule him. I never had a husband so … my father made the ultimate decision.”

  “And he chose to leave you here? You were his daughter. How could he?”

  “He had three sons. He didn’t need a daughter.”

  The response was so matter-of-fact that Harper had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from letting loose with a torrent of obscenities that surely would’ve offended Anna. The story was horrible, sickening. It was also missing a very important piece of the puzzle.

  “How old were you when you died?”

  “Twenty-two. I believe it was three days after my birthday, but time became hard to mark within these walls.”

  Harper didn’t doubt it for a second. “How did you die?” She was almost afraid to ask the question, but she had to know.

  “I’m not sure.” Anna pursed her lips. “I know I was supposed to be heading toward the hydrotherapy room, but I can’t quite remember what happened when I got there.”

  That meant it was bad. “When did you wake up as a ghost?”

  “A few days after. My things were already removed from my ward by then. There was a new occupant in my bed. I was confused, to say the least, but I was hardly alone.”

  Harper cocked her head, intrigued. “How many ghosts are here?”

  “Numerous. How many ghosts can you see?”

  Harper held her hands palms up and shrugged. “You’re the only one in this room right now, at least as far as I can tell.”

  “You’re not looking hard enough,” Anna said, making a clucking sound to show sympathy. “There’s more in this place than meets the eye. You shouldn’t stay here.”

  “You shouldn’t either,” Harper noted. “I can help you pass over, if you want. I have a way to help you.”

  “Really? How?”

  “It’s a modified dreamcatcher that I built. It … has power. It’s hard to explain.”

  “And you can help me go where?”

  “To the other side.”

  “What’s there?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” Harper replied. “I’ve only seen glimpses, but what I’ve seen is beautiful. It’s better than this place.”

  “I will give it some thought.” Anna shifted her head toward the back of the room, a tapping sound against the filthy window catching her attention. “Your friends will be here soon. Remember what I said about being careful, though. The souls left behind weren’t all innocent.”

  It was a chilling warning and Harper understood what she meant by it. “Some of the residents really needed to be here, right?”

  “And some were turned into people who needed to be here through no fault of their own,” Anna said. “Whatever happens, don’t come in here after dark. Bad things happen here when it’s dark. Do you understand?”

  Harper nodded. “Yes. I … will I see you again?
I want to help you if I can.”

  “I’m always around, but you’re about to have other guests.” Anna smiled as the glass shattered, her filmy countenance evaporating as fresh light flooded the room. “Remember what I said. Be safe. This place will take you, too, if you let it.”

  “Harper!” Jared almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to get inside of the room.

  Harper stared after Anna for a long time before shaking herself out of her reverie and scurrying in Jared’s direction. She threw her arms around his neck as soon as she reached him and Jared mistook the emotion for fear.

  “Are you okay, Heart? I’m so sorry.”

  Harper smiled as she lifted her chin. “This place is full of ghosts. They’re not all bad, though.”

  “Is that who you were talking to?” Shawn asked, curiously eyeing the empty room. “It didn’t try to hurt you, did it?”

  “No. She was nice. I’m going to try to help her.”

  “Great.” Jared ran his hands over Harper’s shoulders. “Don’t scare me like that again, okay? I don’t like it.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  8

  Eight

  “We need to find the registration office.”

  Harper put up with Jared’s coddling for exactly thirty seconds before she sprang to action. She had no idea if it was hearing the horrible things that happened to Anna or the fact that now she’d seen a ghost so she no longer had to worry about the initial introduction, but she was pumped.

  “I need to hold you,” Jared argued, refusing to let her go. “Come here.” He buried his face in her hair, breathing in deeply. “I was afraid.” The last part was barely a sigh.

  Harper took pity on him and patted his back. “I’m okay. I told you I was okay when you were on the other side of the door. Speaking of that … .” She flipped her gaze to the closed door, expecting it to magically pop open now that Anna was gone, but nothing happened. “Hmm.”

  “Hmm what?” Jared rubbed his cheek against Harper’s soft skin. He didn’t shave because they were camping so he had a bit of stubble going, something that Harper felt made him even more attractive.