The very next day, Marcel groggily rolled out of bed with eyes barely opened, yawning several times as she managed to make it all the way to the lower flat of the house without stumbling down the stairs in the drowsy state she was in… searching for the guy she thought would still be asleep on the sofa in the room they shared the night before.
Apparently, that was the only room in the house he could sleep in… of course she didn’t believe his lousy explanation, but it felt nice knowing he was there, especially since the entire night her mind was battling this strange sensation of uneasiness, at one point she could even swear that Mike had appeared by her bedside just standing there, staring at her. So naturally it was safe to say, she had hardly gotten any rest.
“Nate?” Marcel called out in a slightly hoarse voice, walking over to the direction of the kitchen to grab a glass
“I… I’m not sure what she did, by the time I got home it was already way pass six and I guess she must had already done something… I mean mom was acting strange from the moment I came back, but I didn’t notice it until... until it was too late.” Marcel sighed with regret, rubbing both her arm with the opposite hand feeling a sense of uneasiness. “Hey, it’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have stayed back to play with the band. If I had taken you home then maybe things would have ended differently.” Nate stepped closer encircling her in his arms, the last thing he wanted was for her to yet again feel responsible if anything bad was to happen to her mother. “Don’t remind me. I can’t believe you actually made me walk all the way back here. You could have at least let me borrow your car. Some fr
“Just take it easy, calm down. There’s no one there.” Nate hastily wrapped the girl in his embrace thinking it must be difficult for her to be standing in front of her brother’s room. “No! I know what I saw! Mike… he… he’s in there!” Marcel shouted in grief, pointing into the room a few steps ahead, tears rolling down her face without fail as she desperately wanted to get as far away as possible from her own home. “M, I need you to stay focus, Mike is gone… remember? We came up here to find aunty, she’s alive… you got to let go of the past, take care of your mom and dad… we need to take care of each other.” Her sudden unexplained behavior instantly made him worry that she too might be facing some sort of traumatic stress… was their family cursed to insanity after losing one of its beloved member? “No! No! I’m not crazy; I saw his s
“Two weeks! I don’t know what sort of sick, twisted game you thing this is, but it’s not funny. We have to find my mom before the sun sets.” Marcel yelled, clearly overwhelmed in disbelief by the sudden news. “M… it’s not…” “No! It can’t be! Stop lying!” She refused to accept his words interrupting him in disbelief; hopping out of the vehicle and rushing pass the boy’s house heading to the direction of her own home. “Marcel… please… wait!” Nate instantly hurried out behind her fleeting figure, pleading for her to listen. For the past several days, the charming young man finally knew what it was like to have his heart thrown into absolute chaos. From desperately searching for any possible clue as
“Where exactly do you think your mom would want to go?” Nate questioned, eagerly waiting for a reply. He had known Ruby for more than half his life and had spent the past two weeks racking his brain for ideas as to where she could be, yet found none. So any glimmer of hope was certainly worth the try, right? “I know a place, if she’s there then we have nothing to worry about, she’ll be safe for now, but you can’t come with me… I need to do this on my own.” Marcel informed, absolutely sure that if he knew what she had in mind, he would definitely object or over think things… especially since she had just gotten out of the hospital for collapsing due to ‘anxiety’ and ‘stress’. “Whether you like it or not, I’m not letting you out of my sight... at least not this soon.” The boy w
Nate slowly led the girl up towards his room, fraught with the feelings of confliction. For any other young man in his prime this would have been a wishful moment, the chance to further explore the desirable parts of the girl he loved the most… but their situation always seemed to be complicated in one way or another. In the beginning they had some sort of unspoken connection that they chose to deny for the sake of friendship among siblings and best friends, now out of guilt there’s this constant struggle to find inner peace when the strangeness of reality keeps on messing with their minds. Nate guessed that if he was to depend on the perfect timing… waiting for their stars to align… then perhaps their love would be nothing more than a distant dream left unfulfilled. “M, I’m giving you one last chance to reconsider this
The line went completely silent for several minutes until the massive iron gates slowly parted ways, revealing the gloomy concrete structure ahead with the towering sign struggling to remain in place. Being the only free public institution available to house those with special cases of mental instability, the poor maintenance was surely reflected in all aspects. “Acre Hills Asylum.” Marcel mumbled under her breath, walking along the path to the old washed out building; as she couldn’t help but feel goosebumps tingling underneath her skin from just a glance of a few nurses standing by. Somehow imagining their smiles as being sinister and twisted. They were like those creepy doctors from some terrible horror film waiting to sedate their feeble patients. The girl quickly shook her head to rid her mind of e
As if hit by a tidal wave of emotions, Marcel quickly felt her vision blurred with tears as her lips struggled to say the questions she instinctively wanted answers to, it was as if her words were painfully stuck at the bottom of her throat, unable to be produced into actual sensible language. “Miss Rayburn… Miss Rayburn… are you alright?” Victor’s repeated calls echoed in her ear, snapping her back to reality as he stepped closer observing her reaction that was somewhat strange as oppose to others that were just told that their father had died. “Ye… Yes, I… I’m fine. What about… his… my dad’s… where is his… body? Was he buried or cremated?” The girl barely managed to verbalize her sentence with much difficulty, her voice sounding a bit forced and choked up. Understandably, the girl was in shock yet she did not scream out in affliction nor sob
‘Impossible! How could this be?’ Marcel reflexively withdrew her trembling fingers fearful of unveiling some hidden secrets that might have been locked away in the box before her. As a little girl growing up in a family surrounded by superstitious beliefs, she was told countless stories about sacred rituals, primordial traditions and honored customs as it related to her ancestors… none of which had placed their lives at Acre Hills Asylum. Her father was supposedly the first of the Rayburn generation to have suffered from sudden mental instability… so how then did her grandfather’s name appear on the shelves of the collection department? Nervously roaming her eyes to ensure that the eerie nurse had not found her somewhat hiding between the aisles, Marcel slowly yet anxiously removed the few boxes