The bearded man’s eyes widened. It was like someone had just thrown open the shutters in his mind. Then, as if he was seeing the world for the first time, he blurted out, "You see them! You see the monsters! You will save us!"

Well this was awkward. I either needed to find an exit or a way to defuse the situation quickly.

He repeated the words over and over again like some sort of cultish chant. With each iteration, his voice grew louder and more desperate.

The sadness in his voice was hard to miss. I felt bad for him. I didn’t know what monsters he thought I could see. Maybe it was the ghosts. In that case, yeah, he wasn’t wrong—I could see them.

However, there was no way in hell I would admit that in a mental hospital. I had no plans to extend my stay.

I mean even if I saw whatever monsters haunted him, I had more important things to worry about. Plus, the ghosts here seemed harmless. There was no way I was about to risk my freedom to deal with them, just to make this man feel better.

Six other patients and two nurses turned to watch like this was some kind of weird soap opera. I caught their glares out of the corner of my eye. Until this moment, I hadn’t realized how many others were in here with me. That was less than ideal.

The bearded guy dropped to his knees and crawled toward me. I wheeled back until my back was against the wall. I felt something behind me fall. It bounced off my wheelchair and hit the floor with a loud thud.

The sound reverberated throughout the room. I turned to look at the fallen object. It was Dr. Klandermans portrait. It seemed to avoid breaking on impact. Whew, that was close. I didn’t have the funds in my account for a new frame.

Anyone who wasn’t fully focused on our interaction before, was definitely focused now.

I heard the whispers around the room grow louder. Great. Just what I needed. If there was anything worse than getting stabbed—again—it was public attention. I had hoped to stay under the radar, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen.

Wait. What was he doing? Oh god. His wet lips hit the tops of my feet, and the scratch of his beard tickled my toes. I squirmed. I tried to pull back, but the wheelchair made a quick getaway impossible.

Okay, this had to stop. I mean, I felt bad for the guy but this had gone way too far. I had boundaries. Not a ton of them, but a stranger kissing my feet was definitely one.

I swung my foot at his face, hoping to knock him off balance. That was a mistake. He latched onto my legs like a terrified kid clinging to his mom on the first day of school.

“Please stop, you’re making me uncomfortable,” I muttered. The other patients laughed. The guy didn’t seem to care. The harder I tried to push him away, the tighter he held on. It was like some twisted version of a Chinese finger trap.

No, seriously. Screw this. Someone needed to do something.

“Help!” I yelled.

As if they were just waiting for my cue, two orderlies rushed in through the hallway door. What took them so long? I was lucky this man just wanted to kiss my feet. If he wanted me dead, there was no way the staff would have made it here in time to save me.

The two staff members pried him off me, and a wave of relief hit as I watched them slap restraints on him.

From the floor, he locked eyes with one of the nurses. He gave a deep chested laugh, then screamed, "He will slay you all! We’ll finally be free!"

I sat there stunned. Wait, there was no way he said that. I must have heard wrong. I looked around. The others watching looked in stunned disbelief. Clearly we all heard the same thing.

Did that mean he thought she was the monster? The nurse looked like a normal human being. She was definitely not a monster. This man was out of his mind. A sudden realization hit me. Oh yeah, I was in Cottonwood.

There was no use in trying to understand his motives. You can’t predict the motives of people like him.

What did I mean people like him. Ha, that was rich of me. I mean just look at me. I was right here beside him in cottonwood. The only thing that separated us was those scrubs. At least for now I wasn’t on the floor trying to kiss someone's feet. Still, it was a slippery slope to be so judgemental. I didn't know his story.

They taped the guy’s mouth shut, but even with the muffled noise, I could tell he was still doing his best to repeat the same words.

Wow, he wasn’t giving up. Even restrained, the men seemed to struggle to hold him down. I wheeled a few feet back, just to be safe. I had never seen someone so determined to get to me before. At least I knew who to find if I ever felt the need to start a cult. This was pure dedication.

One of the staff members pulled out a needle. It seemed like some sort of tranquilizer, but what did I know, I wasn’t a doctor. He inserted it into the man's neck and injected the fluid. Almost instantly, the struggle slowed down until the man finally fell into a deep slumber. The two men picked him up and carried him cautiously out of the room.

Across the room, two girls who were around my age started to snicker. That was just fantastic. As if I wasn’t already humiliated enough.

The taller girl, a dark skinned woman, leaned over to whisper something to her friend. I was surprised to see just how put together she was in a place like this. If I didn’t know better, I would have assumed she had a date night on the town later that evening. Unfortunately, there were no fancy restaurants in this place, and I doubted she was all dressed up for the cafeteria.

Her friend held up a finger as if telling her to wait a second. What was she doing? Oh no. She was headed my way. My brain scrambled for a way out, but there was nowhere to go. I had to play it cool. Maybe she somehow missed the man that just kissed my toes. Who was I kidding, everyone saw that.

This girl was a good foot shorter than her friend. She was on the thinner side and had thick brown hair that was both long and frizzy. It matched nicely with her dark brown eyes and contrasted off her light skin.

Both girls were in sweats and a hoodie, like me. No drawstrings, of course. They didn’t trust us with those.

“Hey, are you alright? We saw what happened. Someone should have warned you to stay away from the people in the scrubs.”

“Yeah, thanks. Believe it or not, this is one of the more normal things that’s happened to me this week.”

She laughed, her smile lit up the room. My discomfort started to melt away. “You must’ve had one hell of a week then. Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Courtney and the girl back there is Aubry.”

“Pleasure to meet you both. I’m Joe. Did you know that guy?”

“They call him Josiah. He.. doesn’t really talk. That outburst like totally caught Aubry and I off guard. We had literally never heard his voice before today. Most of the time he sits in the corner and draws pictures.”

“So you’ve never seen him outburst like that before?” I asked.

“Nope, the elopers as we call them like to stay to themselves. They rarely talk, at least to us.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Are you sure? He seemed to have a ton to say to me.”

“Well then maybe he thinks you’re one of them. You should get yourself a pair of those scrubs,” she joked.

“Ha, you’re hilarious. Neither of you girls have them on, so what are you in for?”

The words flew out before I could stop them. Shit, was it alright to ask someone that?

I cringed. “Sorry, I’m new at this. Can I ask that kind of question here?”

She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It’s cool. It’s certainly a bold question, though. Some people might not take it so well. It’s best to let them open up to you when they are comfortable.”

She pulled up her sleeves. It revealed a series of thin, red scars that snaked up her arms. I winced.

“Yeah, depression’s a real bitch. It’s my third time in this place. My foster family likes to look for any opportunity to get rid of me.” Her voice was oddly even, as if she were discussing the weather.

“I’m sorry to hear that. They sound like assholes. From what little I’ve seen so far, they’d be stupid to want to send you away.”

“That’s nice of you, but you just met me like two minutes ago. I’m sure I’ll wear out my welcome soon enough.”

“Doubtful,” I said. I lifted my own hand to show off the bandages wrapped around my knuckles.

“I’m sure you’re both wondering what happened to me. I ran from the hospital and punched a window. Plus a few days ago, an old drunk guy stabbed me in the leg before offing himself right in front of me. So, you know… typical teenager stuff.”

She blinked, and for a moment I worried I’d overshared, which, let’s face it, I had. But instead of recoiling, she just shook her head. She seemed almost impressed. “Wow, you certainly weren’t kidding about this being the calm part of your week. May I ask why you punched a window?”

“Honestly? I have no idea. I sort of blacked out.”

“Dang new guy, maybe we should get you those scrubs after all.”

Her friend chuckled from the other side of the room. Courtney was both funny and cute. If only we had met under different circumstances. Who was I kidding, she would have never spoken to me in the outside world.

“To get those you have to be here longer than a month or try to run away, right?” I asked.

“That’s just the unofficial reasons the regulars use here to try and make sense of it. Honestly though, it’s up to the docs. I’ve seen people here for over a month without them. No one knows exactly why they split us up. Personally, I believe it’s so they can more easily control us.”

“How often do people make the transition from regulars to elopers?”

The girls looked at each other. If I didn’t know better, I’d have assumed they were telepathically communicating. Aubry nodded as if to give the go ahead.

“It’s pretty rare. There was one woman. During my first stint here, Aubry and I made friends with an older woman. This place was terrifying to a young teenage girl. She took us in and cared for us. She showed us the ropes and made us feel loved. So much that we began to call her mom. Neither of us ever knew our real moms, so it meant a lot to be able to call her that.”

She wiped a small tear that had begun to form on the side of her eye. Without her, I’m not sure I’d have survived my first stint here. I miss her.”

“What happened?”

“Aubry and I both got out. A little over a year later, I got readmitted. I was surprised to find her still here. She was supposed to leave a few weeks after I did. She kept talking about some relative she had to talk to. Apparently she owed her an apology.”

“She didn’t leave?”

“No. I’m not sure what happened. When I saw her she was different. It wasn’t the same woman I met the first time. The other patients said she hadn’t talked in a few months. I tried my best to get her to open up to me, but eventually I had to admit she was gone.”

“We sure do miss the old version. I could really use a mom right about now.” Aubry said from across the room. She too had small tears that formed in her eyes. She worked her way over to us.

“Can I ask her name?” Something told me I already knew the answer, but I had to hear her say it.

One of the nurses walked over. She seemed eager to cut this conversation down. “Sorry to interrupt. It’s lights out time. Let's go girls.”

Courtney smiled at me. “Sharon.”

“Enough talk, let's go ladies” the nurse said.

It had to be the same Sharon. What the hell was going on here?

###

I struggled to fall asleep that evening. What the hell happened to Sharon to make her stop talking?

While Alex was convinced it was from her kids death, Courtney’s story poked doubt in that reasoning.

I was probably just looking for trouble when there was none to be found. Still, it couldn’t hurt to check. If anything, I owed it to Naomi.

I closed my eyes, that would have to wait until the morning. For now I had to get some sleep.

###

When I finally opened my eyes, I was once again surrounded by the now somewhat familiar haze of blue and gray. At least this time, I wasn’t blindsided by it. I wondered if Alex ever visited this place. Up to this point, I hadn’t seen it mentioned anywhere in his guide.

I’ll admit, this seemed like a pretty awesome part of my curse. I normally would have considered my ghost powers a gift, but considering where I currently was, I was beginning to have my doubts.

This part was pretty neat though. I had the ability to walk this world unnoticed. If only I could summon it at will, life would be so much easier.

What was I doing? This was not the time to complain. This was my chance. I was finally able to explore without anyone to stop me. Maybe—just maybe—I’d finally get some answers.

I slipped out of my room and into the hallway. As expected, it was quiet. An occasional nurse strolled by, but other than that, it was empty. Where the heck do I start?

I walked down a few more halls, but there was nothing. I mean, really, nothing. It was endless corridor after corridor, with the same gross off white paint job on every wall. Each turn felt like deja vu. This felt like a bust.

Then, I spotted her. The same nurse Josiah threatened earlier in the day. She stood guard outside one of the rooms. She was blocking the door, like she was keeping someone from going inside. That was certainly suspicious.

I had to check it out. I strolled right through the wall next to her and into the room. Holy crap, it actually worked. I can freaking go through walls! I had to figure out how to control this power. It was fucking awesome!

Ok, calm down. This is not the time to freak out about ghost powers. I needed to focus on the task at hand.

The room was small. Smaller than mine. However, this one had only one bed. Huh. Lucky guy. Whoever this was, had the room to themselves. Everyone else I had met was crammed in with roommates. My curiosity got the better of me, and I stepped closer to see who was lying there.

It was Josiah.

What the hell was I doing in his room? Maybe they didn’t want him to escape? Maybe that’s why they had someone standing outside. To keep him from getting out. No, that didn’t make sense. The nurse was facing away, like she was trying to keep someone else from coming in.

I heard a noise. It came from the restroom. Someone else was here.

The bathroom door creaked open, and out stepped Dr. Klanderman. What was he doing here at such a late hour? He was holding something in his hand, that much was clear. It looked like a large needle.

He moved quickly and deliberately as he approached Josiah's bed. Without any hesitation, he jabbed the needle into his neck. Josiah’s eyes flew open, but he didn’t move.

My heart raced. This wasn’t just wrong—it was downright terrifying. What was he doing to him? I’m no doctor, but whatever this was, it wasn’t legal.

He climbed onto the bed, straddling Josiah. The poor guy's eyes—man, his eyes were screaming, begging for help, but his body stayed limp. Not even a single sound escaped.

It was dark. That combined with the pulsating view of the two men and the cloudy environment made it hard to see what was going on. I needed to get closer. I inched forward, slow and steady. Why was I being so sneaky? It wasn’t like he could see me, right?

But just as I got close enough to get a look, the doctor shivered. Oh fuck, I must give off the same cold energy the ghosts do. It was so close to being the perfect power!

The doctors head snapped up. He looked directly at me. I swore he could see straight through my soul.

"Who's there?" His voice echoed through the room.

He yanked the needle out of Josiah’s neck. At least it looked like he did. Hell, it was so hard to tell. This was going to take more practice. I watched as the doctor slipped off Josiah and ran into the bathroom.

I froze for just a moment, but it was a moment too long. I chased the man into the bathroom, but there was no sign of him. Where the hell did he go?

I turned around and looked back out into the hallway. The nurse was also gone now. Shit. I looked back to Josiah. He lay there, motionless and terrified. They did something to him. Something awful.

He wasn’t lying after all. The monsters were real. He tried to tell me. They must have done the same shit to Sharon.

Damnit, it looked like my chance to lay low was ruined. I had to get to the bottom of this. Unfortunately, time was not on my side and it didn't look like Josiah was going to be in any state to help.