Why would a mental hospital with such a large footprint, well-maintained landscaping, and intact buildings be abandoned?
The last time Roy encountered something like this was Roland Gordon's abandoned mall, left deserted after a fire. That mall was abandoned due to internal disputes over the Gordon family's inheritance. Could this mental hospital have a similar story?
Harry scratched his head.
"I don't know. The president picked this place. You'd have to ask him."
The president of the Ouroboros Society hadn't even shown up, leaving Harry in charge of the scene.
After getting out of the van, Harry instructed the others to carry the drunk students through a cut in the wire fence into the mental hospital's lobby.
At that moment, a student approached to confiscate Roy and Shodi's phones. Roy shot him a glare, and the guy immediately backed off.
Harry came over to explain.
"Roy, per the script, we're supposed to take your communication devices, but we'll leave you a few walkie-talkies. If anything goes wrong, you can contact us. We'll be waiting outside the fence tonight."
Roy shook his head—not out of fear, but because he didn't want to miss any important calls. He had a lot on his plate: managing studio investments, the nearing end of a maritime salvage operation, and the possibility of Iris calling him at any moment.
"I need to keep my satellite phone. I might get important calls."
Harry scratched his head again, puzzled. What could a college student possibly need to be on call for? A professor's roll call?
But then he remembered Roy was an Olympic champion, likely with a busier schedule, so he made an exception.
"Alright, Roy, you can keep your phone, but Shodi's gotta hand his over."
Roy nodded, signaling Shodi to give up his phone. Shodi complied obediently.
Harry left some tools behind, then led the other student council members out of the lobby.
"Roy, we'll lock the main gate. We'll be back to open it at 6 a.m. tomorrow. Have fun tonight!"
Fun, my ass. What's fun about a creepy, godforsaken place like this?
Roy just wanted to get through the night smoothly, complete the process, and join the Ouroboros Society.
By now, it was 8 p.m., and darkness had fully settled. The mental hospital's lobby was pitch black.
The night breeze swept through the empty building, creating eerie sounds that sent chills down the spine.
Shodi hurriedly grabbed his camcorder, switching on night vision to scan the surroundings, as if it gave him some sense of security.
"Damn it! Why do all hospitals feel so creepy at night?"
Roy raised an eyebrow at Shodi.
"Scared already?"
Shodi puffed out his chest, indignant.
"Scared? Me? I'm the bravest guy in my neighborhood!"
Roy gave him a skeptical look. Shodi's tense expression, darting eyes, and fidgeting hands screamed anything but bravery.
Right then, the walkie-talkie on the floor crackled, startling Shodi so badly he nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Ah!"
"Hello, hello, can you hear me?"
It was Harry's voice.
Roy picked up the walkie-talkie and responded.
"Yeah, I hear you."
"Roy, have those freshmen woken up yet?"
Roy glanced at the eleven freshmen sprawled on the floor, sleeping like logs.
"Not one. They're all out cold."
"Damn it! We must've given them too much booze this Afternoon. If they keep sleeping, what's the point?"
Roy had a suspicion.
"You're not live-streaming this, are you?"
Harry paused.
"How'd you know?"
"When I was pretending to be drunk, I overheard you talking about setting up cameras. Plus, what you just said."
"Alright, fine. We're live-streaming this initiation to the whole school for entertainment value. Roy, can you keep that under wraps?"
Roy hadn't expected the Ouroboros Society to go this far—live-streaming to the entire campus.
If the freshmen did anything embarrassing, they'd become instant campus celebrities.
Well, that's American fraternities for you—always pulling stunts. The bigger the stunt, the more clout you get on campus. Outgoing Americans love this kind of thing, which is why students die every year from these antics.
"I won't tell the freshmen, but if something goes wrong, I'm not taking responsibility."
Roy issued a blanket disclaimer. As a public figure, any incident would inevitably draw media attention and trouble.
"Of course, the Ouroboros Society takes full responsibility. You can wake the freshmen now!"
Roy gave Shodi a look, and Shodi immediately understood, splashing mineral water on the eleven freshmen to rouse them.
"Hey! Who's pouring water?!"
"Ugh, is it raining?"
"Son of a—!"
The freshmen woke up cursing, quickly realizing something was off.
"Where are our clothes?"
"Where the hell are we?"
"My God, why's it so dark?!"
The freshmen were a mess—some stark naked, others panicking, a few eyeing Roy and Shodi's intact clothing with suspicion. It was pure chaos, perfect for the cameras. The live-stream audience was probably laughing their heads off.
"Why are you two dressed, but our clothes are gone?!"
One freshman confronted Roy and Shodi, and Roy quickly spun a story.
"The initiation started this Afternoon. Those bikini girls were part of the test. Shodi and I held our liquor and didn't fall for it."
Shodi nodded vigorously, acting like a total badass.
The excuse made sense, so the freshmen didn't press further. They grabbed the blankets provided by the society to cover themselves—streaking wasn't exactly classy.
Harry's voice came through the walkie-talkie again.
"Hello, everyone awake? I'm Harry Dyson. The initiation officially starts now! We've left each of you a walkie-talkie, a night-vision camcorder, and some batteries. You're free to explore the entire mental hospital. We'll judge the winner based on the footage you capture.
The test ends at 6 a.m. If you get scared, call for help on the walkie-talkie, and we'll come rescue you. Good luck!"
A few hot-tempered freshmen cursed under their breath. Getting stripped and dumped in a strange place would piss anyone off.
But after venting, they picked up their camcorders, batteries, and walkie-talkies, ready to explore. The first-place prize—a brand-new camcorder—was worth a lot.
The walkie-talkie crackled again.
"Ahem, forgot to give you the backstory! Since we're just starting, let me tell you about this mental hospital. Built in the early 20th century, it housed severely mentally ill patients, often dangerous ones.
In the 1930s, Portuguese doctor Egas Moniz introduced prefrontal lobotomy, a procedure to control mental patients, and invented the ice pick surgery, which was initially seen as a success. But it was later deemed inhumane and banned.
However, one head doctor here believed ice pick surgery was a cure-all. He secretly performed illegal procedures, indirectly causing several patient deaths. When his demonic actions were discovered, he hid in the hospital's basement, resisted arrest, and was shot dead by police.
To this day, the doctor's malevolent spirit is said to wander the hospital, capturing intruders to perform ice pick surgeries on them."
Prefrontal lobotomies and ice pick surgeries have appeared in films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Shutter Island. The human brain's frontal lobe is the largest section, and removing it destroys most cognitive functions, leaving only basic instincts—like a vegetable.
The surgery gained traction because it made patients "stable" and easier to manage. Stable as in, turned into vegetables.
Ironically, Egas Moniz won the 1949 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this. It wasn't until 1962, when Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest exposed its horrors, that the procedure faded away.
But Roy had asked Harry earlier why the hospital was abandoned, and Harry claimed he didn't know. Was this story just made up?
It did set a creepy mood, though. Roy noticed everyone's expressions shift after hearing it, except his own.
Shodi, trembling, nudged Roy's arm.
"What?"
"Roy, is Harry's story real or fake?"
Roy rolled his eyes. Shodi was there when Harry said he didn't know the hospital's history, yet now he was buying it.
"Maybe it's real. You scared?"
"Scared? Me? No way!"
Shodi's voice shot up and then dropped, like a rollercoaster, betraying his mix of bravado and fear.
Roy, exasperated, ignored him and headed into the hospital's corridors to explore. Sitting in the lobby all night would be boring.
"Roy, wait up!"
Shodi hurried after him, muttering to himself for courage.
"If a ghost pops out, I'll hit it with a left hook, then a right hook!"
"Shut up, Shodi! You're so loud!"
The empty hospital amplified Shodi's muttering like a megaphone.
"I-I can't help it!"
"Want me to knock you out so you can sleep till morning?"
Shodi: Great idea, but let's not do that again.
He clamped his mouth shut, though his twitching cheeks showed he was still talking—just muffling it with his hands.
After Roy and Shodi left, eight of the eleven remaining freshmen mustered the courage to venture out, while the other three, too scared, stayed in the lobby for the night.
"This hospital's design is insane!"
Roy wandered a bit and realized the place was a maze—corridors and staircases everywhere, with nearly identical rooms. You couldn't tell if a room was a ward or an office without going inside.
"Roy, does it feel like it's getting colder?"
After a while, Shodi's nerves had settled, but now he was noticing something new.
"Colder? I don't feel it."
Thanks to his enhanced physique, Roy was less sensitive to environmental changes. Things dangerous to normal people didn't faze him.
But Shodi's comment put Roy on alert. California's climate had big temperature swings due to its dry weather. A sudden drop, though, could mean trouble.
Could there actually be a ghost in this hospital?
Ghostly presences often came with physical signs: sudden temperature drops, electronic interference, or strange noises.
Problem was, Roy didn't have a thermometer to check the temperature.
"It's definitely cold. I didn't feel this last night. It's like winter in here!"
That was serious.
Roy activated his True Sight, scanning the surroundings. He spotted a white figure passing through the corridor ahead.
Shodi saw it too and nearly lost it.
"Ghost! Ghost!"
He bolted, but Roy grabbed his collar. Shodi's momentum carried him forward, legs flailing in the air before he crashed to the ground.
"Why're you running? It's fake!"
"Fake? How do you know?"
Because True Sight showed it was a person, obviously. But Roy couldn't explain that, so he came up with another excuse.
"The Ouroboros Society set this whole thing up to scare us. You think they wouldn't dress someone up as a ghost?"
Shodi got it instantly.
He'd been pranked by his brothers growing up—ghost scares were an American classic.
"Damn it! That's what's going on!"
But just then, a scream echoed from the distance.
(End of Chapter)