“Maybe that’s what those doctors were trying to find,” said Hex.“Could it be seen or identified on scans or during surgery?”
“I’m not sure,” said Ace.“I’ll keep looking for more information.For now, just know that what we have here is unbelievably rare.Oh.And that hospital?It closed a little over a year ago, shortly after the kids left.But everything is still there.I would encourage a field trip.”
“Thanks Ace,” nodded Luke.“Looks like we’re going to get a little dirty, fellas.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Luke, Cam, Eric, and Hex picked the lock on the door of the boarded-up facility.It was a small hospital, only two stories.From on an initial review of the plans for the facility, it appeared that patient rooms were on the first floor, with examination, surgery, and research rooms on the second floor.That clearly indicated they never kept more than fifty patients at any one time.
The waiting area had four dusty leather chairs facing a large reception desk, also covered in dust.Through a second door, they entered the hallway that led to patient and exam rooms on the first and second floors.
Eric and Luke took the left hallway, Cam and Hex the right.The pairs searched each room, looking for anything that might tell them what happened here.
In each room were two twin beds, one small dresser, one window locked from the inside, and nothing else. The bathrooms at each end of the hallway were communal rooms with multiple toilets and multiple showers.
One end of the hallway was blue for the boys, they assumed, while the other was painted in pink.
“It feels as though they only took children, no adults,” said Hex.Cam nodded.
“Yeah, that’s not giving me warm fuzzy feelings.”
“Hey!” yelled Luke down the hall.“Y’all come see this.”
Not seeing anything in their end of the hallway, Cam and Hex walked back toward Eric and Luke.They were in a room halfway down the hall, on the right-hand side.
“What’s up?We didn’t see anything unusual where we were,” said Cam.
“Look,” said Eric pointing to the windowsill.Hex and Cam walked toward the window, Luke looking away with an expression of anger and the all-to-familiar look of ‘I’m going to kill someone’.
“What the fuck is that?” whispered Hex.“Are those scratch marks?”
“Put your fingers over them,” said Eric.
Cam and Hex took turns doing so.Although their fingers were larger than those that made the marks, it was painfully clear.Someone, some child had attempted to claw his way out of this room.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” said Hex.“I think we need to see what’s upstairs.”
The staircase wasn’t some grand, welcoming staircase in the center of the building.It was purely mechanical.Designed to get you from floor one to floor two and back again.The steps were metal, creating an eerie echo as they walked up them.
“This would frighten the fuck out of a kid,” said Hex.
“Not if they can’t hear,” said Eric.
“But these kids hear in their own way,” said Cam looking upward.“They would be able to feel the echo and the vibration.That still had to be scary for them.”
At the top of the stairs it opened into a larger space filled with file cabinets, most of which were emptied of their contents.The four men stayed together, walking into each room.There were the standard examination tables, overhead lights and a few medical instruments familiar to them, used to check the ears or throat.
“Before y’all leave check the basement.I’ve got one of those feelings.”
“Will do, Ace.Thanks,” said Luke.
In the last room they walked in to see broken instruments scattered everywhere.Strings on banjoes, violins, guitars, cellos, and pianos had been deliberately cut.Flutes, clarinets, and others were bent, snapped in half, or mangled.Even a massive harp had been splintered into fragments.
“They did this before they left,” said Eric.“I can just feel it.”
“Why?The instruments alone would have given them money.Why destroy all of these?Or why not take them with them?” asked Hex.
“They were teaching the kids a lesson,” said Luke.“Either those that were here, or those that ran away and might come back.They wanted them to know they were angry.”
