Before Leo started driving he decided to call his girlfriend, Christine and see if she wanted to join. He hadn't seen her much since the horror of a camping trip, a few weeks ago. His phone rang for a few minutes, before she finally picked it up.
"Hey, do you wanna hangout with me and Stacy, she's dragging me to this random ass abandoned building? Her and her friends are in my truck now." Leo asked over the phone as he started driving.
After a few minutes of silence Christine spoke up, "Uhm, are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked.
Before Leo could answer Stacy grabbed the phone, "Yes it will be fun!!! Besides, what's the worst that can happen?! And your boyfriend will be there!"
Christine sighed through her phone, "Alright, fine. I guess you do have a point. And I do miss Leo. Alright give me five minutes."
"Alright love, I'll be waiting outside..." Leo said as he pulled into his girlfriends driveway.
Christine then hung up as she started to get ready, Leo looked over at Stacy.
"C'mon Ace your moving to the back. Chrissy rides up front she's older." Leo said.
Stacy rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah. I'll move, I get it. You wanna be all lovey dovey with your girlfriend."
Leo rolled his eyes right back before giving her a small smile, he looked up as Christine as she walked outside to the car. Leo opened the car door for her and kissed her softly as she put on her seat belt. After she had her seat belt on they started the drive to their destination. The drive wasn't long, or very short, it was a decent length. The car filled with laughter from Stacey and her friends, while Leo and Christine talked. Leo drove for a while before turning onto the long winding road, the thick trees covered the road in a dark shadow. Leo gripped the wheel, the vibe was starting to make him feel uneasy. It was the same vibe he got on the drive to the campgrounds from a few weeks ago.
"Leo?" One of Stacey's friends asked, upon noticing his tight grip on the steering wheel.
"Yo Leo?" Gwen, Stacey's best friend, asked, only to have no response.
"Bubba?" Stacey called out to her older brother. Still. there was no response from the older male so she tried again, but louder this time. "BUBBA!" She yelled out and tapped her brother's shoulder.
"Huh, what?" Leo replied, as he was jolted out of his thoughts.
"Are you okay, love?" Christine asked.
"Uh yea, yea. I'm fine..." He said.
Stacey eyed her brother warily, she wasn't too convinced he was fine. "Are you sure Bubba, you seem like you're really on edge?"
"Hmm.....I prom-" Leo started before Stacey cut him off.
"Don't lie to me, Leo!" Stacey yelled clearly calling her brother out on his bluff.
"Fine fine, maybe I'm not too alright"
"Why so on edge then, my love?" Christine asked.
"Yea. what she said!" Stacey said.
"I just have a bad vibe, I don't like this road..." Leo said.
"Why not?" Christine asked worriedly.
"It's just, it feels similar to the camping trip we went on. Ya know, I can't help but feel like something bad is going to happen." Leo explained.
"I'm sure we'll be fine, you're just overreacting Bubba." Stacey spoke, tho she couldn't help but agree with her brother.
Maybe this was a bad idea? They had been driving for what felt like 30 minutes now, on the dark overgrown dirt road. And the mental asylum was still nowhere to be seen, but Stacey and her friends were certain it was down this road. Unless they read the map wrong? No, it had to be this road, there was no other road it could be on. Leo sighed and chose to break the tension.
"So uh Ace, what's the uh name of this place?" Leo asked.
"Shadow Hill." She replied, her brother having clearly sparked her excitement.
"Huh, interesting name for a mental asylum." He said.
The rest of the drive was silent, the only sound coming from the radio. After a while the asylum came into view.
"Bubba look!" Stacey called out as she pointed to the large building behind a large gate.
Leo sighed as he parked in front of the gates, his dogs in the back, having been silent the whole time, were now growling as they looked out the back window. Leo looked up at the asylum and bit his lip.
"Are you really sure about this, Ace? I mean look at this place, have you done any research on it? Do you have any background information on it?" Leo questioned.
"Yes, I have. It's got a really cool story behind it...I think?" Stacey replied.
"Care to share kiddo?" Christine asked.
"Yea tell us Stacey, you haven't told us anything!" Gwen chimed in.
Stacey sighed, "Okay okay just promise me you won't chicken out on me?" she asked.
"Fine we won't chicken out, we've already come this far anyway, and I don't feel like driving anymore." Leo said.
Stacey nodded, "Okay. Shadow Hill, held over 3,000 patients. From what I read, none of them were treated to well. Most of them being either raped, or abused. Around 1,400 patients died here, either from other patients or they succumbed to their injuries caused by the nurses and themselves." she took a deep breath before continuing. "This place stayed in business for around 177 years, this building is really old. It was built in 1821, and closed in 1998."
"Wait if they were abusive and people died here, how did they stay open for so long?" Gwen asked.
"Apparently, they stayed open by somehow passing inspections, and followed 'health code' and never broke it. No one ever found out about the abuse and rapes. Every death was reported under 'natural causes' or they succumbed to their mental illnesses. There was even a few suicides, I think around like 200 of them maybe? I'm not too sure. But each suicide was reported in." She explained.
Leo started to feel more and more uneasy and on edge the longer his sister talked about the history of the asylum.