Part 7: Acacia Asylum

Although the ride to Acacia Asylum was surprisingly calm, my brain was filled with so much anxiety.

Especially when we arrived there as if no time had passed by.

Upon exiting the train, I gripped onto my Ghoulstone as tightly as I could.

I did not want to lose it if I wanted to keep going. More importantly, if Imagi came here, we would need to search for clues that would help us trace her down.

Coming before the presence of the asylum, this furnished white building looked more fancier than I was expecting. Usually, no one in their right mind would enter a place like that without being fully prepared to deal with the crazy things that happened inside.

Of course, this being an Oddzone, I was fully expecting it to be much more crazier than that.

As The Flower Man hopped up toward the knob to open the door, we were greeted to a horribly kept hallway full of shattered glass, open holes in the ceiling, damaged pipes, broken lights, creepy containment cells, and large acacia trees growing through the building itself.

“It really had to be another scary place. And there’s no way Lilac is in there…” said Kishino.

“I’d be less worried about that and more of where we should be heading. That and the number shown on the entrance of this abandoned asylum,” suggested Wata.

My attention turned toward the number located above the entrance which was 14.

The Flower Man wasn’t kidding about how many random numbers there would be…

“A fair word of caution to anyone that thinks we can just walk around in there until we find the next exit, I would watch for rooms that have a white question mark present at the top of an entrance. Elevators are an exception at times, but not always. Otherwise? It’s a trap,” he warned.

We all understood what he meant, but at the exact same time, my own fears about what would happen by the time we met the Syringe Stalker made me anxious.

Worse than that was another gripping question that I really wanted to know.

“Hey, are there any other oddities beside him inside that asylum?” I asked immediately.

The Flower Man nodded yes and told me that a majority of them could randomly visit this place with the intention of manipulating outsiders to think that they are friends with them.

Knowing this was possible, our awareness would need to be at an all time high.

The moment we closed the doors after entering, we heard what I suspected to be a ghastly young girl singing to herself from one of the rooms while walking down the cluttered hallway. Their voice was muffled from behind a strange red door.

I already knew well enough that it wasn’t worth trying to figure out what they were saying.

Upon reaching three elevators and pressing the button to go up, dog barking noises came from the top of an emergency staircase to our left.

“Such a cruel trick,” whispered Wata.

We knew exactly what he meant as Kishino’s eyes were silently watering up with sadness.

He was sensitive to the death of Lilac and this asylum wasn’t doing him any favors.

“When is the elevator coming?” he asked while trying to hide his pain and impatience.

“Could be another oddity stopping it from coming down. We will have to take the staircase to our right instead,” stated The Flower Man.

Having no other choice, we followed his lead and walked upstairs as carefully as possible. Each step made us wary of our surroundings to the extent where we even had to watch where we were going.

On the higher levels of the floor there was a strange containment cell where we could see The Syringe Stalker waiting malevolently in front of it with a creepy grin on its face. It also had two giant syringes floating from behind it.

Once The Flower Man got close enough, The Syringe Stalker said something deeply disturbing.

“To all who enter for an exit, a game must be played to suffice it. For the only one that has made the hardest sacrifice for a close friend, accept and pass my challenge to make it past the end. Deny or lose, and your fates will be mine to choose.”

A heavy realization came over my mind as I knew he was talking about me.

I already dealt with this horrible game before when The Traveller singled me out. I started questioning why The Syringe Stalker wanted something so specific.

Yes, we still needed to find Imagi and Lilac. That motivation of mine wasn’t going anywhere.

The thing was, I felt scared knowing that I could end up failing everyone again, and this wasn’t going to be an easy fix if things went south.

And the fact that I had no choice regardless made it even worse.

Just as I was stressing out, The Flower Man turned over to look over at us.

“Whoever The Syringe Stalker has chosen, he does it because you understood something that we don’t about this place. Normally, it’s something very distinct and personal. Choosing to come here is a lot more different than just ending up here because of carelessness. I hope you are ready. Now, will the person who fits the description please step forward.”

My eyes stared hopelessly at the floor with dread.

I was now the one being caught in the middle of this demanding situation.

“I am the one you’re looking for,” I said with deep regret.

The moment I chose to come out about this, a gust of wind thrusted me forcefully inside of the place that the Syringe Stalker wanted me to enter without any hesitation.

I hollered and covered my eyes at first because of how sudden it was.

There was also this pitch black darkness in here.

That was until I removed my hands from my eyes and calmed down.