An Abandoned Hatred

Joe and Oliver were stunned by what they had just heard. They didn’t even know what to say. They were still under the effect of the story they had listened to. They could only stare at Henry with blank expressions. Finally, Joe broke the silence.

“You… Do you realize what you’re saying, Mr. Foster? Keeping this secret is a crime. All of this is pure madness!”  Joe was visibly tense.

“I know how disturbing and awful the things I’m saying are. But I need you to understand me, kids. I’ve almost sacrificed my entire life to protect Lucas. His mother passed away when he was born, and he was the only thing that kept me going. But look at what’s happened now. That bastard came and somehow kidnapped him,”  Henry replied.

“How did he manage to do it? Did Lucas have surgery recently or something? He couldn't have taken him any other way, right?”  Oliver asked.

“Yes, Lucas had surgery about four weeks ago. But I took him all the way to London for it, so he wouldn’t know. Somehow, that bastard found out and managed to infiltrate the surgery.” Henry was growing angry.

“So, what do you want from us now?”  Joe asked.

“I need you to go to the old hospital and get down to the basement. Below where the elevator can go. But considering the elevator doesn't work, you'll need to go down about six floors. Once you reach the end of the hallway, enter the door and retrieve Mark’s reports from the experiment room,”  Henry said, sounding desperate. “Only you can break this curse.”

Joe and Oliver exchanged glances. They were both very anxious. But after everything they had seen, heard, and worst of all, the stories about the dead children, they wanted to put an end to this. It was the best thing they could do. They knew that with the knowledge they had, they couldn’t live a peaceful life anymore. They had to end it. The world needed to be rid of such a monster.

“Alright. We’ll take care of it, don’t worry. The old hospital is far, but we’ll get there and grab the reports today. But what will those reports do for us? And how can you be so sure they’re still there?”  Oliver asked, curious.

“Those reports probably detail the process I went through after I left the hospital, but Mark resigned the same night I did. No matter what, retrieving those reports is crucial now. I’m sure they’re still there because Mark made copies. Before leaving, he printed a lot of copies through a press. The owner of that press is someone I know, so I was informed right away. Most likely, the reports were left behind when Mark fled. Go, retrieve them, and come back. The real process begins after that,”  Henry explained.

After this conversation, Joe and Oliver left the house and headed to the old hospital on the other side of the city. On the way, they reflected on everything that had happened. How could all of this have occurred? Why hadn’t anyone stopped this madness? These questions lingered in their minds, making them even more suspicious. It felt like these events were far from over.

When they arrived at the hospital, they looked for a way in. The three-story hospital was surrounded by forest, giving it the eerie feel of a psychological rehabilitation center. Chains on the front door made entry seem impossible. At that moment, Joe picked up a stone and threw it at the large window next to the door. The glass shattered completely, and they slowly entered. The place was completely abandoned. The air was thick with dust, casting a grayish hue over the crumbling walls. The hospital hadn’t been demolished because the land couldn’t be sold, but the interior had been looted. Joe and Oliver carefully searched for a way to get downstairs. They walked down the long corridors behind the reception area.

When they reached the elevator section, they saw the stairs behind them. Joe and Oliver encouraged each other as they descended. They needed to go down six floors. As they went lower, the light began to fade. Before leaving the house, Henry had given them two flashlights, which they had switched on from the very first staircase. Each floor they passed was in worse condition than the last. Joe started to feel uneasy as they descended. His body trembled, and it seemed like he didn’t want to continue. But he pushed himself forward, and they finally reached the fifth floor. There were no more stairs leading down from there. They began to explore the floor. The eerie silence and darkness were overwhelming, broken only by the occasional scurrying of rats.

As they walked, they noticed a few bones scattered on the floor. This surprised them. What were bones doing there? Were they from looters, or had others come here to investigate? There was no time for those questions now. At the end of the corridor, they found what looked like a hidden door. It was the same color as the walls but had a slight protrusion. The walls had rotted away, making the door stand out. They opened it and saw another staircase. After descending, they were met with another corridor, narrow but short. At the end, a white iron door awaited them. They were now face-to-face with hell.

Joe slowly opened the door, and they stepped inside. It was a generator room. If they were lucky, they might be able to start the generator and ease some of the tension in the atmosphere. The room was massive, about half the size of the entire floor, and housed around six large generators. As Joe and Oliver examined the room, they heard a noise outside. It sounded like footsteps. Oliver immediately ran to close the door. As he approached the door, he saw something watching him from a distance—a figure with long black hair, standing about half his height, with pitch-black eyes and a red dot for a pupil. It wore sack-like clothes, and Oliver instantly thought it could be a ghost. He quickly shut the door and started shouting.

“There! Joe, one of the ghosts is out there!”  Oliver screamed.

Joe ran to the door and wedged some chairs under the handle. The two then hurried to get all the generators working. As they activated the switches, the ghostly figure began pounding on the door. Each hit made the door creak as if it was about to break. Tension was at its peak, and they were yelling, “Come on, come on!” Finally, the sixth generator kicked in, and the room lit up. Joe immediately spotted a door at the far end of the room and ran toward it. Oliver followed, but as he glanced back, he saw the door breaking open.

As soon as they were inside, they locked every lock on the door. They were now in a larger, somewhat safer room. It was filled with bloodstained experiment tables. Scattered around the room were a few laboratory tools, but the most striking thing was the hospital bed in the center. This bed had witnessed all the experiments, all the horrors, and the fates of the children. At that moment, Joe remembered something.

“Hey, Oliver,”  Joe said with a voice full of fear.

“What?”

“The last kid Henry mentioned. The one who killed his family,”  Joe was even more nervous now.

“Yeah? What about him?”  Oliver asked, confused.

“Henry never said what happened to him. He probably doesn’t know either. But... if Mark left the hospital that day, the body of that kid should be here,”  Joe managed to finish his sentence.

“Mark must have killed him, and like the other kids, his body probably withered away,”  Oliver tried to reassure Joe.

“Maybe… But I don’t think that ghost would agree. Besides, can a ghost even fail to break through a door?”  Joe concluded.

Before Oliver could respond, the door to their room suddenly opened. The figure that entered was alive, but barely. Oliver and Joe looked at it as if they had already accepted their fate.

“Who are you, and why are you here?”  the figure asked.

“We’re here for the one who killed you and your friends,”  Joe said.

“Oh, that man. A terrifying person. You should be careful, especially you. He... he can control you,”  the boy’s voice was hollow.

“Me? What are you talking about?”  Joe asked, growing uneasy.

“You’ll see when it happens,”  the boy replied.

“What’s your name? How are you still alive?”  Oliver asked, though he was terrified.

“My name? What was it again? Ah yes… My name… Oh, I’ve forgotten it,”  the boy muttered to himself.

As Joe and Oliver watched him struggle with himself, they realized something. This boy had been here for years, yet he was still alive. However, he still looked like a 10-year-old. If he was 10 now, he would have been 2 or 3 when these events happened, too young to have killed his family. The substance known as Eternum must have stopped his physical growth and aging entirely.

“Evan… My name is Evan,”  the boy finally recalled.

As soon as he said his name, the atmosphere shifted, focusing on Evan.

“Why are you looking for him?”  Evan asked.

“I saw what he did. That man, Mark, kidnapped our friend,”  Joe said angrily.

“Friend… He kidnapped your friend? I see. So what are you doing here?”  Evan asked, still in a detached tone.

“Someone told us Mark might have left some reports here. We’re trying to stop the person who did this to you,” Oliver explained.

“We? Ah yes, them. They never leave me alone. But for some reason, they haven’t shown up since you arrived,”  Evan said.

“Do you know whose bones those are outside?”  Oliver asked suddenly.

"Occasionally, there were sounds coming from the corridor. I suppose it was people trying to visit me. But Jeremy and Charlotte always go and tell them not to come,"  Evan said with a disturbingly calm tone.

As Joe and Oliver listened, their blood ran cold. It felt like they had fallen into a science fiction nightmare. After this conversation, there was a long silence. Evan went to a corner of the room and started banging his head against the wall. With each hit, blood began to cover the wall, and judging by the marks on the surface, it wasn’t the first time he’d done this.

Joe and Oliver began searching the cabinets on the tables, trying not to make any noise. They searched the room for five minutes but found nothing. Other than a few bloodstained papers, they had nothing. However, their attention was drawn to the protruding section of the wall where Evan was banging his head. They guessed that this was where the reports were hidden. Of course, to get to them, they first had to move Evan...