The Redwood Asylum: A Paranormal Horror by L.A. Detwiler

Author:L.A. Detwiler [Detwiler, L.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-11T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Iraced to floor five as I tried to beat the clock. I didn’t need to be late for my shift on top of everything else. I painted on the rehearsed smile I’d examined in the rearview mirror before coming in. All was well. That’s what I needed Anna to believe at least. As I dashed to the desk to relieve Brett from his shift, Anna smiled from the A wing.

“Good morning, Jessica. How are you?” she asked sweetly. I tried to brush aside my wanting to analyze her words, her voice, her body language.

“Fine, thanks. How is everything on the floor?” I asked and then realized she was scheduled to start at the same time as me. “Er, sorry. You probably just got here, too.”

She kept the sweet smile plastered. “No, I got called in a little early tonight. We had some resident changes on our floor, so I came in to handle it.”

I perked my head up. “Did someone pass?” I asked, my stomach sinking. I hadn’t heard anything about anyone being eligible for release and, in truth, release was something that usually only came in death for the residents on our floor.

She shook her head. “No. 1A is being moved.”

“Moved where?” I thought of the middle-aged woman who was known as being a biter. According to Anna, she’d violently killed her entire family, including her children. She’d seen visions that told her to do it, landing her at Redwood for the past two years. She was a newbie, by our standards. I couldn’t imagine her moving to a lower security floor, though. Or anywhere, for that matter.

“Away. It doesn’t matter. But now we have an empty spot if we should need it. That’s a major concern, when some of the patients on lower floors act up and we’re all full up here. A real problem sometimes. Our top paying families don’t want their loved ones housed beside violent lunatics, after all.” She shrugged and busied her hands with paperwork.

I stared for a long moment, trying to take it all in. Her nonchalance about the woman moving was unsettling. I wanted more details but was afraid of asking, of looking too interested.

“Didn’t the state place her here?” I asked, realizing how it was odd she wouldn’t have started at a state-run facility to begin with. I’d assumed it had something to do with overflow but never asked.

Anna stopped in her tracks, smiling demurely. “We have plenty to do on the floor today, Jessica, with those who are left. Why don’t you get to work in the A wing? I’ll take B, of course.”

I nodded, taking a step back from my questions but still curious as hell.

“Dude, leave it alone,” Brett said from behind the desk after Anna walked away. He’d been a silent observer the whole time, leaning back a little too far in the computer chair. “Why worry when it’s not your problem? Besides, I’m glad the biter’s gone. That bitch nabbed me more than a few times.

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