Mizuki-ShiBara

With eyes of hazel, she gazed into the eyes of a beast she knew all too well.

She stared into the eyes of a beast, the eyes of something she had once held onto dearly,

A beast that wasn't always a beast,

A beast that was once a happy, curious child that she kept protected,

A happy, curious child that loved the world and the people in it.

She stared into the eyes of an ugly, dark beast as it decayed slowly each day,

An ugly, dark beast with blood stained teeth of silver,

Like the blade of a knife,

Your reflection staring back at you through the Crimson stains you made.

She stared into the eyes of a beast of what once was,

Remembering when she had loved everything about the world,

Remembering when she had wanted so much to explore this amazing world of curiosities,

Remembering when she protected that child-like heart

Before it was torn apart and put back together too many times,

Before it was blackened by agony and tormenting voices.

She stared into the eyes of a beast that was ready to devour her whole within a second,

The eyes of a beast that is ugly and terrifying but,

Is really only afraid and broken.

She stared into the eyes of a beast that has been broken and beaten too many times,

The eyes of a beast that had once only wanted to love and care for people,

But was thrown away and beaten instead.

She stared into the eyes of what was once her,

What was once her happiness,

What was one her heart,

Now black and ugly,

Growling and cowering in the corner,

Baring it's ugly, bladed teeth whenever someone got close.

She stared into the eyes of hazel she saw in the mirror before her.

This is a bad idea, he thought as he followed the adventurous girl and her nervous younger brother, the group of three venturing through the forest, the evening, warm glow of the evening sun illuminating their path. The girl, Emily Thomas, was seventeen and courageous, if not dangerously so. Her brother, Jonathan Thomas, was fifteen and a bit of a nervous wreck, very bashful and not-so-courageous. Then, there was the third, a boy of twenty, Zeke Watson. It was fall, the evening sun making the leaves of yellows and oranges and reds glow. The three's foot steps crunched the leaves upon the ground, wondering down the narrow, old path. The faint scent of honey and that odd scent always coming from scented pine-cones lingered in the air as the gentle breeze floating between the trees like wondering, lonely ghosts, whispering into one's ear.

            Zeke zipped up his black and green striped hoodie, fixing his long-ish black hair before turning his emerald gaze to the shorter siblings. Emily was putting her long, white-blonde hair in a pony-tail as Jonathan was moving his short, brown hair out of his face. Jonathan glanced back at Zeke, a worried look in his bright eyes of sapphire. Zeke nodded in assurance, turning the Emily as she spoke, looking at them with a toothy-grin and a twinkle of excitement in her brown eyes.

            "I've got the recorder and flashlights, as well as a map. Jon has the video camera," Emily explained to Zeke, "we'll split up to explore the inside once we're there. I'll take the third floor, Jon will take the second, and you," she turned to Zeke, "will take the first floor. Then, we'll meet back up to make a plan about the others."

            "Emi, w-why do w-we have to split up?" Jonathan frowned worriedly.

            "To cover more ground, duuuuh," Emily rolled her eyes, turning and walking straight.

            Zeke sighed silently, glancing at Jonathan as he zipped up his light grey hoodie. He then looked forward, seeing a massive building in the nearing distance. Zeke had a bad feeling about this plan of Emily's, he felt as though something wasn't right about the place they were headed. As he was thinking, they arrived at the front of a massive brick building, a worn, decaying structure that once was St. William's Hospital. Plants grew all over the side of the building, curling and coiling over the sides and the windows. Windows were broken, the front, double doors rusted and dented. The front gardens were long unmanaged, rose bushes wild and massive, flowers over powered by weeds and grass growing tall enough to reach Zeke's knees. The stone pathway up to the doors was cracked and overgrown with weeds and grass, the flag once waving proudly from the flagpole now laying tattered and torn upon the ground, the pole rusted and decaying, vines growing up it.

            "They say that it was an asylum before becoming a normal hospital," Emily said as she climbed the fence surrounding the decaying building. "I looked up the history and, it says it was shut down due to the building being too old and too far beyond repair. But, it's rumored that the real reason for it's closing, was because of a government operation running beneath the building that had gone wrong. Back during the late 90s, 1998, I believe, there was a mass murder here in the asylum, they believed that an animal had gotten in but, who would believe that?" Emily chuckled amusedly as she landed on her feet, having jumped mid-way from the fence.

            Zeke allowed Jonathan to climb onto his back, carrying the smaller male over the fence. Zeke jumped down, kneeling and setting Jonathan on the ground. The two followed Emily down the old, broken path to the doors.

            "I actually found some of the old statements and such taken by the police from witnesses in the library! Neat, huh?" Emily smiled, approaching the double doors, slipping through the narrow opening of the rusted doors as they were dented, bent, and stuck. "Some witnesses say they heard an inhuman screech and saw the figure of a girl, no older than seventeen and no younger than thirteen, a girl with really long and messy light grey hair and a mask!" She kneeled down in the entry way, taking a black backpack off and going through it, "but, all of the witnesses had something different, even just a little, and most were...well, crazy. That's when it was shut down, then reopened as a hospital where is happened again in 2001! Only, on a smaller scale. The witness reports were fairly similar but, with more details like, bandages and chains and a mechanical arm. Real freaky stuff if ya' ask me." Emily tossed a flashlight to Zeke, who in turn put it in his hoodie pocket. "So, basically, I'm going to record some audio, while Jon is going to get video. Zeke, you get the camera for pictures," she said, tossing him the small, blue camera.

            Zeke caught it effortlessly and pocketed it, catching Jonathan's flashlight for him. He handed the light to the smaller male, who in turn nodded in gratitude, taking it and clutching it in his free hand, the video camera in the other. Emily put a pocket knife in a small holster in one of her knee high, black boots, being careful of her red and black striped tights. She then took out a walkie-talkie and hooked it to the waist-line of her black shorts, hooking the small, box shaped recorder on the other side. She out the ear-bud in, the mic hooking to the collar of her crimson, rib-cage length jacket. She then handed a walkie-talkie to each of the boys before standing up and putting the backpack back on.

            Emily grinned at them, "any questions?"

            "W-What do w-w-we do af-fter w-we explore our f-floor?" Jonathan asked, hooking his walkie-talkie to the pocket of his dark grey jeans.

            "We'll meet up back here," Emily answered. "Anything else?" She looked between them, then grinned, "good luck!" With that, she was off.

            Jonathan frowned nervously, beginning to walk up the stairs after turning his video camera on. Zeke sighed silently, worried about them both but, especially for Jonathan because of how nervous and small he was. Zeke took a breath and began to venture through the first floor. He stopped in the middle of the main room, looking at the paper and leaf littered floor, the tiles torn away and broken in some places. The paint on the walls pealed and fell away, cracks and holes fracturing the once strong and secure, safe and warm walls of the hospital, plants crowing all over the place. He approached the old, torn up front desk, seeing the rusted filing cabinets. Zeke jumped over the counter and looked at the cabinets, barely making out the labels as years. He looked through them all until he found one labeled "1998." Out of curiosity, he opened it to find it completely empty aside from a single notebook. He looked it over, wiping the sheet of dust and webs from it before being able to see the name written on the front was scratched out, the only label remaining being the letter "R." He opened the notebook, dust flowing out in a small cloud. The pages were yellowed, some morphed as though they had been soaked, some pages torn, and some completely blacked out with paint or marker. The name on the inside was also scratched out, leaving only the letter "i." Zeke flipped through the pages, finding child-like-but rather impressive-drawings within until finally reaching a page with someone's handwriting.

            He began to read it silently, "silently she stares, her eye like a crimson moon illuminating the blue, night sky. She speaks only but the growls of an animal, watching hungrily, yet sorrowfully. She desires freedom, she desires feeling, she desires humanity. No sound is made, neither of us speak, silence remains between us aside from the soft mechanical hum from somewhere near her. No breath leaves her lungs, no blood pumps through her heart, no voice speaks out of her agony. She only sits and waits, paces and stalks, growls and glares, longing for her freedom, for her lost humanity." The rest, what appeared to once have been a picture, had been scratched out.

            Zeke took a picture of it and the cabinet before putting the book into his out back that hung at his waist, from his belt. He closed the cabinet quietly, checking the others only to find them empty. He took a few pictures of the surroundings before moving on down a ill-lit hallway. It was then he noticed the sun was setting further below the horizon. He frowned a bit, taking out his flashlight and turning it on as he strode down the hallway. As he went down the hallway, a rotten, coppery stench invaded the air around him, causing him to cringe a bit. At the end of the hallway, he could see a very dim glow coming from a room to the right. Cautiously, he approached the room, slowly peering inside the doorless frame to find a small, candle lit lantern in the middle of the room, sitting upon the floor. He entered the room, gazing at the child-like drawings on the walls, broken and worn crayons lying around the room. He then noticed the dried, hand shaped blood prints on the floor, leading to a closet. Cautiously once more, he approaching the closet door and opened it, almost puking at the sight. Within the closet were the corpses of animals, some fresh, some very old. He backed away, covering his mouth. He spun around, seeing a shadow crawl past the doorway. He frowned, taking a picture of the walls, lantern, and closet before leaving the room, slowly looking around before fully stepping out of the room.

            Zeke ventured further down the hallway, with more caution than before, as the sky outside became darker, darkening the corridor he strode through. He looked around, more alert as he looked for whatever had possibly made that shadow on the wall. He hoped no one-or no thing-was there with him, despite the growing feeling of being watched-no, of being stalked. He took a deep breath, trying to calm the anxiety and paranoia building within. Nothing could be there with him, right? There is no such thing as government creatures and carnivorous monsters...right? He took another, silent deep breath before turning a corner. Before he could enter the next room, though, a crackling of static and the muffled voice of Jonathan came over the walkie-talkie.

            "E-E-Em-mily?...Z-Zeke?" Jonathan whispered, voice panicked and scared. "Please...h-help m-m-me! Som-m-mething is up h-here w-with m-m-me," he sounded on the verge of tears.

            Zeke out the camera in his pocket as he started running down the hallway, running toward the main room to reach the stairs. He ran up the stairs, his speed only increasing as he heard Jonathan scream. Zeke burst through the double doors and ran down the hallway, following the flickering glow of what he assumed to be Jonathan's flashlight; he assumed correct. He found the frail boy curled up in a corner, trembling violently and sobbing. There was a gash on his cheek, a claw mark on his arm, blood oozing from both. Zeke ran over, gathering the shaking form of the smaller boy in his arms and shushing him, trying to calm him down. After Jonathan calmed down a bit, Zeke reached into the bag he kept at his side, hooked to his belt, and got out his small but fair-sized first-aid kit. He bandages the cut on Jonathan's face, then the gash on his arm, using a wile to clean him up. Zeke frowned worriedly at the sniffling Jonathan that sat in his lap, gently ruffling his hair in hopes of calming the shy boy. Zeke waited a few minutes before standing up, helping Jonathan up off the floor. He picked up the broken flashlight, putting it away, then picked up the video camera from off the floor. Oddly enough, it was across the room, broken into multiple pieces. Zeke took the SD card out from the camera remains, handing it to Jonathan to put in his pocket. He then picked his own flashlight up, checking it over to make sure it was alright.

            "L-Let's find Em-m-mi," Jonathan mumbled as he took ahold of Zeke's wrist.

            Zeke nodded silently, smiling softly at the brown haired boy before heading out of the room to search for Emily. They ascended the stairs, entering through the double doors to the third floor. It was much darker, cracks and holes littering the floor. Zeke took ahold of Jonathan's hand, keeping him close as they walked down the hallway, stepping over and around holes in the floor, cautiously stepping wherever there were cracks as they didn't know what could give out and what was sturdy.

            "Em-mily?" Jonathan called out, holding tightly onto Zeke's arm.

            Zeke cautiously looked through the doorway of each room that was open or without a door. Both stopped suddenly, looking at the end of the hallway as a shadow seemed to move, something red and glowing at the end of the hallway. Then, suddenly, like an animal running after being seen, the crimson glow disappeared down the hallway as did the shadow. Zeke, carefully, ran down the hallway only to stop dead in his tracks once he reached the end. His eyes widened, as did Jonathan's. There, lying upon the floor with her chest and stomach torn open, organs strewn about, was Emily's corpse. Her body seemed to be torn apart by an animal, blood everywhere, her right eye hanging out of the socket, her jaw snapped completely off. Jonathan turned and puked on the floor, Zeke just staring disbelievingly at the corpse.

            CRUNCH-Sssst...grrrrrrowl

            Zeke's eyes widened a bit more, his entirely body tense as he slowly turned his head to see a figure standing in the hallway to his right, shadowed in the darkness of the hallway. The figure took slow, awkward steps forward, twitching every once and a while, seeming to be hunched slightly. A low, animalistic growl sounded from the figure, sounding as though there were multiple growls at once, a low mechanical hum could be heard from the figure as he moved. It tilted it's head, standing only ten feet away from the two. Zeke held tightly onto Jonathan's arm, standing protectively in front of him. As outside, a cloud moved from in the way of the almost full moon, casting it's pale glow through a hole in the wall to the left and revealing the figure. It-no, she, stood awkwardly, hunched slightly, standing on the heel of her toes. She wore torn and blood stained, baggy, dark grey pants

with belts wrapped around some places, two belts keeping the pants around her skinny waist. Bandages covered her chest, parts of her right arm bandaged as well as chains wrapped around her forearm and hung down, chains wrapped around her left thigh and knee. Her right arm was mechanical, seeming to be copper and some kind of silver metal, soft mechanical hums echoing from it. Long, messy, light grey hair hung down almost to her knees, a white mask covering her bangs and most of her face except a portion, the part of the mask seemingly broken off, revealing a glowing crimson eye, the pupil seemingly nonexistent, the whites a deep, dark blue, like the midnight sky on a night of a full moon. Her skin was a pale grey-blue, littered with stitches and scars, both old and new.

            She crouched down, her hands on the ground, standing on the heels of her toes still. She looked like an animal about to pounce at it's prey. Zeke turned, grabbed Jonathan's hand, and ran in one fluid movement, sprinting down the hallway, jumping over the holes in the floor while the girl waited, then gave chase. Zeke zig-zagged down hallways, getting some distance between them and the creature girl before diving into a room, gently shutting the door. Zeke shushed Jonathan, looking around the room and grabbing a slender steel beam from the wall, some of the wall crumbling down. He stood ready in front of the door, Jonathan curled up in the corner to the right of the door. The growl echoed down the hallway as she drew near, crawling through the hallway. He could see her shadow beneath the door as she paused. All was silent for a moment, time seeming to slow down as she burst into the room and launched herself at Zeke. He took in a breath as he swung the beam and hit her in the face, sending her tumbling into the wall to the left, her mask falling to the ground.

            "Jonathan, GO!" Zeke shouted, catching Jonathan by surprise. Jonathan sat still in shock, "GO!" Zeke yelled once more, turning toward the girl.

            Jonathan got up after a moment, then ran out of the room, running as fast as he could. Zeke stood at the ready, the girl already up on her bandaged feet, standing on the heel of her toes once again. She slowly looked up, her hair falling away, revealing her face. There were many scars and stitches, a thin line of stitches and jagged lines going across where her mouth should be, from ear to ear. She glared dangerously, rage filling her eyes. It was then that Zeke noticed her right eye...it was completely black with the number '27' in crimson in the center, instead of an iris or pupil. Her 'mouth' slowly began to open, the jagged line coming apart to reveal rows of sharp, crimson teeth as she hunched over more, took a breath, and let out an inhuman, soul piercing, ear bleeding screech, a howl of agony, of rage, a cry of anguish, all in one terrifying assault of sound of multiple voices of pain screaming in unison. Zeke covered his ears in pain, cringing as he dropped the metal beam. He looked at her in fear, blood leaking from his ears, as she slowly, awkwardly, walked over to him, standing over him. He screamed as she screeched and lunged, biting his throat and tearing the flesh out. He dropped to the floor, gurgling and choking on blood as she pounced atop him and began tearing him apart. The last thing he saw, was the glowing '27' in her eye. His last thought, was the hope he had for Jonathan to be okay.

He knew this was a bad idea.