“Congratulations to the class of 2011, you’re finally done!” the headmaster said as we started to cheer and raise our caps in joy and relief. We had done it. We graduated. Only summer left and we start our journey off to college. Me, on the other hand, that was a different story. Having only my mom and my sister, college was just out of the question. Staying home for the sake of my sister was the only option, unless my mother could stop using and drinking. I was going to enjoy my last summer with my friends, live it up, party, hang out, and relax. “John, man, we are all going to my house later, you in?” Mike asked while putting my in a headlock.
“Sure, I just have to let my mom know.”
“Alright man, party of the year!” Always a party to him. Mike was probably the biggest jock/ jerk in the school, but he always could throw a good party. That night I decided to go. Upon my arrival, I realized that this was the true start to my summer. I wasn’t going to sit around and do nothing. This was my last summer as a kid. I needed to enjoy it.
I was finally at Mike’s house. The place was packed with people, and alcohol to go around. As I was trying to enter his house, I saw our usual gang waving me down. “John! Over here” Marry yelled. I slithered through the large crowed into the kitchen. “Finally you’re here, we are talking about a trip, you in?” Brian asked.
“What kind of trip” I replied.
“A road trip to West Virginia to this old asylum.” Jessica said. “
I’m in! Anything that will get me out of here” I said as I pounded down my drink. I almost feel as if I was just not thinking because of how mad I was at myself for basically taking care of my family while my mother sat back and drank. But by this point I was just happy to be out of my house. “When are we going?” I asked starting on my 3rd drink. “Well if all goes as planned in 2 days, I got to get my dads car first.” Mike said.
“We can take my car.” I said.
“Then let’s leave tomorrow, I don’t want to be here any longer.” Jessica said, slurring her speech for she had been there since after graduation.
“Sounds good to me!” I yelled. From there on out it was a blur.
When the sun was rising I found myself on the floor of a bathroom that was not mine, and a slate smell to the air. My head was pounding and I was vulnerable to sound. I was experiencing my first hangover. I got up, fixed my clothes, and slowly worked my way downstairs. Upon my arrival to the base of the stairs Jessica, Mary, Brian, and Mike greeted me. They were all showered and ready to go. For what? I asked myself. “Dude, you’re not ready yet? Come on take a shower let’s go!” Mike said while shoving me back up the stairs. It took me an hour to get ready for I could barely move my body. Now I was ready. I got all my things went down stairs, took a cup of coffee to go, and we were off to West Virginia. “How long of a ride is this?” Mary asked.
“I don’t know a day, a week.” Mike said.
“You’re not funny!” Mary yelled. It would take up 3 hours to get to West Virginia and then another hour to get to Weston. This day would be long and tiring. I decided to sleep my headache off.
“John…we are here wake up!” Jessica said as everyone was running towards the gates to the asylum.
“It’s all locked” Brian exclaimed. “Are you kidding me? We drove all this way for nothing? This is great just great!” Mary nagged.
“Calm down Mary, we will find away in.” and that we did. We walked around to the side and there was an opening in the fence. We all climbed through and raced to the doors.
“I’m not to sure about this guy’s.” Mary said with a frightened voice.
“Don’t be such a baby.” Mike said. I too wasn’t so sure about this anymore. I mean I never told my mom where I was. As much as I hated her at this moment I just couldn’t help but feel bad for making her wonder. We kept on walking. When we reached the doors, we opened them. They made a loud and high-pitched screech that was so unpleasant to the ear. We all cringed in horror. “Oh my gosh! Haven’t they ever heard of WD-40?” We entered. As soon as we enter there was a cold vibe, as if the summer turned into winter in a split second. “SLAM!” we all looked behind us to see the doors had closed on their own. “Ok now I’m really scared.” Mary said.
“It’s fine, you’ll be fine.” Brian insisted. We all walked passed the main office and into the dark. Now it was getting dark.
“Guy’s, I think we should just go.” Whimpered Jessica. Everyone just ignored her. It was pitch black; we had two flashlights and no clue what time it was. We were entering on the second floor. Tiles had fallen from the ceiling, there was off colored paints on the walls, creepy vibes, and paranormal activities. The windows at the ends of hallways had cages, the tiles on the wall had slime and mold, and the stains that appeared to look like blood, were all signs of horror. As we enter on to the next hallway we saw a room full of stretchers. “ Wow look at these!” Mikes said.
“Don’t Mike, stop don’t touch them.” Mary pleaded. “Mike…what’s wrong with him!” Mike appeared to be floating. He was up in the air. Being thrown onto the wall. “Oh my gosh what’s wrong with him. Someone help him.” Jessica screamed. I was in such lurid shocked I couldn’t do anything but stare as his body was shaken and he tried to cling back to life. He fell. “John help me elevate his head.” Brian asked. Brian and I ran over.
“We need to get out of here now!” Mary yelled while crying. She was right this was enough we had to leave. “Put him on a stretcher and let’s get out of here now. No excuses lets go!” I yelled. We fixed him up on the stretcher. We started down the hallway slowly. “ That’s it keep is steady. Don’t bump it to much.” I said in a low scared voice. “ Wait…do you hear that?” We all stopped to try to elicit the sound. It sounded like footsteps behind us were coming up on us fast. “ Go..Go!! GO!!” I yelled. We moved as fast as we could into the next hallway. We stopped “Okay get him down the stairs.” We slowly, carried the stretcher out and into the black sky. “ Wait this isn’t the front?” We landed ourselves in the courtyard. We were not out yet.
“ Okay, here’s the plan. John and I are going to go find the closest way out of here. We will come back and get out. Stay here. Don’t move him, and if he becomes conscious, let him rest. We will find a doctor when we get out.” Brian and myself ran back into the asylum. We were on the second floor again. We looked from hallway to hallway. “ John. I think I found a way out.” I ran over I could see the trees that were in from of the asylum before. We raced down to see if it was a way out. It was.
“I’ll sit here, you go back and get them.” Brian whispered. As scared as I was, I knew I had to go back and get them.
“Okay I’ll go.” I said I disappeared off into the darkness. A slowly walked up the stairs and peeked my head out into the hallway. There was no one. I slowly worked my way out into the hallway. The sound of laughter came from all around me. It stopped. It got harder and harder to breathe. I was panting like a dog. I fell to the grounded. Choking. This was it I thought. I was going to leave unhappy with my life, mad at my mother, and leave my sister to take care of her. I became light headed. Then, it stopped. It extricated me. I started gulping in air. I got up and started walking holding myself up by using my hands on the wall. I could here more footsteps. I ran faster and faster down the hallways. I came to the door and busted it opens. “ John!” I ran over to Mary and Jessica. “How is he?” I asked.
“He’s the same. I'm really worried.” Jessica said quivering.
“Don’t worry. We are going to get out of here and get him to a hospital.” I said. We lifted him to the stretcher and started back to where Brian was waiting. We walked through the hallways back down the stairs to the 1st floor and into the main lobby. We ran through the main doors and met up with Brian. We gather out on the grass and sighed in relief. It was over. We were out.
We drove to the nearest hospital and had Mike looked at. The doctors said there was nothing wrong and that he was in shock. We couldn’t see him. For when he did wake up he was having fits and screaming. All of us waited in the lobby commiserating. We called our parents and told them what had happened. About and 4 hours later they arrived to take us home. My mom drove me home sober, for once. It was a silent car ride home, and the longest. When we got home she said, “Well I hope you’re happy. You scared me. You ruined your friends life and now he’s in the hospital.” I didn’t reply. I just walked up to my room slammed the door, and fell asleep.
The next morning I woke up and walked down stairs. My mom said nothing. “ I'm going to visit Mike. Ill be back in a couple of hours.” I said. There was no response so I walked out. When I got to his house I sat in the car. I thought about what was going to happen. I couldn’t think straight. I finished my coffee and started walking to his door. From the first look Mike’s parents gave me, I knew there was something wrong. This summer would be the hardest to live through out my life.
