The Crimson Mask Part 22 #serialthrillers

SILAS

I stood on the roof of the asylum’s abandoned western wing brushing the dirt from my trousers. My hip and shoulder felt bruised from the fall but thanks to the mask the pain soon faded. The roof was still wet from the day’s rain and I could smell the damp grass in the gardens below.

I knelt beside one of the three sash windows and listened carefully. There was no sound coming from inside. Even though the window had been painted shut and was locked from the inside I was able to open it easily. Confident that there was no-one in the hallway I stepped through the window and pulled it shut behind me.

The smell of damp and dust filled the air as I crept through the darkness towards the staircase at the end of the hall. My eyes soon adjusted and amplified what little moonlight there was shining through the cobweb covered windows. On the right side of the hall I passed several doors leading into rooms furnished with hospital beds.

Something scuttled across the floor in the darkness below and every stair creaked as it took my weight. A foul smell rose up to meet me, carried by the currents of warm air swirling up the stairwell. I strained to hear any more movement from below but there was nothing, even the rats had gone quiet. But then a new sound interrupted the silence, the unmistakable sound of a steam wagon pulling up onto the gravel outside.

Two feet stepped onto the driveway. A heavy door opened and a second pair of footsteps crunched on the gravel. With my enhanced hearing I could hear their whispered voices as if they were standing in the hallway beside me.

“He’s asleep.” A young female voice. She sounded as if she’d been crying.

“Have you named him?” Older, sterner, colder.

“No.” a stifled sob.

“Good, it makes the separation easier. Do you have the money?”

There was the sound of a purse clicking open and paper notes rustling as they were handed from one lady to the other.

“There is only forty here. We agreed fifty!”

“It’s all I have. You’ve left me with nothing.”

“Very well, we will just have to feed him smaller rations.”

“Please look after him.”

“Don’t be silly child, of course we shall. Now hand him over and be on your way. The longer you stay the harder it will be. Trust me.”

Her sobs grew louder as the older woman re-entered the building, slamming the heavy wooden door behind her. I expected to hear the younger woman return to her car but instead her footsteps continued along the gravel path. The sound changed as she stepped onto the lawn, fading as she walked further from the building. Then her footsteps stopped. Silence. My heart beat once, twice, three times and then there was a loud splash.

I bounded back up the stairs, sprinted along the hallway and climbed back through the window onto the flat roof. I stood for a moment, adjusted the mask and took a deep breath. My blood tingled as the mask’s power surged through my body. I ran to the edge of the roof and jumped…