In twisted celebration of Outlast! The game that gives me more nightmares than usual. Thankfully, Ding and Dong the naked twins are not appearing in this fic, but be warned, like Outlast, it may be very, very, disturbing.
Don't worry, the other chapters will not be as short.
The nightmares only really served as some twisted amusement for Rose. They just seemed so, well, typical, of someone with her interests. Because that's how almost every one of Lovecraft's books start. Nightmares of the Great Old Ones. It was kind of funny. What was not funny, was her lack of inspiration. She had Complacency Of The Learned all planned out, but she felt like her repertoire needed something a little darker. And perhaps a deep shade of purple.
She looked for the biggest cliché she could find; an abandoned mental asylum. Specifically a place called Viridian Asylum, somewhere in Idaho's countryside. Abandoned about thirty years ago, with rumours of terrible scandal. Judging by the pictures, it looked huge.
It would be a nice place to explore. And her friends' reactions were priceless when she invited them to come along. She did manage to get them to come as well, five, in fact.
There was John, whom she had known the longest. An adorable ball of energy with a fondness for harmless pranks, Rose and John had been friends since they were children. He was the perfect foil to her more aloof nature.
Kanaya, her girlfriend, and a nurse, had decided to come because she wanted to spend more time with her, and she was curious if there were good medical practices being carried out in the place before its fall.
Terezi, who was from Kanaya's circle of friends, was a law student who was convinced by saying the word "scandal" in the chat client. The Spanish girl was also obsessed with dragons and probably had an obscene crush on Phoenix Wright.
Vriska, who was her friend, or possibly arch-rival, it was hard to tell at times, volunteered "8ecause someone needs to make sure you don't freak out over Terezi's shadow and call the cops". Caustic, outgoing and manipulative, but probably on their side, she had an insatiable lust for money and adventure, which in hindsight was the real reason she probably came.
She had also goaded the last boy, a rich kid named Eridan, to come because she implied his lineage consisted of poultry. He seemed even moodier than Rose, and he had spoken to her to try and get her to make richer friends, herself being rather wealthy. It didn't work and he spent most of the trip sulking. Although he was an excellent map reader, everyone was loathe to listen to him.
The blue people carrier pulled up at an old security hut, and they began their ascent of the hill to the building.
Rose tried the door, but of course, it was locked. They did find a way in through a window a story up, by some scaffolding. The entered in some sort of office, and exited into the hallway. Vriska and Eridan began bickering about something while Terezi walked beside Rose.
"Are you sure this is...well...allowed?" she asked.
"Probably not. But I do not think there will exactly be police officers on patrol here." she looked down, clearly not satisfied. "I do not see any harm in it, Terezi. We will be fine." The girl harrumphed and fell back a little.
They came to an old stairwell, and descended, but as Eridan stepped on to it, the whole thing creaked, and everybody froze. The old wood moaned before promptly collapsing, sending them falling down a level.
They groaned and stood in defiance, Vriska especially, who kicked the "piece of shit useless thing"'s remains.
Now without a way back out, their only way was forward, and they entered the lobby.