Asylum
By: Lauren Freeman
A/N: I have never been to the Beechworth Asylum. I've never even gotten to go to Australia . What I have written is based purely on research and my own imagination. If there is anything I write about that is not really there, then let's just call it creative licensing at work. All mistakes are mine.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Thunderbirds. I am making no money off of this story.
Happy Halloween!
Asylum
By: Lauren Freeman
"You remember that one Halloween when Mary-Alice dressed up as a witch and had her cousin follow us around while we trick-or-treated, making us believe she was a real witch?" Scott asked Virgil. Gordon was the one who laughed, however; having been in on the joke. Alan just stared at them in confusion.
"You won't remember, Alan. You were only three. I however was eight and had equipped Zander with the speaker half of your old baby monitor while I hid the other half in my candy bag so that he could hear what was happening from far away. Mary-Alice would say things like: 'Scott your phone is about to ring. It's the ghost of..." Gordon paused, then shrugged. "Whoever. then Zander would call Scott's phone but not say a word." Gordon laughed harder at the memory.
"You should have seen Scott's face. All the color drained from it, he was convinced he was being haunted. Especially when Zander had somehow made things move around seemingly on there own." Virgil was laughing now as well. Scott looked bemused.
"If I recall, you were freaking out as much as I was Virg. Especially when Mary-Alice had declared out of no where that she had just put a curse on you and that by the end of the night you would face your worst fear." Scott began to laugh, his eyes distant, deep in memories of his own.
"Oh yeah! John had a field day trying to figure out what your worst fear was so that he could help you through it when all along he had figured out the joke before it even started. You were so scared everything made you jump. My favorite part was when that car backfired and you flew straight out of your shoes and landed in that bush." Gordon was rolling on the floor now, tears dripping down his face. Alan smiled, it sounded funny; but he guessed for it to be roll on the ground laughing funny, you had to have been there.
Sitting back Alan enjoyed listening to his brothers reminisce times he would always be to young to remember. Things that happened while their mom had still been alive, the same things that took place pre-island. Alan had no memory of ever trick-or-treating. With the exception of a few random nonsense clouded memories here and there of his early child hood, all of his memories were of living here. There was no trick-or-treating on an island where only they lived. By the time his father had settled down enough to even think about letting him off the island with his brothers, he was being sent to boarding school where they handed out bags of candy to each student after dinner on Halloween night. The students would then run around trading candies they didn't like for ones they did before being forced back to their dorm rooms to come down from the sugar highs. In the confines of their small bedrooms no one would be bothered by the insane students, no one but their equally insane roommates. There was no dressing up though they did have fun trying to scare each other. It just didn't sound the same.
A loud, well known siren interrupted the boys reminiscing. Old memories put away for another time, the group ran for the control room to learn what they could before being sent out to God know where for God knows what kind of disaster that had struck once again. Adrenalin pumping, Alan slid in to his spot beside Gordon at the end of the line while their father and commander read up on everything John was sending down to him from Five, on their latest mission. Knowledge is power, knowledge saves lives. This had been drilled into Alan over and over. If they didn't know everything they could about what they were getting into, lives, including their own; could be lost. If you didn't know everything about each piece of equipment you used, you may not know it's capabilities and lives could be lost. Knowledge had saved them all over and over again.
"Beechworth Asylum." Jeff stated, then took a long pause before sighing. "I'm afraid this one might be a big practical joke, being it's Halloween and all. But never the less, we can't take that chance."
"Dad?" Scott asked, clearly confused.
"Beechworth is a abandoned Asylum in Victoria, Australia that closed back in 1995 and now holds ghost tours. It's said to be very haunted." Jeff stated the last part while rolling his eyes. "Anyways, a cry for help has been called. The Asylum was giving Halloween tours, the person who called stated they had three tours running at once in order to accommodate the long lines of people waiting. He explained that despite the tour only being an hour and a half, it had now been two and a half hours and no one from any of the tours has returned. They sent a group in to look for them after two hours but they have disappeared as well." Jeff shook his head. This was sounding even more absurd saying it out loud.
"How many people are missing?" Scott asked.
"At this point... Ninty-nine."
"Ninty-nine people went missing... in a building?" Gordon asked before whistling.
"It's a big building." Jeff dead panned.
"This really does sound like a prank." Gordon frowned, then grinned as he rubbed his hands together that was not far from scary himself. Jeff ignored him.
"The place is huge, your going to have to split up, but I don't want anyone alone. If there really is something going on..." Jeff shook his head and rolled his eyes again. "Thunderbirds are go." Jeff sat back and watched as each of his sons disappeared. John's face came back on the screen.
"Did you send them?" John asked, clearly looking amused.
"Of course, if something has happened and we don't show up..."
"When did we become the ghost busters?" John asked.
Jeff shrugged. "Where who they called..." They both cracked up laughing.
Meanwhile, Alan, sitting in his chair in Thunderbird Two had his eyes focused on his computer screen. He was not normally the one to research where they were going unless he was on Five. Because that was the person on Five's job. But Alan was curious, he had never been to someplace reportedly haunted before. Of course there had been the rumored haunted dorm at every boarding school he had ever gone to, but he had never seen or heard anything out of the ordinary while there.
"This place IS huge! Alan stated loudly. No wonder it's taking so long for the searchers, they could be... anywhere. The place was opened in 1867, and they sent anyone that acted even a bit off there. If you were homeless you were also sent there. It only took two doctors signatures to admit you, then once you were in, eight doctors had to sign the form for you to get back out. According to historians more then 3000 people died there, of course with having to have so many signatures to get out, that's probably a generous number. The things that freaks me out is the fact that this hospital was known for it's experimental treatments and lack of care. They actually had a chairs that they put people in and then spun them around so fast they would bleed out of there mouths, eyes, ears and noses." Alan shuddered. "Then there was this thing called a salt box..."
"That's creepy." Gordon stated, looking disgusted.
"Yeah. Anyways they have haunted tours every night, but on Halloween they run more tours because of popularity. Go to the real haunted house and scare yourself shitless and all that." Alan stated.
"Lanuage, Alan." Virgil mumbled from the front. Alan responded by rolling his eyes at the back of Virgil's seat. "I saw that." Alan shuddered again and looked back down at his computer.
"Sooo, what's so haunted about it?" Gordon asked, rubbing his hands together in that same creepy manner as before, looking disturbing all on his own. Alan was silent for a moment as he swept through screen after screen. His brows farrowed.
"Did anyone hear dad mention that this place is now a part of a university?" Alan asked.
"Umm, no." Gordon seemed to deflate. "A university? Really? It really is a prank." Gordon shook his head. Alan shrugged.
"Yeah, they have a ghost story for seemingly everywhere but none of the supposed ghosts are very scary. A man sitting, facing away from the windows. A nurse at the nurses station..."
"So nothing that jumps out at you yelling?" Gordon asked disappointed.
"Not that I can find." Alan laughed. Gordon deflated even more.
"That's enough, guys. We are treating this as if it's real until we learn otherwise. Got it?" Virgil stated.
"Got it." Alan and Gordon mumbled. Alan put his computer away as they made their approach towards the old hospital now university slash tourist trap.
This building was even bigger then Alan had believed. From a distance it looked white, but the closer they got the more... red it became. As if it was covered in dried blood. Maybe it was the light from the rapidly setting sun... In some places it looked like your typical over sized billionaires home. In others it formed to look more like a mid-evil castle. If nothing else the place was creepy, a perfect setting for a ghost story or ten.
They landed beside Thunderbird One smoothly before grabbing flashlights and life sign detectors. Alan followed his brothers out into the fresh air, it was not soothing, however. There was a pressure in the air, the kind felt before a great storm was about to hit. The hairs on his body stood on end and a deep menacing cold had set down, chilling him right to the very bone.
"Does this feel a little creepy to you guys?" Gordon asked, shuddering.
"Don't tell me you're scared." Virgil teased, but even he had a look of being overly all creeped out, in his expressive eyes.
"We have work to do. Let's go." Scott stated as he walked up to them. "I've talked to the person in charge of the tours as well as the officer in charge of the search teams. It's now been three and a half hours and there is no sign of anyone from those three tours. Alan, you're with me, Gordon you're with Virgil." Scott handed Alan, Virgil and Gordon each two maps.
"We each have two maps, both the layouts of this building. The first has the tours marked in three different colors. They didn't want the three tours to intersect so they planned out the routs carefully. They all see the same locations, but as you can see, they all start in different spots and go in different directions. This place is huge as you have noticed, so they don't see it all, most of this building is locked up tight so that no one can get in. It's been checked, all those doors are still locked.
"The officer in charge has sent his team in to search route one, Gordon and Virgil, you take route two, a tour guide will take you through. Alan and I will head into the third door. Keep in radio contact and we will meet back out at the front in two hours if we haven't found anything, got it?" Scott commanded.
"FAB." Alan, Gordon and Virgil spoke together.
"Good, head out."
Alan walked silently beside his oldest brother as they headed towards the back of the building. The closer they got the more heavy he seemed to feel, dread stirred in his gut. He had not realized he had slowed down until his brother stopped, now three feet ahead of him.
"Let's move a little faster, Alan. These people might be in trouble. And besides, I want to get this tour done before daylight." Scott laughed at his own joke before heading for the spot their tour guide was waiting.
"Welcome to Beechworth Asylum, one of the most haunted locations in all of Australia, my name is Louis..." He didn't get to say anymore as Scott held up a hand to stop him.
"Louis, thank you for helping us out. You don't have to give us your tour speech, just show us through and answer any questions as best you can if we ask any." Scott smiled. Louis nodded.
"Sorry, habit." Louis led them in. Alan suddenly felt, very, very small as he stepped into a grand entryway that looked to be several stories high, but was actually only two. Windows looked down at them from the second story, there was nothing else in the room. Louis silently headed to the end of the entry way, leading them into a long hallway. Every door they saw they opened and looked in. Alan took the left side, Scott the right. Stepping in, Alan shinned his light around looking for anyone, or anything that would give him a clue. Their tour guide staying in the hall, silently waiting patiently. At first he had wanted to help by checking rooms himself, but Scott, told him no, didn't want him to dissapear as well.
It had been an hour since they had stepped into Beechworth and Alan was quite frankly board. He had seen no ghosts lurking around in any of the locations he had read about, nor had he seen any clue of the missing tourist. Alan watched as Scott entered yet another room before heading off to the next door on his side.
"Oh, that's a locked door." Louis stated, but Alan was already turning the handle; it opened with a lout creek. A frown formed on Louis's face. "I've never seen that door open before. I was told no one had been able to get it open." Alan shrugged and stepped in. The room was pitch black compared to the lighted hallways and rooms he had searched before. Flicking on his flashlight he was shocked when he heard Louis scream behind him followed by a loud slam and the sound of a click. Swirling around he found himself face to face with a now closed door. Running to it he tried to turn the handle, it was freezing cold, like someone had held it in ice, but more importantly, it would not budge.
"Crap." Alan mumbled. He banged on the door yelling Louis and Scott's name but could hear nothing from behind the door. The room began to drop in temperature rapidly and Alan turned back around to face the long, falling apart hospital ward. Beds lined the walls, the white metal bed frames paint chipping severely. Unlike everything he had seen here so far, these beds still held thin mattress, the blue stripes fading. Tall windows with broken glass lined the left wall, leaves and debris floating in and covering the once white and yellow checkered floor. Stepping over to a window he looked out. His stomach dropped. He had been on the second floor, he was sure of that! According to the map, from what he could tell, he was now on the forth floor, clear on the other side of the hospital, a side that had no colored lines anywhere near it. He shuddered as he took a step back. He could see his breath coming out of his mouth now and he quickly tapped his comm as he moved to a doorway on the other side of the ward from there he came in. According to said map, that doorway he had come in from, was a closet. This whole thing made no since.
"Alan to Scott." Alan stated. He only heard silence. Quickly he looked down at his radio, it was turned off? Scott was going to kill him! He quickly hit the on button, nothing happened. He hit it again, and again. Nothing. His radio was dead, that had never happened before. They did not use run of the mill batteries in International Rescue. It was important that everything lasted and stayed useful on a rescue. No, the batteries they used were powered by chemicals only Brains really knew. Batteries only IR had because Brains himself had invented them. They had never died on them, under any condition... until now.
The light in his flashlight began to flicker, Alan paused to look down at it, that's when he felt it. A freezing hand grabbed his right arm, pain and cold spread out around the entire extremity, gasping Alan on instinct alone ran out of the room and into a much warmer hallway. His light stopped flickering, his arm warmed up and stopped hurting. Taking deep calming breaths, he tried to tell himself that, that had not really happened. The windows were broken, a really cold breeze had come in. It didn't matter that the windows were on the left, and it was his right side that had been effected.
Slamming the door behind him, hoping to keep whatever was in that room in there, he quickly made his way down the hall, in the direction of the nearest exit. He found the stairway easily enough, the door opened smoothly, not creaking or making any other sounds you would expect from a door hundreds of years old. He had gotten to the third floor landing when he heard the voices, opening a door he found himself faced with a huge group of people all sitting around a ward looking frightened. Why hadn't his life signs scanner alerted him of people near by? He checked it, it was dead too.
"Hello?" Alan called into the long room, much like the one he had entered into above them. A few screamed. Many backed away from him. A tour guide bravely stepped up.
"Who are you?" The tour guide asked.
"Oh! Sorry, my name is Alan. I'm with International Rescue. We were called when three tour groups went missing and no one could find you." Alan told them all calmly.
"Oh thank God!" Someone in the large crowed called with a heave Australian accent. There were many mummers of agreement.
"Right then, I'm Joey; this is Samantha and that is Ed. We're the three tour guides and this is the entire group. We were all doing our tours as normal and somehow found ourselves in this room. It was the strangest thing! We were entering the room where they used to do the mass shock therapy, but instead we found ourselves in here..." Joey explained looking down right confused. "So, where's the rest of you?"
"I'm hoping they are all still searching down at the other end of this building. My story is much like yours, only I opened a random door that's apparently usually locked and ended up in the room above this one." Alan explained. "Why didn't you all leave?" He had to ask.
"Because the door was locked, mate! We've been trying to break it down since we got here and there you go, just opening it right up." Ed stated, he looked the most freaked out of the three tour guides.
"Well then, let's get going while the door is open!" Samantha stated. They began to guide everyone out one at a time through the small doorway. The group practically ran out, not wanting to be the one locked in the room if it suddenly slammed shut and locked again. Alan and Joey led the group down the stairs, Alan had the map firmly in his hand. The group was silent, all scared as they moved down; no one wanted to stay any longer then they had to. When they reached the first floor they could not help but shiver as the further they went the colder it got.
"The cold means there's a ghost here." Someone whispered loudly, the people began to panic. They were in a large empty room heading for the exit in front of them, the doors wide opened. They began to run for the large door, but just at they reached it, it slammed shut with a resounding bang that echoed loudly around the hall. The noise shocked everyone into silence for a moment as they stood frozen, then all hell broke loose. Everyone began to cry out as they slammed themselves against the door, some broke the windows only for them to reform right in front of their eyes. Alan stood just out of the way in shock. What was happening here? He had not been trained for this!
The rooms temperature, already cold; froze in an instant. The windows fogged over with ice, cracks appearing on each old, bubble looking window panel. Despite his temperature regulating uniform Alan shivered, he was so cold! Then there was a voice, it was almost a passing whisper but spoken loud enough that everyone could here it. The people stopped moving at once.
"There isssss noooo essscape. You willl be punissshed!" There was a bright flash, as if lightning had struck within the room, then suddenly the walls were lined with a hundred beds. Everyone began to panic once more. Some fell to the floor sobbing, others banged on any door they could find, more things flew at the windows but now they did not budge. Tourist were lifted into the air and slammed onto an empty bed, the heavy leather straps locking them down at there wrists and ankles. Alan felt a shock of cold directly on him before he could blink he too was on a bed, unable to move. The straps were tight, too tight. The room filled with sobs as the last of the large group was strapped down.
"You willl be punissshed!" The whisper spoke again, more menacing this time. Or maybe it just sounded more menacing from his spot strapped to an old fashion hospital bed. The doors they had come in from slammed open again and one by one, the beds formed a single file line, seemingly of there own accord and began to move out of the room. Alan was in the middle of the line, feeling useless, and praying his brothers found them, soon. Hopefully with an army of holy people, preferably with large crosses. The group was split up into separate tiny rooms. Alan lay there helpless, and for the first time in his entire life he began to pray.
He could hear people sobbing from the rooms around him. Closets really, in size the rooms were more the size of walk in closets. Then the screaming began. Just as one person would stop screaming, someone else would start and the screams were getting closer. The person in the room next to him screamed, then all was silenced. The light above him turned on blinding him for a moment, when the spots left his sight he was shocked to see a man in a white lab coat standing over him, looking very angry. He would not scream, he would not scream! The man was transparent, but very, very real. Alan began to shake as real fear shocked his system. He began to fight the straps again, his wrists and ankles raw and bleeding now.
"You are insane. You will be punished." The man's voice was low, quiet, but evil. The pressure in the room grew greater, making it almost hard to breath. "You should not have tried to escape, patient one-six-two-four-seven." Alan shuddered. The man was white, with a grandfatherly look about him, with a gleam of madness all of his own. Dressed to maybe suit the nineteen-twenties the man put both hands on the sides of his head. Holding his head tightly, the pressure began to grow quickly. He could not breath, could not think beyond the blinding pain in his head that consumed his entire being. He felt his body violently shaking like he was being shocked before blackness took hold, and gave him relief.
Alan came to slowly, feeling like he had been electrocuted and suffocated. His chest felt tight, and every part of his body was tingling with stabbing pains everywhere. He was shaking still, but that was nothing compared to the headache. Opening his eyes, at first he thought he was blind, but quickly realized he could see a slight light coming in from under the doorway. His breath ragged, Alan tried to move again, this time he could. The straps were gone, the bed he was on looked like it was about to fall apart, instead of looking pristine and new as it had before.
Slowly he rolled off the bed, but his legs buckled immediately. The bed crashed to the ground and somewhere to his right, behind a wall, someone screamed. He had to get out of here, he had to get them all out of here. He could not stand, not yet at least, so he got onto his hands and knees then promptly vomited. He didn't care so much at the moment, the release made at least his stomach feel a little relief from the full body agony he was in. Slowly he maneuvered around the vomit and began to crawl towards the door. He was terrified as to what could possibly be on the other side. Was the ghost standing behind the door watching? Would he be punished more for leaving his cell? Alan had to take the risk.
Slowly Alan managed to push the broken door open, it was dark and warm out in the hall way. He took that as a good sign. Slowly he headed to the rooms that had the people in them who had been punished before him. If he was awake, then hopefully they would be too. He never made it to the door. A blinding light appeared in front of him and he screamed, as he curled up into a ball shaking, waiting.
He had not been prepared for the warm hands that grabbed him. Arms hugged him, arms he would know anywhere. Scott. Alan could not remember the last time he had cried, but without any notice he was promptly sobbing. He was hurt, he was terrified but Scott held him now, Scott would make it all go away.
"Virgil!" Scott sounded more panicked then he had ever heard him sound before. Virgil ran up to them looking just as panicked, behind him Gordon, Jeff and a large team of search and rescue workers.
"The r-r-r-oooms. We were all locked in separate rooms." Alan managed to get out in between sobs. The searchers nodded before entering the rooms. The sound of terrified people screaming hit him like a ton of bricks. The people not knowing what was coming in for them, terrified beyond reason. He was relating. Meanwhile Virgil had managed to maneuver Alan out of the fetal position he had ended up in, while secure in Scott's arms.
"Gordon, bring that stretcher." Virgil stated, and for the first time Alan looked down at himself. There was the obvious deep, bloody abrasions on his wrists and ankles. But what shocked him into silence was the fact that his near indestructible uniform was covered in rips and below those rips were burns. Large bubbling blisters surrounding reddish purple whelps. He could not feel them, all he felt was the feeling of having been electrocuted. He wiped his eyes and his hands came back bloody.
"Is he crying blood?" Gordon asked, looking around clearly freaked out.
"Not just now, he was at some point though. There's also evidence that blood had come from his nose, mouth and ears. Whatever he went through..." Virgil stated looking completely rattled. Alan did not make a sound as his brothers carefully placed him on the stretcher, his father stood frozen at the foot of it.
"D-d-dad? When did you get here?" Alan whispered. Jeff stayed silent for a moment before answering.
"I flew in an hour after your brothers radioed that you were missing and could not be found.
"So you just got here?" Alan asked. He could not have been missing for more then a few hours at the most.
"No, son. I've been here for eight hours." Alan's breath stuttered. Eight hours?
"Let's get them out of here, the authorities are going to need the room to get everyone else out as well." Scott stated, Alan was still holding on to Scott's arm for dear life. Gordon was about to strap him to the bed but without a thought, Alan reacted by screaming and trying to move away. Gordon stopped before dropping the straps, his eyes lingering on the marks on Alans wrists.
"Alright Alan. We won't strap you down, but your going to need to be still so nothing happens, okay?" Virgil asked. Alan slowly calmed down before giving a slight nod and laying back. In his mind he kept repeating the same thing over and over: 'This is my family, they will not hurt me.'
The others nodded in satisfaction, the authorities would understand why they were leaving now, the missing had been found, they could deal with the rest. As they got closer to the doorway, Alan noticed it was daylight out. Morning. He could feel exhaustion taking it's toll on him, feel it sucking what tiny bit of energy he had out of him, but he would not close his eyes. Not yet. He lay still, staring up at the clear, bright morning Australian sky as he was moved to Thunderbird Two.
"What took you so long?" Alan whispered.
"We couldn't get to you." His father answered, looking haunted himself.
"Once your tour guide told us you had getten trapped behind a door that had been locked, we realized that we were going to need to check the rest of the building. Some doors unlocked fine with a key, but most didn't. Nothing we did would got us through and then we began to hear the screams..." Scott paused, clearly not there, in that moment with the rest of them. Virgil touched his arm and Scott came back quickly, then look back down at Alan. "I'm so sorry."
"Not your fault." Alan mumbled, it was all he could do. He could tell they heard him though.
The moment he was inside, Brains and Virgil took over. Safely in Thunderbird Two, he was out before he made it to the small infirmary.
Later, he would try to explain the horror he and a hundred other people had endured. And long after his wounds healed, he would not go near a place claimed to be haunted, no matter what happened. Or at least that's what he told himself. But things have a way of happening, things you can't control...