Act 1 pt. 2 (continued)

*********Return from Commercial Break*********

"LAAAAN!" cried Derek, "WHERE ARE YOU, ANSWER ME!"

But there was no response. Derek suddenly felt as though he'd been shot in the stomach. Not only did he feel like an 'ass' for teasing Lan, but now he was certain that she may be in trouble. Lan didn't play practical jokes on people; not even in retaliation. Something happened to her.

Derek raced back towards the lobby, occasionally kicking boxes out of his way. Reaching the lobby, he pushed his way through the double doors and looked towards their jeep. It was unoccupied. Staring at the jeep, Derek felt underneath his sweater, touching his amulet. It was -the same- amulet he found at his brother, Adam's house the night he and Chloe were viciously attacked by Virginia Dare. Touching the amulet, somehow gave Derek some reassurance of protection.

"Lan" Derek whispered to himself, "what happened to you?"

Derek slowly walked back into the lobby, feeling very alone and uneasy. He walked over to the reception area. It was a large wooden circular desk with filing shelves. It was slightly warped from water damage, it was covered in dust and reeked of mildew. Using his sleeve, Derek vigorously rubbed dust off the corner of the desk, and set Lan's yellow hoodie down. He then turned his camera back on and flipped it around to film himself. Derek spoke into the camera.

"Hello Freakers, Derek Barnes here, bringing you an exclusive look inside the infamous Massachusetts State Hospital, where it is estimated that nearly 10,000 people, young and old have met an untimely death within these walls. Negligence, abuse, disease, torture, suicide…and MURDER; it all happened RIGHT HERE… so say-ith the History Channel. But what the History Channel DIDN'T reveal, was the hundreds of eye-witness accounts from residents and former staff members, involving ghostly apparitions, dangerous poltergeist activity AND…the appearance of a menacing black shadow figure. Now some say it is the embodiment of all who suffered within these walls. But Others believe it may be something -far-more-sinister…."

Derek paused a moment and looked to his right, his gaze fell on Lan's hoodie. He swallowed hard, and returned to the camera.

"But right now Freakers, I have a bigger problem on my hands. While exploring these halls of death and despair, I lost my friend and assistant, Lan. I don't know where she is, or if she's even safe. All I know is I've got to find her. So there you have it freaks, operation find-and-Rescue Lan. Here we go".

Derek turned the camera away from himself and aimed in the direction he was walking. He decided to retrace his steps back to the left wing, where he first found Lan's hoodie. Just then a scream shatters the silence, and Derek swirls around desperately trying to pin point the source.

"Lan?"

At first, there was nothing. But then another scream, this time followed by desperate pleading.

"Derek….? Derek where are you? Please help me…!"

Derek started to panic. If anything happened to Lan he would never forgive himself.

"Lan? Hang on I'm coming!"

Derek didn't know where to go, but then Lan continued crying out. Hearing her voice helped him deduce that Lan was somewhere upstairs. He ran back to where Lan first disappeared, and sure enough, there was an emergency stairwell, not far from where her hoodie was found. Derek burst through the rusty door and began climbing up the stairs. As he did this, Lan continued to scream.

"No please" cried Lan, "let me go…" she cries out it pain. "YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

"LAAAN!"

Derek crashed through the heavy metal door marked: 3rd F. With camera still in hand, he ran through the vacant hallway, which appeared to be a security area for patients needing locked up. Suddenly, he heard someone pounding on a closed door, crying. Derek could see from the distance that it was Lan, pounding desperately on the small square mesh-wire window. She was pounding and pulling at the door, but it would not budge. Suddenly, she was aware of Derek's presence, and her struggle became more frantic.

"Derek!" cried Lan, still pounding on the door. Derek rushed up to the room and he could see Lan's eyes, brimming with tears of fright.

"Please get me out here" she begged, just as a shiny, obsidian-black clawed hand appeared out of nowhere and pulled Lan away from the window.

Derek, now wide-eyed with fear and disbelief, continued to scream out Lan's name as he pounded on the door and tried to rush it and break it down. Just then, an unseen assailant knocked Derek to the ground with incredible force. At first Derek lay sprawled on the ground, coughing from all the dust that was kicked up from his landing. But as the dust cloud clearded, and he could see who pushed him, Derek's jaw dropped, and his eyes grew even wider with disbelief.

"You…" he muttered, in both shock and contempt.

In that instant, Derek's trembling fingers reached for the amulet hidden securely under his shirts, but the assailant grabbed him. Lifting him off the ground by his shirt, the assailant flung Derek back towards the emergency stairwell. He hit the wall and fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Dazed and in pain, Derek dragged himself towards the emergency exit as his assailant slowly mid his/her way towards him. He pulled himself up and tried to walk, but his knees gave way and he fell forward down the stairs. Derek's body finally came to rest on the landing and he groaned weakly, feeling unimaginable pain shoot throughout his entire body. The sound of small footsteps rushing up the stairs, caused Derek to lift his head up. In spite of his will to fight, Derek felt his strength leaving him, and his vision was starting to grow dark. In the fading light, he could make out a little girl standing in front of him. It was the SAME little girl he and Lan met outside the hospital. The girl's expression was full of worry and, perhaps, pitty. Just then they both heard approaching footsteps. To Derek's horror, the little girl reached underneath his shirts, and removed the amulet from his neck.

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this" she whispered, "please forgive me". She turned and quickly ran down the stairs out of sight.

"no…" begged Derek weakly, and he began to shake.

Terror finally set in, as he heard the metal door opened and loud footsteps traveled slowly, deliberately, towards him from behind. He couldn't move to get away, his head was swimming. The last thing Derek saw, was a pair of shoes walking down towards him, as he succumbed to unconsciousness.

******END OF ACT I******