Haunted
By: Lauren Freeman
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the TV show or movie: Thunderbirds! I am making no money off of this. Everything else is mine.
Note: I currently do not have a beta for this, any volunteers? Also, I am writing this as I go, so I can not tell you how long it will be before I post each chapter though I can tell you that I am finished with the second chapter and halfway through the third. I will post the second one soon, I just need to work on a few things first. :) - Lauren
Chapter One: The Hospital
Black, pitch black, Alan turned around in circles not just a little nervus, sure he had gotten himself into this situation but that did not make it any less scary. The forest at the edge of Wharton Academy had always seemed dark and dreary. No one even went in to the woods, whispers and rumors about people going in and never returning, ghost stories kept students and teachers alike well away from the darkness. Naturally when the dare came to go into the forest at midnight, Alan had jumped on it. He had never been afraid of the forest not really believing the rumors, so the 'haunted' forest had become his sanctuary. When he was angry, stressed or just needed to get away a walk in the forest had always assured him privacy.
Now however he was lost, the dare required him to walk for ten minutes straight then stay where he was for another ten in the middle of the night. Then and only then was he to return, only after ten minutes of walking and sitting in the middle of the forest, he had lost track of which way he had come from. He walked for twenty minutes and could still see no sign of the bright lights of the school. The forest was unusually silent, no crickets chirped, birds were either standing still or had flown far away. Cut's and scrapes covered Alan's hands, arms, legs and face from hitting hundreds of unseen branches. He could feel blood running down his face, taste the bitterness of it on his dry lips.
With a sigh Alan kept walking hoping that he was going in the right direction and hoping that he could find a small clearing where he could see the sky and maybe find his way by the stars. Alan grinned as he stepped into his clearing, the grin however turned upside down at the sight of black clouds moving rapidly across the sky. No star was visible, the moon disappeared, and what little light Alan had seen in the small clearing disappeared immediately. A chill ran up his spin as the feeling of being watched washed over him.
"Hello?" Alan called, no one answered. The thought of wild animals jumped to mind and not for the first time this night, he wished for a flashlight, cell phone or even his wrist-com foolishly laying on his bed. The aspects of the dare however did not allow any help, and Alan, being Alan took off even his secret help. A growl behind him had him spinning around before he began to run in the opposite direction. Alan did not know how long he ran or even in what direction. All he knew was that he hoped he lost the animal being he no longer heard anything following him. Gasping for breath Alan walked into another clearing, lightning flashed brightly across the sky.
Alan turned in a circle wondering where he should go to find shelter before the storm got to him. Another flash of lightning struck close to him causing Alan to jump, this time thunder rolled loudly above. He didn't have much time. Another flash and Alan thought he saw something to the left. He turned towards it and waited for lightning to stick again so that he could see it, he didn't have to wait long. A three story building stood only a hundred or so feet in front of him. No lights were on and in the brief millisecond that he saw it, he was able to confirm that it was abandoned. Lightning struck again and Alan got a better look, the whole thing gave him the creeps, but the first raindrop fell upon his head and he knew he had no choice but to find a way inside if he wanted to stay dry.
The door was open. Windows lined the walls and the now almost constant flashes of lightning let him know what he was looking at. A strong very cold wind blew in and Alan shivered. The first thing Alan noticed was the beds, it looked like a prison dormitory, white beds lining the large open room, little bedside tables beside each bed. All empty. Walking through the room, he noticed a cabinet with a red cross on it. A hospital then, he decided; an abandoned hospital. Another shiver ran down Alan's spine and once again it had nothing to do with the sudden cold. The feeling of being watched came again and Alan spun around, there was nothing there. It was a different feeling then in the woods, this time it was a feeling of being watched by a person.
"Hello?" Alan called again. The results were the same. Shrugging and wanting away from the feeling he began to explore. It did not take him very long to find the stairs. Going up carefully he sighed in relief as the stairs seemed to be strong. The second floor, was much like the first only it was divided into two sections, one had walls covered in balloons and the other looked like a nursery. The third floor looked to be where they did operations and other things of that nature. Alan frowned, instruments lay beside beds, three beds on the second floor and cup half filed with water beside beds, straws sticking out of each.
Alan examined a Gurney and the hair on his arms stuck up. Dried blood splattered on the sheet, the next Gurney had the same. It was almost as if the whole hospital had abandoned the place in a hurry. They had not even bothered to clean up after getting the patients out. The feeling of being watched came again and Alan was quick to leave, he did not like this area at all. He did not like the entire building for that matrer, it gave him the creeps. A very loud boom came from outside, thunder rolled over the building making it shake. Alan suddenly felt very tired, a huge yawn escaped from him, but he did not want to sleep here, he did not want to be here any longer then he had to. Another yawn escaped and his eyes began to droop, Alan looked longingly at all the beds, on the second floor, as far dawn as he had made it. Finally after a minute he walked over to a closet and opened it to find stacks of clean linen, or as clean as they could be for something that had been in a closet for who knows how long. Alan grabbed a bottom sheet, top sheet, pillow case and three blankets. They all smelled like moth balls but he was beyond caring.
Walking by a desk, Alan stopped and noticed a day calender. November 10th, 1957. Alan just stood there starring for a full minute not believing that this place had been empty and not cleaned for this long. Did anyone even know that this place was back here? And more importantly where was 'here?' Alan walked bewilderedly over to a bed next to the desk that he hoped was the place where the nurses or something slept. He stripped it of it's old sheets and put on his own before falling into the bed, covering himself up he almost immediately fell asleep.
Fermat was now officially frantic. He knew about the dare, he had even warned Alan that is wasn't a good idea to do in the middle of the night. But Alan, being Alan had not paid much attention and after spending almost a year of being good, studying and playing by all the rules since becoming a Thunderbird, Fermat knew he needed to let go of some steam before they were due to go back home for there last Spring Break in two weeks. Fermat secretly watched as Alan walked over to the woods, ten other boy's stood back a little from the entrance. Fermat could hear their laughter and half expected a teacher to catch them. Then Alan disappeared. Fermat looked at his watch watching the minutes tick past in an agonizingly slow pace. Ten minutes turned to twenty, twenty to thirty, and it was time for Alan to pop back out of the woods. He didn't. As more time passed the boy's laughter seemed to subdue. A large flash caught there eyes as they watched the moon be replaced by a thunderstorm. It began to rain.
The temp suddenly dropped, and as the first snowflake touched Fermat's nose, he knew his best friend was in trouble. It seemed that so did the other boy's as they somehow beat Fermat in doors where they ran up to there dorm master, who was also there Math teacher.
"Professor Stine!" The group looked panicked and in deed they were.
"Oh this is all my fault, it was my idea." Tim Mantids, a tall langley boy with blond hair and brown eyes, moaned.
"What's wrong, boys? What happened?" Professor Stine asked, eyes wide.
"A dare gone wrong, we dared Alan to go into the woods, that was hours ago, he never came back out!" Jared Tren, a rather large boy panted after running all the way to their dorm. Stines eyes grew wider as a look of fear crossed his face. He looked out of the window At the blizzard suddenly raging outside.
"Oh God." Stine breathed. Boy's get to your rooms right now, I will alert the headmaster and get a search started.
"But...!" The boy's chores, only to be stopped by Stines hand.
"You boy's have done enough for the night. We will find him, your rooms, now." The boy's reluctantly walked back to there room, Fermat however ran. Slamming his door shut, Fermat locked it and ran over to his and Alan's laptop, turned it on and typed in the emergency code he had been given in case of an emergency. Jeff Tracy's face appeared on the screen, he looked as if he had run a far distance to get to the computer.
"Fermat, what's wrong?" Jeff asked out of breath confirming Fermat's thoughts.
"A-A-Alan's missing in the wo-wo- forest and a blizzard just hit!" Fermat stated frantically.
"Does he have his watch on?" Jeff frowned, already turning on the tracking on the watch.
"N-n-no! It's on his be-be-bed!" Fermat cried. "Oh I should have gone w-w-with him, or made him s-s-stay o-o-or something!" Fermat cried. Jeff stopped his tracking at confirming Alan's watch was in fact in his dorm room.
"A blizzard but it's..." Jeff seemed to just catch this.
"I k-k-know! It's been so war-war- hot, and the weather man didn't say anything about t-t-this, but it's here and Alan in s-s-shorts and a sl-sl-leeveless shirt, lost in the middle of the han-han-scary forest during a blizzard!"