An orange sofa. The glaring light of the computer screen. The smell of cheap perfume and musty sweet smoke.
He sat behind the modest desk, staring and taking in his surroundings. He took another drag of his cigar, chuckling to himself, blowing out a puff.
Almost time to begin.
OoOoO
Anastasia sat in a cab with a boy she didn't care to get to know and a girl she didn't think would speak even if spoken to. Rather than trying to attempt awkward conversation with the duo in the back of the cab, Anastasia reviewed everything she knew about Trinity Heights Mental Institution on her phone.
"It is estimated that over thirty patients died a month of an outbreak of influenza in 1944. A little under half of the entire staff; orderlies, doctors, guards, and cooks; died of the disease. It was around this time that the prefrontal leukotomy, otherwise known as the lobotomy, was introduced to the asylum. A controversial practice from its conception, the lobotomy was a surgical operation with the aim of creating new grooves in the brain in order to change behavioral patterns and practices. In reality, while the operation sometimes limited the conditions of certain mental disorders, it also greatly inhibited emotional responses, reaction time, and mental activity. Many patients were forced to undergo the surgery, without consent from family members or the patients themselves.
In more primitive practices of the prefrontal leukotomy, an orbitoclast (which looked much like an ice pick) or similar apparatus was forced through a bone near the eye in order to sever long fibers connected to the frontal lobe.
Finally, over forty-five patients were murdered in Trinity Heights' existence. Twelve were murdered by the infamous 'Gardener' killer, who was also responsible for the deaths of seven orderlies. Another seventeen were killed by a young girl known as the 'Seamstress', who murdered children and used their bodies as her own life-sized dolls."
Anastasia looked up from her phone, interrupted from her article. She'd been tapped on the shoulder.
"We're almost there," the girl sitting behind her said, albeit quietly.
"Thanks," Anastasia muttered.
"I... I uh, think we should probably introduce each other, because, uh, y'know. We are going to a party together... And uh... Yeah," the girl in the back of nervously finished.
"I'm Anastasia," Anastasia said, sighing. The girl in the back was almost too painfully awkward for her patience.
"Alya. I mean, that's my name," the girl in the back said with a nervous laugh.
"How 'bout him?" Anastasia asked, jerking her head towards the boy in the back.
"He's got earphones on. On his head?" Alya said.
Where else would they be? Anastasia wondered with her characteristic smirk. She liked the nervous girl in the back, despite the fact that she was hopelessly awkward and only the slightest bit tedious.
Alya tapped the boy's shoulder, stirring him from his music.
"Y'ello?" The boy greeted.
"We were just introducing each other."
"Oh. Bit late for that, isn't it?" He asked.
Alya considered this. "Better late than, uh, never. I guess."
"Ok. I'm Ignacio Inglesias. You can call me Igni."
"So you guys got letters too?" Anastasia asked, shifting a little in her pleather seat to get a glimpse at her cohorts.
Ignacio was a thin guy with dark Latino skin. He definitely had a sort of "skater-boy" look that Anastasia knew most girls loved.
Alya, on the other had, was dressed rather conservatively in some long-sleeved dark blue dress, as well as a faded red scarf wrapped around her head, hiding her hair. She was pretty though, dark eyes and all that.
Alya nodded in response to Anastasia, then opened her purse. After a few seconds of rummaging, she pulled out an envelope, holding it up for the others to see. "It said I won. Well, uh, an academic prize or something to be specific."
Ignacio nodded. "That's what mine said. Not like I'm some genius or anything. Don't know why I got a letter."
Anastasia nodded. I don't know either, she added to herself.
They made small talk the rest of the way to Trinity Heights. As Anastasia unpacked her bags from the trunk of the parked cab, she couldn't help but pause and listen over the sound of falling snow and wind.
She could have sworn she heard screaming.
XxXxX
Sorry for my absence readers, but it has been a busy week, especially with classes starting back up. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, especially since it's the second to last before the real chills begin! I personally can't wait. There is still one slot open for new readers, one male. Otherwise for everyone else, please review and critique as you see fit. Also, if everyone wouldn't mind messaging me what your character thinks about the other OCs, that would be greatly appreciated! Anyway, Happy New Year!