In an empty psych ward, I found a notebook. It seems like it might be telling the truth.

A lot of the work I do for a business cleaning company is getting old, abandoned buildings clean so they can be fixed up. We were hired to clean up an old hospital that hadn't been used in twenty years or so. The three of us on my team were sent to the "Behavioural Health Unit," which is another name for the psych ward. As I was getting rid of old, dirty sheets and mattress pads, I found an old marble notebook tucked under one of the pads. When I opened it and quickly looked through it, I saw that it was about half full of diary entries. I put it in my back pocket to read later because I thought it was cool, then I went back to work. I forgot all about it until I got in my car to drive home.

Once I got home, I chose to read it. What I discovered inside was very scary, mostly because it was a lot like what we had found and cleaned up earlier today. I'll talk about the links I found between the log and what I saw today later. For now, let me tell you the story. I'm going to do my best to stick as close as possible to what I wrote in the book. That means that some words may not be spelt correctly or the spelling may not be perfect? If something is underlined on the page, I will also make it bold here, right? It will be all capital letters. Okay, let's begin.

"DAY 1" from 12pm to 1am

*The nurse in the emergency room lied to me. After three days, she told me I could leave. The doctor told me that SHE gets to choose when I leave. She told me I wouldn't be free in three days.

I would rather not be here.

This is not where I belong.

2ND DAY: 11 a.m.

I've been here for 24 hours. I would rather not be here. This is not where I belong. Everyone is checked on every 15 minutes. There is a loud knock on the door if you are in your room. Time doesn't matter to them. I need to sleep. They gave me my medicine and told me they have mood-stabilizing drugs for me tonight.

I miss you, Cardi.

I wish I had my bed back.

Now this is my life.

3RD DAY: 11 a.m.

There have been 42 hours. It's getting better for me. Last night, I cried. This morning, I played Monopoly, which was fun.

I was given medicine to help me calm down after I broke down. I laughed for the first time since I got here.

DAY 5

I'm OK

I'll be fine.

DAY 7

It's time to leave.

I can't go. I have no idea why. They don't answer when I ask. I want to go home.

DAY 10

There was a big boom coming from outside. The nurses didn't say anything; they just went about their business as usual. I can only see black smoke out the window.

DAY 14

This morning, we saw a nurse in the hall. He was no longer alive. Since we found him, we haven't seen anyone else. Every day we see less and less.

DAY 27

Since we found the nurse in the hallway, there hasn't been a single nurse, doctor, security guard, or anyone else. Still, the knocking on the door has kept going on. If a room door is closed for 15 minutes, it will knock again. There is still food. The medicines still show up in the medicines box.

DAY 28

Tim tried to get to the nurse's station by jumping out of the window. He was stopped and pulled back out by something we couldn't see. The "quiet room" was the last place he was taken. We cautiously followed and watched as he was put on the slab bed. The straps went around him and tied him down, and we watched. The door to the room then slammed shut.

That happened this morning. It's almost dark. That scream is still going strong. He's so sad. I guess the guards are still here?

DAY 32

It's been more than a month. The nurse's body was put in Tim's room because he doesn't need it anymore. Tim is still in the quiet room, strapped down. Still yelling. I'm not sure how.

There is only smoke outside the window. There were big, swirling, jet-black clouds of smoke that covered a lot of the sky. We're still getting food. It comes from nowhere, but it always finds its way to the end of the hall and rolls down to us.

DAY ???

It has been a while. It's been a while. A good number of the lights no longer work. The doorbell never stops. There are cracks in some of the windows. Not sure how. We couldn't even scratch them. There's no more outside. It's only black. It's been weeks since the smoke covered the sky. I'm not sure what time it is. Since then, I haven't seen true light. The few lights we still have dim for a short time every few hours or so, which is all we know about the days. A few days ago, the water stopped getting hot. It looks like this place is dying with all the lights, windows, and water now. Tim finally stopped yelling. Still being held down. He's still living because we can see him move now and then. I don't know how he stays alive, but I do know that we all don't want to blame him for anything.

DAY I DO NOT KNOW

We need to leave this place. The door to Rosa's room shut behind her when she went in. It would not open. She was pulled to the bed and held there by something she couldn't see. The bed then made itself while she was in it, and we watched. That wasn't so bad, but Rosa was just a red spot on the bed when it was over. Her body doesn't even have a bulge. She just left. Since then, the door has been shut. Right now, no one is brave enough to go into their rooms. Right now we're all just in the day room.

IT'S BEEN A FEW DAYS

I got this book mixed up for a while. It's not that strange; things get lost here all the time. We think the "housekeepers" got it. It's strange that I found it in Tim's room, next to the nurse's body. There is now only a partly wet pile of bones and meat. I have no idea why that room won't clean itself. A few more people have left because of "housekeeping." That's what we call what took place with Rosa. We might check Tim's room for more of the things we lost.

A DAY AFTER THE LAST ENTRY

It was not a good plan. The nurse wasn't really dead. It seems like it should be possible. REALLY, it was just a bunch of bones and meat. But still.

We went to Tim's room to look for things we had lost. The body of the nurse jumped at Ron when he ran into it. It dug its sharp bones into his neck. Every time it moved, there was a wet squelching sound. Ron's gurgled, choked scream stopped quickly. I feel bad saying that we ran. That's where we left him. The nurse-thing was still biting into his neck. We blocked the door and shut it.

I NO LONGER KNOW ANYTHING

It's been days. In Tim's room, I can still hear the nurse-thing moving around. We hear a wet slap against the door every once in a while. The flies are awful. John was taken by the cleaning staff. Out of the blue, a window broke. It broke into pieces. There was smoke. Not too much. It moved slowly across the ceiling like a strange fog and then stopped. A table was put in front of the window to stop any more smoke from coming in. We'll just watch it now.

Why should I care?

We need to go.

Melly picked up the smoke and touched it. It caught her. A thin line came out and wrapped around her raised arm. It then went down her body and pulled her into itself, like a snake. It's hard to imagine how such a small amount of smoke could kill someone. It was eaten, so that's what I said. It ate her up. Not fast or all at once. We worked hard to save her. They tried to pull her back down to us. We all pulled hard, but she wouldn't move. I think I heard something she had pop, break, or move while we were pulling. We tried to save her but failed. We had to watch, though. It slowly pulled her into itself, and we had to watch. There wasn't any movement. Melly's screams and screeches were the only sounds. It did eat her, though. In the end. Her screams will stay with me forever.

We now stay away from it. It moves around on the ceiling but never comes down.

We are now afraid of something else that we can't explain.

LONG ENOUGH

The nurse asked, "Do you know if he was ever dead?" Was he even a person?

Tim: I'm not dead in some way. Still being held down.

Rosa: Cleaning the house

Aspen - Cleaning up

Ronald - Cleaning the house

Von: What about the nurse?

Melly: The smoke ate her up

Farlyn: The smoke ate me up

We are leaving.

We've lost too many people who were just trying to stay alive.

We'll clear out the window and jump out. About half a story below, there's a small landing with an entry hatch. This book is being left here so that we won't be forgotten.

I didn't make it back to get this if you find it.

THANK YOU

*NOTE:*

This journal was discovered in the space of a MIND PATIENT WHO LEAPT OUT OF HIS A VIEW OF HIS THE DEAD. I WENT BACK

That wasn't written by me. It wasn't me; I don't know who did it. There it was, right where I left it. Now it's just me. We didn't even get out of the hospital. I came back because I'd rather die here, where someone is taking care of me.

I'd say we looked around the hospital for about a week. Not much has changed here. There is still black smoke. It follows me around the ceiling. It makes me feel like it's watching me. Like a lion watching its meal. Not hunting right now; it's just waiting for someone to mess up so it can get a quick meal. It's not going to be me.

The way everyone died is what I guess I should say.

There were still six of us when we left.

Me

Paul

Sir Micheal

Hi, Jose

Stacy

Kai

We didn't know what we were going to find when we left, but we couldn't have guessed what we saw.

I just woke up from a nap.

There's more going on. After writing the last page, I took a nap. I saw that it was totally crossed out when I woke up. That wasn't what I did. It looks like something didn't like what I said. To be honest, I forget what I wrote. I don't remember much about yesterday. This place hurts. It hurts to think about it. It hurts. The good news is that the food is still coming.

TWO DAYS HAVE GONE BY

I guess I'll try writing down what happened once more before I leave.

Outside the window, there was a short drop that led to a hatch. We ran out of the room quickly and fell down. It caught my eye that smoke was no longer coming in through the window. I don't have the window blocked even though I'm writing this. To be honest, it doesn't really matter. There's no weather. There is no wind. There is no movement. There are no bugs or animals that I can hear. There are no cars, people, or anything else. Nothing but silence. There is nothing in the world.

Going back to what happened

We jumped down to get to the hatch. We were able to open it and fall to the floor below. I wish I could tell you what floor it is, but I really don't know. We were in a hallway when we got off. Long and not very lit. It looks like the rest of the hospital was really bad, too. Half of the lights were either flashing or not working at all. We could still see where we were going, though. Down the hall, there were lifts on one side and a few rooms on the other. They were called "Radiology" rooms 1, 2, 3, and so on. A low hum and beeps could be heard throughout the hall. This was the sound of medical equipment that had been left on. We were afraid to go into any of the rooms because we knew how important it was to clean. We told Stacy she couldn't take the lift because we didn't know what terrible things would have happened if she had.

After figuring out where we were, we picked a direction and began walking. We could barely see the floor because it was so dark. That's probably why we didn't notice at first. We were too scared to move when we did notice. There was a tunnel that went on and on for about ten minutes. We kept seeing signs that pointed us in the right direction. Every once in a while, one would have an arrow and the word "Visitation" on it. At times, we would reach big crossings where many halls led off in different directions. We saw what was going on around us at one of these crossroads. There were dark spots on the walls that looked like dried blood. Wet piles of rotten meat and bone were all over the floor. Like the nurse thing we did. It's strange that we didn't smell it at first, but as soon as we did, we could only smell it. That was awful. Still, the thought of it makes me want to throw up.

I HAD TO GET UP

What was that smell? I don't want to think about where it came from.

Paul AND Micheal

We were at the crossing, where there were probably monsters all around us. We didn't know how long these things could keep going like this. In fact, they were almost completely rotten. We chose to move on once we calmed down. Really, it's a wonder we hadn't run into a pile before that. We couldn't keep our luck up, though. Because the hallway was very dark and narrow, Micheal lost his balance and stepped on a pile of meat. It rose up right away and ate him up. It looked more like a lump of meat and bone than anything that looked like a person. He screamed quickly and loudly. It was so loud it could wake the dead.

I'm afraid I don't use that as a phrase. It looks like noise also sets them off. Two more of the meat blobs jumped out and attacked the person closest to them. Paul was gone right away. Before she could even scream, the blobs went all the way around her. Micheal moved more slowly. As we watched, the blob's bones made their way into and through him. A long bone going through his neck. It looked like someone was maybe digging into his gut. A few ribs hit him in the thigh. Keep going. We stood there and stared in shock for what seemed like hours, afraid to move. We were able to come to our senses and run when he finally stopped moving.

Stacy

After a few days, we moved down a few floors by taking the stairs. Along the way, we could never take just one. We had to go out into the hospital proper every time there was a delay. We were not sure we would make it out of the next set of halls and rooms.

We were following Stacy through a hall. We heard the tiniest squeak and then nothing when she turned. We waited in the corner for a while before slowly sticking our heads out. A huge wall of black smoke was about a foot from where the wall turns. From floor to ceiling and wall to wall, there was no way out. It looks like Stacy walked right into it. She wasn't even aware she was gone. That poor girl.

Kai

If you ask me, Kai's story was the worst of all of them. Only Jose, myself, and Kai were left in our group, and Kai was taking us through the kitchen. It was about a day after Stacy. As we walked through the kitchen, past the spoiled food and stoves and grills, Kai saw something on the counter and grabbed it. I'm still not sure what it was. He got a cut in his hand. Every finger was cut off at the tips. After that, the skin on his arm was pulled off like fish skin. He stood there and watched as his arm was cut up into pieces. We both tried to pull him away, but we couldn't.

The rest of Kai's body was cut up after his arm was thrown onto the bar without any thought. Ready to eat, like meat from a butcher shop. I saw some parts of Kai being thrown into a pot on the stove. Then Jose and I left while the cooks worked on the rest of Kai.

Just in case, I didn't eat for a few days after I got back.

Jose

Jose just had bad luck. We chose to go back to our room after what happened to Kai. It was too much. Jose and I went back very quickly. We found a staircase that said "To BHU/Psych" a few days later, which meant we were almost back.

Jose didn't see the blob on the next step as he ran up the stairs. I stepped right on it. Of course, it threw itself at him. Jose was pushed over the wall and down into the empty centre column of the stairs. Bento and the blob both fell. They must have fallen ten stories, but we couldn't have been that high up. I watched them fall, and the blob tore Jose into pieces. After that, I saw what was at the bottom. A pool of black smoke that was swirling, bubbling, and almost boiling. Down all the way. It was coming towards Jose and the blob. Slowly, Jose fell in. When the meat blob fell in, there was no quiet at all.

HOW I MADE IT BACK

It looks like these things don't get along. There was a bright light when the meat blob fell into the black smoke. The colour was so bright that I can't describe it. That's all I can picture when I try to remember what it looked like. What I can do is better than white. The noise came with the light. The buzzing sound of flies was so loud I couldn't hear myself scream. I was lucky to open my eyes in time to see the black smoke coming straight at me. In an instant, I threw myself back against the wall as the black smoke shot up past me and filled the middle column. I'll be honest: it took me longer than I'd like to admit to get back in charge. The noise, the light, and the strong wind from the smoke. It almost became too much.

There was a lot of smoke around me. It was mad. It chose to eat. It hurt, though. I might do something with that knowledge if I were more of an action hero. I ran because I'm not. I sped up the stairs. Running through the "Floor 3" door and down the halls, I looked for the "Behavioural Health Unit" and ran there. Thanks to a higher power, all of these doors were opened. I crashed through the two doors that led back to the beginning of everything. I finally felt some sense of safety when I fell to the floor. I'm not sure how long I was gone.

When I woke up, I saw that all the doors that were open had been locked behind me as I ran. I'm stuck here again.

It's been a while.

I'm by myself. Of course, Tim is still here. He's still being held down. He's pretty much just skin and bones now, but he's still moving. It's still cold out there. Still, the window is broken. I can still smell the smoke. The food is still coming down the hall towards me. All of this did teach me something, though.

It's worse to realise you have fake hope than to have no hope at all. I have no way to leave this place, so I'll just stay here for now.

I'll be okay.

That's it. I think it's pretty creepy. This morning, when I was cleaning, I saw that the roof had a lot of black stuff on it. Some of the windows were broken, and one of them led to an open door that was broken. The writer must have called the rooms where people were held alone "Quiet rooms" because there was one bed with its straps tied down. There was nothing on the bed, though. In some of the rooms, the sheets were totally stained with something. I really don't know what to say. I also saw a lot of spots on the floors as I walked through the hospital. I'm not sure, but I've had to clean up dead bodies before, and the hospital spots looked just like the marks a person makes after being left to rot for a long time.