Welcome Home
Walking in the front door of the old, rundown asylum, the instant smell of old people, hospital gloves, and death hit me. I wanted to turn around, walk through that door, get into my car where it is safe, go home and start researching new jobs. Instead, I keep walking deeper into the large, vacant lobby. It's a ghost town in here. The walls are a baby blue, but the wallpaper is peeling revealing a dirty white surface underneath. Almost all of the chairs were nonexistent. Just a couple of rusty benches with nothing but dirt and a chalk-like substance that leaves a residue upon touching it. There are a few old water fountains that runs black, nasty water. Who would put their loved ones in here? As I am almost to the end of the lobby, an old, disheveled woman comes out of nowhere.
"Welcome to Morrison's Mental Hospital. You're Rikkelle, correct?" The woman asks while going behind a corner to a desk i haven't seen.
"Yeah, I-" I wasn't able to finish my sentence as she was looking at a folder and back up at me, squinting.
"Hmm.. Black hair, short, average build, 120 lbs, Brown eyes, tan. Yep, this is you." She gives me a weird smile and leads me to a door leaving a view of a long row of cells.
"Please, go ahead."
I walk through the creaking door slowly, expecting to see people in these cells. There is no one. Every cell is locked, with bones piled up in the corners. How is this place still running? She brings me to the last cell which has a small, single bed with a toilet. Peering further into the cell, I can see that there is a journal tucked under the pillow.
The old woman gives me a grin and says,"You will be staying in here, as you are just here for the summer position. You will meet us everyday in the lobby before you start your shift. We will eat, get mentally prepared, then we go do our jobs. She opens the cell door just enough to where I can get in. As I sit on the bed I hear a lock click.
"You start tomorrow."
