Price pushed the stone door open, revealing a dilapidated medicine cabinet. Patients had to have moved throughout the entire hospital, raiding it for all the drugs they could find. The red-haired man muttered “Bradley and I will get more poultices for Hughes and whatever medicine we can find. Go get your mother. Emilia, keep Hughes from doing something stupid.”

I nodded and wasted no time to be the first to slip through the doorway and move out of the shabby room.

The halls were eerily still. Splatters of blood stained the walls, yet it was all dry and sporadic. Where I left to screams and stampeding footsteps it was instead quiet as the grave.

As I cautiously moved about the hall, I heard voices emanating from within the old lounge. Someone was growling orders to his subordinates. The words themselves were muted, but if I were to guess the police had quelled the patients. The bloodshed must have meant they had a harder time than expected taming the wild mob.

I only hoped my mother faced none of this violence, but the odds bore a grim reality.

Nonetheless, I moved down the corridor, keeping an eye out for any signs of life that weren’t the police or a violent madman.

Door by door, I continued to count the numbers. Almost every room was open, and the rest I opened myself in case I needed a quick escape. I wore my street clothes once more and could be caught by any police in on the cult’s evil with a single glance.

As I had prepared for, a figure began to emerge from one of the rooms ahead of me. My feet instinctively began to shuffle towards the nearest door, but I stopped dead in my tracks before I left their line of sight.

It was neither the police, crazed patient, nor specter… It was… It was my mother?

She turned to face my direction; her eyeless visage gazing toward me. Without a sound, she continued to walk forward.

Was this some sort of trap? I had hoped the hospital and police would be too panicked with the riot to realize they could trap my mother and use her as leverage against me, but there was always the possibility they went for her immediately and waited to utilize her as bait.

Nevertheless, she continued to walk toward me, and I had no intention to run until I saw the danger. As she grew closer, and no snare lifted, I began to wonder if this was some sort of illusion like I had endured less than an hour ago.

Yet, as my mind raced, my mother approached me and put her hand on my face. She recognized me, and I recognized her, not as a visage or a trap, but somehow real.

She began to walk past me, and I followed. Looking anxiously behind us, I aimlessly muttered out question after question. “What are you doing here? What happened to the others? How did you not get found?”

“All things in time.” My mother simply replied, swiftly moving into a room far from the sight of any roaming police. This room was old and unkempt. It looked like it used to be a reading room for patients, but for whatever reason the hospital moved most of the bookshelves into the lounge, most likely to keep their drugged victims from wandering to different rooms.

I looked both ways down the hall in one last check to see if this was some sort of trap, then locked the door behind me. Once I turned to my mother, I saw that she was sitting down in one of the dusty upholstered chairs. I asked her “Well? How did you not get caught?”

As cryptic as ever, my mother responded, “Just like certain things, there are certain places people avert their gaze from by instinct. I remember these places well and make use of them when I must.” She hooked the leg of a chair with her foot and slid it towards me. “They are not… Healthy… To linger in, but it was important to meet you.”

Cautiously, I sat. My guard was high after the events in the tunnel, but I knew my mother, and while many things she was no liar. “Well, I’m glad you’re safe enough. Now, do you know what happened to the other patients? Why is it so quiet?”

She adjusted herself into a relaxed position in her chair. Even in her blindness, my mother seemed to know her surroundings better than any. Whatever senses she had paired with her familiarity of the building made her confident to relax, but try as I might, I could not do the same. She sighed, then spoke. “What happened to the others is why this talk is important…” Her head tilted as her eyeless sockets pointed towards me. “I am sure you understand their fates are… Ill.”

As much as I would have loved such out-of-character behavior any time before this debacle, I no longer cared to be mothered. “I’m aware. Just tell me what happened to them.”

She gave a quick nod and continued. “Just like how a surgeon must prepare his tools for a procedure, they need a way to prepare all of you. Physically, as well as in spirit.”

“Right. And what does this have to do with the other patients?”

My mother paused for a moment, simply sitting, and thinking. She felt distant for a time, thinking about her following words. In the end, she decided being blunt was the best route to take. “They are dead. Most of them are being used to make an altar for you all. You’ll be baptized in blood before the procedure begins. An offering… The rest, well they simply were of no use to them. They’ve been disposed of.”

Nothing surprised me anymore. Not even a notion so grotesque and sadistic caused me disbelief. All the same, I needed a moment in silence to process what had happened. The reality of my situation had never felt like it had so much gravity to those other than the five of us, but it now directly affected dozens… “… How do you know all this?” I asked.

Again, my mother seemed reluctant to answer me. Instead of caution, though, I saw guilt curl up at the edge of her lips. Instead of directly answering me or speaking in some cryptic riddle, she asked me a question back. “Do you know what happened? Before I did this to myself?” She made no gestures, but we both knew she was referring to her eyes.

“No. No, I don’t.”

“The others… Before Prescott. They were too hasty. They formulated their altar, and while I was unsuspecting, they took me to it. They explained to me their intentions. They forced me in that crimson pool…” Her expression went blank as she recalled the situation. Quietly, my mother choked out her words. “I saw… Things… I saw it…” She was lost in remembrance one more time before returning to me. “I was given a choice. Give in, or give up… I gave it up… I gave my curse to you. By the time I awoke, I was tied to a hospital bed. They said I had clawed my own eyes out and nearly drowned… I still see it.”

I sat back in my chair, contemplating such new information… Why did she not tell me this before? What does that mean for our own plans? “So… You knew all this, but you never told me? Why?”

My mother looked to the floor, not wishing to be seen by me. “They’ve been watching me ever since, and I right back… The more I recalled that day, the closer they got. From lurking in the shadows to standing right beside me at every waking moment…” She finally looked up at me. Her face was contorted like she was sobbing, but her ability to cry was stolen long ago. “I didn’t want to die.”

Something stirred around us. Like a cold breeze filling every corner of the room. I looked around, yet I saw nothing. Even with full clarity, what was among us stayed hidden from me. “What’s that?” Was all that I could muster.

My mother, on the other hand, faced a specific corner of the room. She stood from her seat. “You should have never had to carry this burden, Theodore. But now that I can speak freely… Don’t go to the candlelit pool… Hide for as long as you can and pray that you may face mercy in the future.” Her breathing became heavy, and she began to sweat. “I am… So sorry.”

I stood from my chair, but I had no clue of what to do. Her whole body constricted as if she was being pinned by something gargantuan. All the air in her lungs wheezed out as she was lifted from the air. I ran and grabbed her hand, but the invisible force was stronger than I could imagine.

She struggled to no avail. The grip grew tighter as bones snapped. As she lost the ability to breathe, her face became bright red. Then deep purple. Blue. Pale white.

Eventually, my mother’s head went limp, and her body fell back into her seat. I was still holding her hand.

Words did not come out of my mouth. Thoughts did not formulate. Tears did not swell. I simply stood there, paralyzed.

I continued to stand, having barely enough capacity to inhale and exhale.

An amount of time passed. An amount which I could only surmise as an instant and an eternity all at once. Her hand had become cold, and I continued to stare at her.

Finally, my grasp let free, and her arm fell limply at her side.

Once control over my body returned, I felt my heart bounce. All of a sudden I had gone from catatonic to so adrenalized my head spun.

My legs felt weak and tense at the same time. Dizziness took hold. I needed to sit.

I felt behind me for my chair, but it wasn’t there. I looked back, but there was nothing behind me but a cabinet of medical supplies. My mother was no longer in front of me; only the entrance to the caverns below the hospital.

Someone tapped on my shoulder, causing me to slowly and confusedly look over. Emilia looked with concern. “Theodore? Are you alright?”

I took a deep breath and looked around. “H-How did I get here?”

Emilia showed more concern with that question. “You ran back and just… Stood there. It’s been minutes.”

My dizziness wore off, but I still felt distant. Like I was away from my own body. All I could say was “Oh.”

Emilia turned me to face her, then leaned down so she met my idle gaze. “Are you alright? Did you find your mother?”

I thought about that question for a long while. Only when Emilia slightly shook me did I respond. I don’t know why I said what I did, but I spoke nevertheless. “No… She wasn’t here.”

Emilia let her hand off my shoulder and stood straight. “I’m… So sorry.”

My eyes did not move from the part of space I idly glared into. My mind did not comprehend Emilia’s condolences. Instead, I spoke the only thing on my mind.

“There’s a candlelit pool… I know where I need to go now.”