Camera 19

Camera 19

By Courtney Jarriel

I sat in my car as I stared at the building in front of me. The clock on my dash read 10:45pm. My headlights reflected across the entrance of the building, so I could see the graffiti that painted the walls before disappearing into the darkness. There had been a lot of vandalizing of the building as well as reports of disappearances within the gates of the grounds, therefore, I had been hired as a security guard to watch over the abandoned asylum located in the neighboring town to mine. I watched as a lady excited the building, waving me down. I recognized her as the woman who contacted me for the position. I slowly got out of my car and made my way towards her. “I am so happy that you have arrived!” she exclaimed as I ascended the stairs of the front of the building towards her, “we have had the most difficult time securing this position. It’s hard to find someone willing to stay the night in an asylum.” For the money that was offered to me, I could hardly decline. “Now,” she stated, “all that is required of you is to stay here and ensure that nobody gets in or out of the grounds of the asylum. Someone will be here to relieve you at 7am.” Sounds easy enough. I thought to myself as I followed her through the front doors of the building. She led me down a long hall to the right until we arrived at a room with active camera screens. Every inch of the facility was laid out directly in front of me. “Here is where you can monitor everything,” she stated. I glanced around the room taking in everything in front of me. I made my way over to the computer chair displayed in front of the cameras presenting the main hall before taking a seat. “Well, if you don’t need anything,” the woman exclaimed, “then I’ll just be going.” She turned on her heel and proceeded to head towards the direction that we had just come. “Oh, and one more thing before I go,” she turned to face me before saying, “camera 19 has never worked.” I glanced at camera 19 to find that it indeed was a black screen. “It is located downstairs in the basement.” She began again after a moment of silence. “It would be wise that you never go into the basement.” With that said, she turned around and made her way towards the exit, leaving me alone in the asylum.

The first three hours of my shift went by relatively slowly. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. As I sat mindlessly scrolling through my phone, the lights overhead began to flicker. On off on off. They changed as if someone were flipping the switch. After six times, the light stayed off. I quickly flipped the flashlight setting on my phone to on and examined the room around me. The switch was located next to the door that I had previously entered. I stood from my chair and made my way over. As I examined the switch, I noticed that it read off. That’s weird. I thought to myself, before flipping the switch into the on position. The lights immediately brightened the room. I walked back over to my chair and took a seat. I glanced at the clock. 3:03am. I began scanning the cameras once again. As I took in the different rooms of the building, I noticed something particular. Camera 19 was now displaying a full picture of the basement. As I looked closer, I noticed that there was someone sitting on the floor in the middle of the room with their back to the camera. I watched in disbelief as this person slowly began to stand and turn around. I couldn’t believe the scene playing out in front of me, therefore, my eyes wouldn’t allow me to remove them from the camera screen. I felt like I was in a trance as the person turned around completely. I couldn’t begin to describe what I saw on that camera screen, but this was no ordinary person. The creature standing in this shot was faceless with dark hollowed points for eyes that glowed a deep red. I began to feel chills running up the back of my neck as the creature turned to face the camera and stared deep into my soul. I couldn’t move. I sat frozen in place, before I heard a voice from directly behind me.

“Run!” it growled. I instantly snapped out of my trance as I fell from my chair into the floor. I scrambled to my feet and rushed down the hall. The hallway from before was now endless. No matter how hard I pushed myself or how fast I ran, I wasn’t getting any closer to the end. My feet tangled together causing me to tumble to the ground. I gasped for breath as I tried to regain my composure in the darkness of the hallway. Click! Click! Click! I heard the noise appear from behind me. Screeechhh! I slowly turned around to find the faceless creature from the basement walking towards me. Its fingernails scratched ridges into the wall as it came closer. I felt as if my heart stopped as I scrambled to my feet once again and ventured towards the exit. This time I completed the entirety of the hallway. I pushed through the double doors of the entrance and felt relief as the cool night air touched my skin. I was immediately bombarded with lights that blinded my vision. “Freeze!” I heard someone yell. “Hands where we can see them." It was the police. I held my hands in the air as I was grabbed and pinned to the hood of a police car. “Suspect detained.” I heard one mutter. “What is going on?” I tried to ask. An officer approached me. “We had a call about a break-in to this facility,” he stated. “I am the security guard on duty tonight,” I tried to explain. “Sir, no one has been allowed to enter this building in 10 years,” he told me. “No,” I tried to reason, “A woman,” I told him, “She contacted me about a security guard position. If you will let me use my phone, then I can show you the emails about the job position.” He motioned for the other officer to release me. I quickly pulled out my phone and brought up my emails. What I saw sent chills down my spine. Nothing. The application. The conversations. They were all gone. “They were here. I swear they were here.” I tried to reason with him. “I think you need to come with us,” he stated. “The woman,” I said, “her name was Nancy. Nancy Brookhaven.” The officers stilled and exchanged nervous glances. “Dr Brookhaven died 10 years ago. Her death was the reason for the shutting down of this facility. I felt the color drain from my face. I was loaded into the police car and taken to the local police station. I was later transported to the psychiatric hospital and admitted pending insanity.

I sat in my singular room staring at the wall. I couldn’t begin to explain what had happened the night before. The entire night was beginning to feel surreal. Did I actually imagine the entire night? That’s not possible. I turned around as my door began to crack open. The nurse entered carrying a tray of medicine. She sat down the tray on the bedside table. As she turned around, I noticed that she held a syringe. My eyes slowly traveled from the syringe in her hand to her face. My face filled with horror. Standing before me was Dr Nancy Brookhaven. Before I could release a scream, the syringe pierced the skin of my neck. Darkness filled my eyes as I fell to the floor.

My eyes slowly fluttered open. I was completely surrounded by darkness. I slowly sat up and took in my surroundings. I looked up towards the wall next to me. I read the word basement with an arrow pointing down the hall. I nervously turned around to face the basement door. The faceless creature was standing directly above me. My screams filled the air as I was drug towards the basement door.