Chapter 4 - The Silent Sanitarium
They took Nathan’s SUV,
leaving the chaos of the hotel behind.
Caroline sat in the passenger seat,
still wearing her wedding dress,
the white fabric looking ghost-like in the dim car light.
Lily was in the back,
buckled in safely,
her presence a calm center in the middle of the storm.
The drive to the sanitarium felt like a journey into another dimension.
The trees leaned over the road,
their bare branches clawing at the gray sky.
Rain began to fall,
lightly at first,
then turning into a steady,
rhythmic drumming on the roof.
“We’re almost there,”
Nathan said,
his eyes focused on the winding road.
He reached over and squeezed Caroline’s hand,
finding it icy cold.
The facility appeared through the mist,
a Victorian mansion converted into a clinical fortress.
A high iron fence surrounded the property,
topped with discreet coils of razor wire.
The gates were closed,
a silent warning to anyone seeking entry.
Nathan didn't slow down;
he pulled up to the intercom and pressed the button repeatedly.
“This is Caroline Ashford,”
she spoke into the metal grate,
her voice steady and cold.
“Open the gate or I will have the police tear it down.”
There was a long pause,
the sound of static filling the air.
Then,
with a low groan,
the heavy gates swung inward.
They drove up the gravel path,
the tires crunching on the wet stones.
The front doors of the building opened,
and a nurse in a crisp white uniform stepped out.
She looked confused,
not expecting a bride to arrive at the gates of a mental health ward.
“I’m here to see Evelyn Ashford,”
Caroline said,
stepping out of the car before Nathan could even park.
The nurse shook her head,
her face a mask of professional denial.
“We have no patient by that name,”
she insisted.
Caroline held up the locket,
the image of her mother visible.
“Stop lying,”
she said,
the authority in her voice making the nurse flinch.
“My father and Dr. Vale sent me.”
It was a gamble,
a desperate bluff to bypass the bureaucracy.
The nurse hesitated,
looking at the expensive dress and the jewelry.
She checked her tablet,
her fingers flying across the screen.
“We have an Evelyn Smith in Room 402,”
she whispered,
sensing the danger.
“But she’s not allowed visitors without Dr. Vale’s signature.”
“Dr. Vale is currently in handcuffs,”
Nathan added,
stepping up beside Caroline.
The nurse’s eyes widened,
and she stepped back,
May you like
allowing them to enter the sterile,
scented halls of the facility.
