Room 13

• Araminta Courtney, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2016

Her icy fingers twitched as she stared out into the thick, mysterious forest. Her friend whispered to her, "The only way is to make them sleep". Ophelia was convinced, that was the only way to escape. She crept out into the corridor, her feet lightly tapping the old creaky floor boards, leading towards the matron's room.

Once she was out of the room she felt happier, she had successfully made one of the matron's sleep. She rushed straight towards the wooden door that opened to freedom from this horrible place. When she turned the handle, the door swung wide open. She was so close, when all the lights lit up throughout the corridor. Her head turned from the door to everyone's glaring eyes. After that she was confined to her room with small amounts of food.

She stared out her window, wondering what lay beyond the thick woods. She persuaded herself that there was no point in living if she was to be trapped here, she then started talking to her only friend. The voice whispered to Ophelia, "There is no where to escape, it's time". It was then she realised how to escape, she opened the creaky window, she knew her time had come. Ophelia jumped.

Around midnight the groundskeeper discovered her lifeless body, lying on the mossy ground. The man ran straight to the matron to tell her the horrible news, they later buried Ophelia underneath a tree, in the darkest corner of the grounds. For a time there was no trouble, but many months later the janitor was cleaning out the rooms when there was a sudden blackout, he heard light footsteps tapping on the old floor boards. Then the lights turned on again, the janitor had fallen into an endless sleep. From then on the ghost of Ophelia White was known to haunt Arkham Asylum until the end of time.

Many, many years later a new child arrived at Arkham Asylum, who had Multiple Personality Disorder. So like Ophelia White, she was confined to her small room so she would not cause any trouble like Ophelia White. She, being encouraged by the voices in her head, took the same path as Ophelia. Except this time she succeeded in making them all fall into an endless sleep. Even though she didn't escape until years later, she finally escaped and lived a long life being encouraged by the voices that caused everything to come crumbling down for not only Arkham Asylum but the little town of Arkham Bay where they would soon be known for the ghost of little Ophelia Josephine white and their horrid and haunted asylum.