By the Light of the Moon (CW

"Daniel, are you sure we're not going to get in trouble for going in here?" Hannah said to her boyfriend as they walked through the woods late Saturday night. The full moon was high in the sky, dried leaves crunched under their shoes, while the hum of cicadas filled the air. "You worry too much, babe; the boys and I have been here plenty of times," Daniel said, nudging his nervous girlfriend. She smiled softly at him, linked their hands together, and continued their walk. Hannah could almost hear her heartbeat in her ears, her mouth felt dry, and her hands were clammy as the two drew closer to their destination. She couldn't understand why she felt so nervous. She was an avid horror movie fan, and Daniel said this place was perfectly safe. Yet, she couldn't seem to shake that nagging feeling that sat in her stomach like a brick.

"We're here, stay put while I find the hole in the fence," Daniel said, and then he disappeared through a thick bush that lined an old, chain-link fence. Hannah stared up at the dark, ominous building, and a cold shiver crawled down her spine. The gothic architecture, bathed in the full moon's light, appeared even more terrifying than the pictures Daniel had shown her. The Woodland Asylum was a very popular institution until it closed in 1952. It was only after their doors shut forever that all the dark rumors began circulating about the horrors that took place behind that cheery exterior they tried so hard to portray to the public eye. One of those rumors surrounded a psychiatrist by the name of Doctor Lance Philman. People accused him of performing inhumane experiments on his patients, though it was never officially proven.

Hannah tried to find anything she could on Doctor Philman's alleged experiments. Still, she always came up short in her research. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a sudden touch on her shoulder. Hannah sighed in relief when she realized that it was only Daniel. "Come on, I found the way in." Hannah followed Daniel through the brush and along the fenceline until they came to a small hole that had been dug underneath. It looked barely large enough to fit a small child, let alone a teenager. Daniel managed to shimmy underneath the rusted fence, and Hannah followed behind him. Her mind spun with thoughts of the unknown as they walked side by side through the facility's courtyard. However, she couldn't help but think it must have been beautiful in its prime. Though it had since been overrun with vines covered in thorns. They crept along the cracked pavement like the gnarled hands of a wraith. The wooden benches had rotted and weathered from the elements, looking ready to crumble at any moment. Daniel stopped in front of a door that had the words 'KEEP OUT' spray-painted in dark red paint; he unraveled the heavy chain that kept the door closed. The heavy metal clinked together as Daniel unraveled it from the door and dropped it to the ground with a loud thud. He pushed the doors open to reveal what once was a reception area and waiting room. Graffiti covered the walls and floors; leaves and garbage littered the linoleum. Chairs lay haphazardly around the space; the air was still and musky.

Daniel and Hannah pulled out their smartphones, turning on the flashlight feature as they began to explore the front room. "You said you've been here before?" Hannah said as she flipped through the yellowed pages of a sign-in sheet. Daniel looked up at her and nodded. "We came in a different way last time; I haven't been in this wing yet. Come on, let's check out some more rooms." Daniel said as he led the way down a residential hallway; most of the doors barely hung on their hinges or were completely gone. Hannah's unease only grew the farther they ventured.

"This place is creepy. Remind me why this was a good idea for date night?" Hannah said, which only made Daniel chuckle and put his arm around her. He could almost feel her trembling through her jacket. "There's nothing to worry about. The only thing in here that's even remotely scary is the rats." Daniel said, and Hannah rolled her eyes at his weak attempt to make her feel better. She knew he was really trying, but for some reason, Hannah could not shake the feeling that they were being watched. Maybe it was just her overactive imagination. Her mom always told her that she read too much Stephen King. For once, she finally began to agree with her. Hannah stopped when she saw a door to her right that was closed, the half window covered in dirt and spiderwebs. She placed her hand on the doorknob and carefully turned it; old white paint crumbled in her hand. She pushed the door open, and Hannah nearly gagged from the smell of death and musk that emitted from the room. She shone her light around as she tried to locate the source of the smell. The once pristine white walls were dingy from mildew, and the few remaining pieces of furniture cast eerie shadows all around them.

Hannah felt her heart pound so hard in her chest that she felt it in her ears. Hannah screamed when something scurried across her foot. She sighed in relief when she realized that it was only a rat running past her and out of the room. Hannah closed the door behind her, and she found Daniel waiting for her with an amused expression etched across his stubble-covered face. Hannah lightly shoved his shoulder as she walked past him. "It's not funny!" She said over her shoulder. Daniel chuckled and jogged to catch up to Hannah as she approached a doorway marked as an entry to the stairs. "These stairs lead to the basement, where the morgue and Dr. Philan's office are," Daniel said as he pushed the dusty door open. Together they descended the stairs one at a time as Hannah's feelings of uneasiness grew. Daniel pushed open the door to the basement level, revealing a dark hallway. The beams of their phone flashlights bounced off the walls. The sound of dripping water echoed all around; exposed pipes ran the length of the ceiling.

"Come on, the doc's office is this way," Daniel said as they walked. They turned to continue down the corridor when they came face to face with something so grotesque it nearly made Hannah vomit all over the ground. A male about their age. He was tall with wild sandy hair and a ruggedly sharp jawline that was slightly covered in dirty scruff. He looked like the kind of guy that would charm any girl he so much as looked at. Unfortunately, the male that stood before them was anything but. His eyes were milky white, his skin so gaunt it was nearly translucent. The bluish veins crept along his arms and neck like a river on a map. Blood dribbled from his mouth as he growled out the words, "Get…out…!" He lunged for them, but Daniel reacted quickly. He grabbed Hannah's hand and sprinted away from the apparition.

Daniel pulled Hannah into a room and shut the door behind them; Hannah leaned against the wall and took several trembling breaths to calm herself. She looked at Daniel with a mix of fear and anger in her eyes, "What was that? Did you know we would see something like that?" She said, getting closer to Daniel with each word until there were only inches separating them. Daniel backed away slowly with his hands raised in surrender, "I swear, I have never seen him before in my life." He said, and Hannah narrowed her eyes at him in disbelief. She shook her head and finally looked around the room. It contained some old filing cabinets, a leather wing-backed chair that sat behind a wooden desk, and a small couch. She turned to look at the frosted glass on the door, and she realized just where they ended up. The faded letters on the door read 'Dr. Lance Philman'.

Hannah took a step backwards and nearly jumped out of her skin when her back collided with something hard. She turned when she realized it was only Daniel leaning over the desk, the tension seeped from her shoulders. Hannah stood beside him to see patient files scattered on the surface of the desk. She picked up a file that belonged to a young girl who looked to be around ten years old. Her name was Hazel; in her notes, it read that she was the youngest patient on record to ever be admitted to the hospital. However, that wasn't what caught Hannah off guard. It was the last name 'Philman' in her file. "Doctor Philman's daughter was a patient here?" She said, her eyes snapping up from the file in her hands to see Daniel's confused gaze. "Wait, what? Let me see." Daniel said as Hannah handed him the open file. He skimmed through the worn pages, "She died here, Philman tried to do electroshock therapy on her, and she had a seizure on the table. Says she was buried in the cemetery out back," Daniel said, his eyes widened in disbelief. "Hazel kind of looks like you as a kid." Hannah looked at the patient photo in Daniel's hand. She had similar brunette hair and doe-brown eyes. Beyond that, Hannah couldn't see much of a resemblance between them.

A loud bang outside the office door dropped Hannah’s heart into her ass like a hot rock and effectively drew their attention away from Hazel's file. Daniel set the pages down on the desk and slowly walked towards the door. Hannah grabbed his hand to hold him back, but it was already too late. He opened the door and was greeted with a mostly empty hallway. They looked ahead to see that the source of the sudden noise was a wheelchair in the middle of the hallway that was not there earlier. Had it been there before and Hannah hadn’t noticed it? Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to think. She felt like she was standing in a small room with fog closing in on her as she struggled to breathe.

As if being pushed from behind, the old chair began to turn, and the wheels squeaked in protest. It came to a stop, facing the office, then, as if someone had picked up the chair, it levitated off the ground and was thrown through the air. Hannah screamed and covered her face with her arms as the chair hurtled through the air and slammed into the wall next to her face. She slowly moved her arms from her face and began to frantically look around when she realized she could no longer see Daniel next to her. "Daniel?! Come on, this isn't funny." Hannah froze when she heard rustling papers behind her. She turned, and there stood little Hazel.

Her brown hair matted to her head with sweat and blood, fresh burns from the failed electroshock therapy marred her forehead. Hazel blinked slowly and pointed right behind Hannah, "You're going to die here." Hazel said, her voice grated like nails on glass. Hannah looked to see where Hazel was pointing, and her stomach sank into her shoes when she saw the grotesque male from earlier. He lunged for Hannah, and she managed to duck under his arm and ran down the hall. Her breathing echoed on the walls around her as she pushed her tired legs faster. Hannah opened a door and shut it behind her. With her back pressed against the worn paint, she struggled to calm her ragged breathing. She pressed her ear against the dirty glass in a feeble attempt to listen for any kind of noise. Hannah's thoughts immediately drifted to Daniel. Where is he? Is he looking for her, too? Is he… dead? She shook her head, clearing away the intrusive thoughts. "Come on, pull yourself together," Hannah said to herself softly.

Hannah took in her surroundings; her breath caught in her throat. She was in the room where Doctor Philman performed his experiments. There was a metal table in the center of the room with straps for the head, wrists, and ankles. A small tray of dusty instruments sat beside the table, and in the corner sat something covered in a sheet that might have been white at some point. Hannah took a step towards the mystery object when she felt a hand cover her mouth. She screamed and fought hard to escape until a familiar voice calmed her anxiety. She turned around to see Daniel. She hugged him tight and smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't you ever scare me like that again! Where did you go?" She said furiously while Daniel rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry, babe, I turned down a hallway and couldn't find my way back." He said, and Hannah rolled her eyes before she turned back to the object in the corner and pulled the sheet off. Dust clouded the air, and Hannah waved her hand in front of her face as she coughed to loosen the dirt in her throat. She froze when she realized what she was looking at. Hannah turned to look at Daniel, and he stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. His entire demeanor shifted as he slowly walked towards her. The eerie grin on his face made chills run down her spine, "You should've listened to Jeremy when he told you to get out." Daniel said as he stalked towards Hannah like a lion stalking its prey. Hannah felt her stomach roll; she fought hard to keep herself from vomiting all over the floor. The grotesque, mangled male was one of Daniel's friends, and he was trying to save her from the very person who brought her to this horrible place. Hannah turned back to look at the decaying corpse of Jeremy, tied up to an old wooden chair, his throat cut ear to ear. Dried blood covering the front of his tattered shirt, Hannah looked back at Daniel, and she screamed when she saw the towering figure behind him.

He had silver hair, translucent skin, and his eyes were two bottomless pits. The man grinned, showing horribly decayed teeth, "You did well with this one, she'll do nicely," he said, setting his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Hannah, meet Doctor Lance Philman," Daniel said casually as if introducing a long-time friend. "W-what? How?" Hannah said, struggling to find the words.

"That night when we came, we ran into Hazel then too, and she told us we would die here. One by one, we kept getting separated, and there was no way I was going to end up dead. So, I offered the good doctor a deal; spare my life, and every full moon, I bring him fresh meat to sustain him." Daniel finished his explanation, and Hannah suddenly began to feel lightheaded. Doctor Philman smiled widely as a dense fog began to fill the room. Hannah began to panic when she felt the sensation of cold, clammy hands all over her body, hands she could feel and not see. Hot tears poured down her face, her breathing became erratic as her head spun. The last thing she heard before the sweet bliss of darkness claimed her was the maniacal cackle of the doctor.

One month later…

The light of the full moon was bright in the sky, the trees bristled in the chilled breeze. Dead leaves crunched under the footsteps of a young couple as they went on an evening walk through the woods. "Daniel, I don't know about this. Are you sure it's safe?" Lily asked her date. Daniel put his arm around Lily's trembling shoulders and pressed a kiss to her golden blonde hair. "It's perfectly safe, I used to come here with the boys all the time." He said as the gothic architecture of Woodland Asylum came into view through the dense tree line. Lily was not excited about their date to the asylum; she wasn't a horror fan and had a fear of the dark, but Daniel was charming and convinced her to go. She recalled a dream she had the night before of a girl her age. The mystery girl was strapped to a table covered in her own blood, begging for death, anything to make the pain end. It was enough to keep Lily up for the rest of the night with thoughts about who that girl could have been.

Lily came to a stop in front of a rusted fence; she stared at the haunting building that loomed in the night like a sleeping monster. Daniel took her hand and led her through an opening he had cut through the fence. Lily could feel her heartbeat in her ears. She froze in her place when her eyes drifted upwards towards a window on the second floor of the building. Two females stood in the window, the smaller one looked to be around ten, but it was the older girl who made Lily's heart fall to the floor. It was the girl from her dream. Covered in blood. Her throat slashed ear to ear. The mystery girl placed a bloody hand against the glass, and Lily watched in horror as the girl's mouth began to move like she was trying to speak to her. She watched her closely, and the blonde felt bile rise in her throat when she could finally make out the words' run…run…RUN!' Lily screamed when she felt a hand cover her mouth. "Do as I say, and you might make it out alive." A voice whispered in her ear before her world went dark.