Kami King looked out the window of the passenger side of the old black car. “We’ve been on the road for a while now. Tell me where we are going. Where is John?” King’s voice rose with frustration.
The driver, thin with sickly gray skin, smiled. “Impatient, dear. But worry not. We have arrived!” The car turned onto a gravel driveway leading to a large, dilapidated house nestled in the trees.
“What is this place?” Kami knew it was foolish to get in the car with this man, it defied all common sense, but she was determined to find John Austin Baker.
“This is a wonderful place. It is Doctor Insidious’s hospital. He helps people, just as he helps your friend.” The man began cry. “The doctor. He is so wonderful and caring.”
Kami left the car and stepped up to the front door. The door opened with a light touch to reveal a waiting room. The room was well lit, though the walls and furniture were dark, and there were macabre paintings hung on the walls.
A woman in a dated nurse outfit smiled and waved Kami over to a desk. “Miss, are you here for an appointment?”
“Where is John? John Austin Baker!”
The nurse nodded. “Ah, a visitor.” She pointed to a row of chairs. “Have a seat and someone will be right with you.” The nurse smiled wide, almost impossibly so, and kept smiling as her eyes followed Kami until she sat down.
A man was sitting two chairs to Kami’s left. The man slowly turned his head and stared at Kami with a gentle smile. Kami looked over and gave him a slight nod. The man was missing both of his arms.
“He’s in good hands, you know.” The man spoke in a calm voice.
“What?” Kami’s throat was dry, and her voice scratched. “What are you talking about?”
“Your friend,” the man said as his smile grew. “The doctor helped me. See?” He shrugged his shoulders as he turned his torso to show Kami his missing arms.
Kami stares for a long moment. “What happened to you?”
“A very unfortunate accident. I crashed my motorcycle and broke both of my arms.”
Kami’s lip quivered. “But,” she stammered. “Why don’t you have your arms anymore?”
“They were broken,” the man said simply. “They aren’t anymore.” The man’s smile grew.
“You are making me uncomfortable.”
The man smiled at her a moment longer and then turned to stare straight ahead, still smiling.
The nurse behind the desk called for Kami and told her she could go through the door behind her. “Your friend is in the last door on the left.” She checked a document on the desk. “And it looks like he has been discharged into your care.” The nurse grinned once again. “Congratulations.”
Kami kept her stare on the woman as she walked to the door, opened it, and passed through. She found herself looking at a short hallway with two rooms on the left and two on the right. As Kami began to make her way toward Baker’s room, there was a knocking behind the first door on the left. She stopped and looked at the door. The knocking stopped. Kami continued down the hall and the knocking began again. “Creep,” she muttered to herself.
“Creep! Creep,” came a muffled voice behind the door. Kami looked back with wide eyes and then hurried to the next door. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for whatever would be behind the door. Kami opened the door and there, on a bed in a surprisingly sterile room, was John Austin Baker, asleep. Kami ran to his side and attempted to rouse him. John’s eyes blinked and he quickly sat up, looking around the room.
“What? Where am… Kami?”
“John!” Kami threw herself into John, wrapping her arms around him in a big hug. He looked confused and hesitated to hug back but then embraced her. “I was so worried about you. This place is horrific. We need to leave. Right now.”
“Did you… come for me,” John asked.
Kami released her hug and stepped back. “Uh, yeah.” She looked at the floor as she scuffed it with the toe of her sneaker. “I knew you were in trouble. I’m glad I found you.” She smiled, but then her smile faltered. “But we need to leave. Can you walk? Are you ok?”
John looked around the room. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine. We can go.” He pushed himself off the bed and stood up.
Kami wasted no time. She turned around and made her way to the door.
“Kami, wait.”
Kami turned around and gave John a questioning glance.
“Thank you.”
Kami smiled. “Welcome. Now, lets go!”
Kami and John stepped into the hallway where both noticed the same thing on the door across from them. Printed on the door was the name Dr. Insidious.
John stepped up to the door. “We should go in there.”
“Are you crazy,” Kami hissed. “No! We are leaving.”
John ignored her. He opened the door and stepped through. Kami grunted in frustration and followed. Dr. Insidious was nowhere to be found. The room looked to be an office or study that was well kept despite the conditions of the rest of the building. They searched the room for any evidence of what was going on in this “hospital”, but the room was nothing more than a façade. There was nothing the in the filing cabinets and drawers. John found a wooden chest under padded bench and opened it. It was full of Dr. Insidious masks. He picked up the mask from the top of the pile and looked it over.
“Eww,” Kami said as she peered over John’s shoulder. “Put those away. Come on, there is nothing here. We must go. Now.”
“Ok. Yeah. We’ll go.” He closed the chest and pushed it back under the bench.
Kami and John walked toward the reception room. The strange, knocking resident in the first room made no noise. Kami glanced at the only other door she had no interaction with and shuddered at the thought of what may be lurking there. As they reached the reception room, it was empty. No sign of the nurse. No sign of the armless man. Kami looked around in confusion before grabbing John’s arm and pulling him out the front door.
The black car Kami arrived in sat in front of the house with the engine still running. The ill-looking driver was nowhere to be found. Kami motioned to the car. “Come on. I’ll drive us out of here.”
The car ride was quiet. John sat in the passenger seat, staring at his lap. Kami stayed focused on the road. “What happened back there, John?”
“I don’t remember. Nothing, I guess.” He thought for a moment. “How long was I gone?”
“Maybe a few hours? How did you end up here?”
“I think I was hit from behind. That is all I remember. I was hit and then woke up with you standing over me in that room.”
“I don’t understand any of this,” Kami said with nervous exhalation.
“Nothing happened. It was a scare tactic. That’s all it was. An elaborate scare tactic.”
John Austin Baker stared at the Dr. Insidious mask on his lap and rubbed the mask rhythmically with his thumb.
Rapid Fire Wrestling 