Melissa Somerville’s Registered & Protected Web Page

SIPIYU + Chapter 2: Room 136

Chapter 2: Room 136

In Lenor, a small town at the edge of an empty valley, abnormally talented children were not looked upon as amazing gifts from God, but as creatures of horrific traits made to stand out in public. Bringing attention to oneself was not looked upon as a good thing in this time, so any prodigies found were sent to the Lenor Asylum, a large building on the outskirts of town. Lenor Asylum, funded privately through a small group of people known as the Chamber Council, housed boys and girls of all ages who all have some sort of abnormal ability.
A turn of events had brought Alice to the asylum, beginning with one fateful trip by the asylum one morning. While walking home, movement in the tower window—located on the north end of the building near the Girls' dormitory—caught her attention. She saw the darkened figure of a man, became unsure of what to think about it, and headed home. In the weeks after the sighting, she began to draw the figure in art class.
Even though Alice was unsure of why it was so unusual, she continued to draw the man that fascinated her. The town soon found out, dubbed her a prodigy, and sent her away to the asylum despite her parents' wish to keep her. Alice was far too confused and afraid to go against any of it, and, being submissive, went along with the driver who took her to her future residence.
Using the last bit of bravery she had, she walked the concrete steps of the cemetery outside of the asylum and entered through the same doors horror had struck years before.
Ms. Morgan, a mentor and a mother figure to the girls of the asylum immediately welcomed Alice and made her feel secure and at-home. Alice took to her quickly, needing comfort from someone she knew she could trust in an environment she was obviously not accustomed to being in. Ms. Morgan proved her worthiness of being a mother figure by showing Alice around and introducing her to the rest of the girls.
Emily and Hanna were the first two who befriended Alice, and they immediately bonded with each other. Being new to the asylum, Alice was glad to have finally made some friends--girls her own age that she could talk to. Back home with her mother and father, Alice was an only child, and she certainly wasn't a popular child at school, so finding friends her own age proved to be another source of comfort for her in this dreary situation.
Later on, Emily and Hanna put Alice up to a dare to spend the night in Room 136, a forbidden room not to be spoken of in the asylum. Ms. Morgan had obviously made it clear to the girls to never visit the room. This brought up the perfect chance for Alice to prove herself worthy of even staying in the asylum to Emily and Hanna despite their immediate friendship. After their lunch and bath, the girls and Ms. Morgan all went to the dorm rooms. Emily and Hanna told Alice about the girl who lived there before her, and how she strangely disappeared…
Later that night, Emily and Hanna lead Alice through the dark hallways to the gloomy end of Lenor Asylum. On their way, they eavesdrop on Ms. Morgan and Chef Douglas. Even though they had not made out the conversation, the dire look of sadness and question in Ms. Morgan's eyes had led the girls to believe something was not right. Eventually they found Room 136, and Alice was left to enter the room. Emily and Hanna hurried back to their room, unaware of Alice's fate following soon afterwards...

- - -

"Well, here I am," said Alice as she stepped into the damp room. An eerie silence hung over the area. Its musty smell was unpleasant at first. Alice stepped forwards—her nerves were on edge. It’s so dark in here… Continuing on, she slinked away from the antique rusted door.
It slammed. The sound echoed in the abandoned cell before the door clicked shut and locked. Alice whirled around, gasping. Her hands froze over her gaping mouth to stop her from shrieking; she couldn’t let on that she was in this forbidden room. The air froze over, sending chills up her spine.
After she spent the next few minutes staring at the door, Alice knew then that this room had a reason for being forbidden. The dark spatters on the wall clued her in. She stepped forward to examine, her feet sliding hesitantly along the tile floor. As her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, the faded dark red hue of the mess along the wall touched more and more at her fears. She slowly began to understand just what it was.
Is it… I-Is it…?!
“B-Blood?!” Alice stuttered in disgust, although just not to herself. She had no idea that a pair of dark eyes watched her from outside of the old opaque window on the opposite wall behind her.
Those eyes narrowed and slowly faded away afterwards when Alice turned around.
Now that she had adjusted to the room’s gloomy darkness, what Alice saw next struck more fear in her mind.
More blood splatters tinged the dreary walls of Room 136. Trails of scarlet made up mangled patterns of splotches from the floor and all the way to the ceiling. Some of it stretched across the walls in long, narrow, crooked paths. Other parts of the seaweed-colored walls were stained with a dim, sickening shade of red. Blood even stained the floors.
The room looked like it had gone through a massacre.
Frightened, Alice spun back around and reached for the door handle. She jerked on the knob and twisted it violently despite it being securely locked. She even tugged at the door—then gave up. Suddenly, she began pounding against the door with her tiny fists, screaming, “E-E-Emily!! Hanna! Ple-Please…!!” Tears began streaming down her face.
Something from the back of the room moved forwards along the floor and whirled up at Alice. A force slammed against her, knocking her against the door. She yelped and shrieked loudly before being brought to the floor with a rough slap against the stained tiles. The unknown force seemed to tear at her ankles as it dragged her away from the locked door. It pulled her into the dark corner of the room and ripped at her skin. Alice screamed in pain before everything went black.

- - -

Ms. Morgan returned to her quarters shortly after visiting Chef Douglas. “So… now we’re missing his butcher knives…” She spoke softly, “…Wonderful!” She raised her hand and rubbed her forehead lightly. She then took a quick glance around her dim-lit room. Clean compared to your room, huh? She sighed. Ms. Morgan glided over to her antique vanity and sat down on the wooden stool.
This piece of furniture, the vanity in a whole, resembled the woman who sat before it. The dark ocher wood complemented the old gold trimmings around the headboard. The mirror in the center had a small crack in the bottom left-hand corner. The crack extended like a spider’s web out across the giant piece of reflective glass. Through the years, the mirror had begun to lose its luster, but still held a unique shine that twinkled against Ms. Morgan’s amber eyes.
The walls, on the contrary, were plain—a faded chestnut color. The floor was tiled like the rest of the asylum. In Ms. Morgan’s room, a sense of comfort graced anyone who walked inside. Many members of the Chamber Council—leaders and sponsors of the facility—considered her an angel; she seemed to be the perfect role model for the young girls.
This ethereal being now sat and stared at her frail image in the broken mirror. For a moment she saw little Katherine Morgan staring back, dressed in black as lengthy faded-brown hair draped over her shoulders.
A dark spot started appearing in the center, before gradually growing… more and more until a shadowy face rushed forwards and engulfed the young girl in the mirror. Red eyes nearly pierced into Ms. Morgan’s soul. Jagged teeth fiercely bit into her fears. She gasped and jumped back, her eyes widening and shaking in fright. The mirror reverted to normalcy in a split second, now back to reflecting  Ms. Morgan’s dainty, pale appearance.
She slowly lowered her hands and gulped down the large lump in her throat. “Alright, everything’s fine…” she whispered to herself. As her heart finally started to calm down from the merciless pounding within her chest, she began to strip down to her own level of comfort. Her frail hands raised and undid the buttons to her olive green overcoat. The smaller piece of her outfit slipped off of her slender shoulders with ease before she took the garment and hooked it over a small post off to her side. Removing her overcoat revealed a white corset top that took the style of a girdle around her mid-section. The rest draped off the stool in an elegant mass of olive-green fabric that stretched out long past her ankles. At last she was down to her bear minimums—vulnerable, yet calm.
Ms. Morgan looked into the mirror again and examined those once lively eyes of hers. As a young girl those eyes used to sparkle with something radiant: happiness, love, compassion… but now that she had spent nearly ten years in the Asylum as the head mistress of the young girls that she was once like, her eyes had faded into a dull amber. Had she not been breathing, she would have probably been mistaken for a ghost.
Pushing the thought aside, her eyelids drooped in satisfactory relief as she raised her hands again to undo the binds in her hair. The slender, thin strands fell from their clasps and draped out along her back. Her bangs reached down past her jaw line, but curled with her face’s willowy frame.
Her dreary eyes rose once more to the mirror in front of her. Her tender, rosy lips parted as she whispered once more, “… Why now…? Why have you come back, Sipiyu…?”

- - -

Alice’s eyes opened slowly. They shook with slight consciousness as her world came to her in blurry masses of the dark room. The only light source, she could gather, was the moon outside of the cloudy window. She groaned softly and tried to move.
She immediately snapped back into place, almost screaming as tears dripped from her eyes. Alice felt as though her entire body was on fire, but she saw no physical bruise or cut; she only felt the burn. The next sense that came to her was the scraping sound of rusted metal against the walls in the room. At first, it was a light scrape, until more pressure was put to the blade. The screeching rang in Alice’s ears. She whimpered and shook her head, trying to block it out.
The constant drag of metal upon stone grew louder, making Alice’s eardrums ring. A heavy chill descended upon the room—she trembled.
From the corner of her eye, Alice could see a dark, shadowy figure approach her. She whimpered, dropped her head, and clenched her arms around her knees. Her eyes then practically sewed themselves shut. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to see it. She had had enough of this room, but she was sure that the door was still locked.
Heavy breathing sent apprehension down Alice's spine. The ice-cold touch in the air didn't help either. After a moment of silence, a dreary, rough voice called forth:
"Who are you..?"
Alice gasped and snapped her head up. Finally! Someone she could talk to. As her brown eyes rose to greet the person in the room with her, Alice was expecting to see the comforting face of a worker at the asylum. Instead, she came face-to-face with the dark figure she’d seen just seconds ago. Alice's eyes widened as she studied his appearance:
He had a dark face. His skin had a pale, decaying hue to it. Messy black hair cascaded around his jaw. This man's lips were also pale, and they had a small black mole on the right side. He was dressed in a black outfit, making him look as though he were a part of the darkness around her. He probably was.
Alice spoke quickly, her lips moving with blazing speed. "I-I don't belong here!" She exclaimed. "M-My name is Alice..! I-I'm not a prodigy… I'm not supposed to be here!" Alice felt tears slide down her cheeks. Part of her wanted to snatch her attention away from this apparition. She felt the frost in the atmosphere when he spoke again.
"Why are you here?" He asked. He drifted closer to her. The sound of metal and concrete clashing reached Alice's ears again.
She looked over—and saw the blood-drenched meat cleaver raking against the wall. The entity roared in sudden anger as he smashed the blade against the smooth surface. Sparks flew from the collision, causing Alice to recoil in complete fear. She screamed and pulled back into her little ball.
"I…"
"Why are you here?!" He yelled at her, his face nearly inches from the top of her head.
Alice screamed again and drew away from him as best she could. She couldn't move anywhere else—she had managed to trap herself in the bloodstained corner of the room. The wall straight ahead on the other side of the room had the locked door. She had already tried opening it.
Realizing she had no where else to go, Alice spoke again, gulping, her voice only coming to her now as a whisper, "I-I was asked to come—"
"You aren't supposed to be here. Nobody is supposed to be here… No one!" The man lashed out again, his butcher knife clashing against the wall, scraping at the dried blood and cement. He ignored Alice's scream as he swung his arm around again, slashing at the bloodstained drapes near the window just to the left of Alice. The fabric ripped and shreds fell to the floor just to the side of the panic-stricken girl. Alice snapped up to her hands and knees and frantically slid her way across the red-tinted floor. “P-Please!!” She cried out, tears pouring out as her heart sped to catch up with her.
The phantom man turned around quickly and snarled, bearing teeth made for ripping flesh apart. “Hold still!” He shouted after her before snapping his wrist forwards, sending off one of the bloodstained cleavers in her direction. It spiraled out of control.
Alice dropped to the floor and covered the top of her head, screaming out as the blade whirled past her hair. She felt a few strands drop to the ground. The blade ripped through some other mass before lodging itself into a crack in the wall just ahead. Alice’s eyes, though clenched shut in fear, heard something gurgle—it tensed up, whimpered out a miserable shrill, then flopped to the floor, landing in a puddle of its own blood.
When Alice realized she was alive, she slowly lifted her head. The dark figure walked forwards and stepped over the small mortal before he took his other cleaver and smashed it through the bleeding goblin‘s head. More blood spurted out from its head and leaked out onto the floor. It gave one last twitch before falling completely lax. Alice couldn’t believe what she saw. What… was that…?!
However, her attention slipped over to the small trinket the dark man managed to pull out from a hidden pocket on his outfit:
The base of the item was made out of bones. Thick, white hair tied around the bones in an elaborate design while a piece of what seemed to be skin firmly held up the back. More white hair, held by beads, dangled from the main piece.
Alice tilted her head in confusion. It looks so familiar… As thoughts echoed through her mind, the man grasped the little trinket and held it over the goblin corpse. Its form grew dark before it dispersed into a thick mass of dark mist. It filtered into the air and disappeared with a soft hiss. Alice rubbed her eyes a bit and watched as he tucked it back into his pocket. “What…what was that?” She asked curiously.
The man threw a glare back to the curious child and growled. “Alice.”
“Wh-What?” Alice muttered, gulping down a building lump in her throat.
“Your name,” He began, “you said your name was Alice.” His voice brought forth chills in the air that sent goose bumps crawling up Alice’s skin. The hoarse and deep voice echoed in the room.
“Yes…” Alice nodded. At least he remembered her name. “Alice Cunningham. I’m ten years old…I’m not a prodigy, so I don’t—”
The haunting figure growled again and snapped his teeth at her. “I didn’t ask for an autobiography. I know who you are.” Alice muttered a quiet apology as she slid back into the corner of the bloody room. The dark man floated back along the floor and sat down on the messy cot across from Alice. Now that he was still for the moment, it gave her eyes a chance to study him.
This man looked like he had gone through a lot. His dark hair drifted around his shoulders; it was very messy. He had pale skin adorned in various scratches and bruises, the most prominent being the large scars on his wrists.
Did he slit his veins? Is that how the blood had gotten into this room? Alice tilted her head. She gulped down her fears and slowly uncurled from her corner. Her voice came forth, a soft sound in the depths of the dark room: “Are you okay…?”
The dark figure on the dirty cot remained silent.
Alice slid forwards and crawled around the cot posts and peeked around the corner to look at him. He seemed to not be paying too much attention to her. She leaned in closer, trying to get a better look at his face…
The man shifted a bit, giving Alice a quick glimpse of his red, decaying eyes. She gasped and scooted back into her spot. Her eyes darted around the room again before slowly feeling the oncoming weight of sleepiness. Alice muffled a small yawn before she spoke again, “I’m sorry for being in your room. I know… that I’m not supposed to be here, but… I was put up to a dare. If… I could just stay here until morning, then I’d be happy to help you in any way I can, Sir.”
He finally responded. “…Sipiyu.”
“…What?” Alice glanced back up to him as she rubbed the corner of her eye.
“It’s what you people call me now.” His deep, rough voice no longer instilled fear in Alice’s mind. “Sipiyu, the ghost of the Lenor Asylum. I suppose your mentor hasn’t mentioned me yet.”
Alice paused for a moment. Ms. Morgan hadn’t mentioned him by name, although… “Ms. Morgan? She said we weren’t allowed to go in this room. She told us… I mean, she told all of the girls here that this room was off limits.”
Sipiyu’s eyes narrowed. Katherine…
“I can kind of see why…”
Sipiyu shifted a bit and tilted his head. “You’re lucky you’re alive. If you hadn’t looked so frightened I would have killed you too.”
Alice gulped and lowered her head. She recalled when he had attacked her. He was full of rage—probably blind from it, too. Only… this phantom man had attacked that monster instead. “What was that thing, anyway?” Alice inquired.
“An entity.” Sipiyu responded calmly. “There are plenty of them in this facility. My room seems to be their favorite hiding place. I don’t know why.”
Alice assumed it might have been the atmosphere. With blood on the wall, what monster wouldn’t want to be in this room? Speaking of which, she would have to clean her dress off if she ever would be able to leave this room. “…Wait,” Alice began, “your room?”
Sipiyu cringed. He looked away. “Forget it. Listen… I’ll let you live, little girl. But you take heed to your mentor, and do not ever return to this room. Don’t speak of me, either.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t.” He spat back a little louder. He watched Alice nod in the corner of his eye. “I’m not a… pleasant topic to bring up.” His lips curled into a slight smirk before he pressed his hands to the dirty cot and pushed himself off onto the floor. His boots hit the tiles with a thud.
“What are you, Sipiyu…?” Alice looked at his outfit and then lowered her gaze to his boots. “I didn’t see boots before…”
The phantom turned around slightly and faced Alice. “A figment of your imagination.” He stepped closer and knelt down in front of the small girl. His bangs once again covered the top half of his face. Alice finally looked up to him without fear and studied his features one last time before he waved his hand over her face. She closed her eyes as his fingertips grazed across her eyes, cheeks, and nose. He continued in a softer voice, “Now sleep. And remember what I said.”
Alice’s world went dark as she drifted into another deep, peaceful slumber.

- - -

Soft eyelids flickered open to the dull walls of a comforting room. Ms. Morgan slowly yawned herself awake and sat up, pushing her bed covers off to the side. Dressed in a comfortable slip-on nightgown, she glanced over to the blinking light of the clock on her night stand. Her hand reached over and turned off the buzzer before it had time to go off. Muffling another yawn, Ms. Morgan crawled out of bed and walked over to her closet door where she slipped on a robe and held it around her slender body. She walked to her front door, opened it, slipped out, and closed it without any words.
Ms. Morgan elegantly flowed down the halls of the asylum as sunlight flickered in lightly through the opaque glass windows. She gave the windows a quick glance, capturing the sight of the recess area outside before her eyes turned back to the long corridor.

- - -

Alice slowly woke. Her hands pushed her off of the cold tile floor of Room 136. Her eyes took a bit of time to adjust, but she noticed the familiar blood stains on the walls; however, the room didn’t seem as dark and foreboding as it had been when she first walked in. The light from the cracked window almost gave it a dreamlike atmosphere. When she remembered the events from the night before, Alice gasped and quickly sat up. She looked frantically for the dark man who had called himself Sipiyu, but she couldn’t find him.
Do not ever return to this room…
Alice managed to get up to her feet. She dusted the back of her asylum dress off, then hurried over to the steel door. It had been locked before. She crossed her brows in thought and grasped the door handle. But Alice still had that remaining thought of Sipiyu, and glanced back to his room. “…Thank you, Sipiyu.” Her eyes softened and she smiled, before turning the handle. With the door now unlocked, she pulled it open and slid out before closing it again.
The dark man appeared within his room again. He stared at the door for a moment before his form gradually disappeared back into nothingness.

- - -

Ms. Morgan turned the corner to the girls’ rooms, her delicate hands holding the robe piece around her as the train trailed along the floor behind her. She hugged the piece of clothing a bit more as she passed a small cold spot in the hallway. It felt as if a fingertip had brushed across her cheek…
When she lifted her eyes to continue, she caught glance of Alice slipping back into her room. “Alice…?” Ms. Morgan asked before hurrying over to the girls’ room. Before Alice could head inside, Ms. Morgan grasped her hand.

“Ms. Morgan…!” Alice exclaimed in a loud whisper. She glanced into her room, then slipped back out as Ms. Morgan pulled her to the side. “What’s wrong?”

The woman passed a scowl in Alice’s direction. “You know what, young lady.” Her grip lightened, though. “What are you doing not in bed? Look at you…! You’re all dirty. Where have you been?”
Alice gasped and looked at her dress. Oh no…! What do I do?! What do I say…? I can’t tell her about Sipiyu…! Alice bit at her bottom lip.
“Alice… don’t lie to me.” Ms. Morgan frowned.
“Ms. Morgan, I…” Alice paused again. She didn’t want to tell when Sipiyu specifically told her not to. Would he come after her if she told? She hadn’t really been fond of tattle-tellers, either. “I… a mouse found its way in the room!”
Ms. Morgan loosened up a bit as a brow rose slowly in curiosity—to see where this story was going. “Oh?”
“Mm!” Alice nodded. “So I caught it and took it outside.” She faked a small yawn and continued, “I just got back. Ms. Morgan, I’m so tired…!”
Thinking on the story a bit, Ms. Morgan nodded, then casually added, “So you met him, right?”
Alice turned to pull away—and stopped. “Who?”
“You don’t have to hide it from me, Alice.”
The young girl gazed into her mentor’s amber eyes; she was right. She couldn’t hide it from her. “Y…Yes. I saw him.”
Before Ms. Morgan could respond, her head spun around towards the sound of thudding shoes across the smooth floor.
Chef Douglas made his way down the hallway, disgruntled and upset. “Katherine! I suppose you haven’t solved my problem, have you?”
Ms. Morgan sighed and shook her head, “No… I’m sorry.”

Chef Douglas’ white mustache twitched in frustration until he caught glimpse of little Alice beside her knelt caretaker, ignoring the obvious blood stains on her shirt. He immediately calmed down for her sake. “Well… I suppose if you can’t find my cleavers I’ll be needing a new set soon, ‘else I can’t cook for the girls and boys.” He shifted his weight onto one foot, his rough hands pressing against his hips.
He was a short and heavyset old man, Alice saw. She watched him shift back and forth on his weight before she glanced away. Cleavers… the meat cleavers…? That’s what Sipiyu was…!
“Mr. Douglas, I assure you…!” Ms. Morgan started, “I will buy you a new set before lunch.”
Satisfied enough with the answer, the Chef nodded with a huff, then tipped his chef hat at Alice before he turned and headed back down the hallway, throwing back a faded statement for Alice: “Make sure you get that cleaned up, little lady!”
“He really is a nice man,” Ms. Morgan said after the chef disappeared around the corner. “Just a short temper.” She reached over and pushed back a few strands of dark hair behind Alice’s ears.
Alice nodded, looking to Ms. Morgan. “I think Sipiyu had them. He killed a monster with it. He called it an entity.”
“An entity…” Ms. Morgan repeated. So then… he’s back. “Well, Alice, I think that’s enough excitement for you. Go change and crawl back into bed. I would listen to him… the man you saw. Don’t speak of him… okay? It’s best you kept this to yourself. Like a secret.”
Shaking her head up and down again, Alice smiled a bit. “It’ll be okay, Ms. Morgan.” She finally managed to break away from her mentor’s hold and slipped back into her room. Emily and Hanna would be proud of her now—she survived.

- - -

The next morning Emily and Hanna woke within five minutes of one another, both soon finding Alice asleep on the mattress on the floor.
Emily yawned and smiled, “So she made it, huh?”
Hanna rubbed her eyes a bit then wandered over to the small desk to pull on her glasses. She looked over to Alice with relief. “I’m glad, Emily.”
“Yeah, me too.” Emily grinned. “I thought for sure she’d high-tail it out of there! Honestly, I would have, too. She’s really naive.”
Hanna pushed her friend lightly before kneeling down next to Alice’s sleeping form. Her hands grasped Alice’s shoulders and shook her lightly. “Alice…! It’s almost time to get up. Come on…!”
Alice groaned and rolled over. Her eyes kept shut as her mouth spat out a muffled name.
Emily’s brow rose in confusion. “Seep-ooo? What? Maybe that room did something to her.” The blonde laughed lightly, then pushed her foot into Alice’s side lightly. “Sleepy-head! Wake up!”
Alice slowly rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself halfway up. “What?” She whined.
Hanna glanced to the clock in their room. “It’s almost—What…?! It’s almost lunch time…!” Her eyes widened.
So did Emily’s. Both girls rushed to the door. Emily grabbed the handle first and swung the door open. Alice gasped and stood to her feet, following her friends out the door at lightning speed. As the door slammed behind them, they all raced down the hallway towards the lunch hall.

Continue
Return to SIPIYU