Lost and Found: Return of My Mysterious Fiancee

Southridge Psychiatric Facility in Ensford had amassed a sinister reputation, notorious for housing deranged psychopaths and murderers who couldn’t be tried due to their mental conditions. Sometimes, even the hospital staff were terrified of the inmates and, aside from ensuring they couldn’t leave the premises, hesitated to intervene too much, given the occasional news of a patient killing a staff member.

Now, facing five ominous men with malicious intent, Amber screamed. She kicked the man gripping her with a sinister look and ran. Her frantic sprint down the corridors took her past other patients who were up at night, each displaying bizarre and unsettling behaviors. Some ignored her, others invited her playfully to join them, and a few, with twisted faces, tried to grab her.

Her screams and the sound of her running footsteps woke up others. Lights turned on one by one, revealing dozens of psychiatric patients who either looked at her indifferently or with chilling smiles. Behind her, the fat man continued to call out, intending to make her his bride.

“Open the door, hurry! Guard! Please, open up!” Amber raced back to the main gate, but the small door she had locked herself was firmly shut. She desperately pounded on the window of the guard room, but it was pitch-black inside; no one responded. Overwhelmed by fear, she broke down crying, not knowing what to do next.

She dialed the police again, not waiting for the dispatcher to ask before crying out, “Hello! Why haven’t you sent someone yet? I’m at Southridge Psychiatric Facility, please, send someone fast!”

The fat man was closing in again, laughing creepily. Amber turned and ran, darting through the hospital like a headless fly, desperately hiding from him. But he found her quickly each time.

Thinking of the Reed family, she tried calling Talon for help but was hung up on; her calls to Pinewood and Elizabeth were also cut short, and all their phones turned off. The chilling tone of the phones being off sent shivers down her spine.

Who else could help her? Suddenly, Hugo’s name flashed in her mind. Surely her foster father, Hugo, would help her, just like last time!

Filled with hope, she dialed Hugo’s number, but Jennie answered, her voice cold and untrusting. When Amber tried to explain, Jennie questioned if she was trying to set Hugo up again. At that moment, Amber realized her situation resembled the story of the boy who cried wolf. She understood that neither Jennie nor Hugo would ever come to her aid again. She had exhausted all their goodwill.

As Jennie hung up, Amber nearly fell into despair. Then, she noticed a man with shoulder-length hair and black-framed glasses, wearing a hospital gown, sitting on a bench reading a medical book. Perhaps someone engrossed in a medical book might be kind-hearted enough to help her.

“Sir, please help me!” Amber pleaded, tugging at the man’s clothes. “Someone is chasing me, and I’m really scared!”

“How did you get in here?” the man asked, looking up from his book and scanning Amber, who was not in a hospital gown. “This isn’t a place you can just walk into.”

“I didn’t know. I was being chased and saw the door open, so I came in to hide. I didn’t realize this was a psychiatric hospital,” Amber explained through tears.

“That’s really strange,” the man murmured, a dark glint passing behind his glasses.

“Wife! My wife!” The fat man’s voice was getting closer.

“He’s coming! Please, help me hide!” Amber’s hands trembled as she clutched his clothes.

“That room is mine; you can hide there,” the man kindly offered, pointing to a room across the hall.

Amber hesitated but eventually trusted him. “Thank you, thank you so much,” she said before darting into his room.

Hidden inside, she heard the fat man’s footsteps approaching. He asked the man with glasses, “Victor, have you seen my wife?”

Amber’s heart raced.

“No,” Victor answered.This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

Relieved, Amber listened as the fat man muttered, “Strange, I swear I saw her run this way.” He began to panic, shouting and crying, “I want my wife! My wife!”

“Shh!” Victor hushed him, placing a finger to his lips before whispering, “Let’s go look for her together.”

Excited, the fat man nodded.

Amber listened as their footsteps faded into the distance, her roller-coaster emotions finally settling. She surveyed the room, noticing the neatly made bed with “Southridge Psychiatric Facility” printed on the linens and a table laden with medical books. Relieved at having guessed right about the man’s character, she tried to call the police again, only to find her phone battery dead.

She cursed the unreliable police under her breath, frustrated that they hadn’t arrived despite her giving them the exact location. Frustration also mounted as she thought about her failed attempts to reach the Reed family and Hugo, feeling a deep resentment, especially towards Jennie, who had answered but refused to help, giving hope only to snatch it away cruelly.

Despite her previous lie, how could Jennie treat her this way? Would she have done the same if it were Zackary or Tina? It was clear to Amber that her status as an adopted daughter was at the root of the disparity.

Determined to make Jennie pay once she escaped, Amber was planning her revenge when suddenly the door to the room was flung open. Victor stood there, pointing at her as he spoke to the fat man, “Look, here’s your wife.”

Amber’s face turned ashen. She stared incredulously at Victor, who still held the medical book in his left hand, his smile now twisted with malice.

“My wife!” the fat man exclaimed joyously, drooling as he lunged forward.

Amber screamed and dodged, bolting towards the door. However, Victor grabbed her hair, pulling her back and pushing her towards the fat man. He then picked up a folding chair nearby and said to the fat man, “You know what to do when your wife disobeys, right?”

The fat man, gnawing on his fingers, asked naively, “Have babies with her?”

Disgust and fear surged through Amber.

Victor laughed, “No, you break her leg.”

He raised the folding chair high and smashed it down hard on Amber’s left leg amidst her terrified screams.

“Ah!” Amber’s agonized scream echoed through the hospital.

Victor dropped the chair, smiling as he watched the fat man drag Amber back into the room, her broken leg leaving a trail of blood on the floor. As Amber’s vision blurred with pain, she saw Victor pick up his medical book again, engrossed as if nothing had happened.

From heaven to hell, it was but a step away!