Ava's eyes widened as she stared at the message on the wall. "You will never leave." The words seemed to sear themselves into her brain, filling her with a sense of dread. She knew she had to get out of the sanitarium, but her feet seemed rooted to the spot.
As she stood there, frozen in fear, Ava began to feel a creeping sense of unease. The air around her seemed to thicken, and the shadows on the walls began to twist and writhe like living things. She felt like she was losing her grip on reality.
Suddenly, Ava's vision began to blur. The walls of the sanitarium seemed to melt away, and she found herself standing in a dark, featureless void. She stumbled forward, her hands outstretched in front of her.
As she walked, the void began to take on a life of its own. Ava saw flashes of images, like snapshots in her mind. She saw Malcolm, the patient whose diary she had found. She saw the shadow people, their twisted faces leering at her. And she saw herself, trapped in a never-ending cycle of madness.
Ava's mind reeled as she tried to make sense of the visions. Were they real, or just a product of her own fevered imagination? She didn't know, but she knew she had to keep moving.
The void seemed to stretch on forever, and Ava's sense of time began to distort. She lost all sense of direction, and her footsteps echoed off the walls of her own mind. She was trapped in a labyrinth of her own making, and she didn't know how to escape.
As she walked, the visions grew more intense. Ava saw herself performing experiments on patients, just like the ones she had read about in the sanitarium's records. She saw the faces of the patients, twisted in pain and fear. And she saw the entity, the malevolent presence that lurked in the shadows.
Ava's grip on reality began to slip further. She wasn't sure what was real and what was just a product of her own imagination. She stumbled forward, her mind racing with questions.
And then, Ava saw something that made her blood run cold. A door, hidden in the shadows. A door that seemed to lead to a place of unspeakable horrors. Ava's heart pounded in her chest as she reached out to touch the door.
As her hand closed around the handle, Ava felt a jolt of electricity. The door creaked open, revealing a room filled with darkness. Ava's eyes adjusted slowly, and she saw something that made her scream.
A figure, strapped to a table. A figure that looked exactly like her.
Ava's mind reeled as she stumbled backward. What was going on? Why was she seeing herself strapped to a table? And then, everything went black.
When Ava came to, she was lying on the floor, her head throbbing with pain. The sanitarium was silent, the visions gone. But Ava knew that she wasn't alone. The entity was still out there, watching her.
As Ava struggled to her feet, she saw something that made her heart sink. A file, lying open on the floor. A file with her name on it. Ava's eyes scanned the contents, and she felt a chill run down her spine.
She was a patient at Ashwood Sanitarium. And she had been here for years.
Ava's mind reeled as she stumbled backward. What was real? What was just a product of her own imagination? She didn't know, but she knew she had to get out of the sanitarium.
As she turned to make her way back downstairs, Ava heard a voice. A voice that seemed to come from all around her. "You will never leave," it whispered. "You will never escape."
And then, Ava heard the sound of footsteps. Footsteps that seemed to be coming from the room she had just seen. The room with the figure strapped to the table.
Ava's heart pounded in her chest as she realized that she was not alone. And then, the lights went out.