Jimmy followed her and touched her shoulder. Kree gasped. It was a cool sensation of icy fingers, holding her down. It momentarily paralyzed her shoulder, "Please, hear me out. This is important."
Kree slowly turned around and waited for Jimmy to talk again. Her heart was pounding, and she briefly wondered what the eulogy at her funeral would be. Tears started coming to her eyes again.
"Please, don't cry. Have you ever walked on hot, burning coals before?"
Kree looked at him strangely, but slowly shook her head.
"It's a good way to face your fears," Jimmy continued, "We don't have have any coals here, but you have to stand up and face your fears, Kree. We don't always want to, but sometimes it's necessary."
Kree looked into Jimmy's eyes. He looked tired. Years of this torture after death had made their mark, even though he was already dead. Kree didn't want to imagine what it was like to live with such an evil man after death. She slowly nodded her head, "Alright. I will do it. I will help you."
There was relief in Jimmy's eyes, "I knew you would come through."
"Don't get your hopes up yet," Kree warned, "I'm not nearly as strong as you seem to think."
Jimmy looked at her with all seriousness in his eyes, "If you weren't strong enough, you wouldn't have been able to get through these doors. Sometimes, we are a lot stronger than we think we are. Now come on. Let's go look for my dad..."

"My family," Jimmy looked up at her, "Since he's here, we have to be here, too."
Kree's heart missed a beat, "Where is your dad?"
Jimmy looked at her, "Missing right now."
"Well, it is a big place," Kree looked around, "But maybe we can go while he is missing."
The boy shook his head vigorously, "It doesn't work that way."
"What do you mean?" Kree was confused.
Jimmy stopped and looked at her, "Have you ever heard about black magic?"
"I'm getting out of here." Kree started running towards the door, and Jimmy followed her. The door was locked.
"You can't get out. You were chosen." the boy said sadly.
"Chosen for what? Some kind of freak fest?" Kree raised her voice as she looked for another escape.
"No one has been here for over ninety years." Jimmy looked at her, expecting some response.
"You've been here for ninety years?" the boy nodded his head slowly, "So...that means you're...dead?!" the last word came out as a squeal.
Jimmy widened his eyes, "Don't freak out!"
"You're...a...ghost." Kree's breaths were coming in short gasps.
"That is correct." Jimmy flinched as if he didn't like the word, "ghost."
"I...I really...um...can't help you. I'm sorry." Kree said as she ran into another room, still looking for another exit.

This wasn't sounding good. Kree was staying in a cell with the journal of a crazy man.
Tears came to her eyes as the seriousness of the situation finally hit her. She was stuck. There was no way out, and no one could hear her. She was going to rot in this cell all by herself.
She kicked the door one more time out of anger. There was nothing else to do, except read the journal of a crazed killer, and that was definitely not going to improve her mood.
She stopped. She could have sworn she heard a noise down the hall. Was she already being delusional? Was she now part of the insane?
The door slowly opened, and Kree stared at it for a few minutes before exiting. There was a young boy who was about her age, looking at her.
He was deadly pale and had blonde hair with light blue eyes, "Are you here to save me?"
"Save you from what?" Kree asked, even though she was pretty sure she didn't want to know.
"My dad," the boy looked at her for a minute, and then looked straight ahead and sighed, "You have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?"
Kree hesitated for a minuet and then shook her head, "No, I really don't."
"I guess I should start with my name-Jimmy Greene."
"I'm Kree." Kree said simply.
"My dad lives here," Jimmy continued, almost as if she hadn't spoken, "He's holding us hostage here."
"Us?" Kree raised an eyebrow.

In the last room, on the very top of the insane asylum, there was a book-no, scratch that. It was a journal.
Kree took a step closer and felt air escape her lungs. She walked into the room, and the door slammed behind her!
She screamed and banged the door, but it was all to no avail. The door was locked tight, and the window was barred. Even if the window wasn't barred, it was a straight drop fifteen stories. It was pretty obvious that the only reason why the window had bars was to prevent the occupant from killing him/herself.
Kree was wearing herself down by banging on the door, and she couldn't do it anymore. She slowly sank down into the chair that was in front of the desk.
She stared at the door for a few minutes before she finally turned her attention to the journal. She slowly flipped to the first page, as if she was afraid the book would bite her.

Day 1

They locked me up...again. They think they can just lock me in here like an animal, and I'll never be free. They are wrong...dead wrong.

Kree gulped as she flipped the page.

Day 2

They were stupid enough to send a psychologist in here. They accuse me of killing my family and then send a young, petite psychologist into my room as if they don't realize how blood-thirsty I truly am. What luck-my reward for bad behavior. 

It had a bell on the left side of the window. There were chairs to the right with an old, worn out coffee table and old magazines that looked like they would fall apart if she dared to touch them.

There was a stairway to the left of the counter, and she slowly walked up the stairs. With each step, it seemed to be getting colder and colder until she could see her breath coming out in short gasps.

She reached the second story. There was an aisle between two rows of cages. She slowly walked down the aisle.

The cages had bars on the windows of the doors, and the doors themselves were made out of steel. 

All the doors were open, and Kree noticed that each cage or room had personal items of whoever had lived in it. Kree's heart started pounding. This was an...insane asylum?  That was the only guess she could come up with, but it seemed strange to her that there was insane asylum so close to where she was living. It seemed....out of place.

She walked back to the staircase and climbed all the way to the fifteenth story. By this time, her legs felt like jello.

This floor was exactly like the others, except the aisle was smaller, and there were only four cages. It felt like she was in a tower or an attic. 

She walked down to the end of the aisle. There, at the very end, her breath caught in her throat, and chills wouldn't stop running down her spine. Every instinct she had told her to run, but she couldn't. She was rooted to the spot.

The door squealed as she opened it. It was dim inside with spiderwebs in the corners.
Kree had stepped into a sort of lobby area with a counter right in front of her.

After work, she start heading home in the dark. She went on to the dirt road, leading to her house, but she stopped in the middle of the road.
She saw the house that had been haunting, not only her dreams, but her daydreams as well. She took a step closer, then stopped. The best way to get over this was to face her fears, right?
Then why did she have the overwhelming sense of danger? She took another step closer, and a cold chill went down her spine. Another step-a strong wind started, and it took all of her strength to keep going.
She made it to the front door. There was no doorbell, just a strong door, daring her to go further. She went further...

Kree sighed as she grabbed a handful of CD's and started putting them on the racks.
She was getting a cold chill, and she tried to ignore it as best as she could. She looked around. Everyone else seemed to be comfortable.
Alyssa was too busy flirting with a customer to notice how cold it was in the store.
Kree tried not to look at the door or windows, knowing exactly what she would see. What was happening to her? Was she truly going crazy? She would soon find out, but she wasn't going to like the answer...

Kree went to work for a local CD company. She went behind the counter, where another girl, Alyssa, was stocking the CD's. Alyssa was one of the hottest cheerleaders at the school, and she wasn't afraid to show it. She looked at Kree with disdain before returning to what she was doing, "What's wrong, creep? Seeing things again?" she started giggling as if it was the best joke in the world, and then rolled her eyes, "You don't get it, do you? You will never fit in if you keep acting the way you are."
Kree finally got tired of it and turned around, "You don't get it, do you? Maybe I don't want to fit in if I have to act like you. Did you ever think of that?"
Alyssa looked taken aback and slightly offended, "I was just trying to help, but if you want to remain an outcast and a creep, go right ahead." Alyssa snapped her gum and smiled as she went to help a customer.

Kree shook her head. She was going crazy. She knew it...and now everyone else knew it, too. She slowly sat down in one of the chairs.
She looked at the window and glimpsed the same face she had seen at the creepy house. It disappeared as quickly as it came, and it didn't make her feel any better.
Mr. Bedford came into the classroom and gave them worksheets that they were supposed to do during the detention. Brad decided that he was going to use it to throw spitballs at Kree instead.
She finally got the paper done and handed it in. She practically ran out the door, trying to hide her tears as she did so...

Kree was not absorbed whatsoever in what the teacher was saying. She couldn't keep her mind focused, and she couldn't close her eyes, because the same face would appear before her, and it would startle her awake.

One time, she screamed, gained detention, and had most of the class laughing at her. She put her head back into her hands as tears ran down her face. She was ridiculed for that, too.

After school, she went to her history class for detention. The teacher wasn't there, but there was a vapor by the window and strange whispering:

"I'm not insane...

I killed them...

All of them...

and no one can help me now..."

Kree gasped as she stepped back. One of the students, who also had detention, started laughing, "What the hell are you staring at?"

Kree hated it here. She hated the school, she hated the kids, she hated the three bedroom house that her parents bought. Her job was the only thing that gave her a piece of mind.
"Oh, look, it's the newbie." a girl said as Kree walked by.
Kree sighed, "Here we go again..." she muttered to herself.
Jocks laughed, preps sneered, even nerds pretended that they didn't see her. Kree wasn't invisible, she was much worse. She was outcasted...Outcasted amongst everyone...

The next morning, Kree woke up with a pounding headache. She had not slept well at all. Part of the fact was because of her parents' constant fighting. The other part were the nightmares of the mysterious building on her street.
She took a long hot shower, trying to clear her head and then got ready for school. She was quiet as she was onto the bus and sat down in the back.
She felt sick-almost like she wasn't even in her own body.
The bus stopped in front of the school, and Kree stepped out.

Lily stood up like she was going to go check on Kree, but Chris stood up quickly, "Just relax. I'll go check on her."
Lily was tight-lipped as she sat back down. Chris walked to the back room, where Kree's room was. She was laying down, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't say a word when Chris sat down.
Chris was silent for awhile, and finally, Kree broke the silence, "You and mom both think I'm crazy."
"That's not true," Chris objected, "I just think you need to give this place more time."
"I'm trying, dad! We've only been here for two months, and I'm already 'seeing things.'" Kree turned over, so Chris couldn't see her face.
Chris could see that this was going nowhere. He slowly stood up and left her bedroom. This move might have been the worst mistake of his life...