COMING SOON
The Angry Spirit of Nevermoore
by
A. E. Lawrence
Prologue
Everette Moore
had lived a long and fruitful life. But
it was now his time to die. However,
before he sighed his last breath, he signed a will, giving all his worldly
possessions to his good friend, Dr. William
Dinston, including his beloved mansion, Ever Moore.
Dr. Dinston, a psychiatrist who operated a small
insane asylum, converted Ever Moore into a state-of-the-art institution that
treated its inmates with care and respect, contrary to the prevailing Draconian
conditions of 1840. His rein continued
for seven years until he was thrown from his horse and killed.
His Operations Director, Frank Little, was not a
doctor and was forced to hire a psychiatrist to run the medical aspect of the
asylum.
He finally chose Dr. Henry Willison, who had worked at
several state asylums. What Frank didn’t
know was that Willison had been fired from two state institutions because he
promoted brutality among the staff and inmates.
And at his last position, he resigned rather than face criminal charges
for embezzling state funds
From the moment Dr. Willison took over the reins of
Ever Moore, the quality of the care of the patients began to deteriorate. Within the first year of his supervision, Dr.
Willison cut the institution’s operational budget by twenty-five percent. What no one knew was that he was channeling
those funds into his own bank account in New York City.
The second year was even worse. Dr. Willison continued to cut the budget and
divert the funds to his own account. The
situation got so bad that Frank Little felt he had no choice but to confront
the doctor. What he didn’t know at the
time was that the doctor was making deals with the merchants to deliver less
than what was ordered and splitting the difference with him. However, on the morning Frank was to meet
with the doctor, he died under suspicious circumstances, and the authorities
were never able to solve the case.
With Little out of the way, Dr. Willison took over the
financial duties, as well, and the quality of care at Ever Moore continued to
decline. Employees were fired so new
staff could be brought in at lower wages.
And the new hires were usually people who had been fired from state
asylums for brutality. So not only was
the quality of care degrading, the patients were subjected to abject cruelty,
as well. After a while, the staff and
inmates began calling the place Never Moore because the only way an inmate ever
got out was in a pine box.
The treatment at the asylum got so corrupt and brutal
that the collective anguish of the inmates of Never Moore radiated out through
the stone walls into the night.
As the magnitude of the despair increased, the cries
of the tormented began to reverberate through the walls of the old
mansion. The vibrations of the suffering
resonated outward until they reached the grave of Phillip Moore. The agony and pain of the tortured pulsated
through the ground and into his casket.
Unable to ignore the summons, the soul of Phillip Moore stirred. Answering the supplications emanating from
the asylum, his spirit rose to seek retribution against those who would defile
his beloved Ever Moore.
For notifications on publication date, click here
Copyright © 2020 A. E. Lawrence
