Final Girl, Michelle Schusterman [book recommendations for young adults TXT] 📗

we’re in Seoul investigating the Ryang Psychiatric Hospital. It’s been abandoned, but very recently, so it probably won’t look quite as creepy as Daems Prison or the catacombs in Buenos Aires. The patients and staff were all moved to a new, better facility in another neighborhood, and this hospital was purchased by a production company based here in Seoul. They want to use the building as a setting for a movie about a haunted asylum, and since this place is rumored to be haunted, they thought it would make the film more authentic if they filmed here.

Supposedly, the hospital has its very own poltergeist. A really angry, really noisy one. There’s a rumor that back when the hospital opened decades ago, some nurse accidentally opened a portal and let in the poltergeist . . . which means it was never human.

So what IS it? Stay tuned to watch us try to find out!

OSCAR might have had potential as an actor, but I was giving him a run for his money. The second I joined the rest of the crew in the hotel lobby, I started putting on the performance of a lifetime.

I apologized to Dad and everyone for the Save Yourself post. Yes, I knew I was supposed to get all posts approved. No, of course I didn’t actually think my doppelganger had written it. Yes, I knew the video didn’t show anything remotely paranormal—it was supposed to be a joke! Just trying to lighten things up after my whole “will I die in the season finale” mistake, bad judgment on my part, ha-ha, won’t happen again.

No one bought the act at first, especially not Dad or Grandma. But I stuck to it, smiling and calmly eating my pastry, until finally Lidia changed the subject and started talking about our itinerary for the day. We were going to spend the morning filming in the neighborhood where the psychiatric hospital was located. The people from the production company who had bought the facility were going to meet us, and Grandma would be conducting most of the interviews. Then we’d return to the hotel for dinner, pack up, and head back out to spend the night in the hospital.

Oscar caught on to what I was doing right away. The trip across town took about half an hour, and we spent the whole time joking around in the back of the van, ignoring the occasional concerned glances from the adults.

When we pulled up to Ryang Psychiatric Hospital, a group of people was standing outside of the entrance, all smiling eagerly. I felt a brief wave of déjà vu, remembering the fans who had found us at the Montgomery. Lidia was the first out of the van, and a guy with longish graying hair pulled into a ponytail stepped forward.

“Ms. Bettencourt!” he exclaimed, his words carrying the slightest hint of an accent. “We spoke on the phone earlier. I’m Jae-Hwa.”

“So nice to finally meet you in person!” Lidia shook his hand, then turned to Dad and Jess, who were right behind her. “Park Jae-Hwa. He’s the founder of Talchul Films.”

A blur of introductions followed, during which Oscar and I hung back. Jae-Hwa’s whole staff—five people, including him—all seemed excited to meet the crew, and really excited to meet Grandma. They weren’t so interested in Oscar and me, which was a relief—and, well, maybe a little bit of a surprise, too. After my unfortunate blog post, P2P fans had been arguing nonstop in the forums about whether or not we were just faking the whole doppelganger thing. But maybe in real life, no one cared whether my double would try to attack me during the finale. Not even the people who owned the place we’d be investigating.

After several minutes of chatting, we all trooped inside the hospital. I blinked in surprise, nudging Oscar.

“You weren’t kidding about this place,” I told him. “It’s not creepy at all.”

The lobby was still furnished with a few sofas and chairs. A flat-screen TV hung on the wall, although I could see the cables dangling from the back. A few filing cabinets sat against the wall behind the receptionist’s desk, and there were even a few magazines still stacked neatly on a little table in the corner.

“Did they leave all the furniture?” Roland asked, glancing down the hall to the left. “Beds, all that stuff in the rooms?”

Jae-Hwa nodded. “The hospital’s new facility included an upgrade in equipment. When we bought this building, we asked that the owners include all of the furnishings they no longer needed in the price. For us, it was a ready-made set for our first film.”

“Nice,” Grandma murmured thoughtfully as she gazed around. I could practically see the wheels turning in her head, probably thinking about her own production company and whatever its first movie would be. I breathed a small sigh of relief; for a few hours, at least, she and Dad would be focused on something aside from their concern that I was losing my mind.

“Kat, check this out.” Oscar waved me over to the hallway, where he stood by the first door. “Looks like a nurses’ lounge or something.” We both glanced at the adults, who were all getting settled on the sofas and chairs in the lobby. Jess and Mi Jin were setting up their cameras, while Dad pinned microphones on Jae-Hwa and Grandma. I caught Dad’s eye and pointed to the lounge. After a second’s hesitation, he nodded, and Oscar and I hurried inside and closed the door.

“Finally,” Oscar said, turning to me expectantly. “Jamie already told me everything, but I want to hear it from you. What happened, exactly?”

So I told him about the soft clicking on the laptop, watching the same two words appear over and over again on the screen, seeing the Thing in the mirror, long braid hanging over its shoulder. I told him how it had stood and walked out of sight, and how I’d sat down to video chat with Jamie and ended up dozing off.

“It’s