Claire was also puzzled about who could have sent the parcel — and why the sender hadn't waited at the door until one of them answered.
"Who do you think sent this, Claire?" Lily asked.
"Whoever sent it doesn't want us to know who they are. But they know us well — or they're watching us," Claire replied, her eyes moving around the room.
Just then, Stephnie, who had been in the kitchen preparing noodles, came out to see why Claire and Lily were taking so long. She found them standing there, confused.
"Are you two planning to live out here? Tell me so I can lock the door. I need to take a shower," Stephnie called as she walked toward the doorway.
Claire and Lily hurried to explain about the mysterious parcel, the one marked: Ready for the Next Horror Mystery. Stephnie, too, felt uneasy. They had only just launched their online channel, The Ghost Mentors — it seemed impossible that people would already be bringing them cases. And why hadn't the person who left the parcel waited and announced themselves? Whoever left it had knocked, placed the package on the chair in the lobby, and walked away.
All three sat in the living room, staring at the parcel on the table between them.
"Should we open it, or throw it away?" Lily asked, glancing at her friends.
Claire looked at Stephnie and asked, "Stephnie, what do you think? Should we open it?"
Stephnie answered carefully, "I don't know what's inside. Maybe someone's playing a prank — or maybe someone really needs our help and sent this parcel for that reason."
"But if someone needed our help, they could have come to us and asked. Why drop the package and run?" Claire said, adjusting her glasses in puzzlement.
Seeing her friends' uncertainty, Lily stood up and ripped the parcel open. What none of them knew was that someone outside had been watching them. The watcher smiled as Lily opened the package — it was impossible to tell, for now, whether the watcher was male or female.
"There's a photograph of a hospital in here, and a letter," Lily said, rummaging through the contents.
"Read the letter — and which hospital is in the photograph?" Claire demanded, taking the photograph from her.
"I'll read it aloud — listen carefully," Lily replied, and began to read the letter from the parcel.
"If you are reading this letter, it means you are ready to solve your next ghost mystery. I know you must be wondering who I am and why I sent you this parcel, but believe me, this parcel is connected to the past life of one among you three. If you manage to solve the mystery happening inside the old general ward of this hospital, then gradually, you will reach closer to uncovering that past. But be warned—there is a risk of losing your life in this task. Still, if you wish to solve this mystery, I am writing the name and address of the hospital below. It is located at the very end of St. Victor Street in the west of New York. For your understanding, I have also sent an old photograph of the hospital.
Yours,Secret Admiral
St. Victor Memorial Hospital63B/C, St. Victor Street, New York."
"This letter and the person who sent it both seem suspicious to me," Stephnie said to Claire and Lily.
"I agree with you," Claire replied while checking the parcel envelope. "And I feel we shouldn't take this case. We don't even know whether something paranormal is actually happening in this hospital or if the sender is just playing a prank on us."
"Look, if you both listen to me," Lily said while fixing her hair and trying to convince them, "I think we should take this case and try to solve the hospital's mystery. And even if it turns out to be a prank, at least we'll get to go on a trip—and meeting new guys in a new place is always fun."
"Lily, you're right," Stephnie said, looking at the map, "but how will we even get there? According to what I can see on the map, this place is seven hours away, and it's already 2:30 PM. There's no public transport available to reach there, and we don't even have a car."
"Stephnie, when will our Claire's beauty finally come in handy?" Lily said mischievously, tossing a couch cushion toward Claire. "That neighbor of ours, Tom—he likes Claire a lot, and he owns an old Ford car. If Claire asks him for the keys, he'll gladly give us his car."
"No way! I'm not doing that," Claire protested. "That Tom is such a clingy guy. It took me ages to make him stop following me around, and if I ask for his car now, he'll start pestering me again to go on a date with him. I'm not doing it. Check online, maybe we can find some transport option." She said this while getting up from the couch and walking toward the kitchen.
"Claire, we've already solved our last case, and right now, we don't have any new one. When a case like this comes to us on its own, are we really going to reject it just because we don't have a car? Do you think that's fair?" Lily said, trying to persuade her.
Claire knew Lily was right. Besides, the letter mentioned that the case was connected to the past of one among them—and out of the three, only Claire had a mysterious past involving her father's unexplained death. It was possible that this case might help her uncover the truth behind it.
When Claire finally agreed to borrow the car keys from Tom, Lily started doing a playful, sexy dance right there in her nightgown, shouting, "Hurray! We are going on a trip! Girl fun is on!"
But none of the three girls had any idea what was waiting for them ahead.
They quickly took showers and got ready. They wanted to reach the location by night so that in the morning, they could gather information from the local people about the hospital.
Now it was time for Claire to get the car keys from Tom. So, wearing a cute pink dress, she walked up to Tom's house and rang the doorbell, while Stephnie and Lily stood a little distance away, watching her.
After a short while, Tom opened the door of his house, and seeing Claire standing there made him extremely happy. Tom studied at the same college as the three girls and had liked Claire ever since the beginning of college. However, Tom was known for being a bit of a flirt—he would spend a night with a girl and then leave her—so Claire never liked him at all.
Aside from that, Tom belonged to an affluent family; his father was one of the top prosecutors in New York.
After a few minutes of smiling conversation, Claire finally returned, holding Tom's car keys in her hand, smiling with quiet triumph. She walked back to Stephnie and Lily, and the three girls set off for St. Victor Memorial Hospital at exactly 3:23 PM.
Stephnie was driving, Lily was navigating, and Claire sat quietly in the back seat.
"Claire, what exactly did you say to Tom that made him hand over his car keys in just ten minutes?" Lily asked teasingly, while Stephnie burst out laughing.
"I didn't say anything like that," Claire replied. "I just told him that we three girls were going on a trip and needed the car. I also promised that when we come back, I'll show him our pictures from the trip and write a 'Thank You' post for him on our channel."
"There's no way Tom gave you his car just for a thank-you post," Lily said, recording Claire with the handcam. "Don't hide it from us—we're your best friends!"
"Fine then, listen," Claire said with a sigh. "Tom made me promise that after we return from the trip, I'll go to college with him for a whole week—and sit next to him in every class."
Hearing that, Lily smirked. "I knew it! A guy like Tom would never lend his car just for a thank-you post."
All three girls laughed, and the car filled with laughter, loud music, and excitement as they drove toward their destination. This trip was already special for them—but soon, it was going to become even more special, in ways they could never have imagined.
After seven long hours of tiring travel, they finally reached the hospital. When they stepped out of the car, they saw that the entire hospital was engulfed in darkness. Though patients still came there for treatment, the place that was usually bustling with people during the day was now, at night, drowned in an eerie silence.
There was nothing around except the dark, and tall trees surrounded the hospital from all sides. Those trees looked beautiful during the day, but now they made the atmosphere terrifying. The wind passing through their branches made a sound like someone moaning in pain.
"Oh! This place is really creepy. I can already tell this hospital belongs more to ghosts than to humans," Lily said with a nervous laugh.
"What do you think, Stephnie?" Claire asked, glancing at her.
"To be honest," Stephnie said, locking the car, "there's a lot of negative energy around this place, and the air feels heavy too. But whether it's actually paranormal or not—we'll only find out once we go inside."
"Let's do one thing," Claire suggested. "For now, we should find some accommodation nearby. Tomorrow morning, we'll talk to the hospital staff and then go inside to investigate whether this place is truly haunted—or if someone's just playing a prank on us."
Hearing this, Stephnie and the other two girls began looking around for a nearby motel or homestay. But apart from that strange hospital, there was absolutely nothing visible in the area.
"I don't think we'll find any place here to spend the night," Lily said, glancing around. "It's better if we go inside the hospital and ask someone there if there's a motel nearby."
Agreeing with Lily's suggestion, the three girls started walking toward the hospital entrance. But just then, someone called out to them from behind.
"Excuse me? Are you looking for someone?" asked an old man, dressed in a formal shirt and trousers, as he approached them.
For a moment, the three girls froze, their breath catching in their throats. Then Claire composed herself and asked cautiously, "Who are you?"
"I work here at the hospital," the old man replied. "My name is Fedrick, and my shift starts in about ten minutes—from 11 o'clock. But who are you three, and whom are you looking for?"
"Mister Fedrick," Lily asked politely, "could you please tell us if there's any motel nearby where we can spend the night?"
"But why have you come here?" Fedrick asked sharply, his expression tightening.
Hearing that, Claire and Lily exchanged a glance, then turned to Stephnie. Stephnie sighed and began explaining everything—from the moment they received the mysterious parcel up until now.
As she finished, Fedrick fell silent, lost in deep thought for a moment. Then his eyes widened slightly, and he said in a firm tone, "I'll tell you about a place where you can stay tonight—but in the morning, you must all leave this area immediately. There's nothing happening in this hospital that you should consider haunted. This hospital doesn't need you—and neither do the people here."
"But, Fedrick—" Stephnie began to say something, but Claire raised her hand, signaling her to stop.
Claire had already realized that it was too late at night to argue. Continuing the conversation with Fedrick now would only be a waste of time.
So, Claire replied calmly, "Alright, Fedrick. Just tell us the address of the place where we can stay tonight. We'll decide what to do in the morning."
Fedrick gave them the location of a small cottage situated just behind the hospital. The three girls went there, checked in at the reception by giving their IDs and payment, and then headed to their room.
They were completely exhausted. Each of them took a shower one by one, and soon after, they lay down on their beds.
"What do you two think—why did Fedrick want to send us away?" Lily asked, glancing between Claire and Stephnie.
"Whatever the reason is," Claire said, scrolling through her phone as she searched for information about the hospital, "one thing is certain—Fedrick definitely knows something about the mystery behind this hospital. But he doesn't want us to uncover it and bring the truth to light."
"Listen, tomorrow we'll go to the hospital only after Fedrick's shift ends, so he can't interfere with our work," Stephnie said, pulling the blanket over herself.
But Claire still seemed lost in her own thoughts, continuously searching for information about the hospital on her phone, while Lily was busy scrolling through her social media.
Far from all this, Fedrick was pacing nervously up and down the hospital corridor. There was a strange mix of fear and tension on his face. It seemed clear that he wasn't pleased about the three girls being there.
The night crept on slowly. But exactly at 3 a.m., a woman's scream pierced through the silence, shaking the entire hospital. The scream was so loud and terrifying that the three girls, staying in the cottage behind the hospital, immediately jumped up from their beds.
"Did you hear that scream too?" Claire asked Stephnie and Lily.
"Yes, Claire. It sounded like someone screamed in unbearable pain—as if several people were cutting her alive," Stephnie said, staring toward the hospital.
"You're right," Lily added, her eyes fixed on the same direction. "That scream came from the third floor of the hospital."
"But whose scream was it?" Claire murmured, her gaze locked on the shadowed outline of the hospital building.