“Yeah,” Arachne said quietly. She was obviously worried, keeping her distance and fidgeting. “Do you like it?”
“Like it? Its wonderful.” And Eva meant it. “There were six or seven other buildings out there, what’s in them?”
“I’m glad you asked.” Arachne half skipped up to Eva and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
They went on a short tour of the prison. There were two other buildings that held as many or more cells than the initial building. A third looked completely burnt out, the walls and bars were mostly intact, but the ceiling was completely missing and several cells had blackened walls.
The buildings weren’t built all at the same time. Some had the rough, light sandstone color as the first building. Others were more modern, with smoother walls and nicer looking windows.
There were more, newer, cell buildings. One had an addition to it. Behind some thick glass was a simple, mostly empty room. A thick ring hung from the ceiling above a metal square in the floor. A lever lay just to the side of the square. Even without the noose hanging from the ring, it was obvious what the room was for.
Arachne offhandedly mentioned that the trap door still worked.
An enormous building lay back against one wall. Arachne walked Eva right past it without a second glance. Eva peeked in one of the windows on their way past. It was full of all kinds of machinery that would have looked out of date fifty years ago. At least in the section Eva saw.
Another building, titled ‘Dining Hall’ by a faded sign out front, was missing its ceiling, floor, and several walls if the blackened brickwork was anything to go by.
“The reason the place was abandoned, I’d say. Well, the fire and the age.” She wrapped a fist against a brick wall, causing bits to turn to powder. “I saw a sign on the building outside the wall that said 1852.”
Eva tested her own fist against the same brick wall. Nothing happened. “Well, with a little work, this place will be perfect.”
“Ah.” Arachne smiled again. “We haven’t finished the tour yet.”
They passed a full on basketball court on their way to the smallest building on the property.
Large red words reading ‘NO LOAFING THIS AREA’ were painted on the outside. Inside, the cells doors were solid sheets of metal with the exception of a single flap. Heavy metal pins held the solid flap over the doors. The cells themselves were about six feet by two feet.
They were empty. No beds, no seats, no plumbing even though the building looked far newer than several of the other buildings. And no windows. A single hole in the ceiling smaller than Eva’s fist was the only light to the outside world and it was covered by a metal grate that might be big enough to fit a few grains of sand through.
“If we ever have ‘guests’ over,” she said with air quotes, “I volunteer to ‘guard’ them here.”
“If we ever have ‘guests’ deserving of a stay inside one of these then you can do whatever you want.”
“One last stop on our tour,” Arachne said after she ceased quivering from excitement.
Past an overgrown rose garden was another wall. It was the same height as the outer wall but built of far more modern looking white-gray bricks. Inside was a single path surrounded on either side by grass and brush. It led to a single story building made of the same white-gray bricks.
A sign carved into the stone just above the door read ‘1956 WOMENS WARD’.
Inside were eight cells around a large common room. Eva peeked inside the first cell. Two cots rested on opposite walls of a far more spacious cell than in the main prison areas. Back in the common room, Eva moved towards a large wooden table and chairs in the center of the floor.
The odd thing about the table was that it looked new. Straight off a show room floor kind of new. The chairs around it were of the same style and looked far too comfortable for any prison.
Eva spared a sidelong glance at a widely grinning Arachne. The spider-woman nudged her head towards one of the opened cell doors.
The cell was less of a cell and far more of a proper room. Two walls had been knocked down to join up three adjacent cells. A fancy queen sized bed lay between two windows. Fresh sheets and pillows had been made on top. A large wooden dresser sat against one wall. Next to the bed was a small end table made of matching wood.
Eva realized she hadn’t seen a single speck of dust since entering the women’s ward. The only real problem she could see was that the windows were boarded up.
“It’s beautiful,” Eva said. “You spent all month cleaning all this up?”
Arachne nodded, grin spread full across her face as she took a seat on the bed.
“If this place had a shower, it would be better than my old place.” Eva almost meant that. The abandoned retirement home still held a special place in her heart.
“Oh, it has a shower alright. It has a full kitchen as well, though nothing inside works. I didn’t replace any of the rusted and abandoned appliances like I did in here.”
