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“This way; come on.”
Cesare followed quietly after Jane, their footsteps echoing as they searched the winding hallways of the asylum for any sign of Francis. It was quieter now, they realized; perhaps the day had been winding down. Perhaps the staff was preoccupied with getting the patients to bed- or perhaps Caligari had assigned them to patrol different areas of the asylum in order to find the two. Either way, neither thought was particularly reassuring, as he’d given Dr. Stein until sundown to bring them to his office.
“Do you think he’d really do it?” Jane whispered. “I mean, he hid us in his office and even lied to Caligari so we could escape. But if Caligari can’t find us, Dr. Stein would be in serious trouble; if it came down to us and himself… Cesare, what if we’re sacrificing him by escaping?”
Cesare shook his head; he didn’t want to think about it. Francis could put a stop to everything; once they found him, they wouldn’t have to worry about Caligari hurting anyone at all.
“I know you can’t really see the future,” Jane continued, “but I wish you could. Then maybe we could know how all this would end.”
Cesare froze in his tracks, his head tilted to one side and eyes staring blankly ahead.
“What’s wrong?” Jane asked. “I didn’t offend you, did I? Maybe that was a sensitive issue; I’m sorry-”
“Shh!” Cesare hissed, and grabbed her arm, dragging her around a corner.
“I said I was sorry if you were offended; don’t get aggressive-”
“Shh!” Cesare repeated, clapping a clammy hand over her mouth. Jane recoiled in disgust, but quickly noticed why Cesare had reacted in that way- she could hear the faint sound of footsteps approaching, as well as squeaking wheels. She craned her neck from behind Cesare to peer around the corner, and noticed Caligari pushing a gurney down the hall, on which was something cloaked in a sheet.
“What do you think that is?” Jane whispered once he was out of earshot. “It’s not a dead body, is it?”
Cesare blinked, still staring in the direction Caligari had gone. Ever since they’d left Dr. Stein’s office, he’d been even more quiet than usual, communicating entirely in growls, hisses, and gestures instead of the little he usually spoke. Jane wondered what that meant; he may have simply been afraid, now that they could no longer return to their one sanctuary in the asylum. But something about his silence disturbed her; in a place like this, and under so much distress, could he be able to keep his wits about him, or would he easily succumb to Caligari’s influence once again?
“Say something to me,” she said. “Just so I can know you’re okay.”
He only shook his head, and pointed down the hallway.
“Do you think we should follow him? Maybe we’ll find Francis back there.”
Cesare nodded, but his arm trembled as he continued to point.
“It’ll be okay. We have the keys now; once we get him out, he’ll take care of everything. And then we can go back home… I’ll get you some more flowers for your room; would you like that?”
He bowed his head, growling softly from the back of his throat.
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “We’ll go this way, then.” She stepped back into the hallway, Cesare trailing behind her against the wall, when she paused.
“Hey,” she whispered as she stared down the long, dimly-lit hall, “can I hold your hand again? I… I’m scared, too.”
He offered her his hand, and she took it. He couldn’t help but think this was strange; as often as people were scared of him, nobody had ever asked him to make them feel less afraid. He wasn’t sure what to think of that, but they were alone, and hunted, and tired, and they’d lost their only ally in this twisted, horrible place. He was aware of how she shuddered whenever he touched her, and when she touched him, he felt a jolt of resurfacing shame. But they clung to each other as they walked, because now that Francis and Dr. Stein couldn’t help them, they had nobody else to cling to.
-
“Excuse me,” Dr. Olsen said as he and his wife stood in the asylum lobby, “you wouldn’t have happened to see my daughter here, have you?”
“Many families in town have a daughter here,” a staff member answered. “What’s her name?”
“Jane Olsen,” he answered. “She went missing a few days ago; we suspect she’s ended up in your institution. We’ve come to fetch her; we’re certain she’s completely sane.”
“Olsen… ah, yes,” the staff member answered, flipping through a pile of papers on a clipboard. “She checked herself in here this afternoon, but we’ve had trouble finding her since then. The director’s been looking for her all day.”
“Checked herself in!?” Dr. Olsen demanded. “What for?”
“It was terribly tragic,” the other doctor answered. “The poor thing was driven mad, saying that despite all her charms, she didn’t have any interest in getting married. So she came here in hopes we could fix that.”
“Our daughter,” Mrs. Olsen gasped, “in a lunatic asylum!” She cleared her throat. “I mean, a place of rest and refuge for troubled minds.”
The other doctor smiled. “I see you’ve met our director,” he said. “Such a considerate man; your daughter is in excellent hands with him.”
“And he will be able to cure her, won’t he?” Dr. Olsen asked. “I should like to see my grandchildren before my time comes.”
“Oh, she’ll certainly be cured. All our girls are eventually. By the time she’s out of here, you’ll have everything you wanted in a daughter, and everything a potential suitor could want in a bride- polite, delicate, docile, and very, very quiet.”
“But our Jane is…” Mrs. Olsen began. “What sort of methods do you use here with the girls?”
“That’s confidential information, I’m afraid. But rest assured, she’ll be returned to you in good time as sweet as a tamed canary.”
“Thank you,” Dr. Olsen said. “You’ve put our minds at ease.”
“But I don’t want a tamed canary,” Mrs. Olsen said, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. “I want our daughter back.”
“And you will have her. But she’s just been so miserable; wouldn’t you rather have her cured than have to suffer a life of loneliness in complete wealth and luxury?”
“I suppose so. But we’ll wait here in the lobby for her, and we won’t leave until we can see her and know she’s all right.”
“If that’s the case, then,” the doctor said, “I’ll let the director know you’re here straightaway.”
-
“Down here,” Jane whispered, and walked with Cesare into another hallway.
There, they could see Caligari once again at the far end, humming something to himself. Cesare recognized the song, although he didn’t want to hear it ever again, especially because of the way it made him feel. It was the song Caligari hummed when he was in a good mood, he knew. It meant food. Against his will, Cesare felt a sense of eager anticipation overcome him, but he ignored it; he shouldn’t have liked anything about hearing that song. Am I still bad? he thought. Although the song had been the first thing to catch his attention, around him, he could hear a dizzying array of noise, as shrieks, groans, sobs, and laughter echoed about the walls. On either wall were rows upon rows of triangular doors- those must have been the cells, he realized. We’re here.
Caligari glanced around, and Jane noticed an empty cell, ushering Cesare inside before entering and swinging the door closed.
“Who’s there?” Caligari called, raising a lantern. “If any of you step out of line, you’ll see what happens tomorrow!” He suddenly threw his head back and cackled- a harsh, cruel laugh that seemed to come from everywhere in the hall. “Yes, that’s when everything will be right and whole again… and I know exactly who to start with.” He pulled back the sheet on the gurney, revealing Dr. Stein’s unconscious face. “Admittedly, Friedrich, I should have let you go from the beginning… but I couldn’t. You were just too...” He inhaled, leaning close over the gurney. Jane and Cesare couldn’t see what he was doing from where they were, and neither would they have wanted to know.
“You wouldn’t eat anything I gave you,” Caligari went on, “so I had to be a bit more direct. Forgive me.” He started to hum again, wheeling Dr. Stein into another open cell. Upon closing it, he swore; Jane flinched as she felt the keyring in her hand.
“Director!” someone called. Another man in a white coat ran in.
“What is it now?” Caligari snapped. “Can’t you see I’m tending to the patients?”
“There’s a couple in the lobby waiting to see you,” he said. “I told them you’d be there straightaway.”
Caligari snorted, but followed the man out. ”Tomorrow,” he muttered to himself.
As soon as he left, Jane crept out of the cell, Cesare in tow. She held up the keyring to the dim light, squinting at the numbers engraved on each key.
“Look,” she said. “There are numbers on the cells, too. I bet each one corresponds to a key… but which one is his?”
As she pondered over them, Cesare made his way over to where Caligari had imprisoned Dr. Stein. He opened the door, then crept inside the cell, staring at the seemingly lifeless face of his former guardian. He knew he wasn’t dead- Caligari had said that he’d start with him tomorrow, after all- but he still felt sick with guilt looking at him. He prodded at his face, trying to wake him up, but nothing happened. As he stared at Dr. Stein, he noticed his arms were restrained in a jacket, and reeled back; the sight had produced an unpleasant memory of the first few days of his rehabilitation. Now that he had regained his sentience, he knew Dr. Stein had been trying to keep him from lashing out and hurting him, and the awful jacket had disappeared once they had begun to work together, but he was certain Caligari wasn’t trying to help Dr. Stein by putting him in one. He worked at the straps of the jacket with his long fingers, and when that didn’t work, he bit at them, desperately chewing at the knots that held Dr. Stein’s arms. He managed to tear off one knot, and began working on another, when he heard Jane calling him, and hurried back to her.
“Cesare, look at this,” she gasped. She was standing by one cell, where the door was open.
“You!” a voice growled, and he jumped, fearing Caligari had already come back. However, it wasn’t him, but the doctor who had offered him candies while taking him to Caligari’s office.
“I do everything for you patients, but you’ve framed me for stealing the director’s keys!” the man snapped. “If not for you, I’d still be back out there helping the people who actually deserve it!”
“But the director sent you here,” Jane said. “We had nothing to do with this.”
“If you hadn’t stolen the keys, he wouldn’t have locked me in here!”
“But the door’s not locked. He doesn’t have the keys, so he can’t lock it. You could escape whenever you want to.”
“Don’t remind me!” he cried. “First you steal the keys and frame me for it, then taunt me and say I can escape! The director told me not to leave this cell, so I’m staying!”
“What is wrong with you? Are you all hypnotized or something?”
“Hypnotized? Of course not! Although maybe I wouldn’t mind it...”
Jane closed the door again. “Come on, Cesare,” she said. “Let’s keep looking.”
Cesare nodded, and stalked about the walls, listening at each door for voices. However, there was so much noise at once, it was impossible to tell which voice was coming from which door. He paused at one that was completely silent, and motioned Jane over.
“This one’s locked,” she said, and sifted through the keyring until she found the right one. She inserted the key into the lock, then opened the door.
“Hello?” she called, looking around. “Francis?”
“Hush!” a voice hissed. “You’ll wake the baby.”
“Baby?” She looked inside the cell to see a woman sitting on a cot, rocking something bundled in her arms. They wouldn’t keep a baby in here, would they? As awful as this asylum was, that didn’t seem likely. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the “baby” the woman was referring to was just a doll, wrapped in rags.
“Would you like to hold her?” the woman asked, her eyes fixed on the doll with an admiration that hurt to see. “You can sing her favorite lullaby… and then we go to the garden, where she’ll take her first steps. She always takes her first steps in the garden. But now it’s time for her nap, so we must be very quiet…”
“I, um, I see,” Jane said.
“Such a good baby,” the woman continued, seemingly not paying her any mind at all. “Sleeps so well, and never even cries.” Then, all of a sudden, an overwhelming grief crossed her face. “I wish I could hear her cry again… such a good baby. Such a good baby. I wish I could see her first steps. Such a good baby.”
She needs actual help, Jane realized, watching the woman sing to the doll. If only Dr. Stein were here… She backed out of the cell, knowing not only was there nothing she could do, she didn’t have much time to find Francis before Caligari returned.
Upon feeling a sharp tap on her shoulder, she looked to see Cesare behind her. He dipped his head up and down, and stretched onto his toes, extending a leg out behind him.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “We don’t have any time to dance here.”
He shook his head, and pivoted on one foot, then took her arm as he dragged her to another door.
“You mean-” she gasped. “You found it?”
He nodded eagerly, and scratched his nails on the door.
“Would you stop that infernal scratching?!” a voice demanded from inside. “The second I get out of here, I’m going to make you wish you’d never been born!”
Jane laughed in relief. “It is Francis!” she cried. Quickly, she sorted through the keys, until she found the right one and worked it into the lock. “Hang on,” she said. “We’re coming!” She pushed open the door, bracing herself for what was to come.
“Am I... dead?”
“What?”
Jane looked down to see Francis, lying in a heap at her feet. He was covered in dirt, and his hair was a wreck, and had bags under his eyes to rival Cesare’s, but he was alive. Jane knelt down next to him, her long sleeves touching the ground.
“If you’re an angel,” he said, eyes half closed, “then… do I get to see Alan again?”
“Oh, Francis,” Jane gasped, tearing up. “I’m not an angel.”
He sat up in disbelief. “Jane? Oh, this is- this is embarrassing…”
“I’m so glad to see you, too,” she laughed, pulling him into a hug. He fell into her arms, sobbing.
“I came here to find you,” he cried. “You shouldn’t have had to save me… that isn’t how it’s supposed to work. I’m- I’m supposed to protect you. He kept coming by here, telling me all these horrible things he said he was doing to you- I didn’t know what was true and what wasn’t; I shouldn’t have believed him… you must have been so scared, being stuck here all alone!”
“It’s okay,” she said, holding him tightly. “I came here to find you… and I wasn’t alone.”
Francis pulled back. “No,” he gasped. “Don’t… don’t tell me.”
Cesare stepped forward, and Francis startled to see his sudden piercing gaze, framed by his pale face as it emerged from the shadows.
“It’s okay,” Jane said. “Without him, I wouldn’t have found you. He’s been an enormous help. Haven’t you, Cesare?”
He bowed low, eyes shining.
“None of this should have happened,” Francis sighed. “If only I hadn’t been so gullible… I put you in so much danger. Jane, will you forgive me?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “But we need to go; he could be back any minute. Can you walk?”
“Yes,” Francis answered, but groaned as he stood up. “I haven’t eaten anything here, though. And I don’t know how long I’ve been here. The food is drugged, you know. I don’t know what he puts in it, but anyone who eats it becomes absolutely obsessed with him. They… they do whatever he says.” He looked pointedly at Cesare, who growled back.
“I don’t want you two fighting,” Jane said. “I didn’t come this far for any of us not to make it out alive.”
Cesare nodded sternly, and tapped the keyring with his fingernail.
“Yes,” she agreed. “And you went through far too much to get those keys. Francis, you owe Cesare a serious thanks.”
Francis looked at both of them incredulously. Before today, he couldn’t have imagined Jane braving Caligari’s asylum to find him, or ever having to thank Cesare for anything. He took a deep breath. “Thank you,” he said, although he found it hard to look Cesare in the eye. “For helping save me… and for keeping her safe.”
“We need to get out of here,” Jane said. “Do either of you have any ideas?”
“Stein,” Cesare muttered. It was the first word he’d spoken since he left the office.
“We can help Dr. Stein once Francis is okay,” Jane said. “As long as you’re out of Caligari’s hands, he’ll be safe.”
“Hands,” Cesare whispered, and pointed down the hall. She looked to see where he was pointing, and noticed the glow of a lantern getting brighter and brighter as it headed down the hall, illuminating a pair of unmistakable gloves. Francis took a shaky step in front of Jane, who took Cesare’s hand. Cesare growled, straightening his back as he stared straight into Caligari’s hungry, grinning eyes.