I got into the truck and fastened my seatbelt. My brother looked over at me while gripping the wheel. “Alright, let’s hit the road,” he said before driving off. To pass the time, I opened my phone and started reading a book while Liam called out the directions from the backseat. A couple of hours later, we arrived. Run-down walls appeared before us. The truck slowed to a stop, and all four of us got out. Carrying flashlights, we walked to the front of the building. A broken sign lay on the ground next to the entrance.
Oliver entered first and walked up to the front desk, shining a light on it. Dust covered every inch. He brushed his fingers on the mahogany top. “It would’ve been a nice desk,” Oliver said. I walked over to one chair and looked at its dusty exterior. “I wonder how much money this place made when it was up and running,” Liam said. After several minutes, we met back at the front desk. “We should get going. It’s getting pretty late,” I said, seeing the sunset. “Agreed,” Noah said. Oliver and Liam nodded. We got back in the truck and started driving home. When we returned to our town, the moon shone nicely in the sky. I was the last one to be dropped off. As I got out of the truck, a chilly breeze hit my face as I turned back and said, “Good night!”
“Good night! And I’ll send you a text or call if I find more places.”
“Ok!” I said before hearing the roar of an engine as I walked to the front door. Once I entered, I took off my beanie and ate a sandwich before bed.
The sun beamed through the curtains as I walked downstairs. I made a cup of coffee and walked outside. Leaves fell as I sat in my chair. After finishing the coffee, I placed my mug down and went for my morning run. I could hear the crunch of leaves as I made my way through the trail near my home. A refreshing October breeze hit me. My calfs ached and my throat felt parched. I slowed down and sat next to a tree, looking at my watch while gulping water. An hour? Not too bad. Wiping my mouth with my sleeve, I got up and continued for Thirty more minutes before heading back. After taking off my hoodie, my shirt was drenched in sweat. I put on a fresh shirt before heading off to work. I grabbed my keys and headed outside. While walking towards my car, a crow flew above my head. The sight of the bird caused dread to fill me. Why am I getting this feeling? I opened the door and got in. Looking up, I saw the crow perched in the tree in front of me. As I rolled down the window, I heard it caw while I drove away.
Later that night, while relaxing on my couch, my brother called. Answering the phone, I said.
“How’s it going?”
“Very good. I just found a new abandoned place.”
“Awesome! When do you think we can go?”
“Will you be working next Saturday?”
“Nope, it’s a day off.”
“Perfect, we can go then.”
“Alright, sounds good.” I said, “I’ll be home all day that day, so just come by and pick me up.”
“Ok, I’m gonna go now. Bye!”
“Bye-bye!” I said before hanging up. I put my phone down as I finished watching the movie.
A couple of nights later, after work, I went out for drinks with Oliver. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his sweater after taking a sip of beer. We laughed as we reminisced.
“Where does Noah even find these places to explore?” I asked, sipping my pint of beer.
“I don’t know, he just finds them. I assume he looks them up online. Why do you ask?”
“I just wanted to surprise him, since his birthday is in a couple of months.” Oliver put his pint down and said, “Oh yeah, Liam’s bringing someone along with him this time.”
“Bringing someone along? What do you mean?”
“He’s been talking to this guy online, and he also loves abandoned places and he wanted to come along with us.”
“Does Noah know about this?”
“Yeah, he was told yesterday. He was going to text you, but since we were going out for drinks, we decided I’d tell you instead.”
“Alright, that’s fine with me,” I said. A few hours later, I left to go home. I stepped out of my car and walked up to the front door. While unlocking it, I sighed. This new guy makes me feel uneasy. Once inside, I went straight to bed.
I looked at the calendar. “Today’s the day,” I said. Before leaving, I brought extra batteries for my flashlight and some protein bars. I zipped up my jacket and slung my backpack over my back as I walked out the door to see the large grey truck parked in my driveway.
“Hey!” Noah shouted enthusiastically. “The new guy, Dave, will take his car.”
“Okay,” I said, looking behind the truck. A red-painted SUV was parked. As I looked at the diver’s seat, I saw a man wave at me through the window. I waved back as he adjusted his black beanie. I got into the truck and put on my seatbelt. As we slowly rolled out of the driveway and towards the road, I saw a crow perch in front of us on a branch. A caw rang out as once again dread filled me. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths to calm my nerves. Why am I getting this anxious just from the sight of a bird? My brother looked over at me while turning onto the road and said, “You alright?” Looking back at him “Yeah, yeah, I didn’t sleep well last night.” I said. He turned his gaze away from me and focused back on the road. I turned my head and stared out at the trees as we drove. We arrived shortly after four o’clock. Noah slowed down and turned the corner. What awaited us was a massive building, like nothing I’d seen before. A big sign sat in front of us. “Noah, a fucking psychiatric ward?” I said a little louder than I needed to.
“It’s fine. It’s abandoned, anyway.”
“I know that’s abandoned and you know that shit creeps me the hell out!”
“I promise it’s just this once, so relax, okay?” I clenched my fists while I looked away. The want of punching him in his face didn’t fade easily. The truck slowed before coming to a stop ten feet from the entrance. As I opened the door and got out, an icy breeze hit my face. While everyone was getting out, the man in the red SUV got out and headed toward my brother.
“Hi names Dave,” he said, reaching his hand out to Noah. He grabbed his hand and shook it with a smile.
“Nice to meet you too, Dave.” Noah gripped my shoulder and said, “And this is my brother here.”
“Oh yeah, Liam told me your name. Henry right?” He said, extending a hand out to me. I gripped it firmly and said with a forced smile, “Yes, nice to meet you.” as we shook hands, I felt a sense of danger. “Alright then!” Noah said enthusiastically, “Let’s head in.”
As we stepped into the building, we activated our flashlights. Two corridors revealed themselves, with a third one behind the reception desk. Noah walked up first and said, “Alright, I’ll go by myself in the front hallway. Oliver and Henry, you go right. Liam and Dave, you go left.” As Oliver and I turned and stood in front of the long hallway, I turned to look at Dave. Liam laughed as Dave cracked a few jokes with him. I looked in front again as Oliver said, “Alright let’s get moving.” in a light-hearted tone. Chipped paint covered the walls as we walked by a few wheelchairs. I turned to Oliver and said,
“How do you feel about that Dave guy?”
“Oh, I don’t know yet. We just met him. But from what I can see, he seems like a pretty cool guy.”
“I don’t know, man, I just get this awful feelin’ from him.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re probably just still worked up from finding out what this place is.”
“Maybe,” I said while thinking about those words. As we went further in, the hairs on my neck stood up. Fear overtook me once again. I shined my flashlight behind us. Even though I saw nothing, I still kept shining it. I was so sure that any second now, something or someone would jump out at us. My mind even started wandering to crazy places as I thought about monsters or demons coming out at us. I shook those thoughts away as I started shining the light in front of us again. Oliver’s phone buzzed. He took it out and said, “Noah told us to go meet back up at the entrance.” We turned around and started walking back. After a while, we finally all made it back. As we all aimed our flashlights toward the ground, I noticed something. “Where’s Dave?” Noah asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.
“I don’t know. He said he had to piss, and he never showed back up. I tried to text him, but my phone died.”
“Alright, we have to look for him,” Oliver said. We all went down the left hallway together before stopping. “Here’s where we stopped,” Liam said.
“Which direction did he go?” Noah asked, shining his light around the area. Liam pointed and said, “Down there.” I looked to where he pointed and saw a long, dark hallway similar to the ones at the entrance. “Alright,” Noah said, “You guys go down here and I’ll continue going down here.”
I walked over to Noah before we went and said “Be careful.” he laughed and said “I know it’s alright I will not get hurt. But if anyone tried to do anything, I’ll just punch them in the face. You know I used to be a boxer.” I looked down at the ground and signed, “Alright I trust you.” I turned around, and we started going down the dark hallway.
Chipped paint littered the ground around us as we moved to avoid some wheelchairs. I gripped my flashlight tightly as I took a deep breath. As we walked for several minutes, the hallway diverged into three separate ones. “I’ll go right.” Liam said, “I’ll go left.” I added and started walking down the hall. Doors lined the walls as I checked my surroundings. After readjusting my beanie, I kept walking and continued and turned left again. I started shining the light into the doors to my left. Some doors had graffiti on them. I stopped in my tracks as I felt my foot hit something. Shining my light down, I jumped back as I nearly dropped my flashlight. Someone is right in front of me. As I shined my light toward the rest of their body, my heart stopped. Blood soaked their shirt. My breathing hastened as I was prepared to run in the other direction. But my legs wouldn’t move. My mind went blank as I stared at the blood. I took deep breaths and racked my brain to figure out what to do, but something felt off. I looked at the shirt again, the grey shirt with a football player on it was familiar. Shining my light up, I fell to my knees as tears dripped down my face.
My brother’s body lay there. I gripped his hand as I looked up at his face. “Dave did this, didn’t he?” I asked, knowing they’d be no response. I closed his eyes as I stood up, shining my light down. “I have to tell Liam and Oliver about this. Oh god, I hope they’re still okay.” as I turned and rushed the way I came, I wiped the still-flowing tears from my face. My phone glowed with a bright light as I texted Oliver to meet up where we split at. As I arrived, I panted while gripping my knees. A couple of minutes later, Oliver showed up. “Why’d you need to meet up?” he asked I looked at him and the next words I spoke hurt “D-Dave killed Noah,” I said Oliver’s face turned serious as he spoke, “What are you talking about?”
“I f-found Noah’s body back there h-his shirt was stained with blood.”
“Show me,” he said as I lead the way back. He continued, “This better not be a joke.” as we arrived, I watched Oliver walk ahead and kneeled in front of him. He wiped his eye with his sleeve as he lifted something from Noah’s right hand. I walked over to him. “Is that?” I said looking at the item in his hand “Yeah.” he said holding a black beanie. “We’ve gotta go find
Liam.” Oliver went ahead of me as we backtracked and went down the hallway. Liam went down.
My hands trembled as I prayed Liam didn’t have the same fate as my brother. We searched every room we came by and after what felt like hours, we still hadn’t found him, but we continued to search. As we turned the corner, we heard a faint sound in the distance. Oliver lifted his hand to stop me. He turned his head to me and whispered, “Move. slowly, don’t make a single sound.” I nodded as I followed behind him.
The sound grew louder as we kept turning corners. We finally reached the room the gurgling noise was coming from. As we entered, Noah turned back on his flashlight and rushed over. “Jesus Christ!” Oliver said, “Henry, get over here!” I rushed over and saw Liam’s blood still freshly flowing from his throat as he looked over at me. “Help me stop the bleeding!” Oliver shouted towards me. Liam gripped my arm. His mouth moved as if he wanted to say something. I looked at him, trying to read his lips, but before I knew it, he slouched over as his grip loosened. “Liam! Liam!” Oliver shouted, shaking his body. I whipped my head around to vomit as I heard faint weeps coming from behind me. After turning back, I turned on my flashlight and saw Oliver holding Liam’s body. He looked up at me and wiped the tears away as he said, “That bastard must be around here somewhere. If I see him, I swear to go. I’m going to kill him for taking Noah’s and Liam’s life away.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood. “Behind you!” I shouted, seeing a knife come towards Oliver’s throat. He turned his body and let out a grunt of pain as he got stabbed in the left shoulder. I looked around before grabbing Liam’s flashlight and rushing over. Dave was pushing his knife towards Oliver’s throat as he tried holding it back. I raised the flashlight up and smashed Dave in the face. He fell back and groaned as he wiped the blood that dripped from his nose on his sleeve. I helped Oliver up, and we ran out of the room and started running down the hall. My hand holding the flashlight trembled as I could hear the footsteps behind us catch up. Adrenaline kept me going, but I didn’t know how much. longer It would last. My legs ached and my lungs burned. As we turned corners and ran like hell for what felt like hours, I spotted something familiar: a reception desk to our left. I spoke to Oliver in between breaths.
“We’re at the entrance.”
“How do you know?”
“The reception desk,” I said, shining the light to our right. We saw the steps while the sun rose in the distance. We quickly ran as the footsteps sounded like a few feet now. Oliver made it down the steps first. As I reached the steps, I felt a heavy force launch me to the ground. “Henry!” Oliver shouted as he rushed back to me. Pain erupted from my stomach as Dave hovered over me with fresh blood flowing from his knife. I dropped the flashlight as I block the knife, aiming for my throat with both my hands. The knife inched closer to my throat. My flashlight rolled down the steps as the strength in my arms gave way. As I felt the cold blade, touch my throat. I closed my eyes, ready to accept my fate. But before the knife could slash my throat, I heard a grunt from my left and a thud as the knife was whipped away from my throat, leaving a small gash.
I quickly grabbed my flashlight and saw Dave on the ground as Oliver punched him in the face with his right hand. Dave reached for the knife that he dropped when Oliver ripped him away from me. As his fingers were about to touch it, I lifted it. I gripped it tightly. Oliver quickly moved out of the way while still holding him down as he saw what I held. Without a second thought, I slammed the knife down into Daves’s throat and removed it. He grasped at his throat while gurgling before going limp shortly after. I dropped the knife on the ground and I fell to my knees. Oliver placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “You did what you had to do.” he was right. I had to kill him otherwise we would’ve died, but I still couldn’t get over it. Fury filled me as I wondered what kind of sick fucker could kill someone and not feel any remorse for it. I clenched my fists as I looked down at Dave’s corpse. Oliver gripped his shoulder as we got into Dave’s car. I put in the key and turned it on. Pulling out, I rolled down my window to get some fresh air. While pulling onto the road, I heard a caw in the distance.