Night of the Alphas

Chapter 39

She was sitting on top of Building B when I found her. Fully dressed, shoes on, just staring into the night. "Adrian!" I whisper-shouted. "Adrian! What are you doing up there?"

She looked down, a bit shocked. But once she saw that it was me, she relaxed a little. "Couldn't sleep. What about you? Why are you here?"

"It's important."

She nodded. "Ah. Okay." She stood up and walked to the back of the building, which made me incredibly anxious. I wanted to tell her to stop, since the roof looked slippery and the snowy weather wouldn't help. But I held my tongue. She jumped down onto a dumpster behind the building, and then came around to me. "What's wrong? You look nervous."

"Yeah, nervous for your safety!" I scolded. "How long were you up there before I got here?"

"Psh, not long." She looked annoyed. "I've done it before, it's no big deal."

"No big- Adrian, you could have fallen! What if you broke your neck and died? Wouldn't that be a big deal?"

"Well, I didn't die, so chill. What did you need me for?"

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "I found something, and I need you to come with me to look at it."

"What is the thing?" She crossed her arms, something she did when she was relaxed.

"It's a house. I think I was there before, when I was little." I looked down at my feet. "Please, it's important. To me."

She paused for a second before coming to my side. "Show me."

"Alright, come with me."

It took us a while, but we finally got back to the house after another long walk. My feet were starting to get sore, but I was very intent on getting there. Adrian and I talked the entire way there, but the conversation dwindled as the house came back into our sight.

She walked up to the gate and touched the bars, the same way that I had done. "This is weird," She whispered. "It feels off here."

"What do you mean?" I didn't feel like it felt off, per se. Just familiar.

"It just feels like something is here," She said. "I'm not really someone who believes in supernatural stuff. But this... It's different. I don't know, maybe I've just been talking to Alex too much."

"Alex? What do you mean?"

She poked her head through the gate and scanned the area. "Alex believes in this kind of stuff," She said quietly. "He doesn't like to talk about it much. But I think he can feel things." She paused. "Things that other people don't pick up."

I tilted my head a little bit. Maybe I could have brought him, too. But it's too late to go back now. "Does he tell you much about it?"

"Sometimes. It's mostly small stuff, like how the vibes of certain places or things are off. But ever since you guys came back, he's been talking a lot about you."

I paused for a second, and then shivered. "Me?"

"Mhm." She squeezed through the bars and reached out for my hand. I took it and kept listening to her as we walked to the front door, which was swinging open and closed in the wind. "He says that you've had some sort of energy surrounding you that he doesn't like. I don't know what words he used to describe it."

We stopped in front of the door. It creaked back and forth slowly, its noises making noises that sounded strangely like a small voice. Come in, it whispered. The darkness inside seemed to swallow everything inside the house. The faded crime scene tape fluttered in the wind, making light, flapping noises. A few of the bricks in the wall looked loose, and one had fallen out. The house was crumbling, but it still stood strong against everything.