Saturday, 5PM
Had I known the girls planned on heading inside an actual haunted-looking building, I would've strapped myself on a seat in the van with Ava and Lewis close to me. After all, the flashes inside my head were far from stopping anyway.
For Ava, Rosie's remarks caused her to feel different; I could tell from her shut mouth. She did not bother questioning Sadie's next moves. And speaking of Sadie, the way she turned left and right, hallway after hallway, it seemed even with her eyes closed she could find her way out of the edifice anytime.
I feel as if somebody was watching us...or me.
Lewis broke the silence, "How'd you know about this place? Are we sure what we're doing isn't illegal?"
Sadie scoffed. "Why would I put you guys in danger? This is kind of open for visitors, really. The only time authorities take people off the grounds, like I mentioned, is when they are all alone and have no permits to show them."
"So we do have a permit then?"
Sadie waved her pouch as an answer.
Few moments later, Allison excitedly informed our group about the facts that lie beneath us. If it was me, I never would've opened my mouth.
"This used to be a prison. Both B and C." She smirked at us. I assumed she felt proud of herself for knowing an information like that. Witnessing Allison be this brave and into dangerous stuff was foreign to me. I usually only seen her be all sweet and quiet. But maybe the quiet kid in the room really knew a lot that we didn't.
"What happened then?" asked Rosie, pulling out her phone.
"The mayor relocated the inmates."
"Diya," I whispered, not wanting for Sadie to hear me. "Isn't your dad close to the mayor? Have you heard of this?"
She shrugged. "I haven't. Maybe this isn't something to brag about. Usually it's one of those things, y'know."
I understood. "So," now I spoke to the group. "when you said visitors, what is it that they visit? Who gives them permits?"
We turned a corner and stopped by two staircases that met at the top end. Truthfully, the inside of the building did not come across as a lair for ghosts or zombies alike. It was never dark. The walls were painted bright whitish peach, so it didn't carry off gloom and cold. Lights above us didn't flicker in a haunting way such as in movies. The floors were tiled and squeaky clean indeed, as if this was being maintained every day. It'd struck an impression that somebody was living in and owned this place.
Sadie briefly turned to me. "You'd have to go the municipal hall and schedule for a price in exchange. Technically, this is illegal, but, y'know, the mayor let the citizens in, so that kinda means it no longer is." Sadie held a hand to us. It had been a five minute walk inside building B. "People visit what is in here. There are sellers of priceless jewelry that practically live under this roof."
Ava, who seemed to have found her voicebox, stepped in. "So we're after a souvenir shop?"
"Well...when you say it like that...yeah."
"Up there? Third floor inside of an abandoned building." said Ava firmly.
"The entrance is up there, but they're just behind the building to be honest...there's just no entrance if we went over at the back." a nervous chuckle left Sadie.
Allison went to Ava's side. To calm her obvious irritation. "It is not abandoned, Ava. People visit all the time."
Assessing how things were going, my understanding of her current feelings doubled at the moment.
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TH1RTEEN || ✓
Mystery / ThrillerHarrison Cohen cherished everything, but his friends come always at the top of it. When their most-awaited time of get-together finally came after two years of not seeing each other at all, he considered this as his moment of a lifetime. But what he...
