A Piece of Me

11

Elizabeth's pov

Sam began recording again as we found the entrance to the orphanage.

It was pretty dark now, so I used my flashlight to look at the building. I was trying to absorb its beauty before whatever inside changed my mind.

A lot of the windows were gone, leaving me to look at windowframes that stacked to make the building look like a Lego.

Two stories of glass holes that held memories. Memories that are now forgotten. That idea made me sad, that people simply live their lives to only accomplish being forgotten in the end.

Corey ran up the stairs, pulling on the front door. It creaked and made the building ache as it opened, "Age before beauty," He smiled innocently, waving for us to enter.

"You just don't want to be first," Jake accused as he walked up the stairs. "Damn right," Corey replied, "I got chills just looking at this place,"

"Such a baby," I shook my head, stepping into the building. Colby got stuck at the end, because Corey didn't want to be last.

The building's temperature was at least twenty degrees colder than outside, and there were papers covering some of the floors. Paint was peeling off the walls, and most of the furniture was gone besides an occasional bed frame or overturned desk.

"This is really sad," I sighed, stepping into the first room. It must have been the kitchen, with its burnt oven and crumbled counters.

"Imagine having to grow up here," Jake said, waving his flashlight at the graffiti on the walls, "This place closed down in the eighties,"

"I wonder where all the kids went," I opened the cabinets of the couple counter pieces, simply investigating.

I waved my flashlight around the room, realizing it was only Jake in there, "Where'd everyone else go?" I asked, trying my best to listen for their footsteps somewhere else in the building.

"Sam said something about one of the upstairs rooms, so they went up there. They'll be down in a second," He seemed really fascinated with one of the markings on the wall, so I walked up beside him to see what it said.

Unlike the others that were probably demonic or used in rituals, this one wasn't so cruel. "Love will find a way," I read it quietly.

He must have cared for Gabby very much. I wanted to know the details of why they broke up but I couldn't bring myself to go into his business.

"I'm sorry about her," I said, turning to face him, "She probably doesn't know what she lost,"

Jake cracked a small grin, turning his head to meet my eyes, "Thanks Liz. It was my fault, so I shouldn't be so upset but I didn't think I'd lose her,"

"Let me tell you something, a piece of advice, if that's how you want to think of it," I offered quietly, resting my hand on his forearm, "If you truly love her like you say you do, then hurting her wouldn't have even been something to consider,"

"I know. I realize that now. Devyn, Corey's girlfriend, told me the same thing," He shrugged, glancing back at the wall, "Sam said this place was haunted. This makes me wonder if the spirit is good or not," Jake nodded to the writing he seemed to be infatuated with.

"Haunted? With what, little kid ghosts?" I took a second to observe the other graffiti pictures, some drawn by professionals while others were something close to satanic.

"Yeah. Kids who lived here didn't have the best lives. They were neglected, and the ones that got attention were abused. This place was supposed to have a department to take care of kids with severe anger issues and stuff like that. It did nothing but make it wose. The only reason this place closed down is because seven kids died in a fire in the attic,"

"That's awful," A part of me felt awful for the children who grew up in a home like this, and the other filled with anger for their parents sending them here. "Do you know how the fire started?"

"It was an electrical fire I think. Accidental, obviously. But kids are smart, smarter than most people think," Jake sighed, looking around the kitchen as if putting it into his memory.

"So are you saying that the kids were?" I let the sentence hang in the air, and he nodded.

"Why don't we explore a different room? One that doesn't give bad ju-ju," I shuddered, changing the subject and not willing to wait for his response before walking out, poking my head into the room across the hall.

It must have been a dining room, with only a couple of chairs in the corner of the room to signal so. An old chandelier was on the floor, glass shattered around it from when it fell. Or it was knocked down, something along those lines.

That one didn't catch my attention, so I went further and further into the building. I didn't hear anyone, no voices to indicate their location.

"Guys?" I sang, "This place is getting pretty fucking creepy,"

I wasn't really nervous until I said that, hearing shuffling behind me and creaking above me. I paused, turning my head over my shoulder, shining my flashlight down the empty hall. I didn't want to look at the ceiling, not with my light. If there were bats then I'd disturb them and make them fly everywhere.

I tried to listen better, taking my steps slower. I found a staircase and heard Colby talking upstairs, so that's where I made my way to.

"Guys?" I called out again, and for a moment I thought I heard a giggle. Too high pitched to be anyone's, not even my own. "This isn't funny,"

I thought I could hear their voices, Colby's being the loudest. I walked into the first room where I thought they were.

My flashlight flickered, and I played with its switch to try and get it to work again. Dead. Dark. Me in dark.

"Fuck fuck fuck no don't do that to me," I continued playing with the switch, the snapping sound the only thing that's filling the room.

That was until I heard a thump in the corner. The breeze must have blown something, that's all I could hope for.

Cautiously, I slid my way over to where the noise was. I felt like I was wearing a blindfold, like I couldn't see anything.

I couldn't tell what had fallen over, that's until I heard a quick, sliding sound beside my foot.

"Oh," relief filled my body when I realized it was only a bird, even though it was dying.

I wasn't at ease for long, because it could have only been seconds later that the door slammed.

The door that separated me from Colby.