The Collection

A Dubious Endeavor

It's falling apart. A rusty structure held up by rust and sheer determination as much as its crumbling brick and mortar.

"So this  is what your grandma left you?" Trev asks, his skeptical disbelief evident on his face.

"Yup," Rick responds, pulling a face, "Doesn't look like much, does it?" Rick pauses to grin crookedly at Trev, " But there's only one way to find out, right?" 

Rick starts moving towards the building, pausing only to throw a quick "You coming?"over his shoulder.

Trev groans and rolls his eyes in exasperation. "I hope you know what you're doing. Some inheritance you got." Despite that, he follows as Rick scrambles over the remains of the front step, calling "Wait Up!" as the duo haphazardly navigate the jagged heap of mangled concrete more through dumb luck and enthusiasm than any grace or natural skill.

"I hope you got your tetanus shot man." Trev quips, indicating a rusty length of re bar jutting dangerously from a hunk of rubble the size of a man's abdomen. Rick just shakes his head, stopping to help his dumpier friend over another obstacle with a grunt of exertion.  

"Don't worry about me, Trev," Rick finally responds, clapping him on the shoulder, "It's you I'd be worried about." He gestures to the dozen or so yards between where they stand and ruin's entrance. 

"I don't know why I let you talk me into these things." he responds, shaking his head again.

"Well good thing you do, because otherwise we wouldn't have any fun around here." Rick pauses to look back at his friend, "Not like we've got anything better to do."

"Sure, if your kind of fun involves several tons of concrete and a death-wish, then this place is like an amusement park. When they find my body, you'll have some explaining to do."Trev responds morosely,stopping to use his hands to accentuate the important bits,  "I can see the headline already: Young Boy Loses Life in Tragic Accident; Authorities Suspect Foul Play."

Rick slows his pace to allow his friend to catch up to him.

 "I don't see any birds around here. Fowl play seems like a bit of a stretch. Sounds likes bad journalism to me." Rick pantomimes looking around in genuine interest. "How about Nation Mourns Loss of Moron . Now that's a headline I can get behind." 

"You're insufferable, you know that?" Trev says, trudging sullenly along, "If we get out of this you owe me big time. And I mean big time."

"I know," Rick says ruefully, scratching an errant itch on his back. "But seriously man, thanks for doing this. I don't have any family left to torch this place with me."

"I know." Trev remarks, looking suitably  more cheerful, if just as exhausted as before.  "Let's get this over with."

"Let's."

The building itself is half-caved in on itself, having resigned itself to its fate long ago.  Huge holes have been torn through it, while entire floors of the monstrosity seem to have given in to the slow pull of time and buckled inward at frighteningly steep angles. Bits of flooring, ruined appliances and furniture cover every available surface, presided over by only gloom and dust. Several of the main support beams seem to be fragile enough to shatter at a glance, and the back wall directly opposite them is almost entirely missing. The buzz of flies and the small silhouettes of anthills can be seen among the ruins before them.

The debris field that the pair had spent the last few minutes navigating have given way to a much more orderly, if considerably more dangerous, obstacle than the previous minefield of broken stone. Now, the danger comes from above and around rather than just from below. 

"What a wreck. Why would she leave you this anyway? It doesn't look like it's been used in years. Decades,even." Trev wrinkles his nose in distaste and looks over at Rick.

"No clue. I heard she was batty before she went though. Real headcase. Never met her." Rick shrugs, his eyes still following the slope of the building upward,scanning the towering structure in obvious disbelief. "Don't even know what this was used for. Hell if I care. Let's just see if there's anything worth saving and then move on. I have half a mind to call the demolition crew myself."

"What about all those letters she left you? There's gotta be something in there about all this." Trev motions to the building as if it was a personal affront to him.  "What happened to her, anyways?"

"Dunno. Haven't read em. Couldn't read em. Bunch of nonsense and scribbles. Not a single intelligible thing in the lot of them." Rick kicks a small rock, sending it clinking and pinging into the building. "I'm hoping this isn't a bust as well."

"Eerie. What a weirdo. No wonder she was locked up." Trev smirks sideways at his friend, "I hope it's not genetic."

"Yeah, yeah. Just get moving, will you? I'd rather be out of here before the sun sets."

The two