Plain: Book 2

Retreat to Water

The hospital basement proved to be surprisingly not as creepy as I expected. Unlike the upstairs walls, the basement's had no peeling wallpaper and no stains. Since the basement had been somewhat hidden behind a cabinet in one of the locked nurse's offices, no trash or weeds had built up either, leaving the floor clear as the day it was cleaned out (besides a fine layer of dust, that is). It consisted of a single, short hallway with four doors, each of which opened to equally clean storage rooms. Only the last room on the left didn't have cabinets or shelves, but judging by the tears in the carpet, it had once housed filing cabinets.

"I find the lack of bloodstains and bodies rather disappointing," said Takigawa as he was giving me a brief tour, watched by a pensive Naru and Masako.

"I can't see anything," she said, dressed in a tasteful blouse and capris rather than a kimono, for once. "But it feels strange, like the walls are holding their breath. The rooms feel raw, as though the emptiness hurts them."

"Well, emptiness isn't exactly good on a building," said Naru. "Decay settles in within weeks of eviction, and I can smell mildew. Despite its looks, there's been flooding down here." He squatted down near a wall and slipped out a thin metal rectangle, which he used to pry the baseboard from the wall. "As I thought."

We peered over his shoulder to see the blotches of black dots coating both the baseboard and the naked wall behind it. He flicked the metal at the bottom of the wallpaper (a golden yellow with a wavy pattern I'd often seen in houses from the 60's), and it peeled away like orange skin, revealing more black dots.

"Only the lack of traffic has kept this place looking better than upstairs. Best we stay clear. Asbestos is going to be the least of our concerns if we disturb anything down here."

That being said, he still checked the cameras and sensors before leading us back upstairs. I was more than happy to close the door behind us.

"Don't you think it's kind of weird, though?"

"What?" I asked Takigawa.

"I didn't see any mouse droppings or anything like that. I mean, remember that closet we opened up? Those rats were huge! And that was just a little closet. Wouldn't they be all over a basement no one goes into?"

Takigawa shrugged. "Maybe without the traffic there wasn't anything to eat down there. I mean, I didn't see any of those brown fuzzy spiders this place breeds either."

Naru stopped at the door of the Nurse's office. "...no cobwebs either."

"Maybe pest control stuff lasts longer in basements?" I suggested, wondering why Naru had gone so still. "It's not like ghosts could do that, right?"

"Animals have always had stronger senses than man's. But whether there is something supernatural at play here or not, we need more evidence to do anything about it."

Thus, with Naru's verdict, we returned to the upper world. Bright afternoon sunshine poured in, and I could still taste the chocolate and lemon ice cream on my lips. As I thought about it, I scratched absentmindly at the charm pasted just above my shoulder blades. I wouldn't be able to take a shower until this was over either. It'd be just like camping.

....small...

It drifted through me like a whisper, but put me at a dead stop, every hair on my body on end. Masako had stopped as well.

Takigawa noticed first. "What's up?"

"She's here," whispered Masako, a hand to her mouth, though this time she didn't have a kimono's sleeve to hide the fearful tremor to her lips.