Horrorfest

14: Trespassing

I found myself hesitating in front of the building in an abandoned themepark that resembled a desolate shrine. Its exterior glowed an unearthly swamp green as the sun was settling downwards behind it. The strong orange shades from the sunset gave the building a more reddish hue as though it was housing something far sinister inside.

It almost look sacrilegious.

Swallowing a big gulp of increasing fear, I took a step forward. I clutched tightly at the DSLR camera in my hands. My fingers had started to tremble slightly.

It was one of the hottest months and yet I could feel myself shivering, my hands ice cold and clammy.

I took a deep breath to steady myself.

"Why did I choose this place of all places for the photography assignment?" I cursed under my breath.

I did not hear a shutter sound but rather a sharp beep as I tried to take a shot.

-Memory full-

I had taken images of the rest of the abandoned themepark and left this building to the last. Initially, I had planned to explore the building as it was the very first thing that caught my eye. But now it was as though there was a strange force repelling me away from the building.

All I know is that I was feeling a bit spooked out and I just wanted to take one shot and leave.

I hastily fumbled around my camera bag for a spare memory card and quickly slot that in place of the other one.

I pressed my eye against the viewfinder and aimed the camera at the building and tried to take the perfect low angle shot.

One thing about me is that I don't like to use the LCD screen of the camera when taking shots as it was distracting.

As I took that shot, I could have sworn I saw a black shadow flashed quickly past one of the windows. I looked up away from the viewfinder on my camera and chanced upon a Javan Mynah that has just perched itself on one of the branches at a nearby tree, its black feathers a stark contrast to its neon yellow beak.

"Must have been that damn bird."

I tried to take another shot of the building but the camera refused to take anymore, which cannot be right as there was only one image in the latest memory card.

I pressed on the shutter button much harder only to have a deep voice rumble beside my right ear.

"It doesn't like you taking pictures."

I froze.

Turning around I saw a security guard looking at me sternly.

"You should NOT be here."

"I'm sorry. I did not know. There was an opening at the back and I thought I could come in," I tried to sound as naive as possible.

"Still, it's not an open invitation for you to come in. This place is off limits. I'm sure you have seen the 'No Tresspassing' sign."

I gulped.

"Sorry. I just wanted some unique shots for my photography assignment."

*****

Later at home, I was trying look at the image that I had taken of the building but the camera refused to switch on.

As I inserted the memory card into the memory card slots on my computer, my mind drifted off to my encounter with the security guard. I was relieved to have been let go with just a stern warning after having my personal particulars taken down for record purposes.

Clicking on the folder that contained the image, I was stunned.

A dark and tall shadow with disheveled hair and a pair of glowy red eyes were looking straight at me from a window, the same Javan Mynah bird perched on a tree near it.