2105: Benediction

4

Mike, Henry, Trixie and I, begin to make our way to the abandoned factory. Mike bought us our gear as promised, and organized them into bags. He also handed us a few different colored pipe cleaners you would find at a craft store. I got blue, Trixie Purple, Mike Green, and Henry red. We placed them into our pockets. "These are to mark off your exit points in case the alarms do go off if any," Mike explained. I stuffed mine into my top pocket in my bag so I could get to them later when I needed them. I zipped my pocket shut on my bag as we began our course to the factory. On our walk, we heard the sounds of dogs and children playing as well as the waterfall from a neighbor's pond. We continued walking toward the entrance. Looking at this place gave me the creeps. The front gate was locked and we could not get in. Mike aggressively yanks on the gate to try and pry it open.

We all had very little success trying to get the front gate to open, so we decided to climb the fence and over the top. I found a hole in the fence and decided that I would crawl through to get in. I lower myself to the ground and take off my bag. I pushed my bag under the fence through the gaping hole and began to worm my way through while laying on my stomach. Crawling under the fence felt like a real chore as I felt the rusted metal graze my skin. I wasn't scratched and I made it out. Mike was already over the fence when I caught up to him. "Well, it sure took you long enough." He sarcastically chuckled.

We made it to the factory entrance. Mike stopped us and signaled us to split off to the other entrances. I took the southern entrance and everyone else went to check out the others before coming my way. We all regrouped and entered the south entrance of the factory. We followed the first hallway while putting on our face masks to avoid breathing asbestos that could be lurking through the air. The last thing I wanted to do was go to the emergency room from the early stages of Mesothelioma. Mike pulled out his camera, Henry used his phone and all I could record with was my mp3 player. I pulled out a flashlight so the camera could pick up the sights a bit more than it could on its own, considering that it was very dark inside the factory, even with full sunlight outside from the afternoon sun.

As we made our way down the first hall we took note of any alarm triggers that could be lurking around. We looked for motion sensors as far as we could see. We got scared thinking every tiny red light was a camera or motion sensor device. We continued to the hallway that had smaller rooms and led into a much larger room. A set of wooden double doors. These doors were taped off with police and construction caution tape which had been slit open. The right door was propped slightly open as I peeked inside the room. I pulled the door out some more to squeeze my way into the room. I made it inside and my friends soon followed me in. It was hard to squeeze in due to the large pile of mess blocking the door that came off of the building from years of decay.

I took a look around the large room we were in. A large mechanic arm built into the ceiling. I also noticed the conveyor belts that were used inside the factory during its times of operation. The rusty colors are illuminated by the excessive sunlight. Mike noticed a glow in a small glass cabinet. The item was a small box, kind of like a cigar box. With his gloves on he opens the cabinet, removing the item from inside. Mike flipped it around hoping to find a key to unlock it. We noticed some mystifying symbols across the side panels of the box. Mike glanced up at me. "I wonder what could be inside the box?" Mike curiously asked. I was a tad bit unsettled because we just found this thing and didn't know where it came from. "Are you sure it's safe?" I asked. We found an old key taped to the bottom when we heard a loud Hi-Low squealing sound. I was startled because it was excruciatingly loud. My ears felt like they were bleeding out of the drums as the sound echoed through the halls. "It's the security alarm! Everyone Let's get out of here! This cool box is a keeper!" Mike commanded as he quickly ruffled the box into his bag as we bolted for the doors.

We were barely able to make it back to my mother's house hoping security would not tail us. Mike followed me inside the house and got every fur in on staying the night considering it was the weekend. Trixie shared a room with my sisters out of courtesy and respect. We unpack our gear and go through our cameras and devices to see what we caught and to find out who had the video of us running for the hills out of the factory. I ended up being the one with the footage we were looking for. We decided to post the video and photos we took online to Furtube and Furspace. We wanted the world to see our exploration including the cool box that we found inside the factory. Mike removed the mysterious box out from his bag. Little did we know about this box or the contents that could be inside of it. Trixie enters my bedroom wanting to talk to me alone. I follow her outside onto the back porch. The line of small trees cut off just before the woods. The sun was setting and we could see the faint colors of orange and yellow beginning to blend in with the majestic blue and purple of the twilight settling in.

I looked into Trixie's eyes wondering why she had brought me out here. "The bus, you didn't need to do that. Putting your life on the line with Jeffrey Bines I don't-" She stopped herself short. I had a feeling she was still dwelling on what had happened on the school bus. She was the type who endured the pain of being bullied in school. Having the same feelings on this subject hit me harder than Jeffrey's punches ever did. I reached for her forepaw and lifted it with mine. "There are times where we must stand up for ourselves," I reassured her. I honestly never felt better telling her this. It was indeed true after all. We continued watching the sun settle in for the night, before making our way inside. I felt my heart racing as she leaned in to kiss me a second time. I close my eyes and embrace it. "Okay you two, knock it off before you make me and Henry throw up!" We broke from our embrace and looked up to see Mike poking his head out of the back door of the trailer. "I need you two love birds in here now, your mom is getting angry and I also may have found out how to open this annoying box," Mike explained. We give in and follow him inside with Henry looking through the living room window facing the other side of the trailer yet on the same side facing out toward the street. We closed the back door behind us and met up in my room, sitting down on my brother's bottom bunk bed. I slept on the top bunk. Mike managed to remove the key from the bottom of the box and fit it into the lock. He opened it by turning the lock and lifting its latch. The key had a bird-like symbol across the round handle. This key was an old iron key and it started to glow red along with the box's blue from its inside. Mike dropped the box in fear. "What the-?!" Mike hollered. The box flipped itself open and sat still on the bedroom floor. I proceed to try and pick it up as I'm sucked halfway into the box. I felt my friends quickly grab me trying to pull me out of the box.

Try as hard as they did, all of their strength was not enough to combat it and we all got pulled into the box as the lid snapped shut, while locking back up. The key disappeared along with the strange box.