Broken Promises

Chapter Two; Hope

Hope halted inside the dark abandoned mall and looked around, well, as much as she could see in the darkness, a few seconds before the other two had.

The teen glanced briefly at the teenagers as they slowly came up from behind her. Both were glancing around, Jason in uncertainty, and Jade in what seemed to be fascination. Hope frowned when she noticed that Jade had the blonde's hand. Jason had been the only one who had thought to even bring a flashlight, as well as... she looked at the dark blue backpack on his back. Whatever else he felt the need to bring here. Unlike the gate, the front doors... or she should say, door; the other one was lying on the ground next to where it should have been, were wide open when they reached it.

"Okay. What exactly are we looking for?" Hope asked after a moment of silence, keeping her distance from the two.

Jason did not say anything, so Jade eventually interjected. "I don't know, probably just anything unusual or interesting?"

Hope frowned, annoyed as she stepped forward and glared down the hallway.

"Hmm... Unusual." She tilted her head upwards and blinked, glaring at the second floor on both her left and right. "If you count the dark and the large creak of the wind against the building as unusual, that's what we got."

She turned to face the group, irritated. "I don't see anything. Maybe a cat would be unusual."

After she spoke, Jason's expression hinted at a mixture of irritation and disgust, but he didn't say anything as he glared at her with discomfort. Jade glanced between the two, then at Jason, then back and forth between the two again a few more times. She avoided eye contact and was about to speak as her gaze fell on an abandoned shop to her right, although Jason spoke up first.

"No." The younger teen finally said, his voice wavering a bit in his next words. "L-Let's just explore the mall. Anything large and horrifying that we see, we avoid."

That was a bit odd coming from him, as Jason was the one who'd gotten them into this in the first place. Hope only scoffed quietly at his next words, which he did notice, but did not visibly acknowledge.

"Let's... try not to make too much noise?" He looked around, shining his light at the old walls and dilapidated floor tiles, shivering. "I feel like that's how he will be able to track us. Let's try to not split too much and stay together?"

"Sure. I don't mind sticking around you cowards all night." Hope shrugged, replying with blunt sarcasm.

"We decide to go into a haunted mall, a haunted mall supposedly inhabited by a 'cat,' creature, and we're just deciding to ignore it. Very 'dangerous,' indeed." Stepping forward a bit, she glanced around, her glare falling over the railings, on the second floor.

"Hope... it's fine. If we see it, we'll see it." Jade began, giving her friend an exhausted glance.

Hope understood that it was probably a hint to stop her attitude, especially with the way the brunette's tone of voice had dropped. The redhead was actually unsure of why she was irritated, just... everything about this place didn't feel right. She had noticed it the moment they had all entered, and by the looks of it, all the others were feeling similar. Part of her actually wanted to see the cat, despite everything she knew about it.

"Besides," Jade continued, rubbing the back of her neck and glancing towards the shop she had been eyeing earlier, breaking her stressed glare. "I do agree with Jason on this one. It may be quiet now, but... it might be best to play it safe in this situation. Stay together, or at least in groups so we can have someone to watch our backs. There's only three of us, so we should probably stay together."

"Yeah, I'd prefer if we kept close." Jason said softly, shaking his head. "Splitting up sounds like a stupid idea."

Hope scowled and turned her gaze briefly at Jason, who was also frowning. Hope wanted to scream in frustration. This whole exploration was stupid. They all knew it was.