Your Worst Fears

Chapter 2: Activity

By the time we all ate the sandwiches we'd packed and got ready to investigate, my nerves were wound so tight that my neck had started to hurt. I reached up to try to loosen it, stretching my neck from side to side in an attempt to pull out the tension, which must've caught Nick's eye.

"Need some help?" he asked with a smile.

"Um--" as tempting as his offer was "--no." He was always flirting with me, but he flirted with every girl he came in contact with, so I never thought anything of it.

"Okay, then, let's get going."

We decided to split into groups of two this time so we could cover more area, with Alex picking who went with who. He was the leader of our motley paranormal crew, which helped to keep everyone on track and organized. I ended up with Nick, which I was thankful for, since being alone in the dark with Erik would've been awkward and Mark talked too much. I liked investigating with Tanya, too, but here, I'd rather be with someone braver than I was, which Tanya was not. Aside from our looks, with her having blonde hair and me having red, and her being several inches taller than I was, we were a lot alike. I caught her attention before we split up and smiled and waved at her like it might be the last time I ever saw her, and in a place like this, it very well might be.

"So long, girly," she said with a pout, waving back at me. "I'll come find you for bathroom breaks."

"Please do," I replied.

"What? I'm not good enough to piss with?" Nick teased.

I ignored him, shaking my head as we started to walk back up the stairs that we'd last escaped down. I turned the flashlight that hung around my neck on once the door closed, filling the stairway with an eerie, green glow. 

"So, what caused you to run?" I asked, knowing Nick never ran. Now that I think about it, I'd never seen him run on an investigation until that moment.

"I don't know. It just felt like something--" He cut his words off as he opened the door and cool air smacked us both in the face. "I thought it'd be hot as hell up here."

"Yeah, I did, too." Wasn't heat supposed to rise? "It's like we're in the basement, not on the top floor."

The stairwell door shut behind us, leaving us standing in the silent hallway inside my green glow. "Well, it feels good," Nick said, "so I'm not complaining." It did feel nice, causing my sweaty skin to chill. "Where do you want to go first?"

"You're asking me? Usually you just take off and tell me to come on," I admitted with a laugh, which echoed down the hall, causing the hairs on my arms to stand up. Note to self: no loud laughing.

"Yeah, well, I know this place freaks you out more than the other places we've been, so I thought I'd be nice."

"This place must be getting to you, too." Nick wasn't mean, but he was never really nice, either. "Um, let's go this way," I said, pointing to the opposite end of the hallway from where we'd gone earlier. "We can see what all's down there, since we ran like wusses before we got to that area."

We passed several rooms before walking into the last one, wanting to start at the end and work our way back. Nick turned his flashlight on, which was brighter than mine, lighting up a bed, some files that were laying on the window sill, and a few toys, which freaked me out. Toys are supposed to be fun and childish, but not in a place like this. In a place like this, they screamed you're about to die by the hands of a demon child.

"Why would this stuff still be here?" I asked, knowing the asylum hadn't been in operation in fifty years.

"I'm sure some of it's been placed by people who's been here, or the people who own the hospital." He flipped through the files that had been laying on the window, dropping them onto the bed once he'd nosed through them. "Or these are actual things from patients. Look at this."