“Paint remover?” Chloe exclaimed. She examined the painting more closely. The brush strokes showed no signs of damage. “It looks untouched.”
“So you wanted to see the dorm rooms,” Georgina said, changing the subject.
“Yes,” Chloe answered.
“They’re this way up the stairs,” Georgina gestured with her hand towards the stairs leading to the second floor. “Please follow me.”
As they ascended the stairs, Roxanne had a strange feeling wash over her. She turned and looked back at the painting, but there was nothing unusual about it. Roxanne shook it off as nothing more than an overactive imagination. She joined the others whom were already at the top of the stairs. Georgina led them down the hallway past a rusted bed frame with a musty smelling mattress that still held the impressions of previous use.
“The kids make out on it,” Georgina explained rather nonchalantly.
“Disgusting,” Roxanne shuddered.
“Here we are,” Georgina announced.
The room was plain looking. The walls were faded and the paint was chipping. There were several cracks in the ceiling that spread across it like spider webs. Only a single window provided very little light into the room. The majority of the panels were boarded up with plywood. A circle of melted candles on the floor reminded Roxanne of a bizarre-looking birthday cake.
“I have to be going,” Georgina glanced at her watch. “I have a meeting this evening with another contractor.” Georgina handed Chloe the keys. “Just lock up when you leave. I’ll pick up the keys from your office tomorrow morning.” She left the two of them alone.
Chloe put the keys in her pocket. Roxanne stood there as Chloe walked around the dorm room checking things out.
“Are you getting anything from the room,” Chloe asked as she paused by the window.
“No,” Roxanne answered. “Why?”
“Why don’t you try in that circle of candles,” Chloe suggested, but first she handed Roxanne a flashlight.
“Alright,” Roxanne said. She walked over to the candles, stepped inside the circle, and sat down on the floor. She set down the flashlight beside her. Roxanne closed her eyes. Chloe shone the light in Roxanne’s direction.
Roxanne breathed rhythmically with each beat of her heart focusing only on that and not anything or any other sounds in the room. At first, the images swirled about in a blur of light and shadows, but soon things came into focus.
Roxanne opened her eyes a few minutes later. Chloe was gone! Roxanne flipped on her flashlight and searched the room. Where could Chloe have gone?
“Just breathe Roxanne,” she told herself. Roxanne drew in a deep breath; exhaling it slowly. As she did this, Roxanne heard voices coming from somewhere down the hallway. This surprised her, since Roxanne thought that they were the only ones in the building. Maybe while she was in her trance, someone else had entered the place and Chloe went to check things out. So Roxanne decided to check things out too. She headed off in the direction of the voices.
She had only gone a short distance down the hallway, when Roxanne stopped outside another of the dorm rooms. She could hear the voice more clearly now. Roxanne turned the door knob and opened the door. There was a boy and girl making out. Embarrassed, Roxanne closed the door. Roxanne suddenly felt chilled; like if someone had put their cold hands up her back. She spun around, casting her light in that direction, but saw nothing! Roxanne mustered up enough courage to continue down the hallway. Roxanne decided she’s gone far enough and was about to turn back when a terrible scream pierced the stillness. She’d barely gotten out of the way when the door flew open and the boy and girl inside rushed out and headed off in the direction of the scream. Roxanne quickly followed. She stopped when they knocked on the door.
“Did you hear it,” the frizzy haired boy asked the one with the earrings.
“Yeah,” he replied. “It sounded like my sister.”
“Come on,” a dark haired girl said.
The four of them ran down the hallway in the direction of the scream. Roxanne turned off her flashlight and followed at a safe distance. When they got there, a girl with short cropped black hair was curled up in a fetal position murmuring incoherently.
“Where’s Chad?” the boy with the earrings asked. She didn’t answer.
Roxanne couldn’t see because the rest of them blocked her view. She tried to push past them when they all heard it; an eerily moan.
“What’s that, Jazz?” one of the girls asked with her eyes wide with fright.
“I don’t know,” Jazz answered sharply.
Roxanne, who for some reason hadn’t been noticed by the group, left them and headed off in search of the source of the moaning. When she got to the staircase, Roxanne switched on her flashlight and followed the descending steps. The beam of light finally came to rest upon a hooded figure. The person simply stood there not moving at all. Why didn’t he move? Surely the light was bright enough for them to see that someone was there.
“Who are you?” Roxanne called out. No reply.
“What are you doing here?” Roxanne demanded. The hooded figure made no sound.
Roxanne was about to step forward, when the hooded figure started towards her instead. She immediately bolted up the stairs and back down the hallway to warn the others.
Chloe had witnessed Roxanne go into her trance. She was in awe of such a gift. Feeling that it was perfectly safe, she decided to explore the dorm room a bit more. It was too bad that the candles had all burnt out, because they would’ve been a welcome addition to her flashlight. Chloe searched the dorm room floor with her flashlight. She walked about looking for some clues that would help find the missing teenagers. As Chloe approached the closet she noticed a few drops of dried blood. Chloe grasped hold of the sliding door handle with one hand and opened it, readying herself for anything that might’ve popped out! Unfortunately there was only the Ouji board on the floor of the closet. She bent down and picked it up. Chloe closed the closet door and walked back over to Roxanne. Roxanne was still in her trance, so Chloe sat down outside the circle of candles and opened the game. When she laid out the game board, a blood stained piece of material fell out. Now Chloe knew the source of the blood on the floor by the closet. She didn’t have an evidence bag, so Chloe carefully placed the piece of cloth in her pocket. Why hadn’t the authorities or her dad confiscated the game to begin with, Chloe wondered? Chloe considered that perhaps they were too concerned with searching for the missing teenagers, or had they just blown it off as them just running away from home or something like that. Either way, Chloe had her first real clue. She glanced back over at Roxanne. Chloe was starting to get worried about the length of time that Roxanne had been in her trance. She was equally afraid to just wake her from it too.
Roxanne was on her way, when the rest of the teenagers were rushing towards her! She instinctively jumped out of the way. Roxanne watched them bound down the stairs towards the hooded figure. She went after them and when she came to the top of the stairs, Roxanne saw the hooded figure being chased by them. Roxanne decided to follow and practically ran down the stairs to do so. As she got to the bottom of the stairs, Roxanne heard what sounded like a heavy wooden door slam shut. She bolted down the long hallway and soon came to a wooden door. Roxanne opened the door and stepped through. She appeared to be in a church. Roxanne looked around and saw teenagers had the hooded figure surrounded. She immediately headed in their direction, but came to a sudden stop when a second person, wearing all black, stepped forward from the shadows. The person’s identity was hidden by a hooded mask. The teenagers were startled by the appearance of the masked person. Before they could recover, the person in black attacked in a martial arts fury. The boys tried to defend themselves and the girls, but it was in vain. Within minutes all of the teenagers were on the floor, unconscious.