Page 45 of Inescapable Ties
“Unless you have something better to do.”
“Well, no, it’s just late,” I said, looking out the window and watching the sunset in the distance. “I figured you wouldn’t want to do something this late.”
“You figured wrong,” he responded. “Now. What are the coordinates?”
My fingers danced over my phone screen, fat bubbles of nervous energy popping in my veins. “The location’s a bit remote,” I admitted. “But it’s worth it.”
“I’ll be the judge of that, Jaws,” Emilio said with a smirk.
With haste, the two of us dressed for our outing before heading down to Emilio’s car in the parking garage. The engine roared to life as we pulled out of the spot, leaving behind the familiar neighborhood to new, uncharted territory.
I had already saved the location in my phone when I first discovered the place online months ago. An old Victorian mansion, long since abandoned, was nestled atop a hill overlooking a small graveyard. The mansion was rumored to be haunted, and the ghosts would come out at night and congregate in and around it.
“You didn’t mention there was a cemetery,” he said, as we pulled into the driveway.
“Are you scared?” I laughed. “That would be rich, considering your profession. Big scary Emilio, can torture a man but goes running at the thought of ghosts.”
“Tch. I’m not scared. I was just expecting a house.”
“Then let’s go.”
We parked the car and set off on foot towards the house, the crunch of leaves under our shoes echoing in the quiet forest. The door was slightly ajar when we approached it, which was to be expected. I was sure a few other urban explorers other than myself had been here.
The door creaked loudly as I pushed it open, and I heard critters scurry away. The two of us started exploring together, checking out each room the large Victorian house offered.
It was gorgeous. I knew many people wouldn’t view it that way; to most, it was just rotted pieces of wood that needed to be cleaned. But to me, it was a piece of history, with an untold story I would never know.
Each time I went to film a new place, excitement would always bubble inside me when I grabbed my camera from the case. I began to film the beauty that lay before me - peeling paint on the walls, broken windows, and the overgrown vines creeping up the sides of the walls. As I recorded the scene in front of me, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of melancholy mixed with awe.
“This is pretty cool,” Emilio admitted, running his thumb along a worn down piece of art on the wall.
“Right?”
Even though I normally didn’t put people in my video, I selfishly wanted footage of Emilio for myself. As I turned the camera to capture his reaction, a sudden gust of wind whipped through the open windows. The old chandelier hanging precariously from the ceiling danced ominously, the glass pieces clinking against each other.
Normally, nothing in these abandoned places scared me, but that was actually kind of creepy. Emilio sneezed loudly, breaking the silence, and we both laughed as I caught it on film.
I provided random knowledge to Emilio as we continued exploring. From the architectural style to building materials, I had seen almost everything while exploring. He nodded, genuinely interested. My family had always brushed off these facts whenever I brought them up.
When we reached the library, I stopped in my tracks. The same symbol as the previous abandoned buildings were painted in the room. And it waseverywhere.
This person had not only taken the time to cover the walls and floors, they had also opened up books and scribbled it on the pages. The windows were almost impossible to see through with how many times it had been drawn on. It had been unsettling the first two times, but this had reached a whole new level.
“Man, can you imagine the trip this guy was on?” Emilio said.
“It must have been something,” I said, playing along. After seeing it so often, I was getting an inkling it wasn’t drugs.
“I’m going to take some up close pictures of these symbols,” I said, pulling out my camera again. Emilio looked on with curiosity as I meticulously captured every detail of the strange symbols. There was a frantic energy to their arrangement, like they had been scrawled in the throes of obsession.
“Do you think they mean something?” Emilio asked.
“No,” I lied. “It’s just interesting. Let’s keep going.”
We finished up the tour of the house, stopping by a few more rooms before we left. Each had a unique ambiance; an old nursery with moth-eaten teddy bears, and a once luxurious master bedroom whose four poster bed was being eaten by termites.
The two of us made our way down the stairs and back outside. As we carried on, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that we were not alone.
“That was nice,” Emilio said, walking towards the car as he pulled the keys from his pocket.
