Night Children

I GLARED INTO THE GLOOM, aware, suddenly, of how cold the temperature had plummeted as soon as I had stepped inside this rundown old hospital. I pulled my scarf closer and sniffed, feeling rather exposed in the dark.

The hospital had been left abandoned during the 1900’s, after it had formed a reputation for some quite nasty things occurring inside its walls. People, it was said, were being killed here in the early years of its building, torn to shreds of even plastered inside the hospital’s walls. There were other tales too, of course, and some were much nastier than the one I had just mentioned. So, after the Mayor had decided over one Century ago, the hospital was to be abandoned as soon as another replacement was built. The new hospital never gathered such horrid reputation as its elder.

My hands tightened around the silver pendant at the nape of my neck, my fingers touching the locket’s hinge. My nail scraped across the silver and ruby embedded surface when I heard a noise in front of me. I had stopped dead in my tracks, still unable to see anything in such dim lighting. I had turned the electricity on, surprised that in the early 1900’s they even had electricity and that it still worked today. Needless to say, the electricity in this rundown place was better than the stuff in my own house which had only been built two years ago before I moved to this secreted little hick town.

There was that noise again. My feet faltered as I took a step backwards. It sounded almost as though leather boots were being scuffed along the corridor’s floor. But, as much as I knew, this place was abandoned and the front, back and side entrance had all been locked before I had picked the padlock and hacked the non-existent security system. Surely I was simply imagining things or, at most, mice had nested in any crevasses they could find, which would also explain the noises occurring inside the walls.

I paused. Something didn’t seem right. The hospital, although abandoned, seemed quiet; almost too quiet as I was walking the halls. Surely I would have accidently stepped on a large rat by now.

“Trespasser,” breathed a husky voice. My muscles tensed as the repetitive sound of shoes against floorboards rustled just ahead of me. My eyes were still adjusting, leaving me practically blind. No, I would be better off blind since what came next.

I was thrown backwards, my head slamming against a cement wall. I never knew that my head could radiate so much pain. I hissed a curse as I cupped the back of my head in my hands, slumping against the wall, but my mind told me better. I shouldn’t stay on the ground, I shouldn’t stay where whoever threw and hurt me to do that again. I need to get out of here, to somewhere safe. I need daylight.

“You would think that you would know better by now. Didn’t you get the message I gave your last pal?” There was a sinister laugh behind those words. Whoever was talking to me, whoever had dared to lay a finger on me, was talking as though they knew me. From their voice I could estimate that they were male, but I wasn’t sure with the high-pitched ringing in my ears. Was that from being thrown too? I could feel blood oozing through my fingers now, sticky and warm. He had no idea how much he was going to pay for that. “Oh, that’s right; I didn’t give him a message. I sent his head to you through the mail.”

“Excuse me,” I breathed, trying to hiss my hair out of my mouth. “But last I checked I didn’t get any heads in the mail, I would have known, and this hospital was meant to be abandoned. I had to pick the locks to get in here. So, who the heck are you?”

“That’s a good questions,” the young man’s face appeared before mine, those golden feline-like eyes raging with anger and what seemed like hunger. Was he going to eat me for dinner? “Who the heck are you?”

“None of your business,” I growled. I let out a sharp cry when he picked me up by my auburn hair, lifting me off my feet and the ground. I would be so battered and bruised, I thought, that Mom wouldn’t even be able to recognise me any longer, so much for ‘adventure’.

“Then it is just as much my business as it is yours.” He snapped, throwing me against the opposite wall. My back felt like it was going to give way. He walked over and reached for my hair once more but this time, I was not going down without a fight. Something had possessed me and ordered my hand to snap up and snatch his wrist. My hands did as they were commanded. I caught his wrist and with the blink of an eye, snapped it the way it should never ever bend. He yelped and stumbled backwards, cradling his hand. He frowned at me, even more furious.