Shock

-20-

Who would have thought an abandoned building could be this beautiful?
Except for exposed brick walls, the whole structure was made from wood. On the ceiling hung parallel beams supporting the roof, and the entire loft bathed in light originating from the large windows on each wall.
"Wow," I whispered as I took in the scene.
Then, remembering my mission, I looked around for stairs to get to the ground floor. In the corner of the room I saw a doorway. I jogged towards it and found a staircase leading down.
On the ground floor, I bolted for the doors.
They weren't locked, I realized. The owners must have left in a hurry. There was, however, a table jammed in front of them.
I couldn't tell if this was done on purpose or due to the earthquake. Either way, I grabbed hold of one of its legs and pulled on it as hard as I could.
When I stopped for a second to catch my breath, I heard a voice coming from outside.
"Charlie, are you in there?"
It was Peter.
"Yeah," I responded. "I'm here, I'll let you guys in in just a second. There's a table jammed in front of the door."
"Oh. Well, hurry up 'cause it's started raining!"
I chuckled.
"I will."
I retook my position around the table leg. But this time, instead of pulling, I tried pushing the table to the other side. This worked way better, and after a few seconds, the door was free.
I did have to fumble with the latch for a while, but after that, the door opened with ease.
Peter rushed in, followed by Haley, Paisley and Nathan.
Outside, the rain seemed to be intensifying. The drops were falling faster and the sky was dark. I quickly closed the door the door to shut out the drowsy weather.
"So, as you can see," I said, motioning to the empty space.
"They're not here."
"No shit, Sherlock," Paisley said. I gave her a warning look for swearing in front of the kids.
Sorry, she mouthed.
"Maybe we should stay here for a while, anyway," Nathan said.
"At least until the rain stops."
I agreed. We walked to the middle of the room and sat down in a circle. To my left sat Peter, to my right, Paisley. Across from me sat Nathan and Haley.
"Charlie, you're bleeding!" Haley sat suddenly, pointing to my leg. I looked down and saw that, indeed, I had a five-inch long cut in my shin.
"Huh." I said.
I figured I had probably sustained the injury while climbing through the window.
"How had you not noticed that?" Paisley asked, incredulous.
"I don't know. Adrenaline?"
"Well, do we need to disinfect it?"
Paisley had added the bottle of Bacardi we'd used earlier to aid my hand to my backpack, saying it would come in handy later. Turns out she was right.
"Maybe," I said.
At the same time, I heard Nathan say "No!"
We all looked at him in surprise. He flushed, temporary, but then looked at me.
"Frizz, don't you remember how much it hurt? I still have bruises from where you pinched me."
He held up his arm to show the bruises. I immediately felt bad for hurting him and apologized. He lowered his arm.
"That's not the point. I just don't want you to have to go through that again. I mean, it's not infected or anything, right?"
"Not yet."
"Well then. No need to put yourself in pain."
I knew his logic was flawed, but I also didn't want to feel my skin burn like a bonfire again, so I agreed with him.
"So," Paisley said, changing the subject, "who's up for a game of 'never have I ever'?"
Peter and Haley didn't actually know what it was, but they were up for a game.
"How does that work?" Haley said.
"We're not playing that." Nathan replied.
"Why not?"
"It's boring."
"Oh. Okay. Can we play word snake again?" She pleaded.
"Yes. Let's do that."
The game started, but Paisley wasn't interested. She leaned over to me and whispered in my ear.
"You know as long as we're not using that Bacardi as a disinfectant..."
"I don't drink."
"Really?"
"Really."
"What about ninja turtles over there?" She pointed to Nathan, whose ninja turtles tee had ripped at the sides and was starting to fray.
I remembered what he'd said about his brother's pub fight. About how Keith had accused the guy of being a drunk. No way Nathan was drinking.
No way he was drinking.
I shook my head.
"Not a chance."
She pouted and said, "Chicken."
"What?" I was slightly offended. What did it matter to her whether or not I consumed alcohol?
"I'm not a chicken."
"Door."
"Door? Paisley what do you-"
It took me longer than it should have to realize Paisley was participating in word snake, and now I felt stupid.
I still wasn't interested in joining though. After the first three rounds, I found the game turned rather boring. As I looked to the other side of our circle, I saw I wasn't alone in that aspect. Nathan was yawning every few seconds.
I got up and walked over to him.
"Mind if I sit here?"
He shook his head.
"You're really tired aren't you?"
"I'm okay."
"You barely slept last night. You got, what, half an hour?"
"Forty-five minutes." He admitted
"Why don't you get some rest now? We'll probably be here a while anyway."
I motioned to the roof, on which raindrops were falling faster and louder by the second.
"I'm fine." He undermined his own statement by following it up with a huge, hippo yawn.
I realized I'd heard his excuses before. Only usually, they came from my mouth.
I pressed my lips together. Tried to formulate my thoughts tactfully.
"You get nightmares too, right? That's why you don't want to sleep."
He looked at me with a forced smile.
"No," he said.
"No, it's quite the opposite, really. My dreams are... great."
He scratched some dirt off his sneaker.
"It's the waking up I want to avoid."
I was pretty sure he was talking about his brother, but it seemed a bit blunt to ask.
"They're so lifelike too, you know?"
I nodded. I knew exactly what he meant.
"Yeah. Mine- my nightmares are like that as well. And they're nightmares, but... They're not all bad. Some parts actually make me wish..."
"You'd never wake up."
"Yeah."