I WANT YOU

CHAPTER 2

“Since there isn’t any power in this place, I guess we take the steps.”

Catherine moved forward, and Anna hurried along, keeping close to her best friend. They walked down the dark hallway, passing closed and opened doors. As they passed one room, Anna saw an old metal gurney.

The white had faded to yellow, and rust covered most of the surface. She stopped and stared at the walls. But all of a sudden her eyes widened when she saw the writings on the wall. “They Will Drain You Dry.” It was written over and over again, covering every spare space. As she dallied there, goose bumps broke out over her damp skin, and she made an inarticulate noise deep in her throat.

Catherine pulled her away, and Anna glanced at a closed door to see the words “Exam Room” stenciled on the rusted metal door.

She didn’t want to be here now. Although she was already twenty, Anna needed comfort in this haunting place. She grabbed Catherine's hand and held tight.

“There it is.” Catherine stopped at the door marked Stairwell. “You’ll have to give me my hand so I can get my phone.”

“What do you need your phone for?” Anna asked, afraid to release Catherine.

“I need the flashlight app on my phone. There isn’t any electricity in this place, and the stairwell is sure to be pitch-black.”

Pitch-black. A word Anna do not want to hear at this moment. But Jeanne had said the party was on the third floor.

“How are you feeling, An?” Catherine asked as she dug her phone from her pocket and began to fumble with it.

“Fine,” she answered curtly. “I won’t pass out.” Anna thought about it, then add. “At least not from my sickness. I might from this creepy place.”

Catherine chuckled. “You’re doing fine. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

Anna doubted it. But she trusted her, and she knew how Catherine treasure her. Even so, if something wholly evil jumped out at them, there wouldn’t be much her best friend could do against monsters.

“I so don’t like this.” Anna held her breath as Catherine opened the door to the stairwell and stepped inside. She didn’t take her hand this time. Catherine needed it more to hold on to the railing. But Anna did grab the back of Catherine's shirt as they ascended the steps.

As Catherine predicted, there wasn’t a spark of light anywhere save from her phone. Anna shivered as the cool air surrounded her and their steps echoed loudly. “I still don’t get why they’d have a party here.”

“It’s a cool place to hang out.” Catherine's light swiveled from left to right, and Anna had a strange feeling that something otherworldly was staring at them. She wasn’t normally this much of a coward, but who wouldn’t be in a place like this?

“If you say so.” Anna’s foot caught the lip of the next step, and she fumbled forward. Catherine's hand instantly shot out and steadied her.

“Careful.”

"Thanks..." Anna wrapped her hands around Catherine's extended arm as they continued to climb. They passed the second floor door and kept walking. When they reached the third, Anna frowned. She couldn’t hear any music. Shouldn’t there be music? Even without electricity, an iPod could be hooked up to a small stereo that ran off of batteries. Or someone could use their phone and connect it to a portable speaker. But she couldn’t heard anything.

Catherine shook her arm slightly until Anna released it, and then her best friend opened the door to the second floor ward. The warm air wrapped around them, while the scent of something old and rotten settled in Anna's nostrils.

“Oh, damn! That really stinks.” Anna waved her hand in front of her face. “How can anyone party with that smell?”

Catherine tilted her head back and inhaled deep drafts of air. Her best friend had done that from time to time over the past ten years of their friendship. Anna thought it's weird but never commented on the strange action. Catherine was just being Catherine.

“No one is here,” She stated flatly.

“How do you know?” Anna asked, confused. “Do you hear anything?”

“No.”

Anna hadn’t heard anything since entering the asylum except her harsh breathing and when she’d kicked the fire extinguisher. It was deathly silent.

Catherine backed out of the door and shined her light up the stairwell. “Come on, we’ll see if it’s on the fourth floor.”

But just before the door closed, Anna swore she saw something move in the shadows of the hallway. Her heart thundered in her chest as she grabbed Catherine's shirt and walked up the steps. This was such a stupid idea.

Her best friend held her iPhone up, using the flashlight to guide their way. “Jeanne probably got the floors mixed up.”

“Yeah, since she likes to test out her own product,” Anna said. “She probably got the location mixed up as well.”

“She does that sometimes,” Catherine said. “But she’s not that bad, you know.”

Catherine twisted her hand, sending the ray to the entrance of the fourth floor ward. They’d reached the landing, but the place still seemed deserted.

This building should be filled with drunken college kids. But the only sounds he could hear inside the abandoned asylum were the howl of the wind through the broken windows and rats scurrying to get out of their way.

“I think we should go.” Anna grabbed the back of Catherine's shirt and tugged. “There’s no one here. Jeanne is obviously playing some sort of prank on us.”

Catherine turned and flashed a smile of confidence. “We’ll be fine. I want to check one more floor, and then we can get out of here.”

“Look, we’ve been tricked. It wouldn’t be the first time,” Anna said with bitterness. “Jeanne knew I would be with you. Can we just go? This place is freaking me out.”

Jeanne didn’t like Anna. Even without confirmation she knew that from the way she smirk whenever she was near.

And she always called Anna “ginger” and “loser” under her breath, but Anna had heard her.

“I shouldn’t have brought you here, Anna,” Catherine said as her eyes flashed from one darkened corner to another. “What if you get sick?”

“I’ll be fine,” Anna said. “I feel good.” Though this was one of her rare days where her body wasn’t fevered and she wasn’t vomiting everywhere.

Her good days were few and far between, and she wasn’t going to waste one of them sitting home.

Anna had always been adventurous, even before her blood illness that rendered her as helpless as a newborn kitten on most days. But this place wasn’t something she had on her bucket list.

“For now you do,” Catherine argued and seemed angry at herself for her foolish decision. Anna loved her best friend, but sometimes she was like a mother hen. “Though this place is really creepy, huh.” Catherine laughed.

Her best friend swung her phone from one side of the stairwell to the other. She was right. This placed tipped the scale on creepy. “Why don’t you stay here, and I’ll check the last floor?”

“Are you nuts?” Anna squawked. “You’re honestly going to leave me standing here in the dark while you go upstairs with the only flashlight? I think I’ve seen this horror movie before, and I don’t care to act it out in real life.”

“Fine,” Catherine said as she walked down a few steps so she could lead the way. “Let’s get out of here. Remind me to kill Jeanne when we see her.”

Both turned and headed back down the stairs, passing the second floor ward. Anna froze.

Catherine's brows furrowed as she turned to look up at Anna. “Why’d you stop? I thought you wanted to get out of here.”

“Didn’t you hear that?” Anna leaned over the railing and glanced down at the next set of descending steps but didn’t see anyone. “It sounded like someone was crying.”

“I didn’t hear anything.” Catherine pulled gently on the front of Anna’s shirt. “Get moving.”

“But what if Jeanne tricked someone else into coming here, and she’s hurt?” It had definitely sounds a woman cry. Anna couldn’t leave an innocent girl to suffer in this madhouse. It might be closed down, but the place felt haunted, as if the residents still roamed the halls.

“Why are we still standing here?” Catherine complained.

Anna began to shiver. She had a strange feeling that someone was watching them. She glanced up, but all she could see was darkness.

Though she saw nothing, the nagging feeling of being watched hadn’t faded.

“Are you going to just stand there all night?” Catherine asked, bringing Anna out of her thought.

“This party is a bust. Let’s head out.”

Anna strained to hear the cry again, but save for the sounds of nature blowing through the place, it was silent. Catherine snarled and smacked his phone when the light flickered and then went out, leaving them in total darkness.

“What just happened?” Anna asked. She felt her way in the dark until she had something solid under her hands. She leeched on to her best friend, strangling the poor girl's arm. Maybe they’d get that horror film ending after all.

“Phone died,” Catherine said with a sigh. “Just hang on to me while we work our way downstairs.”

“Does anything scare you?”

“Not much,” Catherine admitted, and she could hear the truth in her tone. It was strong and steady.

“Just stay close, An.”

“Trust me, I’m not letting you go.” Anna swallowed hard when a wave of dizziness washed over her. She shook her head, hoping to dispel it. This was not the most opportune place to pass out.

“You’re a bit hot,” Catherine said.

This made Anna chuckle. “Such a flirt.”

Catherine snorted. “Not your looks, numbnut. I mean your hands.” Catherine placed a hand over Anna’s forehead. “I think your fever is back.” There was deep concern in her voice. “I need to get you home.”

Anna started to say that she was fine but knew Catherine would lecture her for lying. Nausea rolled over Anna, and her mouth filled with a warm, metallic taste.

Please. Not now. Not when we have to get out of this freaky place.

“Slow steps, An,” Catherine said soothingly as she pulled one of Anna’s hands into hers. “Nice and easy.”

That was all she could take anyway. Careful of her footing, Anna made sure her foot touched solid steps before she descended. It would truly suck if she missed and fell.

A chill raced over Anna when she heard the cry again. It sounded as though it was coming from above them, like on one of the upper floors. “You didn’t hear that?”

“No,” Catherine said. “And you better not stop again until we’re in the car. I need to get you home.”

Anna knew she couldn’t go back upstairs. Not when their only source of light had died. She’d get to a phone once they were clear of this place and call the cops to help the girl. Anna just hoped she wasn’t hurt.

When she ran out of railing and her foot touched down, Anna knew they’d made it to the first floor. She reached out, grasping in the dark for the door handle, when she heard a faint howl. She snapped her head around, but all she could see was complete darkness. “Did you hear that?”

“I did,” Catherine admitted with a fierce tone. “Let’s hurry.”

Anna pushed forward, using both hands to feel for the door. They slid along cool concrete and then metal. She wanted to shout in triumph when her fingers curled around the handle. She yanked and pulled the door open. Catherine stepped in front of her, as if to protect her from whatever had made that unearthly sound.

The first floor was shadowy, the moon still spilling in through the skylight and slits in the boards that covered the windows. The light wasn’t much, but at least she could find her way out of this place.

Anna and Catherine shouted as they propelled out of the stairwell. At first Anna thought she’d tripped over something, but their momentum had been too fast, too hard. “Someone shoved me!” she shouted.

Anna tried to get up but cried out when a fierce throbbing tore through her wrist. She’d hurt it when she fell. Catherine grabbed Anna under her arms and tried to help her to her feet but stumbled backward and both crashed back to the floor.

“Remind me never to have you rescue me,” Anna said as she groaned. Now her ass hurt too.

“At least I tried, numbnut,” Catherine snapped. “Stop complaining and let’s go.”

Anna cradled her injured wrist to her chest as she turned and raced toward the exit. Her steps faltered as the fever built higher, making Anna sway in her foot. The need to run was strong, but her body had other plans. Anna stopped and bent over, placing her uninjured hand on her knee as she began to wretch.

Catherine cursed as she raced back to Anna. The guy didn’t say a word as she soothed her hand over Anna’s back. The two needed to run. They had no clue who’d pushed Anna. The person could still be after them. But Anna couldn’t stop throwing up long enough to catch her breath.

She swayed again, this time heading toward the floor. Catherine caught her and lifted her. “I gotcha, An.”

She knew that Catherine is strong but sometimes it still bewildered her. Or maybe she's just really light.

Catherine carried her toward the exit, but before they could get out, she stopped and let out a slew of curses. Anna turned her head and gasped.

What the hell was that?!

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