“The human mind is its own greatest enemy.”

The roar of thunder raged outside, the furious shaking of the old trees telling that the heavy rain dragged on. Both Hazel and Joseph had just barely made it under the gazebo of the deteriorating building. Joseph had gotten wet, but his sister was just fine. She’d been standing near the gazebo when a raindrop hit her and she yelled at her brother to hurry back to her. With nothing else left outside the two stepped towards the large rotting wooden doors. The stench of wet socks filled the lungs of both. It drove them to a shaky exaggerated gag. It wasn’t just the doors that smelled so foul. The entire building reeked of death. As if hundreds of people had been left to rot within and never cleaned up. Though it could only be assumed so.

Joseph shook his dirty blonde hair to get the water out of his head. His pale hands looked down at the camera strapped onto his neck. He turned to his sister with a smile and nodded.

“Ready to head inside?” He asked gingerly.

“Yup!” Hazel responded with excitement.

Joseph pushed his shaky hand against the door, the lock fighting what little it could before giving way with a rusty snap that shook him to his very core. The nasty air of the collapsing building wafted away at the siblings, sending Hazel’s raven hair back with audible winds and a faint frequency that made Joseph’s spine tingle.

“Here we are…” He muttered to himself.

Joseph had always been a coward. He’d hide behind his sister all the time, she was like a guardian angel to him. So he was glad to accompany her on this trip. With one step in, he felt the pressure of the building collapse into him. His stomach churned, his mind spun. And for a brief second he swore he could’ve heard a scream from the top of the building. He noticed little figures at the corners of his eyes, pulling his attention back and forth. 

“Joseph! Hurry, hurry! Up here!” His sister yelled from the stairs.

His fear kicked in. He turned rapidly, running for the stairs and quickly stepping up each cracked floorboard. The moss covered walls made Joseph feel his spine shiver a little more. Though once he reached the top of the stairs breathless to see his sister smiling back at him, he started to feel at ease.

“Hazel!... please…. Don’t… run off like that… again…”

“Don’t worry Joseph, I’ll always be with you!” Her smile… He couldn’t help but capture it. He held up his finger and caught his breath before raising the camera he’d brought along with him. Though once he raised it he noticed another detail. Hazel was wearing a harness. Why a harness?. Then it dawned on him. The harness was attached to the weak railing just beside her.

Just after he snapped the picture and lowered the camera he raised his head once more only to see Hazel standing on the edge, just past the railing. His heart dropped to his feet.

“Hazel! Please be careful!” He yelled, rapidly stepping towards her with a terrifying echo that bounced from mossy wall to mossy wall inside of the old dilapidated building.

“Don’t worry! I’ll be fine!” She responded. With another smile, she jumped, fearlessly into the black abyss underneath that was the main hall of the old asylum. Joseph turned his head to the other end of the harness. And once he did, he could feel his entire body give way. The air became thinner, as if he were suffocating on the very oxygen around him. And then the railing snapped clean off the rest of the round open corridor of the building.

The chilling scream of his sister and a loud noise resembling a body hitting the floor was heard, bones snapping, crying. Joseph wasted no time. He rushed himself down the stairs, his hands shaking violently. Though what he saw when he reached the bottom made him feel some sign of relief. Hazel had reached the bottom safely, and the scream had probably come from the shock of the stone railing landing so close to her. She turned around, laughing quietly. It took Joseph a bit to notice, but his sister’s skin looked… much paler than usual. He brushed it off, simply chalking it down to it being his mind playing tricks on him. He hugged his sister quickly, trying to regain what little calm this building had stripped him of.

“Hazel… please… be careful…” He was sobbing. Eyes red from tears begging to break through and flood down his cheeks like water building up in a dam. 

“Don’t worry, I already told you didn’t I? I’ll always be with you. Now come on! I saw this really cool room on the second floor!”

Joseph wasn’t allowed the time to get himself back in order, he dropped his flashlight as his sister tugged his hand hard, pulling him up the same mossy stairs as before and into a room that was pitch black, with only the light from the doorway letting him any sight. The two stepped in, hands clenched tightly. And as they stepped further into the room, the door slammed behind them, and the feeling of Hazel’s hand vanished. Joseph freaked out, reaching around desperately.

“Hazel?! Hazel!!” He yelled frantically, quietly stepping through the room, trying to get a bearing of his surroundings. He found what he thought to be a table and placed his hand on it for a brief second. He was breathing heavily… he was starting to see… figures of people in the dark, staring him down with icy and malicious intent, the spirits of past patients of the ward he could only assume. He was terrified. The tears that were building up earlier breaking through once he felt the horrid crawling of a cockroach on his hand. He flailed it about fiercely, shaking the insect off his bony hand and screaming as he rammed away at the walls, trying desperately to find his exit, until he felt his sister’s hands again, taking his gently and caressing them to soothe his nerves.

“Joseph, relax… I’ll tell you as many times as I need to… I’ll always be with you.”

Her words echoed through the room, Joseph’s fear was soothing slowly, but his shaking and his crying wouldn’t stop. The presence of what he thought were shadow people vanished in his sister’s hold. Hazel pulled him towards the exit, it was clear to her that Joseph wasn’t having as much fun as she was having, but to him it was a sacrifice he had to make to see his sister happy.

“One last room okay? Then we can get in the car and go home.” She said, gently stroking the back of Joseph’s head.

The boy gave a nod, but of course much like previously, he noticed that his sister looked a lot paler. Her skin was almost snow white, her eyes looked hollow, devoid of any color to them. Her hair was dirty, her hands and arms bonier than Joseph’s own. It threw him off but he had to bear with it. And for the third time that night, he and his sister walked up the stairs. They stopped at a room which looked to be just fine. The only room which hadn’t collapsed. The door opened and once more Hazels’ presence vanished.

Joseph gulped hard and closed his eyes, pushing the door further open and opening his dark coffee eyes he saw…  his family? It was everyone. They looked happy, bickering and chatting among each other, throwing jokes around… but his sister wasn’t there. Joseph approached his father and got his attention.

“Dad? Where’s Hazel?” He asked quietly.

His father’s face of discomfort hid a lot. Of course, the people around his father showed just as much discomfort, looking away from the boy and trying to change the conversation. He hurried towards his aunts. His uncles, repeating the question over and over without getting any response. Until he reached one of his family friends. The discomfort was the only constant. But she couldn’t stand to lie to Joseph.

“Kiddo… Your sister…”

“Yeah, where is she? She was just here with me!”

“She’s… dead.”

The room vanished. Joseph’s heart shattered to pieces and the floor beneath him cracked. He didn’t react to falling through the first floor. The tears which fought gravity and rose above him flew on. The sound of thunder snapped him out of his trance. His rear hurt, his hands were bleeding, his hands hurt… the rubble around him looked… old.

“Hazel.”

His sister came immediately to mind, and her words began to echo around in his head. “I’ll always be with you…” Again and again playing on loop like a scratched record in an old record player. Joseph was crying, tossing away some of the rubble and trying to find his sister, until he noticed something out of the corner of his eye… Her foot…

He rushed towards it, following her down a long corridor and stopping at the end of the hall. There stood a mirror, staring him dead in the eyes. But instead of his reflection… all he could see was a pale, sickly looking girl. Her entire body looked like snow, a living skeleton stood in front of him. Her eyes were hollow. Practically pitch black, little voids staring into the boy’s soul with sadness. Joseph couldn’t believe his eyes… Until he heard her voice one last time.

“I’m sorry Joseph… I couldn’t be there…”

Fin.