“The door is locked,” says Nadia.

“Then unlock it,” I reply.

“With what key, Claude?” she snaps.

“Didn’t you find a whole bunch in that office?”

I’ll be the first to admit that exploring an abandoned mental asylum at night wasn’t the brightest idea. I’ll also admit that forgetting to charge the flashlights yesterday was a rookie mistake. But something had to go wrong this trip, and if it’s gonna be flickering lights I can live with that.

Nadia finally locates the correct key on the ring. There must be about twenty of them, and of course it’s the rustiest one that fits. I hope I’m up-to-date on tetanus shots. We shove open the door and it screeches like a banshee stuck in wet cement that’s also screaming.

“Remind me again why we’re here, Claude,” says Nadia angrily. I don’t have a chance to answer.

Evil growling comes from deep within the chamber we’ve just opened. “I wish I’d gone to the bathroom when we had the chance,” I squeak. Of course I’m lying- I wouldn’t touch those toilets with a ten foot pole and a hazmat suit. I couldn’t see the porcelain beneath all the stains and congealed substances and there was a colony of rats that’d chewed through the wall to the shower block.

“Is it a ghost? Is it a monster? Is it your stomach?” Nadia is desperately trying to figure out what’s going on.

“Shut up for one damn second, Nadia!” I shout at her, “or I’ll tell mom what happened to her favourite perfume.” That threat shuts her up. The growling pitches into a roar and then stops.

We inch closer to the source, swinging our torches at the slightest shadow and sound. Once in a while the growl and roar comes back, but it always subsides. The silence is worse.

*

I don’t know if I ever want to talk about what just happened. I don’t think I’ll ever live it down. I may need therapy. Nadia hasn’t spoken a word since, just shoots me wide-eyed looks. Our parents are concerned, but we can’t tell them.

We can’t tell them we went exploring after curfew and only found a raccoon trapped in a furnace.

They expect more from us.