Wednesday morning. In a small town in Maryland in a newspaper company a man named John Quincy asked his secretary to go and retrieved his news photographer Robin. He retrieved a cigarette from the box and lit it. "Hey, Stacy go get me Robin. I need to speak with him." John said smoking the cigarette.
"Sure." Stacy said. She later called Robin up and less than fifteenth seconds Robin was there, ready for business. "Hey Rob." Stacy said with a cute grin on her face.
"Hey Stacy." Robin said smiling. "What's up?"
"Quincy needs to speak with you. Something about a commission, I don't know." Stacy smiled. "Hey, I notice you don't have your beanie?"
"Yeah, I lost it on my way back from Silver Spring." he said chuckling.
Stacy rolled her eyes. "Again? This is the fourth time you lose it."
"Hey at least you get to see my hair." Robin said.
She sighed. "Cut it, the split ends makes it look like rope. It looks like straw Rob." Stacy went back to her computer. "Go talk with John he wants to speak with you. Also, hold your breath. You know how he gets with his morning cigarettes."
"Sir yes sir." Robin walked off. "Oh and one more thing." Robin turned around locking eyes with Stacy. "Wanna come over at my place tonight? We can play twister, without the twister, and clothes." Robin said playfully.
Stacy laughed. "Sure, but I rather do it with anyone else but you." she said rolling her eyes once more. Then she flipped him off. He laughed.
Robin knocked on the window and waited until John told him to come in. John threw away his cigarette and lit a new one. "Come in donkey." John mouthed. Robin entered.
"'Sup John." Robin said while entering John's office. "What seems to be the problem?"
"The fact that you think wearing a plaid jacket with ripped jeans looks good is the real problem." He chuckled.
"Why is everyone so sarcastic today?" Robin said looking at the outfit he picked out in the mirror. "You make of me every time. Why?"
"Because you're an easy target. But we're not here to discuss bad fashion taste. Remember last week where I sent a fellow journalist into Riverside Park?" John asked.
"Nope, you never tell me anything John." Robin reply.
"Whatever, what I'm trying to tell you is that we need you to go down there and take pictures of the crime scene." John said getting up from his chair. "Some woman named Maria was murdered there last week and now we finally know where she is located."
"Wait, what? You want me to go to an abandoned park and take pictures of a crime scene." Robin replied skeptical.
"Yes, did I stutter? Don't worry we have permission."
"That's not my main concern. Just last week Maria was murdered and three days after that her husband and a random officer disappeared." Robin added. "Don't you think that's a bit odd?"
"What do I look like to you? A theorist? It could be a case of coincidences. Don't worry, police officers would be all over the area, plus you won't go alone." John left his office and walked over to Stacy. The two had a short conversation that probably lasted less than three minutes. Stacy called someone else. A Caucasian woman wearing a red and gray hoodie, black jeans walked up the stairs. John and the young lady had short conversation, shorter than the one he had with Stacy. The two later entered the office.
"Robin meet Sally, Sally meet Robin." John said sitting back down.
"Hey." Robin said confused.
"Hello." Sally said happily.
"Feel better?" John said to Robin.
Robin looked confused. How was a short ginger lady suppose to make him feel better he thought. "No disrespect but how is this suppose to make me feel better?" Robin asked.
"You won't be alone. Also you can learn a thing or two about fashion from her. Now please. Just go out and take some pictures, we'll be waiting." John sat down on his swivel chair and did a hand gesture telling them to get out.
"Where are we going?" Sally asked.
Robin looked at John with disbelief. "She doesn't even know where we are going. What is she? Some kind of journalist?" Robin said. "No disrespect." he said towards Sally.
"She's also a photographer. Maybe you can teach her your ways. I don't know." John grabbed another cigarette. "Now both of you get out. You make me sick."
"I don't think it's us that is making you sick." Robin said exiting the office. The duo made their way out of the building and onto the parking lot.
"You have a car?" Sally asked.
"Yeah... yeah I do." Robin said digging through his pockets looking for his car keys. "It's just this way. Follow me." They both entered Robin's car and began heading their way to the abandoned park. Both of them didn't say anything for the majority of the trip. It began to rain lightly.
"How long have you stayed here in Maryland?" Robin asked.
"My whole life." Sally responded. "I love this place, can't get enough of it."
"You have a boyfriend?"
"Used to." Sally responded, her smile slowly faded away. "Yeah, uh... it... I was married to a man named George, he's a journalist. Yeah... uh... We were only married for a couple of months, but um... one day he just left." Sally said bluntly.
"Oh, I'm sorry to ment-"
"No, it's fine. You didn't know and you were just being curious." Sally said chuckling. "Yeah, he just left. Without warning or anything. He went to work and he uh... he never came back. I called the police, his family, his friends. Nada. No one knew where he had gone. He just fell off the map."
"I'm sorry to mention this. Truly, I didn't mean to bring this up." Robin said.
"It's fine. Don't beat yourself up about it." Sally said.
The two didn't speak after that. Awkward tension surrounded them. Twenty minutes passed by without no one saying anything to each other. Until Sally decided to break the ice.
"What's your thoughts on rain?" Sally asked. "Personally I love 'em. The sound they make is so relaxing. And the gray skies looks really pretty."
"I don'y mind a drizzle. But I can't stand it when it becomes a storm." Robin said chuckling.
"I agree, but storms do have their perks. I love the heavy rain hitting my window. The sound is so relaxing." Sally said laying her head on the car window, she closed her eyes. After another twenty minutes the two finally arrived to the park. Robin shook Sally.
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty. We're here." Robin said getting his camera and extra footage.
Sally got up and sheepishly rubbed her eyes. "This is Riverside Park?" She asked. The entrance to the park wasn't in good condition, graffiti marks, broken walls, and dead trees could be seen.
"Yeah, this place is old after all. No one has stepped foot here since the incident back in the early 2000's." Robin said. "Now the only problem is getting in. How do we get in?" Robin immediately turned around when he heard the sounds of metal fence moving. To his surprise Sally was already on the other side.
"Just climb the gate." Sally said waiting.
Robin sighed. He place his foot on the fence and began to climb up. He stopped. He felt rather sick almost nauseous. The air was stale and stiff, it was bitter almost sour. He felt uneasy.
"Robin?"
"Yeah... I'm coming down. Move over." Robin hopped off the fence bumping into Sally. "I said move over." Robin said chuckling.
"Oh come on, you did that junk on purpose."
"I know. But it's still your fault."
As they walked deeper into the woods they noticed that they couldn't find a single police officer. The woods was empty no one was there besides the two. They were both confused. Sally thought that they had left because of the rain, Robin however thought he was lied to by John. The duo made there way deeper into the woods, they weren't completely lost. Caution tape was all over the area. They just followed it like ducks following breadcrumbs. The rain slightly got heavier and the air was now becoming unbearably stuffy for Robin and the cold-gray sky really showed how dead the park had become over the years.
"You lived here your whole life, right?" Sally asked putting on her red hoodie. "Was this place always this dead?"
"I don't know." Robin replied. "Haven't seen this place with people at all." Robin began to walk slowly. He saw something across the distance. He squinted his eyes, it was a building and several police cars were all over that area. The two went up to that location and found nothing. Not a single soul and the building was just a bathroom.
"A bathroom?" Sally said puzzled. "This is the biggest bathroom I've seen." Indeed it was. The building was stupidly big, anybody could get lost in there.
"Stay here. And look if anyone is here. I'll go inside. The crime scene has to be inside the bathroom." Robin took out his flashlight and but before he took one step Sally grabbed is arm.
"I don't think you should go in there alone." Something about that building gave Sally a bad vibe. "I think I should tag along as well."
Robin looked at her blankly. "There's nothing to worry about Sal, it's just a bathroom. You can come along, but stay behind me." Robin said.
"Sure." Sally said her voice shaking.
They both were uneasy and hesitant to even enter the bathroom. It was pitch black and even after flipping the light switch it still remained dark. Robin turned on his flashlight and headed inside. He looked back and noticed Sally far behind him, not moving.
"Are you not gonna enter?" Robin asked.
"Um... I... I don't have a flashlight." Sally replied.
"Don't you have a cellphone, most cellphones have flashlights built into them."
"I left my phone in the car."
Robin sighed. "Just stay close to me, hold my hand."
Sally did just that and the two went inside. The sound of footsteps on wet soil was replaced with steps walking on bathroom tiles. The walls were close to each other, you can practically touch both of the walls at the same time without leaning to one direction. This building was accompanied with the smell of feces and bleach. Sounds of the rain was nonexistent in there, almost as if someone pressed a mute button, all that could be heard were the two's breathing and their steps.
Sally stopped. "Hey Robin." she called out.
"Yeah?"
"You hear that?" Sally asked.
"Hear what? Footsteps? Yeah." Robin said turning around.
"No not that." Sally said. "Listen carefully."
Robin was confused. The only sound he could hear were their footsteps and their breathing. "What do you hear?"
"It sounds like... It sounds like a baby is crying." Sally said. "It sounds like its outside of the building. Like a certain distance." she looked at Robin. "You don't hear it?"
"No. Not at all."
Sally listened carefully. She heard a baby's cry, it seemed to be getting louder. Then, it stopped. It didn't fade away, it just stopped abruptly. "Robin I'm getting freaked out. Can we hurry up? Please."
"Yeah. Yeah don't worry let's hurry up. " Robin said walking grabbing Sally's hand.
Almost immediately Robin began to feel sick. His eyes were getting puffy and he began to sweat uncontrollably. He was also extremely cold, as if he had a fever. It felt like the walls were getting closer and closer. Robin wasn't scared, he didn't want to paranoid Sally any more so he stayed quiet.
"You see anything?" Sally said.
Robin jumped. "Damn, you scared me, and no. I haven't seen anything yet." Robin took a deep breath and continue walking down the hallway. Each step sounding louder than the rest. "Sal?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you stomping?" Robin asked. Turning around. Robin shined his light at Sally and there he saw a tall skinny figure around the hallway corner. Pale skin, long black hair almost reaching the ground, an ear to ear smile and crimson eyes. It's black pupils locked on to Robin's. It had no eyebrows and what appeared to be wearing a medical coat. It's head almost reached the bathrooms ceiling but it was tilted slightly to it's right shoulder. Robin yelled dropping his flashlight. Sally also yelled and turned around. She looked back at Robin.
"What the hell was that?" Sally yelled.
"You saw it?" Robin yelled frantically picking up his flashlight. He faced it in the same direction. Gone. Nothing. Just a leaking, moldy tiled gray wall. "What the he-"
"Dear God, you scared the hell out of me!" Sally yelled. "What was that for?"
"There was something there! I swear to God, I saw something." Robin said flustered. "It was tall... and... and the eyes." Robin's face was white. Pure white. "Those eyes. They... they were red. Look I swear to you I saw something."
Sally put her hand on his shoulder. "Robin, it's not that I don't believe you, I just think you're paranoid." Sally said trying to calm down Robin. "I think we should go. We'll tell John that no police officers were here, so we decided to leave. Simple." she gave Robin a smile.
Robin was still shaking. "Fine. Let's get the hell out of here. Wait. Let me go first. I have a flashlight you know." Robin struggled getting in front of Sally, the walls were so close together that is was almost impossible but they managed to do it. "Remember stay close."
"Fine."
Robin held Sally's hand, his heart was racing. Each turn he made around a corner made nerves go out of control. 'God, this place is huge' he thought to himself. 'What idiot needs a bathroom this big?' They made it out.
"That was interesting." Sally said.
Robin took deep breathes. 'It was probably mind. It's okay. You made it out' He thought.
"Let's tell John what happened." Sally said.
"Agreed. Let's leave this hell hole."